Thacker Wacked
That was quick. Jerry Thacker, Mr. "Deathstyle," and the most controversial nominee to President Bush's advisory committee on HIV and AIDS, has withdrawn from his position under pressure from advocacy groups. Thacker claims to have contracted HIV from his wife after a 1986 blood transfusion (and was apparently horrified that anybody might suspect him of being light in the loafers), and has spoken about using reparative therapy to cure the sin of homosexuality at his alma mater Bob Jones University. "Many people believe that AIDS is the judgment of God on our nation," reads a summary of Thacker's BJU speech, "but Mr. Thacker believes that homosexuality is the judgment of God on America." In front of the story as always, the Bush administration says, "The views that he holds are far, far removed from what the president believes… The president's view is that people with AIDS need to be treated with care, compassion." So Thacker's resignation may have been a done deal anyway. Thacker also has a black belt in karate and a brown belt in judo, and you can get an enormous picture of him here.
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Thacker wasn't pressured to quick by advocacy groups. I think this whole thing was too short from start to finish for advocacy groups to typeset their press releases. He was pressured to quit by internet opinion makers, as is increasingly the case when politicians say stupid things.
Now, when they nominate a garden variety homophobe bigot fossil, the Bushies will be able to say "He's not as bad as the last guy." It's gotta be a setup.
Wow, that picture IS enormous.
How did this happen? Don't they screen these people? Did the WH think no one would notice? I can't believe Rove et al would be so stupid!
"The views that he holds are far, far removed from what the president believes... " So why the hell did he nominate him in the first place? It's not like Thacker's views were any kind of secret.
OT: Anyone know where the term 'light in the loafers' comes from? It strikes me as pretty non-intuitive.