#MeToo, Judi Dutcher and the Strib (2000)

Judi Dutcher

Remember the year 2000? Remember Y2K? It fizzled of course but it played with our minds. We may have thought the digital world was taking over, but we really hadn't seen anything yet. My father found some amusement at the time of Y2K, as he noted the next morning that our dog Sandy hopped up on his bed the night before and "snored" through midnight!
As a young child I remember thinking how "old" I was going to be for 2000. And that age would be: 45. Yes, rather old from the perspective of where I was then. I attended Longfellow Elementary in west Morris for grades 1-3.
My thoughts drift back to 2000 because I'm prompted to remember the Democratic national convention. The national conventions were still rather a "thing" then, so much more than today. The Democratic Party had much more respect in outstate Minnesota. It was not "on its heels." Anyway, the speakers for the 2000 national convention included Judi Dutcher.
Like it or not, the last name might make you think "basketball." Her father Jim had a long and pretty successful tenure as U of M men's basketball coach.
By the time Judi finished her run in politics, her identity was carved out pretty distinct. She has a dubious claim to fame: failing to know what "E85" was in a press interview. Now, I have to wonder why any politician really needs to answer a question about a product available in the marketplace. I mean, we don't claim to have a "command economy." People can consume products of their choosing. I guess the interests of farmers can supersede that.
So, Dutcher was supposed to be well-versed on E85 but unfortunately whiffed. It's unfortunate because I would have liked to see her ticket, headed by Mike Hatch, prevail in Minnesota government. Could the one episode of fumbling on the E85 question explain the loss? It is a valid theory to suspect "yes."
But the E85 thing is not the main reason I'm resuscitating these memories today. My focus is the 2000 national convention which was in Los Angeles and had Al Gore nominated for what proved to be a futile and frustrating run. If you want to cite a specific episode hovering over that one, let's point out the Clinton-Lewinsky thing. Yes, a "thing" for which no detailed historical account should be necessary because it would be untoward.
Untoward as it all was, it may at present be superseded by the almost daily outlandish stuff coming out with Trump as president, as we seem to descend further into an "Alice Through the Looking Glass" world. So, the president has fond wishes for a woman who is detained now because of credible charges in connection with sex trafficking with underage girls? Bill O'Reilly used to almost seem to want the death penalty for such infractions.
Right wingers in the media find ways to look the other way where the embarrassed people happen to be Republicans. Their talent at rationalizing is taxed to the max.
So Trump wanted everyone to vote for Roy Moore in Alabama. Meanwhile if I remember correctly, O'Reilly appeared to suggest during the salad days of his reactionary show that accused child molesters should not even have capable legal counsel. I seem to recall one of his troubling "ambush interviews" with one such lawyer. His most disturbing ambush interview - let's clarify that his associates were the ones that actually did these - was with the Syracuse University president. It was embarrassing to watch how crude the whole thing went down.
O'Reilly's frequent guest Bernard Goldberg said one night that he "really didn't care for" the ambush interviews. The O'Reilly associate who visited Syracuse, if I remember correctly, was Porter Berry, referred to by Keith Olbermann as "Porta Potty."
O'Reilly and Olbermann have flamed out in the sometimes carnival-like world of cable TV news. We're waiting for it to happen with Tucker Carlson now. Remember the days when Carlson seemed so much more civil? Like a different person, back when he'd spar with Bill Press. Quaint.
 
Behavior of Fourth Estate
Having teased the subject of Judi Dutcher speaking at the 2000 Democratic convention, I will cut to the chase. It was 20 years ago but I still remember the rather odd way the Star Tribune covered it. It's fascinating now from our new perspective of the #MeToo movement and the prohibition on objectification of women. The latter has really taken over as a new norm and I find it refreshing and belated.
The Star Tribune had an article in 2000 that noted right up toward the top, that Dutcher's appearance at the podium was greeted by wolf whistles. "Wolf whistles," yes.
Prior to writing today, I suddenly realized I should check "the Internet machine," as Rachel Maddow calls it, to see if there might be some actual video. You cannot rule out finding anything online. So yes, video did turn up on a quick search. It included the reaction to her introduction.
And what did I hear? Well, I heard sort of the usual pandemonium of sound from an approving audience like at a sports event. This comparison is pretty exact. So amidst all that there were some "whistles." However, I did not hear anything that came across as a "wolf whistle." We all know how distinctive that is. And, how offensive it is, certainly in today's #MeToo enlightenment.
Was it a case of a male Strib reporter having his own gushing admiration for Dutcher? His own hormones perhaps being activated? If so, of course it should have been kept a wholly private matter. But we must remember the culture of bygone times, as recent as 2000. Men got "cover" from our society for many untoward gestures toward women. In some cases women reacted as if they'd been flattered, but now I wonder about their deep-down thoughts.
A primary problem is this: by suggesting certain women are attractive, you are suggesting that others are not. This should have been plain as the nose on our face all along. Did we not care about women's feelings?
 

Truly a dated culture
The old culture as epitomized by the old "Dean Martin Variety Hour" was so crude. And not only with objectification of women, but with finding humor in excess alcohol consumption.
Martin was the consummate entertainer and he delivered a product based on how he read the public, his audience. Were he in his prime today, I'm certain he could use his considerable talent to give us a different persona.
Dean-O was a member of the hugely politically incorrect "rat pack," remember? Rat pack member Frank Sinatra narrated at the start of the 1974 movie "That's Entertainment." He described "chubby chorus girls" in a piece of old cinema. Heavens.
A prime example from the career of Ol' Blue Eyes re. objectification of women, is the opening of his movie "Tony Rome." A woman in a bathing suit on a beach happens to bend over while Sinatra is in his car nearby, and. . . Oh, let's skip it.
#MeToo is literally wiping out the careers of various men in news/entertainment. Their past "ghosts" of unacceptable behavior haunt, most recently in the case of Fox News' Ed Henry. One after another these men go down like dominoes. Charley Rose. Garrison Keillor. Chris Matthews. Matt Lauer. How many middle-age men in the media are now whistling past the graveyard as they harbor their own memories? Like the guys at the end of the movie "Deliverance" knowing they'll be haunted forever by the possibility of the dead body rising to the surface in the river. Poor Ned Beatty.
Yes, there's a million stories in the naked city.
Your average politico in Minnesota does not remember Judi Dutcher for the convention anecdote I cited, rather it's totally the E85 thing, and here we can note there is a Morris connection. It was Morris native Corey Poppe who asked Judi the question about E85. Corey may have altered the course of Minnesota government. Thanks for nothing, Corey. (Just kidding, you did your job.)
All I really know about E85 is that it's a fuel with crop-based energy, ethanol or whatever? Again, if it's a product in the marketplace it should be allowed to rise or fall on its own merits, shouldn't it? Spoken like a Republican? Which I'm not of course.
Women are protected from objectification today, I would argue by the easy access to porn by men. Men get their "jollies" and can then put these untidy thoughts out of their minds. It's a bigger blessing than you probably realize.
Wasn't Jim Dutcher the Gophers coach during the Mitch Lee episode? Where that bad dude ended up celebrating his exoneration or acquittal by having the image of a champagne glass cut into his hair on the side of his head? Just imagine Barbara Streisand singing "Mem-ries. . ."
 
Hey, look at the zinnias!
I celebrate my zinnias starting to bloom on today's podcast. Please click on the permalink below to listen to my July 22 entry, and God bless.
https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/Zinnias-start-to-show-colors-eh3jf6
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com