Thompson Offers Apology on Gay Comment
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ 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…. “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.”
I can handle a candidate having a bad experience during a debate. I can handle a candidate making a mistake (hey, we’re all human….) during a debate. I can even handled a candidate misspeaking during a debate. Hey, s—t happens, no? Besides, sometimes things can become pretty strange under the glare of klieg lights and the scrutiny of the press, the blogosphere, and a television audience.
What I cannot stomach is a candidate who screws the pooch, and then lies, prevaricates and tries to excuse his way out of it. If you make a mistake and say something monumentally stupid, own up to it, apologize, and let it go. Most Americans are pretty forgiving. We don’t expect perfection. What we expect is honesty and directness. What we detest is a candidate who says something stupid, and then talks out of both sides of his mouth as he tries to explain his whirlwind trip to F—upistan.
During the recent Republican debate at the Republican Shrine to the Two-Minute Hate Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Thompson came straight out and said that it would be acceptable for an employer to fire an individual for being gay. Thompson had to know as soon as the words escaped his lips that he’d completely screwed the pooch. After the debate, he could have apologized profusely for his blunder, and that would like have gone a long ways toward putting the incident behind him. After all, it’s not as if the mainstream media is famous for asking Republicans tough questions.
Yeah, Thompson could have apologized, but he apparently decided that would be taking the easy way way out. Thompson, in true, time-honored DUMB@$$ fashion, decided that the best way to deal with his faux pas was to continue trying out excuses until he found one that stuck.
Here be a DUMB@$$….
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.
Time for another visit from Captain Obvious, eh? Actually, Thompson so far has really only put himself at a disadvantage in one situation- when he opens his mouth. The good thing about this is that we’re seeing Tommy Thompson before the spinmeisters and the image-molders and the speechwriters get ahold of him. What we’re seeing is likely pretty close to the real Tommy Thompson, warts and all…and it ain’t a pretty picture, is it?
Thankfully, Thompson is about as likely to be the Republican Presidential nominee as I am. What Thompson’s presence in the race is indicative of, though, is that there’s a strong strain of intolerance in the “Big Tent Party”. The fact that the stage at the Reagan Library was occupied by 10 well-fed White men can, and should, be taken as proof positive that the GOP is not nearly as inclusive as it wants to portray itself as. No women, no African-Americans, no Hispanics…just overfed White men as far as the eye could see. And Tommy Thompson is one of the least objectionable of the lot. How sad is that?
