Hayworth campaign spokesman under fire for "acid" comment

Times Herald-Record Middletown, NY ^ | 6/2/12 | Chris Mckenna

[Impala64ssa]

Rep. Nan Hayworth's campaign spokesman has come under fire for some ill-chosen words he used last week while trading barbs with Hayworth critics on Facebook.

Hayworth spokesman Jay Townsend had just swatted back at an opponent and was trying to steer the argument in a new direction when he wrote, "Let's hurl some acid at those female democratic senators who won't abide by the mandates they want to impose on the private sector."

However sarcastic or figurative he meant to be, the mere suggestion of throwing acid at women — a real and gruesome form of attack in Afghanistan and other places — invited a storm of criticism on Thursday and Friday after one of Hayworth's potential challengers publicized the remark and coverage of it spread quickly on blogs and news sites.

"It's just mind-boggling that a congressional spokesman would use this kind of incendiary and downright offensive language and equally shocking that his boss would not instantly fire him for doing so," said Richard Becker, the Westchester County Democrat whose campaign found the May 26 remark and blasted it.

Sean Patrick Maloney, another Democrat seeking to challenge the Republican freshman in November, also issued a statement on Friday, saying, "Nan Hayworth's silence is, frankly, shocking. I am deeply troubled that she has yet to publicly repudiate these comments, sanction her spokesperson or at the very least offer an apology."

Hayworth's campaign manager, Bruce Harvie, responded Friday by dismissing the criticism as "a manufactured controversy," and saying that Townsend's remark "was not made on behalf of the congresswoman or her campaign and was clearly not meant to be taken literally."

He also complained that the moderator of the Facebook page on which Townsend commented had "tolerated extremely hostile and explicit comments against Dr. Hayworth."

He later pointed out a comment that played off Townsend's remark by saying, "Let us throw Nan in a pot of boiling oil."

Townsend, a political consultant who lives in Cornwall-on-Hudson and ran unsuccessfully against Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in 2010, deferred to Harvie's statement when reached for comment on Friday.

The gaffe was particularly awkward for Hayworth's campaign because Democrats have been accusing Republicans of waging a "war on women" through battles over Planned Parenthood funding and insurance coverage for birth control. Townsend's remark offers potential campaign fodder for the months ahead.

[Impala64ssa]

For one thing,notice how the peretrator of this dastardly deed is referred to as a spokesMAN instead of the generally accepted gender neutral spokesPERSON? As if we're too unsophisticated and ignernt to catch on to the transparent attempt at subtle manipulation. Well let's see Bill Maher can call Sarah Palin the c-word. David Letterman "jokingly" insinuates Bristol Palin f*cked A-rod in the bottom of the 7th, then gets away with a liame, disingenuous apology. Spike Lee should be arrested for at the least reckless endangerment for his role in the Zimmerman case. And what did Richrad Trumpka mean by "taking the bastards down"? I'm still waiting for Julianne Malveaux to be castigated for her remark about wishing Clarence Thomas' wife keeps feeding him eggs and pork so he would soon die of cardiac arrest like so many Black men. When sanctimonius d*ckheads like Richard Becker grow a big enough pair to demand the DNC return contributions to these "uncivilized haters" then they can say something. Speaking of which, the Media Research center has handy-dandy reference guide to all the outrageous things said by libs

[treetopsandroofs]

Sorry, only Democrats can proudly get away with saying the most vile things and offering non-apologies.

The ends justify the means, only for Democrats, not even for RINOs.

It’s the “liberal” way.

[pistolpackinpapa]

We could discuss and argue this from many angles but the bottom line: This was fricking stupid. Campaign dude should have known better than to say something like that “in writing” on the internet. What the hell was he thinking? In all honesty, he must have been drunk. What a dumb a**.

[Slump Tester]

We should take every chance to steer this “war on women” BS to the FACT that gender specific abortion (which the rats almost all support), is the TRUE war on women.

[Woodsman27]

Some low-level operative for a candidate most people have never heard of says something and the MSM freaks out and tries to pin it on all Republicans. Absurd.