Damn, I thought from the title of the thread this was going to be about some bizarre role-playing sex game....
My office has been filled with echoes of "you stupid, dirty _______ " since last night. Hours and hours of fun. And even more hilarity from Dymally: "Race is not a factor in this issue," Dymally said in Thursday's statement, adding that Riordan had apologized a second time. "It is time for us to move on." >>> He forgot to add "please."
Riordan, a venture capitalist who started a foundation supporting literacy, has a reputation for awkward -- some might say insensitive -- remarks and behavior. As mayor, he once greeted hunger strikers outside his office eating a hamburger Is it wrong to find the hamburger incident kinda funny? I think not.
Riordan knows relatively jack about education. He's a hugely successful businessman / philanthropist who was elected as Mayor of Los Angeles on a pro-business platform and promptly disappeared from sight for the majority of his term. He's not a horrible guy, but he has no business being the Secretary of Education. Or mayor of major city, for that matter. But with a mantra of "privatization" he won easily. His main education credentials are lots of education grants through his private foundation and LEARN -- the Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now -- which was a well-intentioned reform effort but turned into a bicker-fest between unions, school administrators and parents because, among many, many other reasons, he knows jack about education. More to the point, why would anyone in government office say that to a little girl? Comedy gold.
Hell no! That is hilarious. It would be different had he greeted starving children in Ethiopia with burger in hand, but these people were choosing not to eat.
Geez, this makes Dymally a bigger douchebag than Riordan. Riordan just blurted out something very stupid and very insensitive, and he ought to be fired for it. Dymally, with time to think about it, says what Riordan said was OK because he said it to a white girl. Much worse, IMO. And, frankly, racist.
It's definitely a non-issue but still.....what on earth would possess someone to think that was funny? I don't mean that it was horribly cruel or anything....just really really dumb. You just wonder about the thought process (or lack thereof) that goes into saying something like this. It's just very bizarre to me.
Do you really think so? Fired? For a bad joke that was only insensitive to a girl whose mother says an apology is fine? Don't you think that's a bit much?
Wasn't Arnold a kindergarten teacher once? Riordan sounds more like having Joe Pesci in your top education post.
Oh - that it is. I mean, I've had my share of stupid jokes (go search these boards), but that's just not funny. If being unfunny and offensive was a crime, we'd have a lot of potential stand up comic wannabes in prison. That he's an elected official doesn't really vitiate against him, in my mind, since its just not an issue. Public officials are not prohibited from making stupid jokes. This is why we have elections, after all. I just don't understand the "fire him" sentiment. Reminds me of the firestorm after the n*i*g*g*a*r*d*l*y comment in DC. (Yes, I know, that WAS different.)
Yeah, it is somewhat remniscent (for different reasons) of the n*i*g*g*a*r*d*l*y comment....one of the few times you'll catch me agreeing with Safire (where have you gone Allan Bloom...our nation turns it's lonely eyes...err, yes, I'm kidding) Like I said, I'm not offended by Riordan's statement and I don't think I'll be making an effigies and rounding up the lighter fluid any time soon but still...it's the kind of statement that makes you wonder if he's in the early stages of dementia...it's that non-sequitar type of stupid.
Dave, you seem like a sensible enough guy, if I can judge a person's sensibility from having read previous posts of yours, but please tell me you're joking or that you forgot to add the to the end of your post. If people were fired for blurting out stupid stuff, there'd be no workforce. Everyone's guilty of it, and hopefully this guy will take a lesson from the backlash and learn to be a little more conscientious when he's speaking, especially in front of a camera. And someone please explain to me how this is a racial issue. Did I miss something? The man is white. The girl is white. Is it because she has a name which is Egyptian in origin?
His comment about racism was directed at the asshat Democratic Assemblyman who, when he wrongly assumed the girl was black (I'll stick my neck out and say based on her name being "Isis") planned a protest. Then when he found out the girl was white, called it off.
You have to wonder what is going on in this guy's head. Well actually, I guess you don't have to wonder, because apparently he says everything out loud.
OK so I look up "isis" in my handy Egyptian/English dictionary and there it is in black and white: "isis; n.; stupid dirty girl"! OK, but seriously, Riordan and Dymally should both be pummelled with tree branches.
Yeah, he was in that movie with Burt Reynolds and Sylvester Stallone, "Kindergarten cop and a half - or my mom will shoot!"