Hamilton County Democratic Party chairman Paul Smith speaks during an August news conference.THE JOKEFollow for a happy life:1) It’s important to have a woman who helps at home, cooks from time to time, cleans up, and has a job.2) It’s important to have a woman who can make you laugh.3) It’s important to have a woman who you can trust, and doesn’t lie to you.4) It’s important to have a woman who is good in bed, and likes to be with you.5) It’s very, very important that these four women do not know each other or you could end up dead like me.
Democratic women across Tennessee are demanding an apology, and a longtime state representative wants a resignation, but Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman Paul Smith doubled down Monday, refusing to acknowledge the backlash to a sexist joke he distributed at a party board meeting.
“I don’t want to say anything else about it,” Smith, 75, said Monday. “I’m working for the November election. I just don’t have a formal comment.”
Others did. Outlets such as The Huffington Post and The Associated Press reported on the joke, giving local Democrats a blast of national publicity as criticism emerged from all corners of the state.
“Paul needs to be sensitive to this,” said state party Vice Chairwoman Elisa Parker, Tennessee’s highest-ranking female Democratic official. “You don’t put a joke like that on an official document. … If I were him, I’d apologize.”