"Pansy" reference in Hillary Clinton endorsement raises some hackles

North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley's high-profile embrace of Hillary Clinton may not play out as an unalloyed asset for her. The main sound bite he delivered in endorsing her presidential candidacy today sparked criticism (muted, for the most part) for being an insult to gays.

Referring to his own reputation as a hard-charging politician, he said, "I've been accused of being persistent and downright aggravating." As Clinton stood next to him in an auditorium at North Carolina State University, he added, "But this lady right here makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy." (More about the event is available here.)

The first definition in Webster's New World Dictionary for pansy is "any of various violets." But then there's this: "[Slang] an effeminate man; esp. an effeminate male homosexual: often a contemptuous term."

Although Barack Obama's overdue stiff-arm of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright overwhelmed coverage of virtually anything else in politics today, Easley's comment did not go completely unnoticed.

As of this afternoon, a  handful of blogs had commented on it, including this post on The Smoking Gun, which noted that when Clinton ...

"stepped up to the mic to accept Easley's endorsement, (she) said nothing about his 'pansy' comment."

The Drudge Report linked to this item, meaning awareness of Easley's phrase is likely to grow.

We checked with the Washington headquarters of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's premier group promoting gay rights, and it already had a statement in the works.

Trevor Thomas, the group's deputy communications director, sent out this e-mail a few minutes later: "We certainly wish the governor would have chosen his words better and have expressed our disappointment to his staff.”

We've asked the Clinton campaign for a comment but, as of now, nothing has been issued.

-- Don Frederick

Photo credit: Associated Press

 

Comments

[Justin]

It is an unfortunate/ignorant choice of words, but can we focus on the fact that the endorsement was essentially that Sen. Clinton is more "persistent and downright aggravating" than Gov. Easley?

Are those virtues we want in a president? Our current president has been plenty persistent. More importantl,y why should somebody support a candidate who's best case for election is tearing down their opponent?

[Rocky]

Reading some of the posts here is disheartening. How about talking about some actual issues instead of re-hashing this Rev Wright madness. If this is what American politics has become, I'll tell you this, God Damn America!

Rev Wright said nothing yesterday or the day before that was anything new. The message, that black people are just different, not deficient; was totally lost to almost all of you.

It's just sad that things are going down the way they are. Barack Obama now has to denounce his own pastor in order to stay politically relevant when it should not even be an issue. It shouldn't be an issue no more than President Bush supporting Pat Robertson's or Jerry Falwells bigoted views. Bush has never had to denounce Pat Robertson or Falwell, why should Obama have to denounce Rev Wright?

What has this country become when political candidates have to denounce their pastor's views in the public eye to stay relevant politically? It sounds like something that a political candidate in Iran or the Taliban would have to do. I'd like to think that we are above religious fundamentalism, but the way this country is reacting to what Rev Wright said shows that some of us are just as fundamentally religious as those in the Taliban or in Iran.

What Rev Wright said was nothing new. All he did was speak the truth, the truth has been around a long time and it's about time we accept it. Instead of picking little sound bites about an AIDS conspiracy and Farrakhan to focus on. The focus needs to be on the message, not these little tidbits of sound.

I hope some of you realize how ignorant and stupid all of this is. Think about the massive problems we are facing in almost every domestic issue you can think of. If you think about that, and still want to focus on this, you've got some major personal issues that you need to deal with.

Barack Obama is still the best candidate to be President of the United States of America. Hillary doesn't have the judgement, McCain is too old and he wants to continue these same failed policies. Obama is the best candidate hands down. It's up to the American people to realize when they are being 'swiftboated' with some nonsense.

All I'm saying is think about it before you let the words of a pastor determine who you vote for. Nothing will change if we continue to fall for this manufactured BS.

[a joke]

the whole obama thing is over race his whole be the first black man in the white house is about race everything is abut race so anyone who wants to vote for a racist like most black people then u should just go back to africa and shut up about it.

[grow up]

hyper hyper sensitive is the reaction to this comment

Tells you how touchy the homosexuals are.

oh no, i shouldn't said touchy. eegads.

Grow Up.

(oh no, there's conotations in 'grow up')

Everyone. Please. Get a LIfe.

[D.C.]

It's pretty bad when all we care about is if someone said 'pansy', rather than who is best suited to lead this country out of the horrible mess we're in. Wake up America, this isn't a soap opera.

[hammerdown]

Well there goes the pansy vote.

[MarkyMark]

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Who gives a crap?

[Chris Dolejs]

I'm a supporter of both Hillary and the Human Rights Campaign. I would not call any gay man a "pansy." Of course, the fact that Rocky Balboa is a purely fictitious character might make some difference, yes? The dictionary definition emphasizes the "effeminate" part of the slang sense of the word. Should little girls take offense if someone says that Hillary makes Rocky look like a little girl?

There have been, of course, unfortunate statements made by supporters of the candidates:

Wright: "God damn America."
Easley: "This lady right here makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy."

And however vexing either or both may be, neither should bear at all on people's decisions about whom to vote for. The statements are not relevant.

This is a non-issue, and even Obama would call this a silly distraction from bigger, more meaningful issues. I have to agree with him.

[William Anderson]

I've never associated Pansy with gays personally. I also find that term a lot less offensive that much of the vile language that Reverend Wright has been spewing so pointedly about Americans, Whites, Italians and Jews. I'm sure given time, this crazy uncle will add more categories to his growing list of people he despises.

