Republican Senate campaign staffer calls woman a "dike"

[Mike L]

(Columbia-AP) Sept. 28, 2004 - US Senate candidate Jim DeMint has reprimanded a campaign staffer for a derogatory comment she made about lesbians in an e-mail.

The director of operations for DeMint's campaign accidentally e-mailed her comments to the chairwoman of the Central Savannah River Area Rainbow Alliance. Lisa Hall is chairwoman of the group that raises awareness on gay issues. She had invited DeMint and Democratic rival Inez Tenenbaum to appear at an October town hall meeting to discuss issues of interest to gay voters.

Hall sent a second request when DeMint's campaign did not respond. DeMint operations director Ginny Allen sent a colleague a note to campaign co-worker that says "give this dike a reply." But that message also went to Hall. Hall says she was shocked by Allen's comments.

http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2360399&nav=0RaPRPKY

Inez Tenenbaum's campaign website:

http://www.inez2004.com/portal/

[CityDem]

1. Will this have any effect in SC?

Or will the rednecks applaud this despicable behavior.

[napi21]

3. Rednecks will probably applaud her.

Remember this is the State that is still fighting for the rebel flag!!!

[markus]

2. He doesn't spell too well either

eom

[dave123williams]

Seriously; it's D.Y.K.E.

Maybe he was accusing her of being a water retaining wall?

[beyurslf]

4. Imagine that: a hateful, homophobic slur from a Republican... AND

they misspelled it. DYKE. How stupid are you when you can't spell your slurs? Idiots!

[Supersedeas]

12. all predictable along w/e-incompetence in forwarding message

how do you spell dumba$$: r-e-p-u-b-l-i-c-a-n

[snoogins]

5. i wont matter

its what they all think: they hate and loathe gays and the redneck refucklicans in SC will lap it up.

dont apologize, revel in your vileness.

[HootieMcBoob]

6. I thought it was spelled Dyke?

But I could be wrong. :evilgrin:

[yellowcanine]

7. You are correct but when has bad spelling stopped a freeper?

[KansDem]

16. Indeed...

what a "hughly moranic" thing to do...:)

[DemoTex]

8. I sent this story to the AP managing editor yesterday.

WYFF-TV news in Greenville, SC, told me that they would run the story if it is carried by AP. We will now see what we shall see.

On edit: I just spoke with the WYFF-TV newsroom and they are considering running the story on the local evening news. Yesterday's version of the offending email in the Columbia, SC, The State had the terms "fag" and "dike" (sic) in it.

[cheshire]

9. These idiots just can't help themselves can they. Like the drunk telling a

cop I'm drunk arrest me.

[Mike L]

10. Inez has closed the gap in SC due to DeMint's stupid national sales tax

idea. Her commercials are killing him. We have a very good chance to keep this Senate seat. This is the seat Fritz Hollings has held for about 40 years.

[DemoTex]

11. More hot water for DeMint's "nice lady" remarks ...

DeMint’s ‘nice lady’ remarks anger many

In the mid-1980s, U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond incurred the wrath of women when he welcomed a group of feminist leaders to a meeting of the Judiciary Committee: “Why, you all are such pretty ladies. Why, if you all aren’t married, you could be.”

When Holly Cork was in the S.C. House from 1988 to 1992, male members often would address her as the “little lady” from Beaufort. Women were incensed.

Now, they are fuming again, this time over the way Republican U.S. Senate nominee Jim DeMint refers to his Democratic opponent, Inez Tenenbaum. He often calls her a “nice lady, but ...”

Women — Republicans and Democrats — are not amused.

Barbara Leonard, a GOP activist from Florence, calls it “harassment.” (more ...)

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/politics/9759859.htm

Looks like DeMint has the GOP and Democratic women on his case now. Bwaaa haaa haaa haaa!

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

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

[BQueen]

14. Are you serious?!

"lesbian" perhaps....

[camaro69]

15. Yikes....

That's a more PC label than Dyke? Honestly I didn't know that was the label of choice.

[BQueen]

17. One of those odd things...

Gay guys can call each other "fags" or "queer" but it's generally not cool for non-gays to do it. Same thing with African-Americans and the "N" word.

Sorta the same way with dyke, in my experience, so I stick with lesbian, until/unless someone tells me they prefer another term. You could probably just use the generic "homosexual" for both - you don't really need to modify it with "female", you can usually manage to get that in with a pronoun elsewhere in the statement.

Didn't mean to jump on you there...just took me by surprise -- but "dyke" started out as a negative term, just like those above, and the use of it in the lesbian community is a way of reclaiming it, but it's still seen as a slur by people who use it as this idiot did in the e-mail. A lot of it is just dictated by circumstances and how close you are with the person. I used to joke with my gay friends and jokingly call him "Mary" or "sister" and shit, but I would never use that with someone who I didn't have a pretty close friendship with.

edited for typos

[camaro69]

18. Thanks for clearing that up, I think. :0