Five days after his Senate campaign’s political director sent out an email purporting that Democratic Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin lacked “heartland values” because of her sexual orientation, Republican “Tea Party Tommy” Thompson offered an explanation for his campaign’s attacks on Baldwin.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson said Tuesday that it was a mistake for one of his aides to send a disparaging email and Twitter messages about Democratic opponent Tammy Baldwin dancing at a gay pride event.
The email and tweets were sent in advance of Baldwin’s speech at the Democratic National Convention last week.
“I thought it was a mistake, I’m sorry, and he’s apologized, I believe,” Thompson told reporters after a luncheon of the Milwaukee Rotary Club. “He shouldn’t have done it.”
The fact that Tommy Thompson took five days to offer an explanation for the email sent out by Brian Nemoir (from Nemoir’s campaign email account, no less) isn’t surprising, because as I wrote last week, Thompson strikes me as just the kind of “good old boy” who will say he’s not a homophobe while condoning homophobic statements with a wink and a nod.
The fact is, the Tommy Thompson of 20 years ago – who was truly a moderate Republican – is dead, having been wholly replaced by “Tea Party Tommy” Thompson, a right-wing extremist of the first order. What’s more, the fact that Tommy Thompson has chosen to keep Brian Nemoir as a part of his campaign team instead of firing him outright speaks volumes about the fact that Thompson clearly doesn’t see homophobia among his campaign staffers as being a big problem.
UPDATED: Here’s some video of Tommy Thompson offering an explanation for his campaign’s attacks on Tammy Baldwin’s sexual orientation.
Tommy Thompson has never been a moderate on LGBT issues. And during the speech that preceded his sort-of apology, he rambled pointlessly all over the place, variously declaring himself one of the great heroes of 9/11 and denouncing the Affordable Care Act even as he told audience members he embraced its policies.
http://www.wisconsingazette.com/wisconsin-gaze/thompson-expresses-regret-over-aides-gay-baiting-of-tammy-baldwin.html
Yeah, I’ve updated the original entry to reflect the fact that it was more of a sort-of apology.
nemoir’s the cat with nine lives. should’ve been fired by thompson AND prosser. but then, karl rove wasn’t fired for being a potential secondary source, about valerie plane being in the cia, for a reporter different from the one who ended up publishing it. i guess for the republicans if you’re seen as being effective, that trumps ethics and decency.
Yeah, Nemoir absolutely should have been fired by Thompson, but I’m not shocked he was kept on, because as I wrote Thompson strikes me as the kind of good old boy who either condones or doesn’t correct the kind of talk we saw from Nemoir.
Tammy Baldwin does lack “heartland values” What’s the issue here? She can’t take a little heat? She has called Tommy a lot worse.
What sort of heartland values are you referring to, Porn Star? Come on, be brave and articulate what you really mean.