What if a Republican said that?

[Jim4517]

Read about the Dean staffer being thrown out by Gephardt's people? The AP sanitized it a bit and didn't say that they called the Dean man a "faggot". Hunter Allen is apparently an openly gay man...... You Democrats better start watching your tongue. But then again the media won't post it so never mind. But Republicans still better be careful!

Whether or not it was said is not determined. But the fact the media ignored it says loads. You know the coverage it would have gotten if a Republican was accused.

Jim

Dean and Gephardt partisans trade accusations
ByCharlotte Eby, Journal Des Moines Bureau



WATERLOO, Iowa -- The presidential campaigns of rival Democrats Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt are trading accusations after a Dean staff member alleges a Gephardt campaign worker pushed him and called him an offensive name at a recent campaign event.

The alleged brouhaha occurred Tuesday at a Gephardt news conference at a Des Moines senior center.

It prompted the manager of Dean's campaign, Joe Trippi, to call for the dismissal of the unnamed Gephardt campaign worker who allegedly made the remark.


"I urge you to find the staff member responsible and fire him, and send a strong signal to the rest of your staff that behavior of this kind will not be tolerated in a campaign for the presidency," Trippi wrote in a letter to Gephardt campaign manager Steve Murphy.

But Gephardt spokesman Erik Smith said the campaign investigated the allegations and found them to be "absolutely untrue."

Smith said staff members from rival campaigns have for months attended Gephardt events and recorded them without problems, a common practice, but this time the Dean campaign crossed the line.

The Dean staff member answered a call from his cell phone during Gephardt's speech and proceeded to conduct a "loud" conversation, Smith said.

"The Dean staff are always welcome to attend our events, but being disruptive is nothing more than a dirty trick," Smith said. "Clearly, this whole thing was a set-up. Our campaign was delivering a major speech and they send somebody to be disruptive, and that's just not the way you run campaigns in Iowa."

The Dean staff member, 24-year-old Hunter Allen, who is openly gay, said he was called a "faggot" by a Gephardt staff member after being shoved and escorted out of the event.

He said he didn't know he was being disruptive during Gephardt's speech, but admits he used profanity toward Gephardt staff members after he says they cussed at him.

"I was shaken up by the whole situation. It's not something that I expected in a professional atmosphere, and it wasn't in line with how they treated me in the past at other events that I had been to of theirs," Allen said.

Allen said he is still weighing whether or not he will file a complaint with the police.

But Smith, the Gephardt spokesman, denied the comment was made and said the campaign would never tolerate that type of name calling.

"If anyone on this campaign used any kind of slur, they would be fired immediately, no doubt about that. But our investigation concluded that no one did such a thing," Smith said.

The fuss is the latest in a string of contentious exchanges between the Gephardt and Dean campaigns in Iowa. The polls show the candidates neck and neck for the lead in the state.

Last month, Gephardt launched an attack on Dean's record on Medicare and his campaign picketed a Dean event in Dubuque.

Dean responded with a television ad in Iowa that accuses his opponents of failing to deliver on a Medicare prescription drug benefit during their years in Congress.

Former Democratic Congressman Dave Nagle of Cedar Falls said the high approval ratings for both Dean and Gephardt are driving the attacks on each other, and said the rivalry between them can only get hotter from now until Jan. 19, the date of Iowa's precinct caucuses.

"I think it's going to get intense, and I think it's going to get personal," Nagle said.

Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Gordon Fischer agreed the stakes will only get higher in the coming weeks.

"I think what we are seeing is very intense competition between the candidates because Iowa is really up for grabs. There probably hasn't been this much uncertainty this close to caucus day since you pick the date," Fischer said.

http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/arti...cf00179163.txt

[Da Lone-Warrior]

Maybe,

But irregardless it shdn't be brought up as going against Gephardt who is terribly pro-gay, condoning his daughter's leaving of her husband because she discovered that she was gay.

Most lesbians are bisexual and hence have a choice.

Just because you "fall out" and then "fall in love" with someone else doesn't mean you drop everything else in pursuing a relationship with your new love, irregardless of whether they are the same or opposite sex of you.

dlw

[Jim4517]

Of course it shouldn't. It's a cheap shot at best. It's just how the media covers it and doesn't cover it. And we don't have a liberal media???????????????

[Da Lone-Warrior]

Our media is centrist, but ignorant or offensive to religious conservative sensibilities...

dlw

[Jim4517]

Today @ 05:26 PM post located here
Love-Warrior:

Our media is centrist, but ignorant or offensive to religious conservative sensibilities...

dlw

I respectfully disagree adamently with that statement. Peter Jennings and Dan Rather are anything but centerist. Fox is conservative, CNN used to be liberal, but is probably more centrist now because of losing viewers to Fox.

