Posted on 07/16/2004 2:45:01 AM PDT by kattracks
WASHINGTON - Whoopi Goldberg lashed out at Republicans again yesterday, branding them hypocrites for trying to "punish" her for joking about the President.Fired from her gig as SlimFast spokeswoman, the salty entertainer hit back at Republicans who threatened a SlimFast boycott over sexual puns she made about President Bush's name at a Democratic fund-raiser.
"America's heart and soul is freedom of expression without fear of reprisal," she said in a statement.
"I find all this feigned indignation about 'Bush bashing' quite disingenuous," she said, noting the Bush administration has savagely gone after critics like former Sen. Max Cleland, Iraq whistleblower Joseph Wilson and ex-terrorism chief Richard Clarke.
"For the Republican Party to pretend this is new to them seems a little fake," she said.
"The fact that I am no longer the spokesman for SlimFast makes me sad, but not as sad as someone trying to punish me for exercising my right as an American to speak my mind."
The Bush-Cheney campaign has been making a lot of hay out of Goldberg's set at last week's celebrity gala at Radio City Music Hall, professing shock at her blue jokes.
Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman called the event a "hatefest" that proves John Kerry doesn't "share the same values" as the rest of America.
Kerry, who is trying to woo swing voters, did not stand by his celeb supporters. On the defensive, he distanced himself from Goldberg and said through spokesmen that he thought her comments were inappropriate.
Running mate John Edwards was asked about the flap yesterday by Fox News. "They weren't speaking for me, and they weren't speaking for John Kerry," he said, adding the ticket is "focused on our positive, optimistic vision of hope."
Mehlman has repeatedly demanded that Kerry's camp release a video of the event, even going so far as to promise not to use the footage in ads.
Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill said tartly that he could have the video after Bush releases his military records and details of Vice President Cheney's secret energy task force.
Diversity promoter Asa Khalif, who has made headlines for accusing celebrities of insensitivity, cried foul in the Goldberg firing. "I smell racism from beginning to end," said Khalif, head of Racial Unity USA in Pennsylvania. "SlimFast must realize that black women have every right to voice their views."
Originally published on July 16, 2004
Well she just painted herself into a corner now, didn't she.
DO NOT pick up live Hand Grenades!
Never could understand why she was a spokesperson for Slim Fast, which is a diet supplement. Who on this earth would want to look like Whoopi while drinking SlimFast?????
Apparently, as soon as your voter registration reads "democRAT."
Incorrect. Whoopi again demonstrates the Left's abject ignorance of the US Constitution and the spirit of America.
America's heart and soul is freedom of expression without fear of GOVERNMENT reprisal. There never has been, and never will be a society where you can say what you want and have a A GUARANTEE THAT NO PRIVATE CITIZENS WILL BOYCOTT YOUR INTERESTS. To effect such a guarantee would require government coercion in the extreme.
Whoopi has not been censored. She spoke up as a free woman, and other free people responded, and a company voluntarily fired her to protect its revenues. And the government did nothing.
That, my friends, is America.
" If you can call pointing out lies "savagely going after' anyone."
This is Related to calling pointing out Kerry's congressional voting record, "attacking" him.
I had a dim tell me yesterday that it isn't flip-flopping to keep changing on issues. Anyone would change over the years because times change.
Anyone? Lame. I remained calm as I wanted to hear the spin and that's apparently how they are justifying Kerry's decision making ability and poor judgement to each other.
The explanation is simple.
Khalif is a racist and is smelling himself.
"Tell that to Trent Lott..."
Or Rush Limbaugh.
It's also the GOP who has given her a nice life by going to her hideous movies and buying her crap.
Whoopi, you finally did something that made me laugh. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
True, but Kerry changes from day to day/minute to minute, depending on what the polls say.
Hey Whoopi, you have the right to say what's on your mind. We just don't have to subsidize your insufferable expression.
So, John-John throws their dog into the fight then disowns her. How predictable.
"And didn't Breckgirl's wife open her piehole with some remarks?"
Yep.... from a July 9 Newsmax article:
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/7/9/112800.shtml
"Rejecting calls for her husband's campaign to apologize for Goldberg's outburst, Mrs. Edwards said Friday that the anti-Bush tirade was justified.
"A lot of people are going to be angry - there's a lot to be angry about," she told reporters at a fund-raising breakfast on Manhattan's west side. "It's a free country and people are going to express that anger." "
So, who was doing the laughing for Edwards and Kerry? Who called this slime the heart and soul of America?
Exactly. Free speech my friends, is not an entitlement. Whoopi and her Leftist friends are hypocrites given they are the ones who insist political speech has no First Amendment protection. We're simply holding Whoopi then to that logic. Fascinating how they whine about being called on it. Then again, its one rule for them and another for the Great Unwashed. Thanks for pointing it out. Perhaps Whoopi can put that filthy motor mouth of hers to work to repeal the CFR law.
Because their entire identity is caught up in it, and with it comes a lot of money and power. Without it they lose their reason to exist.
What school did Whoopi go to? Without reprisal?
Oh, ok. Well, following your most excellent philosophy, I guess I will just run into a theater and yell "FIRE!". When I get (rightly) thrown in jail, I'll just say, "America's heart and soul is freedom of expression without fear of reprisal". Yeah that will work.
Speech has limits. The limits differ depending on the situation. In my screaming "FIRE!" in a crowded theater, it is a specific judicial limit.
In your circumstance, it is a free-market, economic limit. This isn't anything imposed by the government or the GOP. This limit (or censure) comes from the American people through the company that hired you to promote their product.
There are only 3 people that you should be mad at, Whoopi...
SHUT UP AND SING!
Whoopi has a right to speak her mind. But these Hollywood people who think we Americans have to put up with every tasteless and vulgar they can think of to pollute the public forum are wrong. THEY need to clean up their act.
By the way, where is Kerry on this? Is the "thoughtful" Kerry still "deliberating" about this, or is Kerry waiting to see poll results before he speaks?
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