...life can be pure hell, and not just because deep down in your inner man you know that your party has f----d the country... Sayeth the Grey Lady:
WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 — Scott Reed, a Republican strategist, was at a dinner in Philadelphia on Monday night when his cellphone and Internet pager began beeping like crazy. Only later did he learn why. His party was buzzing with news of a sex scandal involving a Republican United States senator — again.
Just when Republicans thought things could not get any worse, Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho confirmed that he had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct after an undercover police officer accused him of soliciting sex in June in a Minneapolis airport restroom. On Tuesday, Mr. Craig, 62, held a news conference to defend himself, calling the guilty plea “a mistake” and declaring, “I am not gay” — even as the Senate Republican leadership asked for an Ethics Committee review.
It was a bizarre spectacle, and only the latest in a string of accusations of sexual foibles and financial misdeeds that have landed Republicans in the political equivalent of purgatory, the realm of late-night comic television.
Forget Mark Foley of Florida, who quit the House last year after exchanging sexually explicit e-mail messages with under-age male pages, or Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist whose dealings with the old Republican Congress landed him in prison. They are old news, replaced by a fresh crop of scandal-plagued Republicans, men like Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, whose phone number turned up on the list of the so-called D.C. Madam, or Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska and Representative Rick Renzi of Arizona, both caught up in F.B.I. corruption investigations.
It is enough to make a self-respecting Republican want to tear his hair out in frustration, especially as the party is trying to defend an unpopular war, contain the power of the new Democratic majority on Capitol Hill and generate some enthusiasm among voters heading toward the presidential election in 2008.
“The real question for Republicans in Washington is how low can you go, because we are approaching a level of ridiculousness,” said Mr. Reed, sounding exasperated in an interview on Tuesday morning. “You can’t make this stuff up. And the impact this is having on the grass-roots around the country is devastating. Republicans think the governing class in Washington are a bunch of buffoons who have total disregard for the principles of the party, the law of the land and the future of the country.”
Then again, Washington does not have a monopoly on the latest trend among Republicans. Just ask Thomas Ravenel, the state treasurer of South Carolina, who had to step down as state chairman of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s presidential campaign after he was indicted on cocaine charges in June.
Or Bob Allen, a state representative in Florida who was jettisoned from the John McCain campaign last month after he was arrested on charges of soliciting sex in a public restroom.
Mr. Craig, for his part, has severed ties with the Mitt Romney campaign, despite his public declaration on Tuesday that “I did nothing wrong.”
In an interview Tuesday on “Kudlow and Company” on CNBC, Mr. Romney could not distance himself fast enough. “Once again, we’ve found people in Washington have not lived up to the level of respect and dignity that we would expect for somebody that gets elected to a position of high influence,” Mr. Romney said. “Very disappointing. He’s no longer associated with my campaign, as you can imagine.” ...
Yeesh. Good thing Craig isn't gay ... er ... that guilty plea to soliciting sex in the loo notwithstanding ... and those persistent rumors and claims by men that he had sexual encounters with them also notwithstanding ... Um, CUE THE ETHICS PROBE! And perhaps some nice, relaxing rehab!
Meanwhile, the Craig situation is playing havoc with the GOP's plans to dike it's Senate seat slippage. Okay, maybe "dike" was a poor choice of words...
Update: Mitt to Larry: "Under the bus you go!" ... Romney called his former campaign co-chair "disgusting," which should go over really well with the Log Cabin Republicans ... and he cancelled a trip to Idaho by one of his war campaign veteran sons ...
What a strange thing it is to have a day off in the middle of the week ... it's enough to make Thursday feel like a Monday. Oh well ... here's what-a-gwan:
Conversations:
Al Gore to Tipper: "Well, at least the boy was in a Prius..." (after his son gets pinched for possession of marijuana, Xanax, Adderol, Soma and more. And just days before daddy's 7-7-07 global warming concert? Duuuude...
A man is arrested outside Barack Obama's hotel in Iowa holding an eight-inch knife. Scary, with shades of Bobby Kennedy, or a security detail overacting? I hope for the latter but fear the former is more on the money.
Untruths?
The British government says the idea that the eight doctors and others who were arrested in the recent attempts at creating 'splosions at Glasgow and London airports were al-Qaida isn't quite accurate... now THIS is al-Qaida, if you still believe they are the boogeyman the administration wants you to believe they are...
Not so smart?
Some Iraq war protesters are pulling a thoreau and withholding federal taxes. Good luck with that one...
