YOU DECIDE: Tasteless or OK

[MDM4AU 336]

Washington, DC, -- “Tennessee State Representative Craig Fitzhugh should be ashamed of himself for allowing his campaign office to distribute a flyer belittling Special Olympics children,” said Traditional Values Coalition Chairman Louis P. Sheldon, today. “This disgusting flyer is an insensitive attack against children with disabilities.”

Rep. Fitzhugh’s office, which is shared by the Kerry-Edwards campaign, has been distributing a flyer showing a Special Olympics child with President Bush’s face superimposed on the head of the disabled youngster. The headline reads: “Voting for Bush Is Like Running In The Special Olympics: Even If You Win, You’re Still Retarded.”

“This kind of mean-spirited material has no place in an election campaign,” said Rev. Sheldon. “In my 40 years of involvement in politics, I’ve never seen anything so despicable as this flyer. Rep. Fitzhugh should not only apologize to the disabled community and to his opponent Dave Dahl, he should fire whoever is responsible for distributing this ugly attack piece.”

Rep. Fitzhugh and Dahl are running for the State House District 82. The flyer has been distributed from Fitzhugh’s campaign office in Ripley, Tennessee. His office also serves as the local Kerry-Edwards campaign headquarters.

“This flyer not only insults the intelligence of Republicans, but it also hurts thousands of Americans who have children with disabilities. Fitzhugh should be ashamed of himself for allowing such a hateful flyer to be sent out from his office,” said Sheldon.

LINK

[Jenny AU-92 0]

Political party aside - BEYOND TASTELESS.

How about rude, crude, insensitive and totally reprehensible? And I am not even a huge fan of political correctness -this has nothing to do with political correctness - this is just downright TACKY, classless and low rent!!!!

[SupperClub 0]

When will we hear a public outcry about this? When will the media jump all over this story and drive it into the ground?

NEVER.

More of the double standard that exists in today's media. Do you honestly believe if Dave Dahl were running this add about Kerry, and out of an office that was shared with the Bush/Cheney ticket, that this story wouldn't have made front page news?

Like Jenny, I am not a big proponent of political correctness, but this goes above and beyond the realm of PC. This is completely absurd.

[jaydubb121 22]

This makes even me sick.

I work with deaf, blind and multihandicapped students here at my job.

As a matter of fact the young man who was a student worker for me last year was such an exceptional worker that I wrangled the funds to hire him into a full time position once he graduated from Helen Keller School in the spring.

This young man was also named as the State of Alabama's Special Olympics athlete of the year. His specialty is powerlifting and I'm quite sure if he ran in to this candidate face to face he would whip his ass.

Oh, and he's a registered voter who will be supporting Bush.

If someone can get me an address or phone number for this idiot I can guarantee this goober will rue the day he put this out.

[SupperClub 0]

District Address:

135 South Alpine Street

Ripley, TN 38063

Phone (731) 772-8978

Nashville Address:

33 Legislative Plaza

Nashville, TN 37243-0182

Phone (615) 741-2134

Fax (615) 741-7041

Staff Contact: Eunice Golden

Internet E-Mail Address:

rep.craig.fitzhugh@legislature.state.tn.us

Link to his webpage

[jaydubb121 22]

Never mind, I got what I need. He'll be sorry.

Edited to say : oops thanks for that posting that. Guess we were looking for the same info at the same place. As soon as I get home this afternoon his attention will be gotten. Look for an apology from this buffoon within 24 hours.

[MDM4AU 336]

This makes even me sick.

I work with  deaf, blind and multihandicapped students here at my job.

As a matter of fact the young man who was a student worker for me last year was such an exceptional worker that I wrangled the funds to hire him into a full time position once he graduated from Helen Keller School in the spring.

This young man was also named as the  State of Alabama's Special Olympics athlete of the year. His specialty is powerlifting and I'm quite sure if he ran in to this candidate face to face he would whip his ass.

Oh, and he's a registered voter who will be supporting Bush.

If someone can get me an address or phone number for this idiot I can guarantee this goober will rue the day he put this out.

111345[/snapback]

Contact Info including picture included here (CLICK)

[tiger88 934]

Typical libs. They are so righteous they can say anything they want about the unrighteous.

