Actually, it sounds like it was our very own pres who made that caddish remark, not PM Howard.

Why slap Howard? It says that the president, not the prime minister, made the comment. Being the host doesn't make Howard responsible for the stupid things that Bush says.

Whoops! My misread. Thanks, I'm correcting now.

So they probably ask about his wife since she is not present an he answers that Rice can be his date. How is this a problem? Bush is and ass, but this comment seems innocent enough.

It's a problem because Rice isn't his wife or girlfriend, or a stand-in. She's not someone who's there to be on Bush's arm. She's at the table because she's a high-ranking official. It seems demeaning to me to refer to her as a date.

I don't see it as sexist either. First, they are friends as well as co-workers, and second we don't know that he wouldn't have said the same thing (jokingly) about a man if that's who he was sitting next to.

I don't like the Washington Post's term "office wife," but I don't think saying that someone "can be his date for the evening" is out of line at all.

Ann - Someone who is neither you wife nor girlfriend can still be your date at an event. Even a co-worker can be a date. I agree that the "office wife" term could be problematic depending on the circumstances of its use, but the date comment still seems harmless to me. When did being someone’s date become demeaning, anyway?

It seems to imply "sponsorship" - she's not there because of her own political significance, she's there *with him*. If Bush were to imply that any of his male cabinet members were there "with him," it would come off as thuggish cronyism - because usually the Secretary of State or Defense would be considered a separate public entity with clout of his/her own, even if they were appointed by the President and speak to him every day. He does it with Rice and it seems natural because we're accustomed to the idea of women being "sponsored" by men. That's the sexism.

Well, it's not like anybody was going to talk about Howard's, Bush's, or Rice's foreign policy accomplishments, were they?

realityfighter - How so? If she is his date, then he is her date too. How did you decide who is sponsoring who?

noname- he decided, when he felt the need to explain her presence as claiming her as a date.

Remember dirty dancing when baby had to justify her presence at the party to johnny by telling him 'i carried a watermelon?!?'

kpsisu - So they asked why Rice was there? That is strange. I thought they asked about his absent wife and he made a joke about Rice being his date. That is far from explaining her presence.

I want to see him say that about Cheney. *Then* I'll believe it's not a sexist comment, noname.

It's right up there with his groping of Angela Merkel.

It's an issue that exists solely because of her gender. "office wife" is so incredibly demeaning. Grrrr.

"I want to see him say that about Cheney. *Then* I'll believe it's not a sexist comment, noname." - bug_girl

He is a straight man (I assume). Does he really need to date another man for you to consider him not sexist?