Great comeback to an obviously bleating defensive by Governor Purty Hair. I have added you to my favorites list.

The other day I saw a bumper sticker on a car that read, "He Ain't Kinky, He's My Governor." Turned out to be Kinky Friedman's. But just let me get my hands on one and I don't care who mistakes me for a rumor mongerer. You are absolutely right. When did Perry ever care? His paranoia at being thought of as gay reveals DEEP seated homophobia. Now, me thinks yon Purdy Hair doth protesteth too much!

-cliff

What a goon Perry is... you're absolutely right. He should care about stuff that matters... i get taken for straight all the time. Does it make me sick? no. but I would rather they not think or assume I am gay. What am I doing about that? Being myself...

Good job bringing up this point... and keep talking things that matter.

Doh... I meant... i wish they would not think or assume I'm straight...

Congratulations Byron.
Its been cool to have been apart of all this hype in your blog.
When the Statesmen posted that you were 21, as if to discredit anything you think or post because of your age,it was patronizing.
I didn't know you were younger, I thought you were grad, maybe 28,29.
It has just made me respect you more.
People in the rest of the world are taking over countries at 20, and lead rebellions.
Your a brave and intelligent writer.
You have helped provide an outlet for many people to voice themselves and you have maintained a demure and composed attitude.
I hope you keep your democratic sentiment later in life.
Cheers

There is an interesting double standard with Kerry & Perry. The media pounced on rumors about Kerry's marital infidelity. Kerry's denial alone was not sufficient to quell the story; they were not dispelled until the supposed paramour herself publically denied them.

With Perry, the mainstream media would not touch the story with a ten foot pole. Then, only upon Perry's request, did a mainstream paper report on it. Also, the paper mentioned none of the details of the alleged affair and "cleared" Perry upon his denial alone without confirming with the alleged paramour.

Why the gross disparity in treatment? I do not suspect that the Media is inherently so overwhelmigly partisan - I think the gross disparity comes from the vindictiveness of the Right. Most left-of-center politicos would get over it and move on. Most right-of-center politicos would take out their revenge on the Press in any way they could, thereby silencing the "Fourth Pillar."

Carl Wigglesworth the libertarian KTSA talk show host mentioned the Perry scandal on his show today but identified the secretary that Anita surprized him with as female.

HAAA that is great . . . and extremely sad.

Sigh... you guys at Burnt Orange Report are going to have to learn that there is such a thing as bad publicity. You might get on a few more blogrolls as a result of this, but to most people now you're "that blog that publishes baseless rumours about Republican politicians and otherwise little substantiative information". Looking at the entries from the last three weeks, that's not a big exaggeration. Publishing the rumour the first time may have been defensible if not a bit dodgy, but there have been several entries about them now, and it's disingenuous to claim that BOR has acted responsibly simply because there's a disclaimer after each one. Going into the rhetoric books as an example of paralepsis isn't a good thing (and the tu quoques in citing Perry's supposed misdeeds and what the Drudge Report publishes aren't helping you any...).

What's truly outrageous is taking the country to war based on hyped, unsubstantiated rumors.

As far as Perry, me thinks he doth protest too much.

Congratulations on getting into law school. I am about to wrap up my second year at South Texas College of Law.

As to the Gov., don't worry about him picking on BOR. It DOES show what 4 guys with an internet account can do. It demonstrates that the public's voice is not silent. Our voice does matter, whether Perry recognizes that or not.

All of you guys do a wonderful job and are an inspiration to the rest of us.

Jeff

Mr. Vandal,

The irony of the "Closing of the American Mind" is how close-minded Allan Bloom's mind is. He postively hates youth. For examole, how absurd to say that the only classical music anyone under 25 will listen to is Ravel's Bolero because the beat makes them horny.

The book came out when I was in college and everyone of my Professors dismissed it as utter bunk. Alan Bloom is a pessimistic misanthrope.

Contrary to your assertions that young people are idle dolts and mischief makers, the youth has been a key catalyst for so many profound social movements - civil rights, anti-vietnam, and more recently it was students around the world who started the boycott of South Africa that spread like wildfire and eventually lead to the end of apartheid.

We should thank the Youth and not scold them. They still have the courage to dream.

As far as an excuse to cut higher education funding, I am sure you and your ilk will find another raison du jour to price education out of the middle classes' reach. BOA is not funded with tax dollars or university dollars at all, and a student can define oart of his personhood / partake some activities apart from university life. What a leap of logic to assume that since the authors of BOA are students, higher education must be the culprit. They are also christian, does that castigate religion too? Of course not.

As far as the name calling of toothless gossip spreading maidens, the mysogny of the comment aside, it is truly the pot calling the kettle black.

There is a key distinction though. The point of disgust for the average joe is not whether a public official is adulterous - that is a matter for his family and inner core of friends. As one who does not personally know the politician, the average joe has no concern with his private life, and such acts do not affect his abilities as a policy maker. What is disgusting is the hypocrisy - to act holier than though and institute "family value" policies that, in part, relegate several citizens to second class citizens, then go off and boink the intern (like Newt Ginrgich) or the married woman (Henry Hyde) or whomever else (Bob Livingston).

Allan Bloom, aside from being a pessimistic misanthrope, was gay, by the way. And there's nothing wrong with that, and that's not a rumor. See the following Andrew Sullivan article.

http://www.indegayforum.org/authors/sullivan/sullivan3.html

That really has nothing to do with the conversation, but, since his name came up...

I am not going to respond to people who are too cowardly to put down their own name or e-mail address. If you want to discuss, come out of the woodwork. Or is that something they don't teach in college anymore? Stand up and speak. Do not hide and throw mud and gossip. You are only examplifying what Allan Bloom was saying. The American Mind has Closed.

