N.Y. GOP Republicans have heated debate

[wicket]

LINK

From the early minutes of the hourlong forum sponsored by all news cable channel NY1, former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer found himself repeatedly on the defensive about his unconventional private life and its impact on his tenure as mayor from 1996 to 2004. While married to another woman, Spencer fathered two children with his then-chief of staff and substantially raised her salary. He eventually divorced his first wife and married his chief of staff.

So with an opening question from debate moderator Dominic Carter about whether a candidate's personal life should be off-limits, the responses got very personal, very fast. Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland, a former Ronald Reagan-era Pentagon official, immediately accused Spencer of engaging in adultery and nepotism and said it spoke to his lack of credibility to serve in office.

"That's something that, in 1998, the Republican Party impeached President Clinton for exactly the same behavior," McFarland said to gasps from the audience. "If you'd been in the military, you would have been court-martialed. If you worked in the federal government, you would have been subject to indictment."

Spencer angrily shot back, saying McFarland had unfairly insulted his children and lied about his record. "You have no way of knowing my private life," he said. "I say to you, Mrs. McFarland, shame on you. Shame on you as a mother of children and a woman yourself for talking about my wife and my family that way."

So much time was spent discussing Spencer's private life that Carter finally turned the tables, asking McFarland whether disclosures about her own messy past — she accused her father in 1992 of sexually abusing her as a child — were relevant to her fitness to serve.

:popcorn: :popcorn:

[jpak]

1. GOP Fambily Valoos

Gotta luv it...

[rurallib]

2. ROTFLMAO

:applause: :woohoo: :rofl: :toast:

More! More! Can they invite Joementum to their next bash?

[Missy M]

3. They even play in the gutter with each other.....

I guess it's in their blood to vilify everyone.

[AlCzervik]

4. wow!! Shame on both of them---

for being republicans, i don't care a rat's ass what they do in their personal lives with consenting adults.

[Kutjara]

5. Damn, two Repugs arguing about which one is sleazier!

Talk about the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. They could debate that stuff for decades and not reach bottom.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

6. What someone should have done...

Is shoot them with a ketamine-loaded dart, put them way down in the K-Hole, put a potted plant in their hands and let them just stand there, staring off into space for the rest of the show.

It would have raised the level of political discourse, in NY, immeasurably.

[Old and In the Way]

7. Are there any normal people in the Republican Party? nt

[rodeodance]

8. He tootk a pge from Cheney debate:

Spencer angrily shot back, saying McFarland had unfairly insulted his children and lied about his record. "You have no way of knowing my private life," he said. "I say to you, Mrs. McFarland, shame on you. Shame on you as a mother of children and a woman yourself for talking about my wife and my family that way."

[w4rma]

9. Republicans are a bunch of freaks. (nt)

[tanyev]

10. Bam!

And what a comeback from Carter--sounds like he implied that it was somehow her fault that her father sexually abused her. Jerk.

[wicket]

11. kick

:kick:

[chascaz]

12. They call this a "debate"???

Repukes don't know how to "debate" anything, as that would require reasoning and critical thinking, which they are incapable of. That's why childish name calling and mudslinging pass for "debate" in those circles. What get's me is that whoever wrote the article has their headline up their ass. Imagine the average web surfer, who sees the headline, but doesn't read the article. They're going to go away with the notion that repukes actually "debate" things. They may even think "wow, repukes aren't all in lockstep with each other, they even "debate" each other and heatedly so." When nothing could be furthur from the truth.

Peace - :)

[RCinBrooklyn]

13. "You're a nut." " No you're a nut." "No you're a nut." "No you're a nut. "