Republicans Are Not Bigots, They're Comedians!

[Spence]

Did Bunning's so-called joke go too far?

Patrick Crowley
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Did you hear the one about Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Dan Mongiardo looking like Odai and Qusai, the dead sons of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein?

You did if you attended the March 20 4th District Lincoln/Reagan Dinner in Florence. The tasteless joke came courtesy of Republican Sen. Jim Bunning of Southgate, who is likely to face Mongiardo this fall.

According to four Republicans at the event, none of whom would be named for fear of angering Bunning, the crowd reacted with laughter - along with some gasps.

Bunning had apparently met Mongiardo - state senator, doctor from the eastern Kentucky mountains, son of Italian immigrants - earlier that day at the Lane's End Stakes at Turfway Park.

But even some of the Republicans who heard Bunning's speech found the remarks insensitive, boorish and beneath a U.S. senator.

Late last week, the Bunning campaign was e-mailed direct quotes attributed to the senator that a Republican in attendance wrote down after being asked by The Enquirer about the statement.

Friday morning, the campaign issued an apology. But a few hours later, the campaign recanted. They had gotten a tape of Bunning's speech and said the quotes were inaccurate.

Fair enough.

So why not make the tape available so we can hear what it was Bunning said?

The campaign refused.

So tell us what the senator did say? Again, no comment.

"If the senator didn't make these hateful statements, then why not let us see the tape?" said Eric Niloff, communications director for the Mongiardo campaign. "What does he have to hide?

"Whatever Senator Bunning said, he should have the courage to say it directly to Dan Mongiardo - and the integrity to say it directly to the people of Kentucky," Niloff said.

Well, lo and behold, Bunning's campaign had an epiphany Wednesday night, when it issued this statement:

"We're sorry if this joke, which got a lot of laughs, offended anyone," the campaign said.

Hey, as long as it got a lot of laughs. Geez, who's running Bunning's campaign, Billy Crystal?

Kenton County Democratic Chairman Nathan Smith labeled the remarks racist.

"He should apologize," Smith said.

Mongiardo has been through this treatment before from Republicans in Kentucky. In last year's state Senate race, his Republican opponent ran a television ad that mixed Mongiardo's voice with the image of a Sept. 11 hijacker.

Tough politics are fine. But ethnic jokes have no place on the campaign trail. Even if you are a senator.

Source

And it's not their fault if you're too humorless to laugh at such witty banter!

[RedskinsDave]

What was the joke? All I see is references to it.

[SkinsKY]

The reference to the opponent's resemblence to the Hussein boys. Not very funny, but sadly, I almost expect things like that from my fellow Kentuckians. We had a sheriff candidate in Eastern Kentucky murder his opponent so he could win the position. Not good class on Bunning's part. In fact, it was a terrible show of class.

[Spence]

Originally posted by RedskinsDave
What was the joke? All I see is references to it.

Apparently, Senator Bunning [a former Cincinnati Red who threw a no-hitter] remarked that his Democratic opponent looks like Saddam Hussein's sons. Like you, I fail to see the joke there. More like a dimwitted remark from the tiny brain of a tiny man. The actual wording is unconfirmed because, as the story noted, Senator Bunning refuses to release the taped transcript of the event where he made his little funny. The story is based on the accounts of Bunning's fellow Republicans who attended the event and, apparently, do not entirely share the Senator's taste in humor.

[RedskinsDave]

Sounds like a non-story to me.

[Spence]

Originally posted by RedskinsDave
Sounds like a non-story to me.

Really? You think a U.S. Senator saying his political opponent [who is Italian] looks like Sadddam Hussein's sons is a non-story? Well, I'm glad the Cincinnati Enquirer disagrees with you.

[RedskinsDave]

Slow day I see.

[Spence]

Well, perhaps not as earthshaking as John Kerry joking he'd like to be known as the second black president.

[akhhorus]

Children...play nice...

[RedskinsDave]

Who, us two? We always play nice, Tom and I do.

[Spence]

Yeah, Dave and I do all right. Considering I'm from Maryland and he's from Virginia and I'm a Democrat and he's a Republican and I'm a Reds fan and he's a Yankees fan, I think it is pretty damn impressive we're still on a first-name basis.

Must be my innate charm.

[RedskinsDave]

Is that innate charm or inmate charm?

[dukeuch]

Originally posted by Spence
Yeah, Dave and I do all right. Considering I'm from Maryland and he's from Virginia and I'm a Democrat and he's a Republican and I'm a Reds fan and he's a Yankees fan, I think it is pretty damn impressive we're still on a first-name basis.

Must be my innate charm.

Maryland and Virginia, and you are Reds and Yankees fans? Shame on you both!

Go O's.

[Keino]

Duke , many of us in the Washington are despise the O's becuase of the way that Angelos has blocked DC from getting a team. I know I am among this group.

[RedskinsDave]

Yeah, that's something we can all agree on. I hate the O's now.