California's NOW President Says Calling Whitman a "Whore" is Accurate

(Fox News) The president of the National Organization for Women may have said it's wrong for anyone to call a woman a "whore," but the head of the California NOW affiliate says Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman is one.  California NOW President Parry Bellasalma told the TPM blog on Thursday that the description of the Republican candidate for governor of California is accurate.  "Meg Whitman could be described as a political whore."  Yes, that's an accurate statement," Bellasalma said after a TPM blogger called to ask her about a story that appeared on the Daily Caller website. 

In the Daily Caller report, Bellasalma said a conversation recorded by a voicemail system after Whitman's Democratic opponent, Jerry Brown, thought he'd hung up on the Los Angeles Police Protective League demonstrates that Whitman is a sell-out and thus deserving of the description.  "The very troubling issue that is embedded in that call is what prompted the description of Meg as a "whore" is basically that she sold out Californians for an endorsement and a $450,000 independent expenditure campaign," Bellasalma told the Daily Caller.  Brown's wife is said to be the voice heard on the recording discussing strategy with her husband after learning that the police group was considering endorsing Whitman.  Whitman has said she would protect the pensions of the state's public safety workers; Brown has not. 

National POW President Terry O'Neill condemned anyone who would call someone else a "whore", even as the state group endorsed Brown for governor.  "This term is hate speech that carries with it negative connotations associated with women, and it has no place in contemporary society," O'Neill said in a statement Wednesday.  "NOW calls on Brown, from this point forward, to fire any member of his staff who uses this word or any hate speech against women."  Brown apologized for the remark during the candidates' debate on Tuesday.   "Californians deserve better than the traditional politics of slurs and personal attacks," Whitman told CNN on Thursday.  But I accept (Brown's) apology."