OH-GOV: Blackwell Campaign Spreads New Rumors About Strickland's "Boy Toy"
A day after trailing gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell spread unsubstantiated rumors linking Dem frontrunner Ted Strickland to pedophiles, the Blackwell campaign is today reaching even higher: It's pushing new rumors that Strickland is gay and took a trip with his "boy toy" to Italy. The Blackwell campaign today sent out a video of Wednesday night's Hannity and Colmes program on Fox News. On the show, guest Bill Cunningham -- an Ohio talk show host -- accused Strickland of taking a trip to Italy with an aide in 1998 "in order to enjoy a little fun" with a "26-year-old boy toy." Our screen grab shows Blackwell's campaign web site promoting video of the accusations. More after the jump.
According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, the accusation is a reference to the fact that in 1994 a young man who would later work as a campaign aide to Strickland, a Congressman, was arrested for public indecency. He wasn't working for Strickland at the time. But the aide had started working for Strickland by 1998, and the two took a trip abroad to Italy -- a trip which the Blackwell campaign, and the Ohio State GOP, are pointing to in order to insinuate a gay affair.
But there seem to be plenty of holes in the story. First off, as the Enquirer notes, the aide doesn't even appear to be gay:
Attorneys for the former aide, who the Enquirer has decided not to name, have made it clear that the man is not a homosexual, is not a pedophile and has turned his life around since his arrest for exposing himself for children. The man pleaded guilty to the charges, according to police reports legally expunged by an Athens County judge in 2002.
Nor is it clear that Strickland ever even knew about the arrest. The aide, who had joined Strickland's camp and was trying to turn his life around, obviously would have had incentive to keep an arrest four years earlier a secret.
In the editorial board meeting, Strickland said he first learned of his aide's conviction toward the end of a "a very intense re-election campaign" in 1998, when an anonymous letter came to his office saying the aide had been convicted of exposing himself to children while a student at Ohio University in Athens four years before."I asked him about it and he denied that there was any truth to it," Strickland said. The aide left Strickland's office in 1999.
Strickland said he didn't pursue the matter because the anonymous charge "didn't seem credible."
So Strickland didn't believe that the young man had been arrested. And then they went on a trip together which was supposed to be a post-campaign celebration, one which others were invited along on:
Strickland said Wednesday [the venture to Italy] was supposed to have been a trip with three of his top campaign aides, "a way to relax and have fun after a very tough re-election campaign, a way to sort of reward ourselves." But the other two aides backed out "because other things came up or it was too expensive for them, so they didn't go."...In July, an employee of the Ohio Republican Party was fired after distributing e-mails questioning the sexuality of Strickland and his wife. Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett apologized to Strickland for the incident.
"A few months ago they were apologizing for this sort of thing; and now we're three weeks from the election and it's their campaign strategy,'' Strickland said. "The only thing that has changed is that they are losing."
Strickland's camp also pointed out that Hannity is a Blackwell supporter; Hannity even did an event with him today. Blackwell is losing to Strickland by as much as 27 points.
Here's a question for the MSM: why did I have to follow through three links to find this?
In reading through all of these citations of this general story, I started to actually wonder whether Strickland had actually denied the insinuation that he was gay. If not, then it still hangs out there. If so, then even the most scurrilous mud-throwers have to shut up unless they get actual evidence to the contrary. So why isn't the fact that the allegation has actually been denied getting cross-posted the way that the allegation itself is?
I'm not saying that it's bad to be gay. I am saying that it's a problem to be closeted, as a number of politicians are finding out this year: the right takes offense at homosexuality, and the left takes offense at hypocrisy.
October 19, 2006 5:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Are there any reporters on this story that we can out?
October 19, 2006 6:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
In case anyone has forgotten, nothing is beneath Kenneth Blackwell. Repeat, nothing is beneath Kenneth Blackwell. Once more, nothing is beneath Kenneth Blackwell.
October 19, 2006 6:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Soooo, Ken Blackwell is taking the low road? Such a surprise. I'm hoping to see karma bite him and the rest of the Ohio Rethuglican party on the behind this November 7.
P.S. Bill Cunningham, via wiki.
October 19, 2006 6:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Blackwell stole the 2004 election for our Moron-in-Chief. Why should this surprise us?
Tom
October 19, 2006 6:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
A 26 year old is not any kind of "boy" even if too many of them like to think they are (and act that way too). And no one who is dating a 26 year old can be said to be remotely pedophiliac or even ephebophiliac.
October 19, 2006 7:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I bet Strickland hasn't denied he is
a. A jewel thief
b. A mass murderer
c. A serial rapist
d. A golf cheat
It doesn't mean he is any of the above. Denials sometimes lead to questions about why there was a denial in the first place.
