What I get for not looking at the Sun today. For background, Gibbons is easilly a contender for worst governor in the country. On top of being in a possible sexual assault controversy and FBI financial investigation and still getting elected (thanks you crazy folks in rural Nevada), he's had no answers to any crisis that has arrived at his desk since being elected... - Chris Reed

And I did my best to not fly off the handle. - Erin @queenofspain

I give you serious props for giving him the benefit of the doubt. My little butt would have jumped all over this mess. Anyone in 2008 should know that there are certain things you just should not say. This is one of those things. Some "jokes" just aren't funny. - Michelle Martinez

Oh believe me Michelle, I'm taking a cue and biting my tongue. Dammit I'm getting soft. - Erin @queenofspain

Getting a File Not Found error for the link. - Mark Trapp

I salute you for holding back..... You deserve the new stylebook... - Chris Reed

http://www.blogher.com/memo-se... it's on blogher. My site is being moved - Erin @queenofspain

Perhaps it's the fact that I'm 46, but I see this as a legal phrase, not a wife beating phrase. The intent is to indicate that the person is being asked a question in such a way that ANY answer (yes, no) gets the person into trouble via self-incrimination. McCain's delivery was bad, but it's better than a Ron Ziegler no comment...whoops, the kids won't know who Ron Ziegler is either... - Ontario Emperor from fftogo

If you think about it, just recently FriendFeed said that it was not out to...um..."kill" Twitter. Why aren't the victims' rights groups picketing FriendFeed? Why isn't Fred Goldman on TV complaining about the uncaring injustice of Silicon Valley? Why isn't John Walsh asking what happened to "do no evil"? Let's face it, murder is more offensive than wife beating... - Ontario Emperor from fftogo

It just shows that McCain is insensitive and does not chose his words wisely. - Russellreno

So does anyone think that McCain beats his wife, is promoting wife-beating, or enabling people to beat their spouses by saying this? If you want to be outraged at something, be outraged at him being an Ivy League elitist who responds to questions using logical fallacy examples. That McCain, he's so elitist: we can't have no elitist presidents. Everyone needs to take a breather: this isn't going to change the election. - Mark Trapp

did you even read my post? do you see outrage there? - Erin @queenofspain

Yes, I did, and yeah, I do. - Mark Trapp

Well I'm not. I think it's stupid, and even say I give the guy credit for humor, I just think it's a bad move in the day of who is 'proud' and who wears 'flagpins' or not. Not to mention I really don't care if it's common and totally widely accepted- because I'm thinking of several racist common and widely accepted phrases used too. If you're courting clinton voters, not smooth. - Erin @queenofspain

So what you're saying is that Clinton supporters have no grasp on common debate terminology. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins

With all due respect Erin, I think you're making mountains out of molehills. Most people will never even see the transcript you quoted, most people know an invocation of the "when did you stop beating your wife?" question means you think the question was compound (I mean, honestly, I learned this when I was in grammar school, and I didn't have any special upbringing. I can't think of a single person I know who doesn't know the question), and most people don't care. This isn't going to change anyone's vote. - Mark Trapp

Agree not a smoth move for courting Clinton voters. But such a common phrase that it has lost its literal meaning for me - Francine Hardaway from twhirl

oh sweet baby jesus Mark. I'm saying you should probably not use any cliche's that invoke wife beating no matter how fucking famous they are. He's all Mr. I LOVE WOMEN right now. Next time I'm pretty sure he can skip the entire cliche' and just say 'That's a loaded question, I'm not going to answer it' - especially when your reputation is to call your wife a cunt. - Erin @queenofspain

Can't we just talk about Loren and Shel some more? OK-just a joke... - Mark Forman

Erin, no reasonable person associates the act of wife beating or enabling wife beating with the question. It's like getting annoyed (or whatever you want to call it, I don't care) about someone saying "Man, I'm sick as a dog!" because someone at Peta might get upset because of some possible connotation with thinking dogs are sick. This is absurd. - Mark Trapp

there is a bitch joke there Mark. There is. I just am not witty enough to find it. Anyway. I'm obviously unreasonable. I'm not like MAD, I'm just shaking my head. No reasonable person votes for McCain either...so it's all good. ;P - Erin @queenofspain

I know that's the point you're attempting to make, Erin. The underlying point is that because no one you immediately polled knew the phrase, or because only highly educated folks know this phrase (or old - your supposition is a bit murky to me), Hillary supporters can't know what that means, because they're not that smart. My overlying point is that it isn't very fun when people take your original meaning and twist it to mean something completely different. You know that first hand now, and in context. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins

.... - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

Mark you are on crack. My underlying point is that wife beating cliche's, jokes, and otherwise common language-legal, accepted or otherwise- are SEXIST and have no business coming out of Mr. My Wife is CUNT's mouth. I don't care if every clinton voter on earth knows and loves this phrase, McCain, as a matter of strategy, should avoid any and all things that even come close to sexist as he courts the female vote. - Erin @queenofspain

Erin, I don't mean to call you unreasonable: I just think there's enough heavy, huge, major, oh-my-god-what-the-hell things that are wrong with McCain, even given the specific audience of former Clinton supporters, that you don't need to straw man the problems McCain has with Gotcha!s like this. It's a distraction to his more serious issues: if we're all focusing on how poor of an interviewee McCain is, he gets away with his horrendous positions on women's rights, economy, health care, foreign policy, etc. - Mark Trapp

it's an example to me, a reminder, that his humor is laced in sexism. that he's not my candidate. that he shoots himself in the foot frequently and that I'm not a fan. I agree. Much bigger fish to fry. Happened to flop down on my bloggy plate as I sat down to write tonight. Add it to the 'mccan sucks at talking' pile and move on. - Erin @queenofspain

as a complete aside my husband wants you all to know he walked across the street today in santa monica- crossing 7th and wilshire- with the boss from Office Space - Erin @queenofspain

McCain is a jerk, Erin. He's not my candidate either. That said, boy, am I glad I am not on his PR team. :P - edythe

Office Space?! :D - edythe

McCain is not my candidate either, but in fact, this is a very commonly used expression, not a joke. It's a comment on a leading question by a reporter. If you ask someone, "when did you stop beating your wife," there's no good answer. The question pre-supposes guilt. Of course, you could also say, "when did you stop robbing banks" but the other is the common colloquialism. - Leo Laporte

Dammit Erin this is twice in a week you have made me say this but you are right. I appreciate the fact that no one is jumping to ridiculous assertions that this makes them believe that McCain abuses his wife, etc - even so one of the challenges he has always had is that his strength is his willingness to shoot straighter than most and eschew strict reliance on talking points - those of us who are inclined to agree with (at least some of) his positions find the distraction just as unfortunate as Mark does - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

Lumberg? Does he look the same? Did he get a picture? Man, whatever happened to that guy. Well, besides walking across the street with your husband. - Mark Trapp

Funny, nobody actually cares !! Take a look at your post - zero comments there !! Yet, a full and healthy discourse is happening here. That by itself indicates that people really dont care what they hear from others. The day, that his wife yells , then every1 will care. Till then, Censorial "kink" is legal :)- ..ok go figure where I went with that thought..:)- What matter , stuff that matters ? sexism is just a distractor - Peter Dawson

talk to me when we're not discussing flagpins. - Erin @queenofspain

ummm... am I supposed to want comments? - Erin @queenofspain

Am I the only person who thinks that if you don't know "have you stopped beating your wife?" as the prime example of the loaded question, you should be tortured with a thousand papercuts from the edges of the tens of millions of books which have referenced it? Seriously, it's not a pop culture reference, it's a LITERATE reference, and I'd be ashamed to say I didn't recognize it in a public place. Certainly no one who considers themselves in any way competent to wield the pen of wit should take pride in it. - Alexander Williams

I love you too Alexander. - Erin @queenofspain

"What's love got to do with it?" - Alexander Williams

So glad I don't wield any pens of wit or otherwise. hey did you know mccain doesn't wield a computer? (sorry Marco) - Erin @queenofspain

A thought before sleep: McCain CHUCKLED and said "And I stopped beating my wife just a couple of weeks ago…." an obvious attempt at humor. Let's have that on tape and replayed. There is no 'eenie meanie miny moe'-might be well known, accepted, and not mean ANYTHING, but I remember all to well how that one ended as a kid. Here we have a well known (see the title of my post-because I did actually read before posting) maybe innocent, but when chuckled by a US prez just sounds stupid. Bad. Strategy. - Erin @queenofspain

I give up. (I actually gave up a long time ago to get some real work done), but I really give up now. I'm mostly arguing semantics since I'm really not all that pleased with McCain being the only proper oppositional candidate for Obama (as if Bob Barr could get ballot access in half of America after Ron Paul's debacle). I really feel like I have no one to vote for in the coming election. It's a really lonely feeling. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins

"If voting could make a difference, it'd be illegal. If NOT voting could make a difference, it'd be illegal." And I'd like to add, if this is the best substantiative debate of differences that can be brought to bear, it's clear it's a First World Problem. No one in Zimbabwe cares about the rhetorical references or flourishes of the guy about to steal their land and rape their children. Context is everything. - Alexander Williams

This is so "Rush Limbaugh picking at straws" argumentation... - Rob Reed