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Title: Thompson Offers Apology on Gay Comment [had flu, bronchitis, diarrhea]
Source:
Associated Press
URL Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy ... 007/05/12/AR2007051200782.html
Published: May 13, 2007
Author: SCOTT BAUER
Post Date: 2007-05-13 09:32:05 by a vast rightwing conspirator
Keywords: None
Views: 297
Comments: 10
Thompson Offers Apology on Gay Comment By SCOTT BAUER The Associated Press Saturday, May 12, 2007; 5:52 PM LAKE GENEVA, Wis. -- Tommy Thompson cited a dead hearing aid and an urgent need to use the bathroom in explaining on Saturday why he said at a GOP presidential debate that an employer should be allowed to fire a gay worker. Speaking to reporters after giving an address at the state GOP convention, Thompson also said he was suffering from the flu and bronchitis and had been admitted to a hospital emergency room three days prior to the May 3 debate. Republican presidential hopeful Tommy Thompson speaks at the Wisconsin GOP state convention Saturday, May 12, 2007, in Lake Geneva, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) Republican presidential hopeful Tommy Thompson speaks at the Wisconsin GOP state convention Saturday, May 12, 2007, in Lake Geneva, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) (Morry Gash - AP) "Nobody knows that," Thompson said. "I've been very sick. ... I was very sick the day of the debate. I had all of the problems with the flu and bronchitis that you have, including running to the bathroom. I was just hanging on. I could not wait until the debate got off so I could go to the bathroom." Thompson said he thought he was being asked if there were enough laws already to address discrimination in the workplace. The question at the debate was, "If a private employer finds homosexuality immoral, should he be allowed to fire a gay worker?" Thompson replied: "I think that is left up to the individual business. I really sincerely believe that that is an issue that business people have got to make their own determination as to whether or not they should be." This is not Thompson's first apology or explanation for the remark. The day after the debate, Thompson said he was sorry and that he had misinterpreted the question because he didn't hear it properly. But on Saturday, Thompson elaborated by saying he has lost hearing in one ear and that his hearing aid battery for the other ear had gone dead. "I didn't hear the question. All I was thinking about was getting off the stage," Thompson said. "I said it, I'm sorry, and it won't happen again but it's not my record. ... There's nothing discriminatory about me at all." That gaffe, as well as one in April when he told a Jewish group that earning money is "part of the Jewish tradition," have been a distraction for Thompson's campaign. Thompson told party faithful at the convention Saturday that he can still win. But others aren't so sure. "How many times is he going to say something that's completely offensive to the majority of Americans before people start to say, 'What's going on here?'" said Jason Stephany, political director for the Wisconsin Democratic Party. Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said Thompson's gaffes may not have resonated much with the general public, many of whom don't even know Thompson is running, but they did hurt him with power brokers. Thompson raised just under $400,000 in the first quarter of the year, putting him far behind leading candidates such as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney who raised $23 million and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani with $15 million. Thompson, 65, served as Wisconsin governor from 1987 to 2001 and was head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 2001 until 2005. He established his presidential exploratory committee in December. ___ On the Net: Tommy Thompson for president: http://www.tommy2008.com
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#1. To: All (#0)
This relates nicely to the killing of a San Francisco mayor, back in the 70's or 80's. The guy who did it, a homosexual and a gainfully employed city worker, blamed it all on 'junk food'. So Thompson seems to be able to close the vicious circle in a way that makes it all mainstream and quite acceptable.
Antiparty - find out why, think about 'how'
Twinkie bump
What he said was not really a "gaffe" with the GOP "base" down South. However, few down here have ever heard of him and most have already thrown in with other candidates, so it's too late for this to "resonate" with them. This is the kind of "red meat" remark the Southern Baptists love, though. Plus, he apologized and no Baptist EVER apologizes for quoting "God's word," even if it is from the only verse in Leviticus any of them still believe in.
