Stephen Moore, President Donald Trump’s likely pick for the Federal Reserve Board, has aired his sexist views extensively in columns for the National Review on subjects from voting to women’s basketball.
Moore has already bumped up against a number of obstacles since Trump floated his name, including widespread derision from economists who see him as unqualified, a spat with the IRS and past critiques of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
His old writings are coming under renewed scrutiny now, especially as his fellow likely nominee, Herman Cain, folded on Monday and took himself out of the running after many Republicans voiced their lack of support for him (he says it’s just because the gig doesn’t pay enough).
In a 2000 column dug up by CNN, Moore whaled on his wife for voting Democrat. “Women are sooo malleable!” he wrote. “No wonder there’s a gender gap.”
But he saved most of his ire for women’s involvement in sports.
“Here’s the rule change I propose: No more women refs, no women announcers, no women beer venders, no women anything,” he wrote in 2002. “There is, of course, an exception to this rule. Women are permitted to participate, if and only if, they look like Bonnie Bernstein. The fact that Bonnie knows nothing about basketball is entirely irrelevant,” he added, referring to a then-CBS reporter.
“How outrageous is this? This year they allowed a woman ref a men’s NCAA game. Liberals celebrate this breakthrough as a triumph for gender equity,” he also wrote. “The NCAA has been touting this as example of how progressive they are. I see it as an obscenity. Is there no area in life where men can take vacation from women? What’s next? Women invited to bachelor parties? Women in combat? (Oh yeah, they’ve done that already.) Why can’t women ref he women’s games and men the men’s games. I can’t wait to see the first lady ref have a run in with Bobby Knight.”
He also railed against female athletes who want equal pay for “inferior work.”
By way of explanation, Moore told CNN: “This was a spoof. I have a sense of humor.”
