Alex Castellanos is a Condescension Machine

On Meet the Press this week Republican spokesperson Alex Castellanos responded to MSNBC host Rachel Maddow's assertion that women make just 77 cents on the dollar compared to men by denying it.

You can watch the give-and-take between Madow and Castellanos in this video...

... or click here to view from the beginning of the show.

Castellanos is wrong, of course. Women in America do in fact make less than equal pay for equal work. If you don't believe it, just Google "Gender pay disparity studies;" you'll find dozens of studies that come to that conclusion. Prepare to be overwhelmed.

Here's just one example. When Bloomberg News recently analyzed census data, it indeed found women make just 77 cents on the dollar, compared to men:

Nationwide, across all occupations, women still earn just 77 cents for every dollar that men make. And in the 265 major job categories measured by the Census, there's only one -- personal care and service workers -- where women collect a higher salary than men. Those jobs include positions like butler, valet, house sitter and shoe shiner, Bloomberg reports. 

-- Eichler, 2012

Bloomberg found the pay disparity greatest on Wall Street, where women make between 55 and 62 cents for every dollar made by their male co-workers.

Click here to read the Bloomberg report.

Costellanos not only was disingenuous (read wrong) in his assertation that women make as much as men, he was rude and condescending toward Maddow, as men often are to women. During their exchange he not only interrupted her repeatedly, he said (and can you believe it?):

I love how passionate you are. I wish  you were as right about what you're saying as you're passionate about it. I really do.

(View the above video from about 2:20 to hear him).

Maddow, who is no fool, called Castellanos on his condescension. "My passion on this issue is actually me making a factual argument."

The substance of Maddow's statements was this: Republicands and Democrats have a difference of policy about women's issues.

Of course there is. And no progress will ever be made if Republicans continue to make up their own realities and maintain sexist ways of thinking about women.

And of course they will.

--

Sources

Bass, Frank. (2012, 16 March). Shining shoes best way Wall Street women outearn men. Bloomberg News.

Eichler, Alexander. (2012, 19 March). Gender gap is higher on Wall Street than anywhere else. Huffington Post.

Horowitz, Alana. (2012, 29 April). Alex Castellanos denies women make less than men. Huffington Post.