Tory party riddled with gays?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.thisislond...with-gays-says-ken.do

Is this appropriate language for a prospective Major of London to make?

Notice how the BBC (all in the name of political correctness), altered what he actually said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...gland-london-16955851

[sandyRoe]

Could he have been having a larff when he said that?

[anotheoldgit]

Even the Pink News used the same interpretation.

http://www.pinknews.c...re-riddled-with-gays/

[Gromit]

AOG

You are reading it wrong. He is saying being Gay or Lesbian is wonderful. It is being a Tory hypocrit which offends him.

I have bad news for you AOG. Gays and Lesbians ARE everywhere.

[Zeuhl]

Another case of misrepresentation by this OP either as a mischievous attempt to generate argument, an inate aversion to the truth or because of an inability to comprehend what he reads or writes.

Perhaps Old Git hankers for a job writing headlines for the gutter press. He seems to have at least some of the qualifications.

[anotheoldgit]

sandyRoe

/// Could he have been having a larff when he said that? ///

To be fair Sandy would you have said that if Boris Johnson had made the same remark?

In fact I believe most who have posted their views on here, would have taken a completely different attitude towards the remark, had it had been said by Boris.

[jackthehat]

Ken has gone on record a saying that is was a 'humorous' remark....and I suspect it was; aimed squarely at the Tories and their preoccupation with 'gays under, if not *in* the bed.
Use of the word 'Riddled' would have had the Tories shuddering at the very thought, it has far more impact than baldly stating that statistically there will be as many gay Tories as there are in the other parties.

[Baldric]

Zeuhl,
How unkind
Yet sadly very true

[rov1100]

Just because they walk around with limp wrists and effeminate voices it should not be construed they are homosexual. For instance they may have been brought up with many sisters.

[Gromit]

I fear the remark 'riddled' has gone over your head which is quite funny as it was aimed an homophobic people like you.

Homophobes will say " it was riddled with gays". That is offensive and derogitory. So Livingstone was apeing the language of the anti-gays in the Tory Party to say the same about them.

[sandyRoe]

I was thinking more in an ironic sense. When he was mayor didn't he work to promote the rights of all the people of London?

[jno]

uh, yes, if Boris had made the comment about the Archangel Gabriel I would indeed have thought he was joking, same as I think Ken was. Londoners do prefer their politicians to have a sense of humour and a gift of the gab, and the two main rivals have.

[Khandro]

rov. What on earth do you mean?

[ludwig]

As he gets older and grumpier he seems to say more and more stupid stuff, as if he can't be bothered to apply his PC filter any more.

The controversy is in the use of the word 'riddled'. It has connotations of disease and parasitic infestation. Do you remember all the furore when someone said the country was being 'swamped' by immigrants ? It's like that.

I love the spin jno puts on it though....

// .. he used words like "riddled" to mock [the tories] traditional attitude to gays //

Aaahh I see - he's being ironic, so that's ok then...:o). Have you ever thought about becoming a spin doctor jno?

[Gromit]

Ludwig, from the Conservatives website.

// Prior to becoming Prime Minister, David Cameron was elected Leader of the Conservative Party in December 2005 on a mandate to change and modernise his Party. He was proud to see a significant increase in the number of women and ethnic minority candidates standing for the Conservative Party. //

The Conservative Party is swamped by ethic minorities.

(Did you see what I did there)

[ludwig]

// (Did you see what I did there) //

Yes, you spelled ethnic incorrectly.

[jno]

nothing particularly "ironic" about it, ludwig; to use your opponent's language against him is an ancient rhetorical procedure.

"Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man..."

[ludwig]

Fair enough - let me rephrase my earlier comment.

Aaaah I see - he was using his opponents language against them in the manner of the establshed ancient rhetorical procedure - so that's ok then...:o)

[ludwig]

To be fair, he's used an ill-judged word - or an ill-judged bit of rhetoric, because it's allowed people to deliberately get the wrong end of the stick and pounce on it to make something out of nothing. Does it mean he's at all anti-gay? Of course not.

But I do enjoy it when these stalwarts of PC-leftiness slip up and get hoist by their own PC petard (is that the word?). Dianne Abbott is another one with her recent 'White people love to do that' comment.

I actually quite like Ken Livingstone, but he's definately becoming more Clarksonish of late.

[Kromovaracun]

"and what difference does a politicians sexuality make to his/her ability to do the job?"

This is a valid question, so just thought I'd comment on it.

By and large, you're right. A person's sexual orientation does not (or rather, should not) affect their job. What Livingstone was trying to do, however, was refer to cases where it does matter (albeit he did so in a rather stupid way): Cases where people in positions of power will champion 'family values' or oppose gay rights legislation, while not doing so themselves. Who a politician like that sleeps with is just about the only case where it is relevant and does reflect on their job.

A good example of the same thing, I think, is Newt Gingrich. Ordinarily, it wouldn't really matter with regard to him doing his job if he was sleeping with someone young enough to be his daughter and lying about it. But when he was ferociously attacking Clinton in the 1990s, and at the same time attempting to champion 'family values' more generally - it was something of immediate and important relevance because it reflected on the man's integrity and trustworthiness.