Kirsten Powers Tells Megyn Kelly 'Liberal Men Are Allowed to Be Misogynist, Apparently

On Monday's America Live with Megyn Kelly, Fox contributor and Daily Beast columnist Kirsten Powers weighed in on what she considers the double standard leveled against conservatives when "misogynistic" statements are made by media pundits. In her latest column "Rush Limbaugh Isn’t the Only Media Misogynist," Powers asks if all liberal media personalities are held to the same standard as their conservative counterparts. For the Democratic strategist, the answer is a resounding "no."

Powers honed in on acerbic left-wing media personality Bill Maher, who has never shied away from sexist, disparaging comments about Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. Powers remarked:

You have all these liberals coming out and now saying Rush Limbaugh needs to be taken off the air for saying stuff like this. Then it doesn’t make sense that somebody like Bill Maher is able to not only stay on, but have all these top Democrats and top liberals come on like it’s no problem. [...]

What’s been particularly upsetting to me, Megyn, is the response that I’ve gotten to this article, which is, “Oh, it’s so different! It’s ok to call Sarah Palin all those words because she’s a public person, but this other woman who was in front of the, you know, hearing on the contraception, well, she’s a private person.” It’s, like, oh I’m sorry, it’s ok to call someone the c-word if they’re a public person? When did that happen? If people start calling Nancy Pelosi that, everyone would just go, “Oh, well, she’s a public person. Oh well”? You know, it’s not ok.

Powers’ major issue is that these “gender-specific,” “particularly nasty” attacks on women by men in the media are seen as permissible. Because ultimately, she says, “this isn’t really about misogyny, it’s about the Democratic party,” and specifically “a proxy war for the Democratic party.” The backlash against Rush Limbaugh, then, is less about real ire for his misogynistic comments and more about the fact that he’s a conservative media personality.

Watch the clip below, courtesy of Fox News: