Bill Richardson's "playful" gay slur

From the Seattlestan fishwrap:

Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson said Thursday his use of a Spanish word that some contend is a slur against homosexuals was meant to be playful but apologized to anyone who was offended.
With critics revisiting the statement he made on a radio program a year ago, Richardson questioned the timing of their comments.

"My record is the strongest among the presidential candidates on gay rights issues and I'm puzzled by the timing of this. When it happened a year ago, nobody seemed to think it was terribly important. Now it surfaces," he told The Associated Press in an interview.

"It's probably a sign from other campaigns that they are little worried about me," he said.

Yeah, those impressive polling numbers (3%) have Shrillary, Osamabama, and Silky Pony quaking. Continuing:

Richardson, a Hispanic and the governor of New Mexico, was a guest on Don Imus' syndicated radio program on March 29, 2006. Imus, who later lost his job over making racial comments, jokingly said one of his staffers suggested Richardson was "not really Hispanic."

Richardson replied in Spanish that if the staffer believes that, then he is a "maricon."

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation says the word means "faggot" in Spanish.

In a statement this week, Richardson said that in the Spanish he grew up speaking, "the term means simply 'gay,' not positive or negative."

He told the AP on Thursday: "It was a playful exchange between me and Don Imus that was not intended to demean anybody, but if I offended anybody, I apologize."

A few observations, if I may:

1. The lesson here is clear: if you're going to slur someone from a P.C. "protected" group, just do it in Spanish. ¡Muchos gracias!

2. "Macaca" moment? Oops...wrong party. The MSM's got little to say about it beyond this. But that's different, right?

3. Richardson was "playfully" saying "faggot", which I was unaware could be done. This will no doubt come as a huge surprise to Ann Coulter.

4. Someone doubts Richardson's Latino "street cred", and Richardson calls that person a queer...but he didn't mean it in a "positive or negative" way. Right.

5. The left says that gays are fine and dandy, then they smear anyone they think or imply might be gay. Geez, pick a talking point and stick to it, will ya?