CNN chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir has come under fire for suggesting that Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) only became successful because she married into wealth.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Loeffler asked the citizens of Georgia to vote for her in the upcoming runoff election, citing herself as an example of the American dream.
“I’ve lived the American dream. I went from the farm to the Fortune 500. I want Georgians to have the same freedom & opportunities I had. And it won’t be possible if we go down the road to socialism. We must hold the line and protect the American Dream,” she tweeted.
In response, Weir suggested that Loeffler’s marriage to Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) CEO Jeffrey Sprecher propelled her success.
“Good news, Georgia! If you live on a farm, you now qualify to marry the Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange!” he tweeted.
Good news, Georgia!
If you live on a farm, you now qualify to marry the Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange! https://t.co/dLXFantplB— Bill Weir (@BillWeirCNN) November 18, 2020
As noted by Fox News, basic research would have shown that Loeffler was long successful before she married her husband, noting that she “worked at a number of other well-known companies, including Citi and Toyota.”
Defenders of Loeffler were quick to denounce Weir as a sexist, arguing that leftists would have piled on him if he’d said the same thing about a sitting Democratic senator.
“Are you serious with this take? Are you actually suggesting that her success just came from marriage? Because it sounds like you should read a bit more,” National Republican Senatorial Committee senior adviser Matt Whitlock responded.
“Well, this is amazingly sexist, but if it’s channeled towards a conservative I guess that’s OK,” Trump Jr. wrote. “Kelly Loeffler is significantly more accomplished than Bill Weir by a factor of about 1 billion with or without marriage, but demean her success story anyway… it’s what CNN does.”
Well, this is amazingly sexist, but if it’s channeled towards a conservative I guess that’s OK.
Kelly Loeffler is significantly more accomplished than Bill Weir by a factor of about 1 billion with or without marriage, but demean her success story anyway… it’s what CNN does. https://t.co/0QNDrMGhIG
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) November 18, 2020
“1. This is outrageous sexism. 2. Women who grow up on a farm can do anything we want to do, and yes, that includes be a United States Senator,” said Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA).
Kelly Loeffler was appointed to fill Sen. Johnny Isakson’s seat after he retired last year. In a January runoff election, she will be facing Democrat Raphael Warnock, who has a history of radical statements and stances, as The Daily Wire reported.
“So, in Ferguson, police power, showing up in a kind of gangsta and thug mentality. You know, you can wear all kinds of colors and be a thug; you can sometimes wear the colors of the state and behave like a thug,” he once said.
In 2008, when speaking with Greta Van Susteren of Fox News, Warnock also said that he embraces and celebrates Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
“Do you embrace the Reverend Wright, and let me focus on the soundbites, for lack of better words, but certainly he has said things like GD [God damn] America and the things that he’s said, the critical things, even of Senator Clinton never having to grow up and just a personal attack on her? Do you embrace that? Is that something you would do, sir, in your church?” Susteren asked him.
“We celebrate Reverend Wright in the same way that we celebrate the truth-telling tradition of the black church, which, when preachers tell the truth, very often it makes people uncomfortable,” he replied. “And I think that the country has been done a disservice by this constant playing over and over again of the same soundbites outside of context.”