Posted on 04/29/2010 10:49:56 AM PDT by raccoonradio
BOSTON -- A Massachusetts state representative and a conservative talk show host in the Hub are squaring off after the state rep blasted the radio personality in an obscenity-laced e-mail Thursday.
"Michael Graham is a (expletive deleted)," State Rep. David Torrisi, a North Andover Democrat wrote in an e-mail response to a Graham show producer's request to be on the talk show. "He can go (expletive deleted) himself for all I care."
Torrisi, who was being invited on the show to discuss his opposition to a proposal to ban state benefits for illegal immigrants, later told Statehouse News Service he regretted his choice of words, but still felt the same about 96.9 talk show host Michael Graham.
(Excerpt) Read more at thebostonchannel.com ...
In new developments, the bill to bar illegal aliens from receiving tax payer funded bennies like free healthcare, instate tuition, welfare, section 8 housing next door to Aunt Zituni went down by a handful of votes.
Yes I think if 4 people changed their votes it would have passed, Jeff Perry was saying yesterday
Let’s face it, liberals are low-lifes, no matter how heavily they apply the make-up.
Tea Party persons are bad?
This person needs to be voted out of office.
Any politician who is too stupid to realize that emails like this are not a good idea...isn't smart enough to hold elected office. What a tool.
today’s Eagle Tribune
there are many comments
“I responded from my BlackBerry,” the North Andover Democrat said yesterday. “It was probably a little impulsive on my part.”
Torrisi’s insulting two-sentence reply was sent to a WTKK producer who had e-mailed Torrisi asking him to appear on Michael Graham’s show to discuss his opposition to legislation barring state benefits for illegal immigrants. Torrisi e-mailed back: “Michael Graham is an (expletive). He can go (expletive) himself for all I care.”
Graham’s website posted a copy of the e-mail, which Torrisi confirmed he sent.
“I obviously regret the choice of words, but I don’t regret the intent,” Torrisi told The Eagle-Tribune. “To me, people like Michael Graham and other radio talk show hosts ... I don’t think they add anything to the debate at all.”
The House voted 82-75 Wednesday to send Rep. Jeff Perry’s proposal to study, killing it for the year and sparking an outcry from supporters of the proposal, who say illegal immigrants should not have access to taxpayer-supported services.
Torrisi said the state already does “a pretty good job” of screening immigrants applying for public benefits, adding that he believes exceptions should be made for children who grow up in the United States and people who overstay their visas to care for sick relatives here.
“I think the subject of immigration is much more complex than these talk radio hosts make it out to be,” said Torrisi. “I said what I said and I probably shouldn’t have used those words, but I still feel the same way about talk radio hosts, left-wingers and right-wingers alike.”
Graham, one of the region’s most popular talk show hosts, discussed Torrisi’s response on the air yesterday morning.
“The reaction is not commensurate with the action,” Graham said, adding, “It seems like people get really angry with you because you dare to say this isn’t right.”
In a telephone interview, Graham told the State House News Service that he sensed that among voters, based on “the feeling that he conveyed towards me, the feeling is mutual, and they’ll be expressing that feeling in November when it counts.”
Torrisi will run for re-election to a seventh term this fall. He has represented the 14th Essex District, including most of North Andover and sections of Lawrence, since 1999.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.