Kirkland, Smith face backlash on gay comments

[ccharles000]

Comments Republican congressional candidates Dr. Ron Kirkland and Randy Smith made about gays being "taken care of" in the military at a forum Thursday night in Paris prompted a backlash against the two on Friday, with an official from a state gay rights group saying the candidates should apologize.

A Kirkland campaign official says his candidate has no immediate plans to do so. Smith said in a phone interview Friday that he apologizes to those who took offense to his comment and that he has a gay daughter, but he maintained that he was "telling it how it is actually."

The two were asked about the potential repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy by members of the "Volunteers for Freedom" Tea Party group, who sponsored Thursday's forum in Paris. The question, at one point, asserted that gays have an extremely medically destructive lifestyle and, because of that, a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" would lead to the federal government spending more on health care costs.

Kirkland, of Jackson, referred to his Army training during the Vietnam War and said: "I can tell you if there were any homosexuals in that group, they were taken care of in ways I can't describe to you."

http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20100501/NEWS03/5010305

[bluestateguy]

1. What would be the point of demanding an apology?

A forced apology with mealy mouthed words that they won't even mean.

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Keep diggin, dude.

You'll get out of that hole, for sure!