George,

Three things about the reply of Randy Marcus:

First, if "inappropriate" and "derogatory" are the words Sen. Bolling chooses to describe calling someone a faggot he's got a problem. Words like despicable and reprehensible come to mind.

Second, Mr. Marcus "can't confirm" (read: denies) the word was spoken after interviewing only the people at the game who work for him. That strikes one as a method of truth-evasion, not truth seeking.

Third, he says that the Bolling campaign staff "are expected to treat the opposition respectfully." Then he himself treats us disrespectully by referring to a "Democrat volunteer." Ever since Joe McCarthy started it, certain kinds of Republicans have referred to ours as the Democrat Party. You see a lot of it going on now. I think most of these people know that Democrat is a noun, not an adjective. I also think most of them, like McCarthy, mean to say that our party is not "democratic" and call us the Democrat Party as a slur, an insult. Could you ask Mr. Marcus to apologize for this disrespectful word choice of his?

Paul Gaston (electronic mail, August 5, 2005)