Comments

1
Did you engage with the guy with the bullhorn?
2
More later, I'm sure. I was glad to see the Mercury Blog had a substantive report on it for me to enjoy before heading out to probably not get laid.

http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/Blog…

The closing paragraph was nicely done:

I don't know about you, but I'm starting to hope Adams doesn't resign tomorrow. It's like the BBC pulling Eldorado just when it got interesting. Also, the racial mix at tonight's rally approximated the Republican National Convention.
3
I love this for all the unyielding DRAMA and the nagging from both sides. It doesn't get all that old at all!

Actually, I was busy at work today so it got really boring. I still haven't caught that minty newness again, but I'm sure it will come back to me.
4
Cause mob rule is so what we strive for...
5
Why does Portland have to "Forgive"?
It is like he is driving 64 in a 50 zone. You're going to get pulled over if you go 65, but he was only going 64 and wasn't pulled over.

Politicians aren't saints and never have been.

I don't want to know my politician sex lives in general, though if they are doing something illegal it is best if the police find out.
6
The Mercury is full of Bull Poo. I'm sick and tired of people using the racial word "White" as some sort of slur. So the PDX crowd was mostly white. Either the "people of Color" are too chicken shit to show up or there just are not that many "people of color" in PDX for you to notice, or maybe they don't give a dam and are at home watching TV. Stop the racial slurs against those that do show up who happen to be White.
7
More bike rack photos please!
8
Why is "white" capitalized? That's creepy.

White people are clearly robots part of a larger hive mind.
9
I got there just in time to see about half the crowd start to leave, unfortunately, but it was so great to see so much support for Sam, and all the signs were awesome. I really hope we don't lose him.
10
It's very hard to be White in this world, what with all the alt-weeklies constantly making assumptions about you.
11
Wow. It must be nice to live in a place where people actually rally. In NM I swear the Gov. could use our tax dollars to have sex with with every animal, man, and woman in the pound, lie about it, and finance his presidential campaign with the money he made selling the tape to an underground community...and all we would do is mutter bitterly in our coffee.
12
I've changed my mind. I hope he has the courage to stay. Now if only there was some way to rid sites of "Posted by" names that are as retarded as "see white yuppie queers party the night away for justice." I mean you were born with a name, right. Why be such a coward?!
At least go to the next level of stupidity and loon it up with something like, I don't know, maybe: "Sargon Bighorn" or "anon" or "puke" or "can I be more pathetic" or "give me a razor blade" or something like that!!! At some point we all grow up and realize that special is just a word.
13
5 AM is human? What the hell is that supposed to mean?
14
Dan-

I worry you will undo all of your good efforts one day by backing the wrong horse. I worry you might confuse the hypothetical with the actual.
Truth is, nothing is wrong with people getting together. A lie however, remains so for all time.
15
the kid in the red belt is adorable.
16
Next stop, Tawana Brawley's house?
17
It's not about the sex, it's about the LIES!!!

I cry
for the lies
against my city

When the truth
can no longer be recognized
we must admit its the lies
the lies
The make me weep
for my city

Portlandia weeps tonight
and I , with her
18
dear stranger,

i used to live in seattle circa 99-00. your were then what the mercury is now, in portland, where i live now. you had the balls, or the chutzpah, then to go from juvenile mischief to taking yourself seriously as a news organization. why you wouldn't have a similar effect on the mercury is beyond me. please, they suck. their arts editor was the arts editor for my college "paper". their fashion editor, marjorie skinner, thinks the pearl district iz happenin. but the pearl district really, really, izn't.
sink the fucking mercury, plz.
19
@Fnarf
please. it's 5AM I5 HUMAN. which is ridiculous, really. i know the traffic's gotten bad in recent years, but the interstate really isn't so packed that early. i mean, not that i'd go so far as to call it human.

dude fucked someone a lot younger, but legal. so what? i'm having a really hard time figuring out why it's wrong to lie about something that's no one's fucking business to ask in the first place. every conversation is not a deposition. this is lewinsky-level bullshit all over again. he's a creep, you say? well no shit, sherlock. HE'S A POLITICIAN. of *course* he's a creep! does anyone you know run for office? no? probably because you don't enjoy the company of politicians, right? who necessarily spend a lot of time kissing ass and clawing their way to the top. jesus.

he's just being himself, who the fuck cares who he beds? puritanical asshats who are making the big stink about this really need a hobby. knitting, bingo ... anything. anything but this.
20
sorry, that whole comment wasn't for Fnarf, just the first paragraph. the rest is aimed at the article.
21
Dan, I support your campaign to support Sam Adams,-- but, I have to wonder, how exactly do you reconcile your advocacy for Adams with the statement you made in your very recent (7/17/08) column? I.e., "Gay men in their 30s and 40s who will date teenage boys are almost always scum?" I can deduce that you meant that there is a slim percentage who aren't scum-- is Adams one of those rarities?

22
A little bigger turnout than the Mayor Jim West rally that the Stranger endorsed in Spokane.
23
If it had been a 17 year old girl would they forgive?
24
18 darling 18
25
@People who have a problem with the lying:

In order to illustrate why lying to the public about your sex life is normal and warranted, let's talk about fetishes. Let's say Mayor Adams liked to piss on his boyfriend. Public opinion of people who piss on other people isn't great. The NEWS decides that "Mayor Pisses on Private Citizen" is an interesting lead and asks him if he likes to piss on people during sex. He denies it, and tells his boyfriend to deny it. It's nobody's business, and it unjustly hurts his public image. What is so monstrously offensive about this?

