Would You Out These Politicians?

[mondo joe]

Bill Bennett was outed for gambling - would you have done it?

Strom Thurmond was a segregationist with a secret biracial daughter - would you have outed him?

Newt Gingrich dumped his ex wife while she was in the hospital - would you have made this very personal matter public?

If you could verify that Bush has been drinking alcohol over the last 5 years would you out him?

[Flabbergasted]

1. Absolutely

[GoddessOfGuinness]

2. Before Clinton? No.

After Clinton? You bet.

[Cooley Hurd]

3. That was the line...

...and THEY crossed it with President Clinton.

All right, reNAMBLAcans, let's take a LONG, HARD look into YOUR closets!!!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

27. And let's make sure criminal behavior is rewarded with jail time...

otherwise, the thrown-ups will just be back in another 8 years.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

4. Hell yes1

Hypocrits need to be outed at every oppertunity. Just like Vichy Dems! If you are a traitor, you are a traitor. You should be tried for treason and hung by the neck until dead. End of subject.

[whistle]

5. Bush has been outed by himself on the booze

<snip>
alcohol abuse

He has admitted problems with alcohol consumption in the remote past. The week before election day 2000, reporters found a record of an arrests & convictions for driving while intoxicated in the 1970s.
It is unclear whether the DUI mentioned above is the same as the following incident: In late 1972 Bush took his then-16-year-old brother Marvin out drinking. On the way home Bush ran his car over a neighbor's garbage cans. Confronted by his father, Bush challenged him to go "mano a mano" outside <12>.

Bush told his doctors in August 2001 that he currently abstains from alcohol, but does "occasionally enjoy a shot of Scotch Whiskey". In 1999 he released a three-page statement from doctors saying he had "almost totally abstained from alcohol during the past 13 years" <3>.
addiction history

During his presidential campaign there were persistent questions about a remote history of cocaine use, which he later admitted to but denies still using the drug.
<more on GWB medical history>
http://www.lilithgallery.com/articles/bushpads.html

[mitchtv]

6. How about anti gay gay David Dreier?

he has to go

[liberalmuse]

7. These sanctimonious hypocrites? You bet!

Outing someone for the sake of outing someone is wrong, but self-righteous blow hards are fair game.

[cynatnite]

8. Are you comparing gambling, alcoholism,

fathering a black child, and being a piece of shit to homosexuality?

[mondo joe]

9. Why shouldn't I compare having a biracial child? Or having

a drink? Or even gambling?

Nothing wrong with any of those things.

[cynatnite]

11. Are you putting Newt Gingrich's dispicable behavior with that?

Taken to excess, things like drinking or gambling can be wrong. Why you put having a bi-racial child in this, I don't know.

It seemed like you threw in a bunch of apples and oranges and expected everyone to call them peaches.

[mondo joe]

14. Nope - just noting many kinds of hypocrisy. And, more importantly,

the willingness to out Repubs on a range of PRIVATE matters.

You keep looking for value judgements - or projecting your own. Too bad.

[cynatnite]

15. I just don't view it the same...

Whatever a person does in the privacy of their own home, as long as it doesn't hurt others, is their business. I know I'm in the minority on this, but in my eyes, this is destructive and serves no good purpose.

If it was Dennis Hastert or some other gay hating politician who was elected by the people...yeah, I could support it. It would weaken them to the point of impotence.

Staff members...this would get them fired and could possibly expose members of their families to the vile hatred that is so prevalent in the repuke party. New people will take their place and the anti-gay legislating and rhetoric will continue.

What's worse, IMO, repukes will continue to tie homosexuality with pedophilia and sexual predators as they have been doing for the last two weeks.

Sorry, Mondo, this forced outing bothers me a great deal. The backlash that could result worries me.

[mondo joe]

16. I'm grateful that it's not up to you.

It's a gay issue, and it's gay men and lesbians who will decide.

We have a right, and a duty, to expose hypocrites and homophobes. By not outing gays who support policies which harm other gays, we protect them, and allow them to continue their harm. Collusion with hypocrisy and homophobia is not ethically defensible.

To the contrary, outing hypocrites is a moral duty.

