I get both sides of it. Really, I do. Who doesn't love an innocuous slap on the ass? I'll tell you who doesn't ... a judge that doesn't take domestic violence lightly, and who is pretty enough to understand how hard it is to be taken seriously, especially when you're a pretty woman.
Chad Johnson, after almost being let off for a domestic violence incident, decided to pat his lawyer on the butt as a way of thanking him for getting him off. The 12-year-old boy in me gets it. The grown woman in me looks at that judge: sure she's earned her place, but, being pretty, has probably been a hindrance for her. How many times has a Chad Johnson not taken her seriously?
I can't say for sure if a male judge would have been as offended. All I can say is that I'm happy a female judge was. What that signaled to me, was a big "fuck you" to the hierarchy. Yes, Chad Johnson. You can reality date, and impregnate, and pontificate ... but what you can't do is not realize your place. You're in a courtroom. Facing someone with a position of authority. Act like it.
And that pretty, smart, blond judge didn't miss a beat. Talk about winning life's lottery? That's you, Judge Kathleen McHugh. Still not sure whether or not you overreacted.
But in cases like this? Give me the over. Every time.