[Dao Of Zombies]

So, we've resorted to looking up definitions of words in order to uncover inflammatory comments?

I hardly doubt this was intended as a slight to any group, and people who dig like this are the same people who talk about Barack Obama making a odd gesture during a debate.

Get over it, find something a little more worthy to cover. Honestly.

[Tophier Verdugo]

I'm not sure what this has to do with how good a president Hillary Clinton would be. I am gay, and I couldn't care less about what the Governor of North Carolina said. Perhaps the press should be giving the Republican candidate a hard time about receiving endorsements from people who say that gay people deserve to die. That is the actual stuff that is hurtful. Let's keep our eye on the ball people!

[William Anderson]

I've never associated Pansy with gays personally. I also find that term a lot less offensive that much of the vile language that Reverend Wright has been spewing so pointedly about Americans, Whites, Italians and Jews. I'm sure given time, this crazy uncle will add more categories to his growing list of people he despises.

[mateo]

Not surprising that this kind of gotcha tactic is all these two candidates have left.

I for one am not convinced either is significantly more qualified or more deserving of the job than the other.

How about a truly experienced, principled, deserving candidate?

www.votenader.org

[unscum]

I'm an Obama supporter, but I must say, this is such as stupid story. Is this what you guys at the LA are payed for?
I guess 4000 dead in iraq, rocket slamming into the green zone, $4 gasoline and 40 million people without health care is no longer any news. Pathetic!!!

[Eric]

Finally, something IMPORTANT that will seriously affect my vote! /sarcasm

[Al]

I presumed he was talking about Obama Barack and was using the phrase in the sense of metrosexual, an appellation Howard Dean declared applied to himself. Alternatively, HRC counselor's have frequently been described as gurly men, and he may have decided it was necessary to differentiate her from them.

Truly a macaca moment.

[wildbill]

It was an unfortunate choice of words on the part of the N.C. Governor.He,like most people say what is on their minds,before they engage their brain and think.

[B]

Look, I don't care much for Hillary or Governor Easley for that matter ... but come on, is our country so anal retentive and uptight that the guy gets stuck with criticism for saying Hillary makes Rocky look like a pansy?! Those who take offense for those comments have unresolved issues with themselves that they need to deal with, don't take it out on a simple, common, everyday phrase that I've heard people of all races, genders, and sexual orientations use as something humorous.
Frankly, I've heard far worse comments than that coming from those who'd take offense to such an inane phrase.

[Ben]

Here comes "Pansygate."

This will be for Hillary Clinton what "Bittergate" was for Obama.

Thank God the Nation is finally becoming interested in some real, serious issues that make a difference in folks' lives! God bless America!

[Larry Sidney]

Seriously, the political correctness in this country is disgraceful! First, counting negatives again Obama for comments that his pastor made--which by the way are irrelevant as we consider what Obama may accomplish as president. Now, penalizing Clinton's standing because of the use--by someone else who happens to support her--of the word "pansy?" What the hell is wrong with people in our country? Are there not more important issues to consider than these? Whose thin skin is being ripped open by these almost insignificant remarks?

The sad truth is that neither of these issues would be a problem at all, except that we now have people whose very livelihood is to sound the alarm for the rest of us, to get everyone riled up and over-sensitive to the minutia, while the real issues--economy, foreign policy, environment, war, povery, etc.--take a back seat. Shame on the alarmists for doing it, and shame on US for buying into it!

[steve pesce]

Pansy in the boxing lingo sense is not any more offensive than saying someone was hit so hard he was on "queer street". This is boxing lingo and not about gays.

[John_Lai]

This is the type of media coverage that Elizabeth Edwards found so abjective. They twisted the speakers meaning, sidestep the main issue, try to frame the audience and disorient them for their LEFT WING liberal PURPOSE: biased towards OBAMA.

These extremists try to influence voters towards their anointed candidate with no regard to public interests. We get misunderstanding rather than understanding from their reports.

They serve to distract the issues about policy and development.

The degenerated journalism it is. It is disgusting to see reports like that. We should tell them to stop this nonsense. We want to be relevant. Do not baffle us with this BS.

[Kat]

If the Repugs and the Clintonista are going to hang on every word of the Rev. Wright, then any of Hillary's and Bill's buddies become fair game. Pansy is derogatory, unless you are a gardener. Hand signals and dog whistles to the intolerant white undereducated community. In other words, appeal to the lowest common denominator by denigrating anyone who is not a white, hetero, factory worker. Nice work, Hillary. You should be real proud of yourself. I hope your Wellesley friends don't catch up to you, you disgusting hypocrite.

[dt]

whatever... this is just downright stupid.... I'm gay and really don't care that he used the word "pansy"

[downhill240]

Havn'et we had enough of the go-git-em mentality from the bush gang? Remember the "Bring-em on" comment? Remember the photo-op where Hillary was belting a shot of whiskey and a beer chaser to win acceptance from the good old boys? This too sounds like George trying to win approval from the good old boys (Cheney/Rumsfield).
We don't need another "Hard-chargin" to hell with the cost kind of President. We need a President capable of thinking through every action possible including blow-back on any action we take. This Military/Industrial think has got to stop. We don't need anyone who wants to one-up Margaret Thatcher.We simply cannot afford it any longer.
We need a person who has the ability to make the right decision, not the politically expedient decision. Senator Obama is the person capable of correcting our course in the world, domestically and in history.