[Jenny AU-92 0]

Dear Mr. Fitzhugh:

Note that I did not use the usual title "The Honorable" because nothing about you or your actions deserves the use of that honorific.  Hopefully, the voters of your district will see you the same way, and soon remove that title from your letterhead permanently.  The campaign literature your office is distributing is extremely disturbing. How dare you misuse and exploit an organization like the Special Olympics for your own misguided and hate filled political purposes!  It is sad to note that you and your liberal party are so desperate to regain the political power that you frittered away that you would stoop to new lows in political advertising.  You Democrats are the first to sling the mud of political incorrectness at everyone else - do you think that it does not apply to you now?  What other word could you use to describe this advertisement!  Even if the media will not portray you and your ilk for the pathetic losers that you are, I assure you that people like myself will make sure your actions do not go unnoticed.  I hope your opponent beats you like a drum in this election, and I am going to contribute to his campaign to help see that you have plenty of off-time to think about the hurtful and replusive nature of your actions.

I note on your website that you claim to be a Baptist and a deacon at the First Baptist Church.  I am sure the Good Lord and your pastor are very proud of you right now.

[jptiger 481]

[Strychnine 1,802]

I simply cannot imagine a candidate for a public office being so foolish as to actually consent to something like that. Any candidate would know that such a statement is political suicide.

[Jenny AU-92 0]

I got this response from my email:

Thank you for your email.  Rep. Fitzhugh has stated in several articles,"It is totally, unequivocally, completely a lie.  I am completely disgusted by the accusation, by the distribution, by everything about it."

I have not seen any of those articles. Link, anyone?

[jaydubb121 22]

The email responses we received this morning indicate that Fitzhugh is "diligently searching" for whoever may have put these out.

Maybe he'll join forces with OJ

[TexasTiger 12,969]

I got this response from my email:

Thank you for your email.  Rep. Fitzhugh has stated in several articles,"It is totally, unequivocally, completely a lie.  I am completely disgusted by the accusation, by the distribution, by everything about it."

I have not seen any of those articles. Link, anyone?

111553[/snapback]

Sounds like more Republican fake outrage:

The flier was the subject of denunciations by Fitzhugh's Republican challenger, Dave Dahl; TeamGOP, which featured the flier on the home page of its Web site and for whom Dahl is a member of the board of directors; conservative blogger Bill Hobbs; and the Traditional Values Coalition of Washington.

Fitzhugh insists the fliers were dropped off at the office by an unknown person and promptly thrown into a trash can outside the office by the two volunteers on duty that day.

Someone later came by and asked about the fliers and was told they had been tossed in the trash. That second person then got one out of the trash and threatened to call the local newspaper, according to Fitzhugh's account.

"I had absolutely nothing to do with it at all," Fitzhugh said. "I'll do whatever I can to counter this, but it's hard to undo something you haven't done."

Fitzhugh said he has called on Dahl and TeamGOP "to help me find out how this happened, and certainly to quit distributing these lies. It's harmful to the Special Olympics and to people with mental and physical challenges, not to mention my family. It's terrible. This has just gone too far."

Dahl said a candidate should "be responsible for anything that appears in your headquarters," and that Fitzhugh had given varying accounts of the history of the flier.

"They gave it out to more than one person, as far as we know," Dahl said. "There is one person who brought it to the GOP headquarters."

Dahl said that person was out of town and could not immediately be reached.

Fitzhugh's office put AP in touch with a woman named Katie Honey, who said she was one of the two volunteers in the office the day the fliers were delivered last week.

"Someone brought them in and they left. I looked at them and said, 'This is not something we need in here. This goes in the trash,' " she said. "Well, here comes a man up and raising Cain and Mr. (David) Reynolds (the other volunteer) told him they were out in the trash. He went and picked it out of the trash and said, 'Well, this is going in the paper.' "

She said the second man did not come back after picking the flier out of the trash.

"It really, really is strange. Who around town was putting out this stuff I'll never know," she said. "There had to be somebody printing them up, but who it would have been I don't know. I'm just so sorry this stuff happened I don't know what to do."

Hobbs, a GOP activist from Williamson County, about 180 miles east of Ripley, said the flier was e-mailed to him by a source he knows who told him it came from the Fitzhugh campaign office. He said he did not check whether anyone had actually taken one of the fliers out of the office.

The Traditional Values Coalition issued a statement Wednesday denouncing the flier, saying that Fitzhugh "has been distributing" it out of his office.

Contacted in Washington, Andrea Lafferty, the coalition's executive director, said her group "had conversations with individuals in Ripley, one who went in there (the campaign office) and got it."

