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Iowa Dreamin' and Don Imus |
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Written by Jeff Jones
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created Thursday, 12 July 2007
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He’s running. We’re watching.
Keeping tabs on Gov. Bill Richardson as he seeks the Democratic presidential nomination …
IOWA DREAMIN’: The baseball fan and former college hurler did a little daydreaming Wednesday on the famous “Field of Dreams” movie site in Dyersville, Iowa.
The site features a baseball diamond surrounded by cornfields.
Richardson, who pitched a few balls and took a few swings there Wednesday, told The Associated Press that he’s seen “Field of Dreams” 18 times, and ranked it as his secondfavorite movie — behind “Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.”
“I came here as a fan. I know I’m running for president, but I would have come here as a tourist,” Richardson told the AP. “I love the movie.”
IMUS AGAIN: Richardson’s use of a Spanish word that many consider to be a derogatory term for gays could be landing him in trouble with some members of that community — a group he has actively courted in his presidential campaign.
Several gay blogs — along with the L.A. Times and USA Today political blogs — have reported on the issue. It stems from a 2006 interview with Richardson on the now-canceled Don Imus radio show, in which the governor used the term maricón.
The banter went something like this: Imus said one of his staffers, Bernard, didn’t believe Richardson was Hispanic and asked Richardson if he would agree that Bernard was a maricón.
Richardson, speaking in Spanish, said he believed Bernard was a maricón if he didn’t think Richardson was Hispanic.
That term is considered a derogatory term for gay men: Gaynewswatch.com, which broke the story, likened it to the word “faggot.”
Richardson has a record as a supporter of gay rights: He has called repeatedly for a repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy concerning gays in the military and called for a special state legislative session earlier this year to deal in part with a domestic partners bill that ultimately did not pass.
In 2003, Richardson signed an executive order extending benefits to the domestic partners of gay and lesbian state employees. That year, he also signed a hate crimes law that can tack additional prison time onto offenders’ sentences.
According to gaynewswatch.com, Richardson apologized if he had offended anyone with the remark on Imus but maintained that in the Spanish he grew up speaking, the term in question “means simply ‘gay,’ not positive or negative.”
According to that Web site, the Richardson statement also said that, “I would never knowingly say or do anything to hurt the (gay) community — a community that I have worked hard for and supported my entire career.”
THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD NEWS:
According to a national Newsweek poll, 81 percent of voters say they would cast their votes for a Hispanic candidate for president — someone like Bill Richardson, for instance — if that person won their party’s nomination.
However, the poll — detailed in an msnbc.com story by Brian Braiker — found only 39 percent of Americans actually feel the country is ready to elect a Hispanic president.
“More bad news for Richardson: despite his years of experience, only 25 percent of Americans feel he is ready for the job; 57 percent don’t know,” Braiker wrote.
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