Reply #8: Gibbons apologizes on camera for aired 'communist' remark

[dzika]

February 24, 2005

Gibbons apologizes on camera for aired 'communist' remark

By Steve Kanigher



Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., stared straight into a television camera Wednesday and apologized for referring to opponents of corporate-funded presidential inauguration parties as communists, a remark that was aired nationally last month by NBC.

In an interview on "Face to Face With Jon Ralston," which was broadcast on Las Vegas ONE Cox Cable channel 19, Gibbons said he shouldn't have made the remark that aired Jan. 19 on NBC's "Nightly News With Brian Williams."

NBC reported on critics who have said that corporate donations for inaugurations represent a way to buy influence with President Bush and the Republican Party. On the subject of corporate donations for inaugural parties, Gibbons told NBC reporter Lisa Myers: "Anybody who is against that obviously must be a communist."

At the time critics blasted the remark, with one calling it "absurd" and "ridiculous."


more: http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2005/feb/24/518346204.html