What is it about lying that has you people in such fits? You'd think the past 8 years had never happened. If one lie about sex has you in a furor, how have you not catapulted yourselves against the side of the White House in protest of all the bullshit that came out of Bush's mouth? Or did you
26
sweetie, when did the grooming start?
27

Consent=Miscegenation=Sodomy

28
The idiot holding the Portland can forgive sign needs to go home-the whole point is that it was a consensual relationship between legal adults. Its not a crime; there's nothing that needs to be forgiven.
29
@ 28,

But its not the sex, its the lies! The dirty, dirty lies! How can we ever forgive someone for not wanting to answer inappropriate personal questions about their sex life? How can we trust him? How dare he be uncomfortable about sharing the sexy details about the relationship he had with that firm, nubile teenager? How?

He must have something to hide if he can't be honest!
30
Large, commodious crocodile tears and righteous, righteous anger about "The Lies" is a friendly, happier way of saying "He had icky gay butt sex with a barely legal hottie!"

This is a mini version of the first "scandal" that can be made up about Obama. Then anyone who questions the scandal supporters will be told THIS IS NOT ABOUT RACISM! IT'S ABOUT LYING IN OFFICE! HOW DARE YOU!
31
interesting parallel stories this morning. don't get me wrong, i hate haggard, adams sounds great (and i love dan). and obviously haggard is an unbelievable hypocrite and adams was already out. is it ok to lie as long as you're not a hypocrite too?
32
Adams is an out gay man, who lied about a personal matter between him and another man.

Haggard was the head of a nationally prominent mega-church who preached against homosexuality. He had a relationship with a male prostitute who supplied him with illegal drugs, and apparently another man who was paid hush funds from his church's coffers.

I suppose you could also add that he was married at
the time.

Understand the difference?

33
From where I sit they are both a couple of lying disgusting perverts.
(not that there is anything wrong with that...)
34
@anon, I couldn't agree more. I just moved to Portland after five years in Seattle, and every time I pick up the Mercury, I'm like, 'really? They're serious with this thing?' Am I actually supposed to read the WWeek? But the Merc is hiring a new arts and news director, so hopefully it will get better.

Also, lolsy at the white people. Portland is one of the whitest big cities in America. Of course the crowd at a rally for the gay white mayor is going to be mostly white.
35
@15:

i agree! but what about his special friend?

lets hope they're just special friends and not an item... im gettin to Portland asap! :P
36
um, first off, a voter has the right to hold a lie against a person. if the general public thought the question was inappropriate then refusing to answer would have been appropriate at the time.

but, more importantly, he lied about a legal question. he was asked if he did illegal act a, and said he didn't do any acts b, of which a is a subset of.

now that he is saying he in fact did to b, some people are questioning if he also did a as well. and as someone who's lied specifically about a before, it is unsurprising that some voters are questioning his new story.

one final thought, someone can think most people over forty who have sex with teenagers are acting legal but are scum who they wouldn't vote for and also think that lying about having sex with with a 17 year old (the original question sam lied about) is reason to investigate apart from the whole scum thing.

it just doesn't look good. and it doesn't look good somewhat because of certain social prejudges, but most because of some of the decisions sam has made.

if the investigation clears him, i don't think he should resign. but i wouldn't go to a rally one way or the other at this point.
37
Okay, I've come around a little bit on this. At first I was calling for his head. Now I've relaxed a little, and I don't really care much, one way or the other.

But there is no way I'd rally behind this guy. The sex was legal; fine. The lying was bad, but not a firing offense. So I am content not to call for his resignation. But he is not exactly a model citizen, not the Obama of the gay community that we should be holding up as beacon. Is this really the best we can do? This is who we should be wrapping the gay flag around? I don't think so.

If our Mayor Nickels had had an affair with an 18 year old girl, and lied about it, a lot of people would be calling for his resignation. Would you be rallying to support him? I doubt it. I don't think the Stranger would be calling for his resignation, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be sponsoring rallies of support either.

The lying is not irrelevant. He had an easy out. He could have simply said that any personal relationship he has with another consenting adult is none of the media's fucking business. But he didn't say that. He lied. And he screwed other people's reputations with his lies. So it wasn't simply in innocent lie; other people were harmed by his lies. No, I don't think he should resign. But I'm sure not rallying behind a lying idiot and holding him up as a gay poster boy.
38
@37 I'm not rallying behind Sam Adams specificly or holding him up as a gay posterboy. (Well, actually, I'm not rallying at all, because I live in Cincinnati and that would be a bitch of a flight). But I'm behind the principle that adults should be able to have consensual sex of any kind they please with other legal adults, and its nobody's business but their own. I have no strong feelings about Sam Adams the person one way or the other. I have a lot of strong feelings about the fucking can't-mind-its-own-business Puritan attitude of this country that seeks to legislate morality. Its not about Sam Adams; its about the principles of personal freedom.
39
Further, hell up until last week the name Sam Adams just conjured up thirst for a damn fine beer. I'd like to get back to that.
40
What a bunch of crap, there was maybe 500 people there. Oregonian and Channel 8 reported it at around 200. Lies all around.
Sam Adams should resign for the simple fact that he's a liar that conspired to make others lie. You want him Seattle, you can have him.
So hypocritical. There should be one standard for our politicians no matter how good they MIGHT be. Bush lied - dirt bag. Adams lied - not as much of a dirt bag, but he still lied. Get him out.
41
@38 Since when is honesty a "puritanical" value?
42
12
Exactly which Mark and where in Coloado are you, Mr not-a-coward-using-my-REAL-name?
43
Faux outrage about lies vs "honesty" is such a convenient mask for squeamishness about gay butt love!!!!
44
@41 When people clothe their nosing into the private lives of others, prejudice, and hypocrisy by saying that its about honesty.
45
This is so much more interesting than the work I need to be doing!

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