is there a double standard for women in politics? imagine if it were hillary clinton who had had five children by three husbands, who had said it was fine to refer to her daughter as a <u+201c> piece of ass ,<u+201d> who participated in a radio conversation about oral sex in a hot tub, who rated men based on their body parts, who showed up in playboy soft porn videos . imagine if 15 men had accused clinton of assaulting or violating them, with more stepping forward each day. imagine if clinton had held a mr. teen usa pageant and then marched unannounced into the changing area to ogle the young bodies as some were naked and, after doing the same thing at a mr. usa pageant, marveled on a radio show at what she was allowed to get away with. imagine if in a primary election debate clinton had boasted that there<u+2019>s <u+201c> no problem <u+201d> with the size of her vagina. imagine if clinton had less experience in government or the military than any person who has ever become president? imagine if she had said about a man running against her in the primaries, <u+201c> look at that face! would anyone vote for that?<u+201d> imagine if it were clinton who had boasted, <u+201c> i could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody and i wouldn<u+2019>t lose voters.<u+201d> imagine if it were clinton who had been caught on a hot mike referring in a degrading way to men<u+2019>s genitals and boasting that her prominence gave her license to grab men<u+2019>s crotches. imagine if she had bragged about her attempts to commit adultery <u+2014> and later reportedly sought to have fired from his job the married man who resisted her seduction efforts. imagine that it were hillary clinton who had been accused of assault by her first spouse (later recanted) and later of assault in a lawsuit by a business partner. imagine if clinton had defended herself from an accusation of molesting a young man by explaining , <u+201c>he would not be my first choice, that i can tell you.<u+201d> imagine if clinton had body shamed donald trump, saying that she had observed his rear end and concluded, <u+201c>i<u+2019>m not impressed, believe me.<u+201d> imagine if hillary clinton had first drawn national attention not with an idealistic speech at the wellesley commencement, but by being sued for racial discrimination by president richard nixon<u+2019>s administration. imagine if she had later been quoted by a member of her staff as saying <u+201c>laziness is a trait in blacks<u+201d> and had retweeted white supremacists , including one honoring the american nazi party. imagine if it were clinton who had gone through six bankruptcies and compiled a long record of stiffing contractors , from plumbers to painters to lawyers. imagine if it were clinton who had ordered $100,000 worth of pianos from a small music store in freehold, n.j., and then announced months after taking delivery that she would pay only $70,000. and if the owner recalled: <u+201c>because of clinton, my store stagnated for a couple of years. it made me feel really bad, like i<u+2019>d been taken advantage of. i was embarrassed.<u+201d> imagine if it were hillary clinton who had denounced international trade while manufacturing shirts in bangladesh, neck ties in china, suits in mexico and stemware in slovenia. imagine that the clintons had given an interview to people magazine and, while bill stepped away to change clothes, hillary told the male interviewer that she had a room to show him <u+2014> and then stuck her tongue down his throat. imagine if clinton had boasted on howard stern<u+2019>s radio show that <u+201c>in the history of the world, nobody has got more hot men than i have<u+201d> <u+2014> and referred to those men she had seduced as her <u+201c>victims.<u+201d> what if she were called a sex predator on the show, and she nodded proudly? imagine if politifact had judged 71 percent of clinton<u+2019>s statements that it checked <u+201c>mostly false<u+201d> or worse. imagine that, instead of releasing 39 years of tax returns, showing most recently that she had paid 31 percent of her income in federal income taxes, she had refused to release any returns <u+2014> and leaked pages from 1995 returns indicated that she had paid no federal income taxes at all for years. imagine if clinton had rampaged for a week against a former beauty queen, and even tweeted encouragement to <u+201c> check out sex tape <u+201d> of the woman <u+2014> even though such a video did not exist. imagine if clinton had said , <u+201c>you know, it doesn<u+2019>t really matter what [the media] write as long as you<u+2019>ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.<u+201d> imagine if clinton had been so lecherous that her daughter, at age 17, made her promise not to date any boy younger than 17 . and if clinton then joked publicly that as a result <u+201c>the field is getting very limited.<u+201d> imagine if clinton had seemed completely ignorant of nuclear strategy and nato yet said she knew <u+201c> more about isis than the generals .<u+201d> imagine if the clinton foundation had failed to register properly , had made an illegal campaign donation and had expended resources not on saving lives from aids but (possibly illegally) on two giant portraits of hillary clinton herself. so is there a double standard in american politics, indeed in american society, subjecting women to greater scrutiny? you decide. i invite you to sign up for my free, twice-weekly email newsletter . please also join me on facebook and google+ , watch my youtube videos and follow me on twitter (@nickkristof) . a version of this op-ed appears in print on october 16, 2016, on page sr11 of the new york edition with the headline: if hillary clinton groped men. today's paper | subscribe
if hillary clinton groped men
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