Years ago Michael Kinsley wrote a very surprising and perceptive article asking how a gay might be defined. I have no idea how accurate the statistics were but he had a set claiming something like half of men had had a homosexual experience. Kinsley asked how many experiences made one gay. One could go beyond that to ask how many are repressed homosexuals, etc.. High school boys tend to hurl accusation at other boys as gay. It is part of growing up and probably the result of some confusion over sexuality. Psychiatrists seem to widely recognize that homophobia betrays a latent homosexuality.
In my own particular case, when I first got on the net I was commonly accused of pretending to be the former San Francisco DA as well being the DA with the same name. The result was I was regularly called a homosexual though the DA was also charged with sexual harassment of women. I stopped even answering the charges because I really didn't care one way or the other.
Denials often lead to more charges. Sometimes best to say nothing at all.
Best, Terry
October 19, 2006 9:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
blackwell is pure scum
he makes smegma look like caviar
October 20, 2006 1:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
In addition to the smear, what I find very disturbing is that FOX News aided and abetted the campaign. First, Hannity has his co-campaigner, Cunningham, as the sole guest on Hannity & Colmes to discuss this "scandal," (hardly an unbiased observer), Cunningham smears Strickland with more salacious details, then the Blackwell campaign uses those remarks as news coverage that they send to local reporters.
How biased is that?
http://www.newshounds.us/2006/10/20/fox_news_becomes_operative_in_rockwell_smear_campaign.php
October 20, 2006 2:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
I am sure Blackwell has been getting counsel from Rove. You may recall that Rove went after a judge in Alabama hammer and tong with accusations of pedophilia. The guy won the first race after much fighting, legal actions by Rove, and acrimony, but eventually decided not to run again.
This seems incredibly desperate by Blackwell, and I suspect the Ohioans will recognize it for the undignified attack that it represents.
October 20, 2006 2:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?
October 20, 2006 7:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is no doubt too obvious, but since no one else stressed it, I shall. Besides its other faults, the smear attempts to perpetuate the equation gay = pedophile, or "you can't trust your kids around gays." So it's not an accident that it's coming down the pike not just when Blackwell's losing, but also when that equation has become the GOP response to the Foley imbroglio.
John
http://www.haberarts.com/
October 20, 2006 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ever notice how conservatives are soooooo obsessed with people's sexuality and sex in general? They come off sounding like they can't think of anything but sex. Wazzup with that?
October 20, 2006 3:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Probably has something to do with repression of sexuality which channels sexual energy in inappropriate directions or leads to an obsession or leads to guilt about sexual thoughts. I heard a lecturer say that homophobes are more likely to have homoerotic dreams than people who are accepting of people regardless of sexual orientation. They transfer their confusion about this into gay-bashing. I think you're getting into very complex psychological stuff.
Tom
October 20, 2006 3:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL...I think that lecturer is onto something Tom.
I wonder how many links to porn sites they have saved in their browser's "favorites"? I am sure it would only be for "monitoring/research" puposes to keep track of the "filth" infesting the www though, lol. ;-)
October 20, 2006 3:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
terryhallinan
Only if you have a bigger soapbox than the accuser. If they're making a larger stink than you, though, then you need to address the smear. This was a huge problem for both Dukakis and Gore - that they assumed the public was too intelligent to believe the more outrageous claims being made by their opponents' mudslinging. They assumed wrong. Kerry did better, and still was damaged by lies.tlees2
I've been thinking about this since the Foley scandal broke. By the way, the exact same thing happened to the mayor where I live just last year. Right-wingers claim that homosexuality is a choice - but these people chose to be straight years ago. They've been suppressing their sexual desire for decades. Any psychologist will tell you that given the strength of sexuality in the human psyche, that's always a recipe for disaster. Then when they finally give in to their nature, since they believe that all homosexual activity is sinful, there's no point in engaging in that activity in an ethical or honorable way - such as with a consenting adult. Since they're doing something "bad" anyways, all bets are off in terms of judgement. That's what you get from choosing your sexual orientation.October 20, 2006 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Cincy Enquirer is certainly not distinguishing itself with its handling of this story. I'm going to have to send another round of angry letters to the editor and their reporters. Read the one in which the reporter chose to include an extended soliloquy on NAMBLA. It's in the earlier post on the Blackwell-Strickland debate.
They don't seem to get that their continued coverage of this whole TOTALLY BOGUS non-story IS THE WHOLE POINT! The detestable Blackwell campaign just wants to get it out there and try to get any possible mud to stick to him. Hannity, an equally detestable fat little maggot, is happy to air these bogus allegations because he is a lower form of life than pond scum.
October 20, 2006 6:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
True, but I think that's the least of the problems with this story.
October 20, 2006 7:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, I agree! But when I read that the age of the alleged paramour was 26 and then juxtaposed that with "pedophilia" I actually did laugh out loud. True, gay rumors could hurt the candidate (though I doubt this will stick) but I can't imagine even a dyed-in-the-wool homophobe thinking that a fling with a 26 year old would qualify as pedophilia. This slander smacks of the stupidity that comes with abject desperation.
October 21, 2006 9:38 AM | Reply | Permalink