What a cop out. Throw down your toys and leave the school yard? Does it matter who the messenger is? What matters is the message.

Sorry, as a rule I don't leave my email address out on the internet for the world to see. Too many spammers and freaks out there, thanks.

In any event, the lack of an email address on my comment doesn't undermine my point, which is merely to point out that Allan Bloom, a person that many social conservatives like to cite as an authority on various issues, didn't exactly live a life that would be embraced by that crowd. It's a little curious that social conservatives love to cite him but never seem to want to acknowledge some facts about his life and death that don't fit the party line. I don't think those facts undermine his opinions necessarily, but they do draw into question his choice of political alliances (though, of course, he can't be blamed for whoever wants to claim him posthumously).

Sorry if mentioning some facts troubles you. Feel free to look it up and try and disprove me, but you won't be able to.

Just because I point out one point of the absurdity of Bloom's book, I somehow become an educated monkey and the product of a failed education. What a non-sequitur.

What a world we live in when debate degenerates such name calling and lack of reasoning.
O Tempora! O Mores!

I suppose Mr. Vandal thinks I ought to give back the Phi Beta Kappa key. (And I even studied Latin & Greek in College, you know, dead white males?)

(By the way, I do not post my email or name on these lists because I do not need some cranks spamming me and calling me at home. Privacy is not cowardice.)

Girls, let's not get personal on someone else's bandwidth. If you have a strongly held opinion different from the one here, go start your own blog.
It's easy. A lot of us are doing it.

Mr. Vandal reminds me of the widely syndicated (and right-wing) commentator Charles Krauthammer. Krauthammer, whom I believe is a non-practicing psychiatrist (at a minimum he has some background in psychiatry / psychology), wrote that Dean was mentally ill because he opposed the war in Iraq. He was roundly criticized for such an asinine statement of attacking the mental state of an opponent simply because of his divergent views. Such attacks by the way are standard modi operandi for dictators.

Instead of calling them mentally ill, Mr. Vandal calls his opponents the product of a failed education. Same difference.

Since he is casting stones about educational backgrounds, I am curious of Mr. Vandal's education level?

Lil Ricky has been a busy boy - at Atrios, Billmon....
I'm surprised he can tear himself away from thinking about kissing Jenna's navel
Check out his homepage (via Atrios)
Ricky Vandal's homepage

Jim D--

Sorry, reporting on unconfirmed rumors is what Drudge and Sean Hannity does. You cannot get off the hook by saying you are just repeating what someone else told you. You have to roll up your sleeves and do the hard work of confirming or denying the rumor, like a good journalist would do. If you cannot confirm it, you cannot print it. Period.

And yes, by publishing a blog you are a journalist. And saying, well, the Republicans do it is not a defense. Maybe Republicans have dragged the likes of you down to their level but that is not an excuse for a lack of character.

Gov. Perry has a great libel case against you, and I think he could prove actual malice. He will probably not sue because it would be more trouble than it is worth. Perhaps his wife should sue you! You will learn all about libel in law school. But at this point I would not be surprised if you were eventually denied admittance to the bar for character reasons because of this whole episode. I'm sure the governor will keep an eye on you now.

And the fact that Yellow Dog Blog is affiliated with the likes of BOR is a black eye for the Texas Democratic Party, which should have been more careful to get tied up with digital thugs like you.

I find it amusing that Vandal won't argue with "cowards" who refuse to use their real names, yet he says he responds to Allan "let's blame the Germans" Bloom by his ideas, not his identity.

As for "thugs," please, look no further than the Republican Party.

Heck, why do you think I'm anonymous? I've spoken politically in public before, and I've been threatened and harrassed by conservative "thugs." A friend of mine who spoke publicly was hit on the head from behind with a Bible (giving a new menaing to "Bible belt"). Now that I have children, I'd be a fool to use my real name.

Conservatives are getting all pissy when liberals use the same tactics, but until there is multilateral rhetorical disarmament, I urge the BOR to keep it coming.

Watchdog,

You are dead wrong on the libel issue. NY Times v. Sullivan is clear that a public figure must prove that the Defendant knew the statement was false, or had a reckless disregard for knowing it was false. This is a burden that cannot be met in this case.

In fact, if Perry does not bring a libel suit it makes you wonder if he is afraid of taking that deposition and having to answer under oath all those questions about the rumors, not to mention the subpoena power to force others to testify too. Perhaps, as you suggest, he cannot be bothered, perhaps he knows cannot win, or perhaps he knows what happened to Oscar Wilde, who brought such a suit that backfired on him and landed him in prison. Who really knows?

As far as your threats to intimidate the authors of this page, I am not surprised at your threats because threats and intimidation are the standard modi operandi of the Republican Party.

Actually, the standard for a public official (as opposed to public figure) is that the person who distributed the information knew it was untrue AND (not OR) published it anyway with a reckless disregard for the truth.

Generally when an elected official is the plaintiff, the reckless disregard must also be proved to be malicious. It is an almost impossible threshold to meet. A successful plaintiff (who now and again wins at trial, but almost never wins on appeal) must be shown that the publisher or broadcaster knew the story was a lie, published or broadcasted it anyway, and did it with malice.

Under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, both sides are granted fairly generous discovery leeway that could result in a plaintiff with anything to hide being forced to reveal facts in a deposition that he or she would probably not want to (more than likely) become public.

Excuse me for missing something as I follow this story, but in all the coverage of Governor Perry's denials, where as the quote from his wife denying the rumors?