Bill O’Neill is an Ohio Supreme Court Justice. He’s also a candidate for Governor.
And, to hear him tell it, he has had sex with 50 “very attractive females” during his life. Which would be fine, if he hadn’t boasted about this on social media using information that might lead to some of those women being identified.
It’s a terrible political move. And yes, his campaign manager has quit. Wouldn’t you?
Senator Al Franken apologized for groping and kissing a woman without her consent. But apologies don’t make things magically go away, and many are calling for him to resign.
Apparently, that didn’t sit right with Ohio gubernatorial candidate Bill O’Neill, as he posted this very cringe-worthy rant to Facebook.
“Now that the dogs of war are calling for the head of Senator Al Franken,” his post begins.
It’s already off to a rough start, because that does not describe the state of things.
(Some have called for his resignation, but a graceful retirement after a scandal is hardly the end of the world)
His post gets immediately worse:
“I believe it is time to speak up on behalf of all heterosexual males.”
Generally, people speak up on behalf of underdogs instead of on behalf of the demographic group that dominates every nation on Earth. But please, continue.
“As a candidate for Governor, let me save my opponents some research time.”
(Never a good idea; make them work for that dirt)
“In the past 50 years, I was sexually intimate with approximately 50 very attractive females.”
One, that’s bragging and oversharing.
Two, don’t refer to women or girls as “females.” It tends to rub people the wrong way.
Anyway, his boastful post gets worse:
“It ranged from a gorgeous personal secretary to Senator Bob Taft (Senior) who was my first true love and we made passionate love in the hayloft of her parents barn in Gallipolis.”
That is way too much information.
Oh, O’Neill can tank his career by oversharing about his genital adventures all that he wants. But he should not have told so much about these women.
“… And ended with a drop dead gorgeous red head who was a senior adviser to Peter Lewis at Progressive Insurance in Cleveland.”
Then he talks about some pretty good policies:
“Now can we get back to discussing legalizing marijuana and opening the state hospital network to combat the opioid crisis.”
And then he promptly makes things worse again.
“I am sooooo disappointed by this national feeding frenzy about sexual indiscretions decades ago.”
So, in other words, he’s completely missed the point. Nobody’s talking about “indiscretions.” Sleep around all that you like.
The national conversation is about consent. it’s about sexual harassment and sexual assault. And Bill O’Neill should be ashamed of his post.
At first, however, he defended making the post, saying that he opposes a “new standard” that, in his mind, means that:
“If you’re not absolutely pure you’re not eligible to run for office in America. That’s wrong.”
Apparently he failed to actually listen to the national conversation even once. Unless any of those 50 alleged hotties were underage or not consenting, then he didn’t have anything to worry about.
By the way, in the process of defending himself, Bill O’Neill also lamented that Roy Moore’s accusations of molestation are condemning him “without due process.”
That is literally not how due process works. Roy Moore can’t be imprisoned without evidence and a conviction. The presumption of innocence expands to the courtroom, not to hearts and minds. Or votes.
As we mentioned, Bill O’Neill’s campaign manager quit. Chris Clevenger announced his departure on Twitter:
“The comments made today by @BillForOhio were both disturbing and misguided. As a victim of sexual assault, I cannot in good faith remain a part of #TeamONeill.”
He followed that up with a tweet:
“Sexual harassment and assault is no laughing matter. The next Governor of Ohio must take it seriously to receive my vote.”
That’s a good policy to have.
Finally, someone got through to Bill O’Neill, because he posted an apology on Sunday morning:
“There comes a time in everyone’s life when you have to admit you were wrong. It is Sunday morning and i am preparing to go to church and get right with God. But first I have to get right with my family, my friends, and the thousands of strangers who have been hurt by my insensitive remarks.”
Not to mention the two women whom he described a little too well.
“I am sorry. I have damaged the national debate on the very real subject of sexual harassment, abuse and unfortunately rape. It is not a laughing matter. It wasn’t when I prosecuted sexual misconduct for the State of Ohio, and it is not now.”
It’s good that he’s owning it fully.
“To my daughters, Katie Corrin O’Neill, Tiffany O’Neill Scullen, and my sisters Patricia O’Neill Sacha and Mary Kaye O’Neill, accomplished women all, please accept my public apology for dragging you into this matter.”
When a male politician screws up, everybody wants to know what the women in his family think.
“You deserved better treatment than this. I love you, respect you, and yes. I was wrong. Thank you for loving me enough to stand up to my departure from a loving life.“
It’s still stunning that O’Neill was able to hear about all of these allegations of assault and harassment and see it as an opportunity to brag about his conquests. Gross.
