Dirty, Scurrilous Lesbians

MSNBC political analyst Lawrence O'Donnell had a Howard Beale moment on Scarborough Country Friday, calling Swift Boat Veterans for Slander founder John O'Neill a lying liar who lies around a hundred times.

O'Donnell was just getting warmed up, though. Here's the transcript, picked up after O'Neill was punted and the show turned to the subject of Mary Cheney's publicly debated lesbianism:

GUEST HOST PAT BUCHANAN: ... would it not have been wise for Kerry himself, when the controversy came up over the Cheney daughter -- we were talking about it for six, seven days -- if Kerry himself had just moved, look, if anyone's taken offense, I apologize; let's move on?
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: Yes. I now think the way that whole Cheney daughter thing played out, that that would have been the right line, that -- suggesting surprise at the offense, but if you've taken the offense, I'm sorry.
BURKMAN: Do you think it's OK that they attacked Cheney's daughter?
O'DONNELL: They didn't attack the daughter.
GOP STRATEGIST JACK BURKMAN: Well, do you think what they said is OK?
O'DONNELL: Yes.
BURKMAN: Is it?
O'DONNELL: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
O'DONNELL: She's a lesbian and she has lesbian sex.
BURKMAN: But is appropriate to call attention, for a presidential candidate...
O'DONNELL: The reason I know that is that her father told me.
(CROSSTALK)
O'DONNELL: Her father and mother told me she's a lesbian and has lesbian sex.
(CROSSTALK)
BURKMAN: That's not the issue.
(CROSSTALK)
BURKMAN: That's not the issue. My question is, do you think it's appropriate for a person seeking the highest office in the world to raise that in a presidential debate?
O'DONNELL: Because I believe there is nothing negative about lesbianism, and I'm very much in favor of as much lesbianism as lesbians want to create in the world, and as many of lesbian Cheney family members as they want to have is all fine by me, I see nothing negative.
(CROSSTALK)
BURKMAN: I'll tell you, Pat. Even Bill Clinton and Al Gore -- Al Gore, who in the 2000 campaign use every dirty and scurrilous tactic known to man, they did not...
O'DONNELL: Dirty, scurrilous lesbians. Dirty, scurrilous lesbians.
BURKMAN: It's nothing to do with that. He did not attack the children of the candidates. Even Bill Clinton and Al Gore did not do that.
(CROSSTALK)
BUCHANAN: Let's take a look at something else.
O'DONNELL: What's the attack in the word lesbian?

In these bitterly fractious times, I think it's important to find issues in which partisans can set aside their differences and join in agreement. I stand today with O'Donnell, and ask you to stand with me, in strong support for as much lesbianism as lesbians want to create in the world.

Politics · 2004/10/27 · 0 COMMENTS · Link