Originally Posted By Darkbeer Before I post the article, I would like to say at least the guy figured out the comment was "beyond dumb" and has apologized, but still, I would be VERY upset if I heard this at my graduation! <a href="http://www.wnbc.com/politics/9306297/detail.html" target="_blank">http://www.wnbc.com/politics/9 306297/detail.html</a> >>State Comptroller Alan Hevesi publicly apologized Thursday for a "beyond dumb" remark about a fellow Democrat putting "a bullet between the president's eyes." Hevesi called a mea culpa press conference hours after putting his foot in his mouth at the Queens College commencement. "I apologize to the president of the United States" and to the fellow state politician, Sen. Charles Schumer, Hevesi said. "I am not a person of violence. "I am apologizing as abjectly as I can. There is no excuse for it. It was beyond dumb." At the news conference, a contrite Hevesi repeated what he recalled saying in the speech. The comptroller said he was merely trying to convey that Schumer has strength and courage to stand up to the president on major policy issues. According to a videotape of the speech, Hevesi said: "The man who, how do I phrase this diplomatically, who will put a bullet between the president's eyes if he could get away with it. The toughest senator, the best representative. A great, great member of the Congress of the United States." Hevesi said he hadn't been in touch with the White House but he hoped his apology reached President Bush. Hevesi, a longtime professor of government and politics at Queens College before becoming comptroller, also referred to his comments as "remarkably stupid" and "incredibly moronic."<<
Originally Posted By DlandDug Obviously, this guy was caught up in the moment. I am glad to see he immediately apologized, and in no uncertain terms. It was a dumb thing to say, nothing more, nothing less.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer ^I decided to post this after some of the earlier Commencement Address threads....
Originally Posted By Eric Paddon If a Republican had said something identical about Bill Clinton during his presidency, the media would still be shaming him unto eternity no matter how many quick apologies he gave. Only a person with a warped sense of ethics would even let himself get "caught up in the moment" like that to begin with. And he's not going to suffer any lasting repercussions for it because the press corps, in typical fashion, will yawn and say "who cares?" To them it's only a sign of "meanness" if a Democrat is the target.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 You obviously don't know Hevesi and his penchant for off the cuff statements. Here in NY, they're semi-legendary (as legendary as a comptroller's statements can be). He prides himself on not using scripted comments, and this is not the first time he's said something dumb. It has nothing to do with "warped ethics" - as Dug said, it was a dumb statement, nothing more and nothing less. And he was thoroughly raked over the coals for it here (front page of all the tabloids his morning).
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Yes, the guy clearly opened his mouth before putting his brain in gear. I doubt that his intent was evil. I can look past that mistake just as I can look past Bush's frequent mangling of the English language. I know in the end that the lack of speaking ability doesn't necessarily mean that the person is bad.
Originally Posted By CrouchingTigger At least the guy apologized without using the usual weasle words that politicians use. Facing your mistakes directly shows a certain amount of class, in my book. (Might've shown more if he hadn't said it, but he did and he faced it.)
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Yeah, Hevesi isn't a bad guy. He just loves feeling like an "unscripted" pol (the rarest of things these days, to be sure), and as a result he's made gaffes and he's had practice eating crow previously, though he's never made the uproar that this one did before.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Hevesi isn't the first guy in politics to say really dumb stuff... <<"Now if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they're going to be wearing bulletproof vests." --G. Gordon Liddy, radio show, 8/26/94>>
Originally Posted By Darkbeer ^ I think there is a BIG difference between a talk show host saying something on his show as compared to a Public Official speaking at a Commencement Ceremony at a public funded College.
Originally Posted By jonvn Well, for one, Liddy was right, and two, he was just a talk show host, and three, everyone knows he's out of his mind anyway.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 The other obvious difference is that Liddy was dead serious, and Hevesi was making a clumsy attempt at humor.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>I think there is a BIG difference between a talk show host saying something on his show as compared to a Public Official speaking at a Commencement Ceremony at a public funded College.<< Yes, one is heard by millions, the other isn't. But other than that, they're ridiculous things to say.
Originally Posted By DlandDug At the time the genuinely scary Mr. Liddy made that statement, he had been out of politics for many years. (And not by his own choice.)
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan He'd been out of prison as well. But apparently, his stay there didn't make him any brighter. I can't imagine anyone thinking it appropriate to offer information about the best way to kill an officer of the law, but then again, the words 'appropriate' and 'Liddy' don't really go together.
Originally Posted By Beaumandy To bad Trent Lott didn't get the ol, " He was only kidding " routine when he made the comment about Strom Thurmond. "I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either," Lott said at last week's party. -- I guess saying someone should be shot is not as offensive to liberals as what Lott said.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Lott was a powerful politician at the national level. Hevesi is a local bureaucrat nobody that most people had never heard of until this week. Right or wrong, a person in Lott's position will ALWAYS be held to a higher standard of behavior.
Originally Posted By Beaumandy <<Right or wrong, a person in Lott's position will ALWAYS be held to a higher standard of behavior.>> I don't know RT... the real story here is the way democrats are so quick to attack a republican, yet will give their own people a pass even if they are stuffing stolen money in their icebox.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Come on Beau, the guy is the head of the New York State Retirement System. Who really CARES what the guy says? He's a lightweight. Do I think he is a stupid fool? Yes I do. What more do you want? I reserve my outrage for people who actually have some power.
