By now, everyone knows about the Coffee Party. There were meet-ups all over the United States last Saturday. People got together to discuss the direction they wanted their local, state and national governments to go.
A reporter with the Gainesville Times, Dan Roem, covered the meet-up out in Haymarket last Saturday. He reported that our BOCS chairman had the following to say about his constituents who gathered to discuss a more productive government:
Despite its call for civility in political discourse, not everyone is buying into the movement, particularly Stewart.
“The Coffee Partiers are a bunch of fruitcakes,” Stewart told the Times on Sunday. “Yeah, they’re a bunch of nuts. If they’re going to be a coffee party, they’ll be a hazelnut party.”
Stewart elaborated, saying the Coffee Party is “just a phase; it’ll disappear.”
He derided Byler, whose 2007 films portrayed Stewart as being a right-wing ideologue, asking at one point, “Does (Byler) have a job?”
Byler said he does not have a full-time job but has earned income from college speaking engagements during the last couple years after striking it rich in Los Angeles making romantic dramas from 2002 to 2006.
Stewart described the Tea Partiers as patriots “concerned about the direction of the country and about the vast amount of spending that happening.” He called the Tea Party a “legitimate movement” while saying the Coffee Party is “just a load of crap.”
When asked to respond to the inevitable accusation that his comments are the type of discourse Coffee Party participants are fighting against, Stewart replied, “It’s more important to be honest than polite.”
Corey must be looking for this year’s scare tactic so he can get elected. More ‘honest than polite?’ Not really. Some people would say or do anything to get elected, or re-elected.
Nothing else needs to be said. Corey has said it all. Is he speaking for the entire BOCS?
I would also definitely make plenty of enemies if I ever were a public figure. I tend to say things without thinking and sometimes regret them, but once said – there really is no way to “unring the bell” as it were. That’s kind of why I think any retraction in this case won’t really matter – as for one thing it appears those were direct quotes and I don’t doubt that’s what he said. Maybe Corey does not have the benefit of someone counselling him that some of what he says is not smart politically. Or maybe he just does not care, for one reason or another. Or, he just has already figured out that those votes are already lost. It’s hard to tell. He may figure he’s already not going to be re-elected and he doesn’t have any plans on seeking higher office. If so, that kind of gives him free reign to say whatever he wants. Who knows. I’m not saying any of it is right – but as I’ve said before, in my own personal opinion it is no more wrong than what some of his constituents have said about him. Not that two wrongs make a right, of course. But, I bet the other side wouldn’t protest half as much if it was their guy up there making bad remarks about the opposing side. In fact, I have a feeling there’s many politicians out there who have referred to the Tea Party as “teabaggers” which includes some of their consitutents, and I bet a fair amount that those who are having all this anger at saying what he did about the Coffee Party – wouldn’t have protested at all if it was a politican that who they are a constituent of saying that about the Tea Party.
I don’t think there is even a contendor at this point for office of chairman. He should just man up and apolgize because he was rude. Just as a human being.
I don’t view things in terms of who was more wrong. He holds an elected office. He shouldn’t call his constituents names or pre-judge them. Now if they were meeting up to trash him, I might even be able to understand it. Might. It wasn’t about him.
And as for the Coffee Party, I am not sure there even was an ‘other side.’ I think a lot of the people just came out to see what they were all about. Some people I talked to were uncomfortable because of the mob appearance that some of the national tea groups have prepresented but who are also VERY upset with the course this country seemed to be on. They were information gathering. Now to those people deserve to be called ‘crap?’
I just don’t think in such binary terms about politics. Corey needs to stop thinking in such binary terms also. His constituents are not necessarily Republican or Democrat. Some of them might be like Elena, Al, me, who vote all over the place for Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.
I would vote for Mike May if he ran for dog catcher. He seems to transcend all political nastiness.
Corey Stewart is mad – mad because the rest of the BOCS won’t blindly follow his lead any longer. He’s been caught releasing too many of their emails, spouting off erroneous info to the press, taking on a disastrous (for him) attack on Chief Deane – and he’s our Chairman during the worst economic stretch that I remember in this county. He is actually having to work! He still tries for the sensational soundbite – sex offenders housed in our schools or constituents who are “nuts” or “fruitcakes”. He’s pandering to his base – those who will vote for him because of the (R) next to his name, those who love him, and those who can be scared into thinking he’s right.
When I read his spiel in the Gainesville Times is was too easy to envision a comedian lampooning him by spouting off his words and adding a few “poopyheads” and “socialists”.
Hey, we may be the hillbilly cousin county but we’re still a well-educated, well-heeled population compared to parts of Virginia. Maybe he should consider a move to a more lucrative environment.
I think he is stuck here. The move would have to be lateral, I would think.
@marinm
Maybe I didn’t throw it away. The automated message says if you don’t receive one by April 12, call back.
@Moon-howler
“People like me, who shoot off at the mouth, never consider public office.”
LOLOLOL! Ditto for me, MH. My temper would get the best of me, as it does sometimes.
I would love to be in public office and I do have a big mouth. Thats the change I want. A politician that has no problem saying what s/he thinks and answering a question without making you do 15 mental backflips to understand it. 🙂
Marin, I don’t think that is how it works. You would always be offending someone. Well, not YOU, but I would be. Why don’t you run though.
Marin, if they didn’t vote for you, you could shoot them. 🙄