Ex-Hillary Aide Calls Out ‘Double-Standard’ of Beto Launch: Imagine a Woman Saying ‘I Was Born to Do This’

Former Hillary Clinton campaign staffer and current CNN political contributor Jess McIntosh had kind words for newly-announced Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, but also pointed out the “double-standard” in the coverage of his launch, versus the way a woman would be covered.

On Thursday morning’s edition of CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow, McIntosh praised O’Rourke’s candidacy, telling host Poppy Harlow “I’m excited by the emotional authenticity he can bring, the vulnerability he can show…”

But McIntosh also warned against a media double-standard in covering O’Rourke.

“The only thing that I want to make sure is part of a conversation when we talk about Beto is that it would be near impossible for a woman to run that same kind of race,” McIntosh said. “Trying to imagine a woman saying ‘I was born to do this’ is really pretty impossible.”

“Similarly,  trying to imagine a woman saying ‘Sure, my kids say they are going to cry every day that I’m running, but I’m going to do it anyway’ would be impossible,” she continued, referring to this passage of the Vanity Fair profile of O’Rourke:

“Dad, if you run for president, I’m going to cry all day,” he says.

“Just the one day?” asks O’Rourke, hopefully.

“Every day,” says Henry.

“So as Beto is rightfully praised for the outside-the-box candidacy he’s putting forward, I want to make sure that double standard is part of the conversation, because I think it could do us all a lot of good if we started treating everybody about the same,” Ms. McIntosh said.

McIntosh also said O’Rourke has some “ground to make up” being a white male candidate in an “exciting, diverse field,” but added that O’Rourke “answers the question well.,” and that his youth and social media savvy are advantages.

Asked which candidate is hurt most by O’Rourke’s entry into the race, McIntosh replied that Bernie Sanders supporters have been going after Beto for months, and that they “certainly seem to understand that that’s a possible threat right there.”

Watch the clip above, via CNN.