Bill Richardson Pulls a Coulter

He called another man on the Imus show - yes, the Imus show - a faggot. It took Richardson a year to apologize. And it was in Spanish:

Almost exactly one year before Imus was to lose his show for using a slur to describe the Rutger’s women’s basketball team, the shock jock used the Spanish word “maric” in an on-air exchange with Richardson.

“Bernard on the staff here has been claiming you’re not really Hispanic so-- that you're just claiming that for some sort of advantage or something,” Imus said to Richardson, tongue clearly in cheek. “You can just answer this yes or no and this will answer that question. Would you agree that Bernard is a maricón?”

Without missing a beat, Richardson replied in Spanish, “Yo creo que Bernardo, sí es un maricón si él piensa que yo no soy hispano. [General laughter] Was that good enough or what? [General laughter]”

"That’s good enough for me," Imus replied.

Most gay Latinos interviewed for this story agreed with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation that the word "maricón" means “faggot” in Spanish. So, translated to English, Richardson had replied: "I believe that Bernard, yes – he’s a faggot if he thinks that I am not Hispanic."

The gay groups decided not to make an issue of it at the time - because he's a Democrat. Sigh.