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Haley Barbour Uses Word "Whorehouse" in Campaign Appearance
Memphis, TN, Commercial Appeal ^ | 05-13-03 | Dowd, James

Posted on 05/13/2003 6:17:28 AM PDT by Theodore R.

'Whorehouse' comment surprises GOP's Barbour pledges support for The Med

By James Dowd dowd@desotoappeal.com May 13, 2003

Mississippi gubernatorial candidate Haley Barbour scored points in DeSoto County on Monday regarding support for The Med but raised eyebrows with a comment about Head Start during a tour of Sacred Heart School in Southaven.

"Head Start is a godsend for Mississippi," the Republican told Sacred Heart principal Laura Clark. "Some of those kids in it would be better off sitting up on a piano bench at a whorehouse than where they are now."

Clark said she understood the context of the remark, though she was surprised by his choice of words.

"I think he was trying to represent an extreme situation," she said. "I wasn't offended by it. I believe I know what he meant."

Later Monday, Barbour's communications director said the candidate - who's a deacon in his church and a Sunday school teacher - meant no disrespect.

"It was just a figure of speech," said Quinton Dickerson "Haley was making a point about why Head Start is so important, especially for children who are in a tough situation."

Barbour, who was in DeSoto County as part of his campaign, is challenging Democratic incumbent Ronnie Mus grove.

In Hernando, about 40 people stopped by Timbeaux's to talk to the Yazoo City native about the financial woes of the Regional Medical Center at Memphis.

"If The Med shuts down tomorrow, God forbid, there's nowhere for us to go," said Flo Larson, a founding member of Mississippi Friends of The Med.

The Med offers the closest trauma center in the region, said Paul LeBlanc, assistant director of DeSoto County emergency medical services. Without it, patients would have to travel to Jackson for treatment.

"The Med is just across the state line, they accept our patients, and we need to support them," LeBlanc said.

An increase in uninsured patients who receive treatment but often can't pay for care has created financial problems for the facility.

Nearly 300 patients from North Mississippi are taken to the trauma center every year, LeBlanc said. The Med also offers the region's only burn center and adult AIDS clinic.

Musgrove recently signed a bill designating $500,000 for The Med, LeBlanc said, but he believes the state should offer more support.

And with the hospital facing a $13 million shortfall this budget year, Barbour agrees.

The importance of The Med to North Mississippi can't be overstated, Barbour said, and he pledged to do whatever it takes to "pay our fair share."

"Mississippi shouldn't be a freeloader."


TOPICS: Politics/Elections; US: Mississippi
KEYWORDS: 2003; barbour; desotocounty; governor; headstart; ms; republican
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Gee, could the word "whorehouse" become the bete noir of the Barbour campaign even before the primary is held? Well, if Jimmy Carter could overcome "ethnic purity," maybe Haley can lived down "whorehouse."
1 posted on 05/13/2003 6:17:28 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: Theodore R.
James Carville sang duets with Paul Begala at a piano in a whorehouse.

Thank God that the American people shut it down in 2000.

2 posted on 05/13/2003 6:22:12 AM PDT by Doctor Raoul (The "Anti-War Leaders" Have Blood On Their Hands, look and you'll find, they are NOT anti-war)
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To: Theodore R.

Hehehe. He said whorehouse. He,hehe,he.

3 posted on 05/13/2003 6:43:09 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn’t be, in its eyes, a slave.)
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To: Theodore R.
"Head Start is a godsend for Mississippi,"

The truth is that the program has been around for 30 plus years and has made no difference at all in the achievement level of the children who go to it. It is another Statist program to get kids under government control at an earlier age.

4 posted on 05/13/2003 6:43:12 AM PDT by Lysander (My army can kill your army)
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To: Doctor Raoul
In politics today, a candidate sometimes gets saddled with a single word or phrase. Ford prematurely freed eastern Europe of its "Soviet domination." Carter had his "ethnic purity." Gary Hart had his "new ideas." Walter Mondale had his "Where's the beef?" Reagan had "there you go again." Bill Bradley was "cerebral" though he had a low SAT score, quite a bit lower than that of Bush II. Dukakis had his ACLU membership card. Bush I had his "thousand points of light." Clinton had his "I feel your pain." Gore had his "global warming." Does Haley Barbour want to be saddled with the word "whorehouse"? That's what happens when there is the free expression of ideas sometimes. Speechmaking can, like lawmaking, be synonymous with making sausage.
5 posted on 05/13/2003 6:43:28 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: Doctor Raoul
Good one. But who did Haley offend? Whores? Maybe piano players.
6 posted on 05/13/2003 6:44:19 AM PDT by Williams
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To: Lysander
Head Start was said to be the favorite liberal program of Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson. Republicans are afraid to tell the truth about Head Start. Bob Dole told Bill Clinton to "tell the truth," but the GOP fears to tread on the popularity of Head Start.