Former Miami Heat star Tim Hardaway hates gay people ... no ... I mean he really, really hates gay people. And he's dumb enough to say so to a sports talk radio host ... who's also a freaking reporter...
The comments came as Hardaway appeared on Dan LeBatard's Miami talk show, as he was being asked about former NBA star Don Amaechi's revelation that he is gay. Hardaway said that not only is he homophobic, he wouldn't want a gay person on his team ... oh, read it for yourself:
``You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States.''
As for a gay player like Amaechi sharing the close confines of the locker room with Timmy:
''First of all, I wouldn't want him on my team,'' Hardaway replied. ``And second of all, if he was on my team, I would really distance myself from him because, uh, I don't think that is right. I don't think he should be in the locker room while we are in the locker room. But stuff like that is going on and there's a lot of other people I hear that are like that and still in the closet and don't want to come out of the closet, but you know I just leave that alone.''
Asked what he would do if he had a gay teammate, Hardaway said he would ask for the player to be traded or to be bought out of his contract.
''Something has to give,'' he said. ``And I think the majority of players would ask for him to be traded or they would want to be traded. Or buy him out of his contract and just let him go. Something has to give. If you have 12 other ballplayers in your locker room that are upset and can't concentrate and always worried about him in the locker room or on the court it's going to be hard for your teammates to win and accept him as a teammate.''
As for Amaechi, he says:
''We are much further behind than I'd like,'' Amaechi said. ``People in America and England [where Amaechi grew up] would like to think racism is over, sexism is over, and homophobia is over, but it's not. My coming out will show that gay people don't all look like Jack from Will and Grace. Some of us are big, athletic men, and that should be OK.''
Amaechi said he had not heard from a single former teammate or NBA player, that he had only heard from former coach Doc Rivers. He challenged straight athletes ''who feel able'' to stand up for gay rights.
''I would like professional male athletes to be active supporters, and that doesn't mean putting a rainbow decal on their car,'' he said. ``It means letting other guys in the locker room know that it's not OK to make gay jokes, that it's hurtful, and that it's not OK to be homophobic.
``But it's hard to get straight guys to step up. When men stood by women during the suffrage movement, they were called progressive and bold. When whites stood by blacks, they were heroes. But a straight guy standing up for a gay guy faces discrimination, and that's a big part of the battle we're fighting.''
After the interview, Hardaway expanded on the comments with CBS 4 reporter Jim Berry, telling him that if he found out a family member was gay, he would have nothing to do with them.
Writing about the exchange he instigated with Hardaway (one of only a handful of NBA stars who ignored their publicists' advice and answered questions about Amaeichi's coming out in a new book, "Man in the Middle," Lebatard describes the comments as hurtful and homophobic, but "honest." They were also stupid for a public figure.
But ... and this is the big "but..."
Keeping it real ... most straight men feel exactly the same way, and would have the exact same reaction to the idea of stripping naked in a sweaty locker room in close quarters with a gay teammate. Most straight people cringe at the sight of two men kissing. Most straight people cringed at the Snickers commercial. Most straight people had a hard time being convinced to watch "Broke Back Mountain." (I admit that I couldn't go see the movie either, despite my sister's ringing endorsement, because I didn't want to watch the two male characters having sex.)
Does that make me homophobic? Probably. And I'm not exactly proud of it. But part of the intrinsic nature of "straightness" is that the idea of homosexual sex is ... well... gross ... even if you think that gay people are perfectly lovely individuals. For the record, I'm sure gay people think straight sex is gross, too, it's just that the nature of political correctness is that gay people are allowed to say straight sex is gross, but the reverse is considered to be patently homophobic.
So was Tim Hardaway wrong to say what he said? Yes and no. On the one hand, in a free society, he has the right to feel and say exactly what he wants. On the other hand, he's a grown man and will have to suffer the consequences. He probably sunk his prospects of ever becoming an anchor on ESPN, and he has already begun to suffer career consequences, including being bounced from All Star Weekend. In the current age, you never, ever say blatantly bigoted things out loud, on the air, to a reporter (or if you're Isaiah Washington, you don't say them on the set...) ... unless of course, you're Rush Limbaugh... As one gay leader in South Florida put it:
"'It is a very simple process to say `no' or 'I'd rather not comment' than to go on the record and make malicious and bigoted statements,'' (president of the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce Steve) Adkins said.
``. . . Let's just say I'm very disappointed that if someone in this day and age has these kinds of feelings, they're not intelligent enough to keep them to themselves. Beyond that, there is no place in our society for that kind of hatred and bigotry. End of story.''
