WaPo Reporter Asked Sen. Tim Scott This Awkward Question – Watch
Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) just announced his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination on Monday, and right away he was faced with the kind of questions we expect from the mainstream media. Washington Post reporter Ben Terris chose to ask the unmarried senator whether he is a virgin.
Terris used his platform to ask a question that was really meant to sell his upcoming book — “The Big Break: The Gamblers, Party Animals, and True Believers Trying to Win in Washington While America Loses Its Mind.” He shared about this encounter on the Twitter post below.
“Tim Scott will be the first prez candidate I’ve ever asked about the status of his virginity. Initial answer: ‘I’m not talking about my sex life with Ben Terris.’ Then he stood up and said: ‘I have to go potty,’” Terris tweeted.
Terris tried to explain himself saying that he had only asked the question because Scott has always been a vocal proponent of abstinence outside of marriage. He said since Scott has never been married himself, he wanted to know whether the senator – who was then still a congressman – had followed his own advice.
“It wasn’t a completely random question. He had spent his young adult life preaching abstinence until marriage. He’d give talks and mention that he was saving himself until marriage, and during my interview with the then-congressman he was, and continues to be unmarried,” Terris explained.
Then the reporter made a huge plug for his new book.
“One more thing … It was such an awkward question to ask that I wrote myself a script: ‘You used to preach about the virtue of no sex until marriage … is that a virtue that you still adhere to today?’ Ultimately he implied he did not: ‘I just wish we all had more patience,’” he quoted Scott as answering.
Newsbusters executive editor Tim Graham gave Terris a question of his own, tweeting, “Dear Ben, did you ever ask Bill Clinton how many interns he nailed? Of course not. Ben Terris (D-Washington Post).”
(It wasn’t a completely random question. He had spent his young adult life preaching abstinence until marriage. He’d give talks and mention that he was saving himself until marriage, and during my interview with the then-congressman he was, and continues to be unmarried.)
— Ben Terris (@bterris) May 22, 2023
One more thing… It was such an awkward question to ask that I wrote myself a script: You used to preach about the virtue of no sex until marriage… is that a virtue that you still adhere to today?”
Ultimately he implied he did not.
“I just wish we all had more patience.”
— Ben Terris (@bterris) May 22, 2023