I stand by my statement that if a Republican had uttered the word faggot, that would have been the lead story on at least CBS and ABC. It probably would have been mentioned on NBC. Barney Frank would be screaming from the aisles to any camera he could find. The fact it was a Democrat allows them to get away with it.

Whether or not the statement is improper is without doubt, but the story being carried with that omission is characteristic.

[Vorkosigan]

No, the fact is there is no evidence that anything was actually said, other than the words of an aggrieved party. As Barney Frank can tell you, Republicans have abused him in hundreds of ways for being gay...and the media has not reported it. My gay friends on both sides of the aisle say the same thing.

The media is not Centrist, but Establishment. Different case altogether.

[Eyeheart Pumpkin]

Today @ 07:19 PM post located here
Love-Warrior:
Maybe,

But irregardless it shdn't be brought up as going against Gephardt who is terribly pro-gay, condoning his daughter's leaving of her husband because she discovered that she was gay.

Most lesbians are bisexual and hence have a choice.

Just because you "fall out" and then "fall in love" with someone else doesn't mean you drop everything else in pursuing a relationship with your new love, irregardless of whether they are the same or opposite sex of you.

dlw

No offense, but could you please, please, please, please, please not use that word "irregardless?" Egads, I hate that word! The word is "regardless." I know a lot of people say that, but you really can't get any worse grammar than "irregardless." Sorry, it's just one of my personal pet peeves!

[Jim4517]

Today @ 06:04 PM post located here
Vorkosigan:

No, the fact is there is no evidence that anything was actually said, other than the words of an aggrieved party. As Barney Frank can tell you, Republicans have abused him in hundreds of ways for being gay...and the media has not reported it. My gay friends on both sides of the aisle say the same thing.

The media is not Centrist, but Establishment. Different case altogether.

Abused him how? By disagreeing with him? When some guy screwed up and called him Barney Fag, it was all over the news. Not saying it shouldn't have been, but I like to hear some other examples.

And it doesn't matter if it's establishment or not, it still reports with a political slant. To deny that is absurd. I'm obviously conservative and I recognize Fox News is slanted. Why can't liberal do the same?

[Vorkosigan]

Abused him how? By disagreeing with him? When some guy screwed up and called him Barney Fag, it was all over the news. Not saying it shouldn't have been, but I like to hear some other examples.

Jim, have you ever worked on Capital Hill? I did, for three years. Do you honestly think the media reports every racial and homophobic and ethnic comment made by politicos to each other? The Barney fag comment was made publicly and there was no problem with verification. This one you cite was not.

And it doesn't matter if it's establishment or not, it still reports with a political slant. To deny that is absurd. I'm obviously conservative and I recognize Fox News is slanted. Why can't liberal do the same?

I just did.

It's not that you don't have a case; it is that the evidence you picked to support it is so awful. Why don't you dig up a much better supported comment that was ignored by the media?

I mean, imagine if you were an editor and saw this story. What is the first thing you'd ask: can we prove this was said?

Well, can you? Difficult to justify, a minor flap even at best. You can read more vicious attacks on gays on any Christian website, and in any of the "Christian" politicians, especially from the south. So why should any of the papers of record run with this story?

Vorkosigan

[Losvedir]

Eireann:

No offense, but could you please, please, please, please, please not use that word "irregardless?" Egads, I hate that word! The word is "regardless." I know a lot of people say that, but you really can't get any worse grammar than "irregardless." Sorry, it's just one of my personal pet peeves!

Haha, yeah... like that 'in actuality' thing. That bugs me. It should be "Actually, ..." or "in reality" but in any case.. i think i'll stop going off topic now.

[Jaltus]

I hate to say it, but irregardless is now a word and considered synonymous with regardless due to the amount of usage.

Check a dictionary printed since (IIRC) 1995 and it will be in there.

[Pilgrim]

But those of us with a sense of the dignity of the English language will continue to use the "proper" terminology, regardless of the plebian usage.

[Socrates]

Yeah, it's still gross, as is the American phrase "off of".

[Rahab]

Today @ 03:44 AM post located here
Eireann:


No offense, but could you please, please, please, please, please not use that word "irregardless?" Egads, I hate that word! The word is "regardless." I know a lot of people say that, but you really can't get any worse grammar than "irregardless." Sorry, it's just one of my personal pet peeves!

I guess if DLW's grammar is that unbearable to you, you will need to arm yourself with great tolerance as you face mine.
My own pet peeve ("pet thief" as I used to call it in my first years of learning English) is when folks in a public forum become critical of the writing or composing skills of another person. Whereas, I support addressing grammatical intolerance by private PM.

Plus as you pick on DLW's grammar, you may fall under scrutiny for your own..... no offense of course.

[Da Lone-Warrior]

I resolve to expunge the word irregardless from my vocabulary.

Next time pm's would be appreciated.

dlw