Also Head Start workers collect unemployment compensation during summers even if they have assurance of work in the fall.
7 posted on 05/13/2003 6:45:08 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: dixiechick2000
MS BUMP
8 posted on 05/13/2003 6:45:14 AM PDT by WKB (If you ain't the lead dog the view never changes!)
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To: Blood of Tyrants
Yea, the use of the word "whorehouse" would be "amusing" if uttered by a Democrat. But when a Republican says it, watch out! It's like the old adage about the news. Its is not news when a dog bites a man, but it is news when a man bites a dog!!! So when a Democrats says a dumb remark, it's not news, but when a Republican says a dumb remark, it is the end of life "as we know it."
9 posted on 05/13/2003 6:46:53 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: Theodore R.
Boy you don't hear vulgar words like that anymore.
10 posted on 05/13/2003 6:48:02 AM PDT by WKB (If you ain't the lead dog the view never changes!)
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To: Theodore R.
"Whore" remains a great decriptive term. I often use it when shopping with my eight year old daughter, as in "Don't buy those shorts. That's the kind whores wear." Even my teenage boys consider some of these "little girl" fashions to look more like outfits for whores.

My daughter gets the message loud and clear. The other day she pointed out a photo of an underclad woman on a magazine cover and whispered, "Mommy, that's a bad girl."

I figure she surrounded everywhere with these slutty images. I might as well spin it to her advantage while she's still impressionable.

11 posted on 05/13/2003 7:05:15 AM PDT by keats5
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To: Theodore R.
Monica Lewinsky owes her success in life to her own "Head Start" program.
12 posted on 05/13/2003 7:10:37 AM PDT by Enterprise
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To: Theodore R.
And? Why is this a story?

Are we going to pretend politics isn't a whorehouse?
Are we going to pretned media isn't a whorehouse?
13 posted on 05/13/2003 7:12:21 AM PDT by mabelkitty
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To: mabelkitty
Whenever a Republican "misspeaks" or is later forced to apologize for having "mispoken," it is newsworthy, whether we like it or not. Now if Gary Hart or Bill Clinton had uttered the same remark, such a comment might not have even made the paper.
14 posted on 05/13/2003 7:14:10 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: Theodore R.
I find this ridiculous. The democrats in the Southern media etc. are so damn scared that they are losing the South (not just in national elections, but now in state and local ones). Barbour is a folksy, likeable guy. I think colorful is good. Can we please stop electing politicians like Byron Dorgan-- a man that could single-handedly cure insomnia?
This is a non-story, manufactured by GOP haters in the media.
15 posted on 05/13/2003 7:22:23 AM PDT by faithincowboys
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To: Enterprise
"Monica Lewinsky owes her success in life to her own "Head Start" program."

Looks like you got a twofer with that statement.
16 posted on 05/13/2003 7:27:36 AM PDT by billhilly
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To: Theodore R.; general_re; Chancellor Palpatine; All
In the King James Bible, I find 76 instances of whore (including the forms whoredom, whoredoms, and whoremongers.) There are no whorehouses as such, and no pianos.
17 posted on 05/13/2003 7:30:00 AM PDT by dighton (NLC™)
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To: Doctor Raoul
Speaking of Begala, he famously said about someone, I can't recall whom, "he's as nervous as a whore in church."
18 posted on 05/13/2003 7:32:30 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
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To: dighton
Brother Jed Smock and Sister Cindy (who later married him) used to call me a whoremonger when they'd swing by my campus 20 years ago.
19 posted on 05/13/2003 7:33:58 AM PDT by Chancellor Palpatine
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To: faithincowboys
It may be a non-story, but the Memphis Commercial Appeal saw fit to mention it and put the "W" word in the headline. If it brings down a Republican a notch or two, it can't be all bad, reason the Democrats.
20 posted on 05/13/2003 7:43:42 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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