Easley explains 'pansy' remark
Governor Mike Easley, Hillary Clinton's biggest-name supporter in North Carolina, sought this afternoon to explain a remark that raised some eyebrows: "This lady right here makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy," he said last week while announcing his endorsement.
His wording choice provoked some protests from gay rights groups, and caused some consternation among Democrats who thought Easley was calling Obama a wimp.
Asked about it this afternoon on MSNBC, Easley said he likes all the "Rocky" movies, wasn't casting aspersions on Obama, and was just trying to say colorfully that Clinton is one resilient politician.
"They've taken her to the graveyard five or six times, but she's only driven the hearse back," the two-term governor said.
Easley also took some umbrage at the characterization that Bill Clinton, in his barnstorming in small towns across North Carolina, is going after the votes of "Bubbas."
Easley said there's a wide range of political views in small towns, and pointed out that 85 of North Carolina's 100 counties would qualify as rural.
"At the end of the day, Hillary has to sell Hillary," and she has successfully done so on the economy, Easley added.
The response by gays and Obama supporters to Easley's response is a great example why the Democrats will never govern a united nation. Liberals are too touchy and easily offended. A Democrat president cannot govern because every intitiative, statement or proposed legislation is going to offend one or more of the Democrat constituency. As a result, decisive action will be replaced by criticism of Republicans, big oil, big pharma and other demons. In the meantime, Democrats will continue to take contributions from all of the above and do nothing to solve the people's concerns.
Interesting point Jeff from Orlando. Hasn't it gotten silly? It reminds me of when my two siblings and I would scream at my parents.....S/He is looking AT ME! Tell him to STOP.
What we are seeing is the "politics of umbrage! Wha a waste! Quite frankly, I think the Obama camp has taken this to a new level. This is the way Obama wants to usher in a "new" political discussion. Yeah, RIGHT. Politics is a "blood sport" and it is not for the thin skinned. It will never change and I don't know that it can..
I disagree vehemently with Jeff and Rozanna.
There is obviously a deliberate campaign by Clinton surrogates to appeal to the masculinity prejudices of white working-class men by using loaded masculinity language, including not only "pansy" and "sissy" but ridiculous remarks about "cojones" and "testicles."
It may seem harmless or just stupid, but at base, it is an appeal to the very same masculinity prejudices that animate violence against gays, transgender people, and even straight women. The Hillary crew cleverly stops just short of using obviously antigay slurs, but they know very well what they're doing. And it has no place in any public debate.
It is also intertwined with her hilarious obsession with demonstrating how manly she is, from voting for the Iraq War and threatening to nuke Iran to pretending she knows how to drink in a pub and pretending to be a gun nut. And I thought George Bush had a masculine-inferiority complex!!! Don't be surprised when Hillary stuffs a cucumber down her flight suit and lands on an aircraft carrier too.
It is supremely ironic, moreover, for such a bright and capable woman campaigning to be the first female president to have surrogates deliberately engaging in these kinds of juvenile sexist appeals. It is utterly shameless for the likes of NOW to stand by silently while it happens. (Hmmm, I recall them standing by silently when Monica Lewinsky was trashed too.)
Of course, none of this should be surprising, coming as it does from a campaign that also has been using race, religion, age, and class to drive wedges between constituent parts of the Democratic electorate. That's Mark Penn's vile micro-targeting strategy. We should all welcome it's failure and demise as a primary strategy!
I cannot comprehend how Hillary appears to manipulate this campaign and for everyone to bow to her plan to change things to her advantage. I have been voting a long time and I have never seen such effort to be so coniveing . The Clintens have been in Office for so many years,its time to take a break. Bill is just as greedy.
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