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Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Sonny gave us Lt. Col. Gandalf the Gay? Zell, no.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The measure of a good election-year story is this: Even if it’s not true, it’s still good.
In a New York Daily News gossip column, published this week, Sir Ian McKellen claimed that Sonny Perdue had made the out-of-the-closet actor an honorary lieutenant colonel in the Georgia National Guard - a symbolic violation of the country’s military policy toward gays.
You probably know the formidable Sir Ian from either the “Lord of the Rings” or the “X-Men” series.
Said McKellen: “I was in Atlanta doing press for the ‘Da Vinci Code’ - and they wanted to honor me. The governor made me a lieutenant colonel in the gubernatorial force,” he said. “So the ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ rule obviously didn’t apply to me. I have a lovely certificate hanging in my office. So inadvertently, they made me the poster child for having openly gay people in the military.”
E-mails churned. Gay blogs were delighted at the hypocrisy. Republicans sweated. Oh, Sonny Perdue, why did you do it?
As it turned out, Sonny didn’t.
First thing Wednesday morning, Perdue spokesman Dan McLagan set his staff to work. First, they found out that McKellen hasn’t been to Atlanta this year. Then a plucky intern turned up this McKellen quote from 1995:
“Last year I was visiting Atlanta for the opening there of my film of ‘Richard III.’ The governor was not abashed and in compensation he declared me an ‘aide de camp’ in his gubernatorial militia, with the status thenceforward of Lieutenant Colonel - which must make me the only openly-gay senior officer currently serving in the armed forces of the USA. This appointment is for life - I think it’s time someone designed me a uniform!”
McKellen’s militia certificate is real — it’s just 11 years old. The fellow who signed it was Zell Miller, the former U.S. Marine, ex-Democratic governor, and current backer of Perdue, a Republican.
Which is perhaps why McLagan treated the 71-year-old actor’s memory lapse with such kindness.
“This guy is Gandalf and Magneto rolled into one, and if he wants to join forces with Georgia when we must battle evil, we welcome him,” McLagan said.
Presidential ripples from Ralph Reed’s splash
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last week’s defeat of Ralph Reed in Georgia’s race for lieutenant governor figures prominently in the calculations of Chuck Todd’s presidential rankings.
Todd is editor-in-chief of Hotline.
Here’s what he said of John McCain, ranked No. 1:
“Another tremendous month for McCain, capped off by an early public endorsement of the most popular governor in the country, Utah’s Jon Huntsman. No one would have predicted how solid a frontrunner McCain is at this point. The lack of blind quotes from establishment types is fairly solid evidence that President Bush is comfortable with him as a successor. By the way, how much behind-the-scenes help did McCain give to Casey Cagle? Just askin’.”
And here’s what he said about Rudy Giuliani, who came in at No. 4:
“There’s no sign that he’s not running, so he’s on his own with a solo spot in the rankings. Two words: Ralph Reed. Rudy endorsed him, raised money for him and even recorded a phone call for him. That decision goes to the heart of Giuliani’s appeal — his judgment. State party elites seem to like him and hint that they might excuse his… ideological indiscretions. But there are 10 regular voters for every one member of the elite. That aside, we can’t discount his favorability ratings, national name ID and heir-to-Bush creds on terror.”
