Sen. who told Gilliibrand that he liked his girls chubby, was

[cali]

the late Senator Inouye.

The senior senator who once told New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand not to lose "too much weight" because he liked his girls "chubby" was the late Hawaii Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, the New York Times reports.

In a memoir published earlier this month, Gillibrand revealed that some of her male colleagues in Congress felt free to comment about her weight.

“Don’t lose too much weight now," one "of my favorite older members of the Senate" told her, squeezing her waist. "I like my girls chubby!”

The 47-year-old did not reveal the names of her boorish colleagues in the book, but the Times reports that particular exchange was with Inouye.

<snip>

http://news.yahoo.com/gillibrand-chubby-girls-senator-inouye-124025315.html

[malthaussen]

1. And the Times knows this how?

Since Senator Inouye is dead and Senator Gillibrand ain't talkin'?

-- Mal

[PeaceNikki]

8. It says in the Times piece, "...according to people with knowledge of the incident."

It also says:

But in an all but forgotten chapter of his career, the senator had been accused of sexual misconduct: In 1992, his hairdresser said that Mr. Inouye had forced her to have sex with him.

Her accusations exploded into a campaign issue that year, and one Hawaii state senator announced that she had heard from nine other women who said they had been sexually harassed by Mr. Inouye. But the women did not want to go forward with their claims.

A spokesman for Ms. Gillibrand would neither confirm nor deny that Mr. Inouye was the unnamed senator in the incident. Ms. Gillibrand in her book described the senator only as “one of my favorite older members of the Senate.”

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2014/09/22/?entry=86

[JI7]

2. not really surprised, i had a feeling it was a democrat

[Seeking Serenity]

3. I did too, sadly.

If it had been a Republican, whether presently in office or out, I've no doubt it would have been leaked, this being a critical election year and all.

[JI7]

6. not really, Strom Thurmond would regularly talk to women in such ways and it never became an issue

i think it happens in both parties. not really a partisan thing but more about culture among males in such places.

[Seeking Serenity]

9. Given Thurmond's racist background and reputation,

it was probably thought that his being a sexist too couldn't do too terribly much more damage.

And Thurmond died back in 2003. I'm talking about this critical election year.

[JI7]

12. my point is these things are just accepted in many places

especially if the comment is meant as a compliment . as if the woman should just be happy that she is viewed as attractive because that is what matters.

harry reid did something similar when he introduced gillbrand and made some comment about her being attractive.

[Seeking Serenity]

10. But I do agree with you that

boorishness and generally rude behavior knows no political stripe or gender boundaries.

Sometimes people are just jerks. And even otherwise good people can behave badly.

[sufrommich]

11. She said in her book that it was

“one of my favorite older members of the Senate.” So it was pretty obvious it wasn't going to be a republican.

[Skidmore]

5. Any woman can tell you that there are

boorish men to be found in all stripes. Some of them even post here on DU.

[TwilightGardener]

13. Here's what I want to know: what did she do about it?

[TwilightGardener]

16. I mean, besides saving it for self-serving memoir fodder?

[geek tragedy]

17. Ugh. nt

[iandhr]

14. She said members of both parties made sexist comments to her.

Maybe she didn't mention Inouye because she didn't want to kick dirt on a dead man's grave.

[panader0]

15. Too bad if it was Inouye--I always liked him

He was a member of the 442nd Infantry in WWII, composed of almost all Japanese-Americans. A brave man who lost an arm in service to his country. When I was a kid in Hawaii, and he was a candidate, his ads said, "Not Daniel Inouye, Daniel in Every way!"

[JI7]

18. the point of this is how much it's happens and part of the culture in many areas

doesn't matter what the background of the person is.

as someone else posted up thread, she said the person who said that was someone she did very much like and respect and one of her favorites in the senate.

having an honorable background doesn't mean sexism doesn't get into that culture. after all the military is one of the places where we have the biggest problems when it comes to sexual abuse.

[panader0]

19. I agree with your view.

Still sad to me if it was Inouye.