Gay bashing?
Former President Bill Clinton lashed out Monday at a homosexual political operative who plans an ad campaign against his wife, saying the Republican may be "self-loathing."
Arthur Finkelstein, a Republican strategist who has worked for New York Gov. George E. Pataki and former North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms, reportedly is setting up a political action committee that will run ads against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, when she seeks re-election in 2006.
"I was kind of sad when I read it," Mr. Clinton said at a news conference in his Harlem office to announce an AIDS initiative by the Clinton Foundation.
After noting reports over the weekend that Mr. Finkelstein had "married" his male partner in a civil ceremony at his Massachusetts home, Mr. Clinton made reference to the Bush administration's opposition to homosexual "marriage."
"Either this guy believes his party is not serious and he's totally Machiavellian," Mr. Clinton said, or "he may be blinded by self-loathing."
A friend of Mr. Finkelstein's expressed anger over Mr. Clinton's remarks.
"It's really beneath a former president to comment on someone's personal life," Michael McKeon, a Republican strategist, told the New York Times. "After everything has been through in his own life, you'd think he'd know better." |
