Meg Whitman Is A Bad Mother

I mean, really, why else would her sons be such entitled jackasses? Instead of nurturing her brood, she spent all her time earning the $100 million she’s shelling out in the California governor’s election. Is anyone surprised at the result?

Okay, so to be fair, no one has put it quite so blatantly. But as various blogs, including IvyGate and our brother site Gawker repeatedly chronicle the douchey antics of the conveniently-named Harsh brothers, we can’t help but wonder if a male politician’s wayward spawn would get as much attention.

Not that there isn’t fodder when it comes to these two: an arrest for breaking a woman’s ankle, rumored racism, suspensions, expulsions, beer-throwing, and entitled tantrums over rugby fields.

Plus, their mom shoved someone, so.

Justification for focusing on a candidate’s children this way has sometimes involved quoting Whitman herself on why she didn’t vote until she was 46: “I was focused on raising a family, on my husband’s career, and we moved many, many times.” (She also called her voting record “unacceptable.”) If she really did focus on her family, the thinking goes, why didn’t she do a better job with them?

Of course, some of this hinges more on class privilege than gender per se, especially given Whitman’s own lavish contributions and spending on her own campaign. Her sons’ alleged misbehavior — much of it taking place at Princeton near dorms named for their family — seems to reek of the same belief that money confers legitimacy.

Still, there is plenty to dislike about Whitman — her support for Proposition 8, limitations on abortion rights, and opposition to climate change legislation, to name a few — without obsessing over her offspring.