The benefits of education and of useful knowledge, generally diffused through a community, are essential to the preservation of a free government. - Sam Houston
diarrhea~ yeah this makes sense :P
Not quite. Dan White was a former police officer and a firefighter and he campaigned on the family values platform, and was particularly upset at SF for electing an openly gay city supervisor (Harvey Milk) and America's first openly gay politician. White was not homosexual. A LAPD sgt told me that Dan White did more for CA politics with a .38 revolver in three minutes than all the politicians had done in 20 years in Sacramento.
I stand corrected. I wasn't around but I did hear of the 'junk food' defense. I thought it was neat. It's possible that Thompson's diarrhea came after a Chalupa meal at the Taco Bells. Or maybe he had some chicken McNuggs, which would explain both diarrhea and the bird flu (not that there is any proof that McDonald's chicken actually contain any bird parts). Like the old Black Sabbath song says... "diarrhea will destroy ya". [how many inaccuracies on this line alone?]
Antiparty - find out why, think about 'how'
When Dan White wasn't reappointed he felt betrayed by Mayor George Moscone, but if he hadn't resigned in a "fit of principles" in the first place he wouldn't have had to ask for reappointment to his seat. (So, White murdered newly elected openly gay supervisor Harvey Milk and the gay loving Mayor George Moscone, and that was when our beloved US Senator from California, Diane "TWO BALLS" Feinstein became the mayor and her star then began to rise all the way to America's most elite men's club. So, the handsome, young family man Dan White seemed like every mother's son, but he more closely resembled Don Quixote by campaigning against gays and The Castro District, two phenomena that were not going to go away. He was the last serving narrow-tied Christian Republican when gays won what was arguably their most important political victory, and he refused to see San Francisco as anything other than a good place to raise a white hetero family, and he single-handedly fought to avoid official sanction of gaydom and general queersuckiness. "Imprisonment and death White served five years of his seven-year sentence at Soledad State Prison, and was paroled on January 6, 1984. Fearing he might be murdered in retaliation for his crimes, California State Corrections Officials secretly transported White to Los Angeles, where he was to serve a year's parole. After satisfying the terms of his parole, White indicated he wanted to return to San Francisco, which prompted Mayor Feinstein to issue a public statement formally asking White not to return. Nevertheless, he did return. White found it impossible to return to any semblance of a happy life, however. A second child, Rory, who had been born while he was in prison subsequent to conjugal visits, was born with disabilities. Despite the birth of a third child, a daughter Laura, his marriage to wife Mary Ann was not salvageable, and he became increasingly depressed. On October 21, 1985, less than two years after his release from prison, White committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in his wife's garage by running a garden hose from the exhaust pipe to the inside of his car. The body was discovered by White's brother, Tom, shortly before 2 p.m. the same day."__wiki
The benefits of education and of useful knowledge, generally diffused through a community, are essential to the preservation of a free government. - Sam Houston
What is this screwball talking about?
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
He sure did. Wish he had paid a visit to Chicago while he was hitting his targets.
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
#2. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#1)
#3. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#0)
"How many times is he going to say something that's completely offensive to the majority of Americans before people start to say, 'What's going on here?'" said Jason
#4. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#0)
"Nobody knows that," Thompson said. "I've been very sick. ... I was very sick the day of the debate. I had all of the problems with the flu and bronchitis that you have, including running to the bathroom. I was just hanging on. I could not wait until the debate got off so I could go to the bathroom."
#5. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#1)
This relates nicely to the killing of a San Francisco mayor, back in the 70's or 80's. The guy who did it, a homosexual and a gainfully employed city worker, blamed it all on 'junk food'. So Thompson seems to be able to close the vicious circle in a way that makes it all mainstream and quite acceptable.
#6. To: HOUNDDAWG (#5)
#7. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#6)
I wasn't around but I did hear of the 'junk food' defense. I thought it was neat.
#8. To: HOUNDDAWG (#7)
White murdered newly elected openly gay supervisor Harvey Milk
#9. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#0)
"How many times is he going to say something that's completely offensive to the majority of Americans before people start to say, 'What's going on here?'" said Jason Stephany, political director for the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
#10. To: HOUNDDAWG (#5)
A LAPD sgt told me that Dan White did more for CA politics with a .38 revolver in three minutes than all the politicians had done in 20 years in Sacramento.
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