VA GOP Candidate: Africans will have sex with ANYTHING
Fri Oct 28, 2005 at 09:13:05 PM PDT
(From
http://www.Americablog.org and
http://waldo.jaquith.org/...)
Chris Craddock is a young, ultra right-wing Norquist accolyte who is running for the VA House of Delegates in the 67th district (western Fairfax). This seat has been held by Republicans for a long time, but Craddock defeated the current incumbent, Gary Reese, in a primary challenge this year.
Mr. Craddock visited a high-school class recently, and apparently in front of this friendly group of students felt "relaxed and comfortable... it seemed like he wasn't worried about offending us. He didn't have a speech prepared and was very open."
So he cheerfully let them know what he really thinks about blacks and gays.
Regarding gay people:
When we asked him about gay marriage, he said he believes nobody's born gay — they turn gay," said senior Natalie McLarty, 17. "He said, in his experience, from the gay males he's known, there are three ways to become gay: You don't have a father figure in your life, you have an abusive father figure or you have no loving support in your family."
"I was extremely offended because one of my relatives is gay, so that's an assumption he's making about my family," she said.
Yes: Being gay is not only a choice, but it is a choice that results from being psychologically wounded by a traumatic family life.
How about AIDS? The teacher asked what can be done to combat the disease here in Virginia. Suddenly, Craddock surprised the students by switching the subject to AIDS in Africa.
She said Craddock told the class he had a friend who'd studied in Africa and told him the reason there's an AIDS epidemic there is because "Africans will have sex with anything that has a pulse."
Added senior Erin Peterson: "He said, in some tribes, part of becoming a woman was having sex." She, too, said she heard the "pulse" comment and was surprised that he'd say such a thing: "I'm African-American, so I was a little shocked."
One student's comment about the class reaction was interesting:
I was completely taken aback. Our entire class — Democrats and Republicans alike — you could hear everybody gasping. There was complete silence; no one knew what to say. I went home and told my parents, and they were completely in shock.
Craddock does seem to have this effect on people. The Republican incumbent has endorsed the Democratic candidate, because Craddock is too much of a loony tunes.
To be fair, the local newspaper did a follow-up article in which Craddock, friends, family, and supporters all say that he's a wonderful guy who is not racist or intolerant, even making the point that he has a friend who married a black woman (!). But in the interview for the follow-up article, he insists on using the language "sex with anything with a pulse" again (!). And it is not the first time, by any means, that this has all come up. It appears that homophobia was a large part of his primary challenge, and he once told a gay advocacy newspaper that "Christians and gays hate and despise each other." (Just to be clear about what side of that line he's on, he is a youth pastor.)
Craddock's oppenent is Chuck Caputo, known and respected with a lot of public service. He has garnered a lot of endorsements (including, at mentioned above, one from the Repub. incumbent). He has a real shot at taking this seat back for the Democrats. This is one seat that Doug in Virginia listed as a great pick-up opportunity. We certainly ought to support this.
But it really begs the question: What does it say about the Republican party in Virginia that this is what they chose to represent them in the state's 67th district? When they could have kept the incumbent?
Meet Chris Craddock: The embodiment of Republican values.
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