Sen. Gillibrand’s credibility gap

“If he lied, then he has to step down,” Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said this week as she jumped in with both feet in the Ray Rice domestic abuse case.

The “he”, of course, is NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

The Ray Rice deal in regards to what Goodell knew and when he knew it remains an open question. Should it end up as Gillibrand suggests, then there’s a point to be made.

But she’s a horrible person to make it. Her resolve on the treatment of women suffered greatly when she wrote a book detailing how her fellow senators sexually harassed her since she got elected to the U.S. Senate.

Normally, that kind harassment at the highest level of government (just below Bill Clinton’s horrible acts against women) would be big news and advance the cause of women significantly by shaming those senators who did it.

But Sen. Gillibrand makes the allegations … and then refuses to name names, I suspect because most, if not all, of the harassers are in her own party.

That’s cowardly. Until she names names in her own case, whatever she says or thinks about the Ray Rice deal has little, if any, credibility.

That’s the unvarnished truth. If Democrats, especially those women in Congress (hello, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Rep. Dina Titus), are serious about advancing the causes of women, then you can start by telling Sen. Gillibrand to do the right thing and name names.

P.S. Not going to happen. Partisanship almost always trumps principles in D.C.