John Roberts
Circa 1972ish
La Lumiere High School
Posted on 07/22/2005 6:28:05 AM PDT by John Jorsett
John Roberts
Circa 1972ish
La Lumiere High School
Just a caution for my male readers: if there are any extant photos of you from the '70's in plaid pants, better get rid of them now. And it's not just the evidence of questionable fashion sense. Apparently now that's the goods on being gay.
Call it the Mary Cheney Strategy. Call it desperation. Some on the Left have started a "maybe he's gay" whisper campaign against John Roberts.
It started with Manhattan Offender in a post yesterday asking "How Gay is This Guy?" and then he quoted Wikipedia's entry for Judge Roberts. He zeroed in on some really damning evidence from Roberts' youthful past: the all-male boarding school, studying French and Latin (gasp!), being a wrestler and, oh the horror, participating in choir and drama.
So, it was only one silly post. Today, however, Wonkette picked up the ball and ran with it:
We're not making any conclusions here -- we wouldn't want to comment on an ongoing investigation -- we're just laying out the facts: He is a graduate of an all-boys Catholic school where, as a member of the wrestling team, he regularly grappled with other sweaty, repressed boys. That is when he wasn't the drama club playing Peppermint Patty, for God's sake.
What's that about Peppermint Patty?!? Yes, well, that's where the story starts to get interesting. That's a reference to a point raised in today's New York Times profile of Roberts, "Court Nominee's Life Is Rooted in Faith and Respect for Law," written by Todd Purdum, Jodi Wilgoren and Pam Belluck. In the midst of a very lengthy profile, Purdum, et.al. just throw in the little factoid that Roberts' yearbook records that "he played Peppermint Patty in the production of 'You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown.'"
Did I mention that this was when he was in high school?
So maybe that snarky little bit is just there for a little color? Ann Althouse has picked up the story and she thinks otherwise:
I do think the NYT piece was subtly constructed to plant this idea. Just look at the series of photographs they chose: young John in plaid pants, young John with his boys' school pals, young John in a wrestling suit with his fellow wrestlers, John with footballers, and -- the final pic -- John smiling in an all-male wedding photograph.
I think she might have a point.
Of course it is the height of hypocrisy for the (allegedly) pro-tolerance crowd to start questioning someone's sexual preference. It's a strange and twisted tactic for those who are allied with the gay rights movement to try to make an issue out of someone supposedly being gay.
Who cares?
Well, that's just the point: they think we do. They think that they can undermine support for someone among conservatives if they can dredge up some sort of homosexual connection -- or, in this case, just the manufactured whiff of a question.
If it weren't so cruel and small, it would be funny. (It's not just the plaid pants. Some of the commenters on these other sites have been questioning the Roberts' marriage, and even referencing their adopted children. That's just beyond the pale.)
The Left didn't learn their lesson when they tried this with Mary Cheney and it backfired. John Roberts may have played Peppermint Patty back in the day, but here and NOW, the Left is playing Lucy with the football . . .
***
Oh no! Back in the 70s when "leisure suits" were the rage I made a plaid leisure suit for my husband. I will search and destroy all those photos!
On the other hand, my nephew is gay and I have no problem with that, love him very much. I thought Demoncarp party was the party of "tolerance" Kinda like the "pacifists" who have a "peace" rally and throw rocks and bricks and bottles at cops.
I think the Liberals are so full of hypocrazies
GREAT POINT!
She is on Garrison GAG PUKE Keillor show on Sat. afternoon on NPR. She is on Sat. morn. on NPR game show programs, like Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.... etc. She got in trouble for molesting her adopted daughter, I don't think she is straight. I USED to be a BIG fan of hers and Garrison Keillor. Now they both make me sick. We used to ALWAYS listen to GK show, even went to his live show in Houston. Now we don't turn the radio on NPR anymore. Period.
After reading that twisted cr*p I need a bath. You can take some people out of the gutter, but you can't take the gutter...
The absence of any fashion sense whatsoever that your photo indicates -- plaid trousers, for crying out loud!, and he's not even on a golf course -- is conclusive evidence that subject is NOT gay.
"I thought the running joke was that Peppermint Patty liked chicks. "
Peppermint Patty aka: Peppermint Patrick.
"There is reason to believe that Patrick had a sex change early on. Something about visiting a RexAll pharmacy and buying hormones" said NY Times Columist Judith Miller.
When questioned, Patty only said that Chuck was a good kid and denied any sexual involvement. Miller, later blamed 9 year old George Bush for the insensitivity shown towards Patty. Said Miller, "Bush should never be President."
yes. Wonkette is on the side of free sexuality.......any type, any place, any time, any one, any way, any how. Social liberal, political anarchist, totally nasty girl, thats even if she's a girl, hard to tell. could be a pen name. I e-mailed her once when she criticized Rush for using the term " bend over and grab your ankles" assuming it referred to homosexual behavior when he actually meant going to the woodshed to be punished. Tell you what....she took the time to e-mail me back and respectfully discuss the point and thank me for the observation, I'll give her credit for that.
The first-named partner at my firm was still wearing those pants in the mid-90s.
He's not gay, but....
Both true and profound.
I find this really interesting. According to the book Unlimited Access by Gary Aldrich there were homosexual encounters in the White House during the Clinton administration. Why is there now a double standard?
Sheesh I guess the whole PGA tour was homosexual in 1972 according to the left.
Please please please promise me you won't hold your breath!
There are photos of my brother (born in the fifties) wearing flower-print trousers, sewn by himself, at a high school function in the seventies. He also went to an all male Catholic High School!
Who knew that was an exemplar of "gayness."
What these psychotic lefties will never acknowledge is the fact that so many in politics are Catholic MIGHT have something to do with a)having had a really good education with a foundation in civics, and b)having a moral sense of government service as a good career, and c) having an ability to orate, debate, and reason, as a result of their education.
There are lots of Catholics on the left in govt - same education, same background, no problem for the pressure groups.
It is not the religion of Roberts that is a problem, it is the morality of a person who may be anti-abortion who is deemed fair game for personal attack. So he appears to be squeaky clean. So they go for the "he must be in the closet" offense.
If they can't get him on past actions, they will accuse him of "hypocrisy."
The plaid pants were wool in the winter and madras in the summer.
Good grief. This is just pathetic.
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