Further, as an African-American, you're actually held to an even higher tolerance standard, which may or may not be fair. But as LeBatard himself noted, what Hardaway said probably met with quiet, embarrassed agreement on some level by many other players, who are now looking to their left and right, and perhaps quietly, and uneasily, wondering if the guy showering next to them is sneaking a peek at their naughty bits.
Like taking candy from a baby: how Snickers played everybody
It occurred to me during a marketing meeting for the station this morning that the Snickers ad that's caused so much consternation was a brilliant piece of advertising for two reasons. First, it was the most memorable ad on Super Bowl Sunday -- and it also has had the longest after-game shelf life, generating tens of millions of dollars worth of free media for the brand due to the news stories, blog drama, protests and angst that it generated. And second, it succeeded in stealth, achieving its marketing goals without anybody noticing what the advertiser was up to.
Here's what I mean.
When Masterfoods' ad agency first conceived the ad, I understand they originally approached some gay rights advocates to ask them to view the ads and comment, but at the eleventh hour, they pulled back, and never showed the groups the ads. The company probably knew how they would be received. They also knew that the masses of men and women of all ages who watch the Super Bowl aren't Snickers' target market. Who is the target market? Young, mostly male candy eaters.
... and where can you reach millions of young, male candy eaters who probably don't catch a lot of prime time television?
And once the ads hit, and caused the expected uproar, both from gay advocates (who objected to the reaction of the male smoochers to their accidental kiss, and the NFL players whose cringy reactions were uploaded on a Snickers web-site) and from Family Research Council types, who objected to the ads because of the man-on-man smooching itself, Masterfoods promptly pulled them, issued a statement, and then failed to take the next logical step: demanding that the ads also be pulled from Youtube and other viral video sites.
Because I would speculate, getting the ads the buzz they needed to burn up the blogs, as well as those viral video sites, was precisely the point. Once the viral video success was achieved, the company no longer needed to run the ads, on television, or online.
It's either that, or M&M Mars is just damned lucky.
There are times when I think the left reads way too much into things. This is one of those times. John Aravosis' rather overwrought reaction to the Snickers SuperBowl ad (one of the few funny ones on an otherwise dull ad night) is, to me, way over the top. Dude, it's just a stupid commercial. And sorry, but most straight guys (and women) do react with winces at the sight of two men kissing on the lips. As Shabba Ranks used to say, it's just reality. And more importantly, it's just a commercial...
Update: the New York Times picks up the story ... and Snickers backs down, pulling the ad. This is actually quite unbelievable to me. Watch the ad for yourself, below, and tell me you seriously, seriously see violent homophobia at work. Seriously:
And here's Snickers' statement:
“As with all of our Snickers advertising, our goal was to capture the attention of our core Snickers consumer, primarily 18-to-24-year-old adult males,” said a spokeswoman for Masterfoods, Alice Nathanson. “Feedback from our target consumers has been positive, and many media and Web site commentators on this year’s Super Bowl lineup ranked the commercial among this year’s best.”
“We know that humor is highly subjective and we understand that some consumers have found the commercial offensive,” Ms. Nathanson said, adding: “Clearly that was not our intent. We do not plan to continue the ad on television or on our Web site.”
That apparently, is not good enough for John Aravosis and his commenters, who want a major league apology and even new ads showing gay men in them. Try to follow me here ... Snickers bars are primarily eaten by children, and by young men -- as the company says, its target market is college aged men. And those two groups ... follow me now ... would definitely react with laughter or "gross-out" to the same situation. Right? Isn't that why the ad works?
Update: Just for reference here is the other Snickers ad, called "Wrench." Note how many commenters who themselves are gay say they found the ad funny. Go figure...
Here's the version called "Motor Oil":
And here's are the reaction spots, from the Colts:
...and from the Bears:
Now when you listen to the reactions, I can see where someone who is gay might have had their feelings hurt by hearing the reactions of rather typical straight men to seeing two men kiss. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but those reactions, if disheartening to a gay person, are very, very typical. EVERYONE at the Super Bowl party I was at reacted the same way. We can't ALL be violent homophobes. It's human nature to expect romantic pairings to be male-female. The visceral reaction people have to this ad is, I hate to say it, rather normal. Maybe gays don't want it to remain that way, but for now, it is.
But more importantly, it's JUST A FREAKING CANDY COMMERCIAL.
Oh, okay, if you hated that one, check out this Snicker's ad from Australia:
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%>
Tell a friend
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Else
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'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
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'put the webmaster address here
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sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
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sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
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%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