Asked by The Associated Press to be put into contact with that person, she said she would attempt to do so. Two hours later, she called back to say the person was out of town, but that she hoped to contact them in the next 24 hours and ask them to call AP.

Andrea Lafferty with the Washington-based Traditional Values Coalition adamantly told The AP she knew the man who could implicate the Fitzhugh campaign with the flier. But James Mitchell of Ripley said he has no idea where it came from.

''This should not be a political thing. This is something making fun of special needs children,'' Mitchell said in a phone interview. ''I don't want it pinned on Fitzhugh, I want it pinned on the one who done it. Fitzhugh is a nice man.''

Mitchell said he didn't know who did it.

''I don't feel like talking anymore about this,'' he said.

http://reg.knoxnews.com/kns/web/registrati...3252873,00.html

[Bottomfeeder 244]

Political party aside - BEYOND TASTELESS. 

How about rude, crude, insensitive and totally reprehensible?  And I am not even a huge fan of political correctness -this has nothing to do with political correctness - this is just downright TACKY, classless and low rent!!!!

111300[/snapback]

Well, how about this for political correctness!

FWD MESSAGE:

Dear Veterans and DC Area Residents:

As a veteran, I am very upset by the way our brothers and sisters who have given their all in Iraq are treated by the Bush administration.

Working with local Washington, DC area peace groups, I have acquired permits for:

THE IRAQ WAR MEMORIAL to be set up starting at 8:00 AM

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23 at the

LINCOLN MEMORIAL in WASHINGTON, DC.

This memorial consists of one flag draped coffin for every American soldier killed in Iraq.

The purpose of this event is to present an image that President Bursh does not wan the American public to see -- over a thousand coffins representing those who died half a world away in this terrible mistake of a war.

This Memorial also mourns the thousands of innocent Iraqis who have died.

Beginning at 8 AM, we will start construction of over 1,000 symbolic cardboard coffins, draping them with flags and placing them i formation around the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

Beginning no later than Noon, we will start the reading of the names, ages and hometowns of the 1,000 plus military personnel killed in Iraq. The reading of the names will take 3 hours. At 4 PM, The Iraq War Memorial will end and we will begin folding flags and disassembling coffins.

This is a VERY LABOR INTENSIVE EVENT and WE NEED YOUR HELP! in order to make this unique and moving experience a success.

PLEASE HELP US construct and/or deconstruct coffins and read names. Please contact your friends and relatives and ask them to join us Saturday, October 24 for The Iraq War Memorial.

We also NEED A BUGLER or BAGPIPER to perform when the Memorial is completed.

Also, please feel free to attend our organizing meeting Saturday, October 16 at 11 AM on the front steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

CONTACT US AT iraq_war_memorial@yahoo.com

Jose Rodriguez, Arlington VA

[DKW 86 7,433]

Katie Honey

Sounds like a porn star to me...

I love how the smarmy ones get caught in their pitiful attempts at humor and cant stand the heat.

It must be fun to be able rationalize that every bad thing that happens in your life is simply another paranoid black helicopter conspiracy by those wascally Republicans.

[CarolinaTiger 0]

i'm inclined to believe this couldn't have been instigated by the candidate in question. who'd be that insensitive, dumb, and cruddy? a wacko-partisan (on which side of the aisle i don't know) had to have done this, IMO. if the campaign did this, it is instant political suicide. my guess is that it was created by a juvenile w/ computer skills. kids tend to not know the ramifications/impact of the actions they think are funny.

ct

[DKW 86 7,433]

i'm inclined to believe this couldn't have been instigated by the candidate in question.  who'd be that insensitive, dumb, and cruddy?  a wacko-partisan (on which side of the aisle i don't know) had to have done this, IMO.  if the campaign did this, it is instant political suicide.  my guess is that it was created by a juvenile w/ computer skills.  kids tend to not know the ramifications/impact of the actions they think are funny.

ct

111717[/snapback]

Or maybe just a silly campaign volunteer...

I never said it was the candidate himself, however, Occams Razor can apply here. The simplest explanation is the best. The conspiracy theory stuff is just too much for me.

Anyone remember the Republican Sex Tapes years ago? The Reps made them for fun within the office, in 1996? The Dems got hold of them and used them to damage the Reps. There was no conspiracy, just humor that got out of hand. I bet it was the same thing here.