[cynatnite]

18. So let me get this straight..

I can't say what I think because hypocrit homosexuals is a gay issue.

And you're doing them a favor? Do you honestly expect them to thank you? But they're still hypocrits...right?

There are a hell of a lot of hypocrites in the world. If outing them is my moral duty, I'd rather do it to those where there would be real change as a result. Outing staffers who can be easily replaced isn't it, IMO.

[mondo joe]

19. You can say whatever you like. When did I EVER say you can't?

And when did I say I was doing them a favor?

Hey, do ME a favor and respond to what I actually write rather than projecting.

[cynatnite]

24. First off you said it was a gay issue and they'll be the ones to decide...

as if I should shut up. If that wasn't your intention...my misunderstanding.

I wasn't projecting on the second part. I misread it.

Mondo, I don't mind debating this issue with you at all, but I have a lot of concerns about this. It's not an attack on you or anyone else because I disagree and go against the majority. The repukes are notorious for finding enemies and demonizing them in order to rally their base.

Just today I read an article from 'The Nation' that described republican gays as being subversive. This list was used to point that out. It was very disturbing to me. They continue to link homosexuality to sexual predators. Gay republicans are going to be used as scapegoats while the real enemy is in the leadership. I absolutely don't like the direction this is going.

Here is the article:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061030/blumenthal

[mondo joe]

25. Uh, it IS a gay issue. And by and large it IS gays who will decide it.

Doesn't mean you can comment on it. You obviously can.

I don't buy your prediction. Outing the hypocrites is the politically wise, and morally correct, option IMO.

[cynatnite]

26. I do hope I'm wrong...

I swear half those people in the repub party are crazy and it's tough not to put anything past them.

BTW, I do respect your opinion on this.

[Alcibiades]

21. In Strom's case

I think the girl was a teen and he was in college. A big difference between that and Foley, particularly given that Strom quasi-acknowledged her, at least had some kind of relationship with her, and (most importantly) the daughter herself did not want to make a public stink about her onetime dixiecrat daddy.

BTW, which is why the biracial thing was a big deal--Strom was an ardent segregationist for most of his career.

Not so sure about how "out" this was, but when I was a kid growing up in a Democratic household in South Carolina in the 1970's, my whole family knew about this. It was regarded as a nifty bit of hypocrisy on Strom's part, but a private matter otherwise, particularly since it had been 40-odd years at that point and no one claimed that he failed to "do right" by the mother (though marriage would have been out of the question, of course).

Strom was a racist jerk, and I hated him, but he handled this far better than any Republican today would have--they would all blame Clinton.

[donheld]

10. No doubt about it.

I'd be screaming from the house top about it. Hypocrisy must be exposed.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Glorfindel]

17. That statement is an insult to every gay man in this country

Bush is STRAIGHT. No gay man could ever be that stupid and vulgar, and besides, I understand that he revels in fart jokes. How much straighter can you possibly get?

[pitohui]

23. it's true tho

he was a gay man in tennessee and his long time companion since farmed out and replaced by mr gannon but there it is

i hate to say it but, yeah, there are gay men who fart, maybe not many, in east tennessee..yeah, baby

[TheBaldyMan]

28. Glorfindel, I hate to break this to you this but ...

Proof that Bush is gay!
Is the President a big girly man?

[countmyvote4real]

13. It depends on the level of hypocrisy.

If they speak or legislate with forked tongue, then they should be called out.

[calimary]

20. If their public actions are hypocritical - yes, in a heartbeat.

When you're in a position of power - to impact the lives of others, and you screw them even while you enjoy the privileges and rights you deny to others like you - IN A HEARTBEAT!!!

Yeah, it's harsh and pretty cruel. But we didn't start this. THEY determined that shitty stuff like this, intruding in personal lives, is the way to go. So if that's the game, then I can and would play it, too.

Taste of their own medicine. See how they like it.

[pitohui]

22. yes all four

and i drink and i gamble

i would never dream of making another gambler's or another drinker's pleasure illegal just so i could sit there and be smug about what i'm getting away with

if ALL are not permitted to enjoy such pleasures, fuck it, the aristocracy should not be allowed to enjoy without consequence what others pay dearly for