Vaillancourt: Kuster Will Lose Because She's 'Ugly'

A local state Representative has come under fire for a blog post that stated that the Congresswoman for the 2nd Congressional District was ugly, as well as other remarks.

State Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, R-Manchester, offered the post on Friday on the NH Insider website.

In the blog post, entitled, “If Looks Really Matter, Where Does That Leave Kuster/Garcia Race?,” the often outspoken openly gay Republican took potshots at U.S. Rep. Ann McLane Kuster, D-NH, appearance while also praising state Rep. Marilinda Garcia, R-Salem, Kuster’s Republican opponent, for being attractive. Vaillancourt said he was just being bold enough to speak the truth.

“How attractive is Marilinda Garcia?,” he wrote. “You know how opposition ad makers usually go out of their way to find a photo of the opponent not looking his or her best. Well...Democrats and Annie Kuster supporters can’t seem to find a photo of Marilinda Garcia looking bad at all.”

Vaillancourt then stated, “Let’s be honest. Does anyone not believe that Congressman Annie Kuster is as ugly as sin? And I hope I haven’t offended sin.”

Vaillancourt, who pontificates about electoral turnout and is often dead-on correct with his numbers, stated that Garcia’s looks gave her the edge. He then compared Kuster to drag queens in Canada.

“How ugly is Annie Kuster? Again avert your eyes if you don’t want to hear it, but I actually thought of Annie Kuster last weekend when I was in Montreal. Not far from the Second Cup Coffee Shop I at which I was sipping and writing is a bar called Mados … On almost any given night, standing for all to see in front of Mados is a rather attractive drag queen … By now you probably know why I think of Annie Kuster whenever I walk by Mados; sad to say, but the drag queens are more atrractive (sic) than Annie Kuster....not that there’s anything wrong with that … Annie Kuster looks more like a drag queen than most men in drag.”

The reaction to the piece, which was picked up by some liberal bloggers and later, The Huffington Post, spurned outrage.

The political action committee EMILY’s List offered a statement saying Vaillancourt had no business being anywhere near the lawmaking process.

Garcia called the comments sexist and said they had no place in the political arena.

“Both Rep. Kuster and I have experienced this unfortunate reality of being a woman in politics,” she said. “I hope that as time moves forward and more female candidates run for political office around the country, people will focus on the content of our ideas rather than what we wear and how we look.”

Vaillancourt isn’t a stranger to headlines both statewide and nationally for his comments and they often lead to even more outrageous occurrences in New Hampshire politics.

In 2006, Vaillancourt made claims that current New Hampshire Democratic Party chairman Ray Buckley was in possession of child pornography when they were once roommates. Buckley was later cleared of the allegations.

Two years ago, Vaillancourt offered a Nazi salute to then-Republican Speaker of the House William O’Brien, R-Mont Vernon, during a debate about a new voter ID law. The outburst led the Concord Monitor to publish a cartoon of O’Brien with a Hitler mustache saying, “If the mustache fits ...” O’Brien countered by holding a press avail in his office and not allowing the Monitor’s Statehouse bureau to participate in the avail. He later called the newspaper “Democratic propagandists.”