Right on, Charles Barkley!

[MonkeyFunk]

He's on Wolf's show right now, saying he played with gay players and it never bothered him. He has several gay friends and it's not up to him to judge people.

"especially being black, we have no right - we've got to be inclusive."

Good for him!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. Wasn't he planning on running for something?

[MonkeyFunk]

3. Hrmm....

yeah, that does ring a bell now that you mention it. But then Shaq was gonna run for something too, right?

[CatWoman]

5. I think it was gov. of Alabama

oh, my......

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. The Governor of Alabama you say...

He'll be no match for my political action committee of atomic super men.

Hrm, hmm, yes.

[CatWoman]

12. hahahahahahaha

:rofl:

remember the spider? :)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Yes, dammit!

*falls asleep*

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

7. Governor of Alabama

I think?

He used to be a Republican, "until they lost their minds."

That's a real quote from him!

:rofl:

[Virginia Dare]

25. As a Republican I think.....n/t

[frogcycle]

33. He moved to Alabama a few months ago so he can establish residency

he is planning to run. Its a long wait though, several years.

Barkley is Da Man!

[Horse with no Name]

2. He was my Grandma's favorite Phoenix Sun

I can see why.
That's what it is all about..."we've got to be inclusive"...Yes indeed.

[youngdem]

4. He also said he didn't want to play with Magic Johnson, so he ain't perfect

[CatWoman]

6. I remember that

but I thought that was Karl Malone :shrug:

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

9. I think you're right

Karl Malone, not Charles Barkley.

OTOH, Barkley did throw a guy through a plate-glass window, once.

[MonkeyFunk]

13. yeah

and he shtupped Madonna, too!

[malmapus]

32. He beat the snot out of Barney though!

The man is all right with me after that :D

[stevedeshazer]

28. Big deal. I've done that.

:)

Miraculously, I didn't get sued and I gave up whiskey. Win-win situation. It only took about 60 stitches to sew the guy up.

He was probably a Republican, anyway. He had health insurance.

[youngdem]

16. I stand corrected. Karl Malone it was.

[CatWoman]

18. that was digusting of him

I might add..............

HA!!!

Didn't think a "woman" would know those things, huh???? }(

[MonkeyFunk]

8. Not according to wikipedia...

During the 1991-1992 season, his last in Philadelphia, Barkley wore number 32 instead of 34 in honor of Magic Johnson, who had announced prior to the start of the season that he was HIV-positive. The 76ers had retired the number 32 in honor of Billy Cunningham, who un-retired it for Barkley to wear. Following Johnson's announcement, Barkley also rebuked himself for having made fun of people for having HIV. Responding to concerns that players may contract HIV by contact with Johnson, Barkley commented flippantly: "We're just playing basketball. It's not like we're going out to have unprotected sex with Magic."

[CatWoman]

11. exactly

as I remember, CB was quite a gentleman about it.

But it sure bought the bigot out in others.

[Catherine Vincent]

15. I agree. That was right on what he said.

Barkley rocks!

[MonkeyFunk]

17. the whole interview was great

he said someone would have to be an idiot to think they hadn't played with gay players.

The only flaw was calling Hardaway "a great guy" as a preface to saying it was a really stupid thing to say.

[goclark]

19. Charles is right and I respect him for what he said

I am African American and I agree with him when, WE must show the world that we want to be inclusive.

[Warren Stupidity]

20. No shit. Charles is a good man.

And he is not alone in the NBA - Hardaway was read out of the all star celebrations by Stern:

“We removed him from representing us because we didn't think his comments were consistent with having anything to do with us,” Stern told reporters Thursday at the opening of a fan festival at a Las Vegas casino, part of the NBA's All-Star weekend.
http://www.beloitdailynews.com/articles/2007/02/16/sports/sports08.txt

[tom_paine]

21. Charles is a pretty smart guy and he can think for himself

Which, if you notice all around us, most on the right but more than a few in the left and middle, are people who found it too difficult and time-consuming to form their own opinions for themselves. The most extreme form of this is the Busheviks and the creepy way they graft wholsale and verbatim undigested, the propaganda pronouncements of the Mighty Wurlitzer and their Masters.

My point is: Charles was a Republican because he looked at the world and decided for his own reasons that was what he wanted to be. Then the "data" changed and, as Bzarkley said, "The Republicans lost their minds." (Yes, I heard him say it, too)

As a rationalist (I may be the first person who ever used that term in conjuction with Bzarkley, but damn it if it isn't 100% true), Charles looked at the data and realized that he'd made an error.

Whatever else one may think of Sir Charles, on or off the court, you can't take that away from him. I may disagree with him sometimes, but I will always respect him as I do anyone who has taken the time to form their own opinions about things.

Bravo, Sir Charles, and I think he would make a wonderful Governor of Alabama. Can you imagine those pants-pissing Freepers trying to diss him? Can you imagine him squashing some pathetic Bushevik who tried to say Sir Charles was unpatriotic?

Run, Charles, Run!

[spooky3]

27. well said!

[terrya]

22. Good for him.

So far, from what I've read, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal and Dennis Rodman seem to be the players who are showing accepting attitudes towards gay players and gay people in general.

Good for them.

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

30. Dennis Rodman

Is a real mysogynist, though. (gosh that's a hard word to spell).

[frogcycle]

34. and that has WHAT to do with this conversation??

[Greyhound]

36. Really? A misogynist transvestite, what a combination...

It really does take all kinds, I guess.:shrug:

[tabasco]

23. Good for Charles for speaking out. His parents should be proud of him.

He turned out to be a good guy. :patriot:

[Cha]

24. To Charles and

Gnarls Barkley! :toast:

[In Truth We Trust]

26. Right on Mr. Barkley

[Greyhound]

29. In spite of his Repuke leanings, I have always liked his honesty and straightforward

approach to life. Remember he was the one that took so much heat for his stand on professional athletes being role models? He is brutally honest in everything I've ever seen heard or read about him. I'll take that over the two-faced hypocrisy so prevalent in our society, any day.

ETA: I'd also vote for him over HRC any day.

[spooky3]

31. he gave $$$ to Edwards in the last election cycle

http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?city=Birmingham&st=AL&last=barkley&first=charles

[bridgit]

35. i heard what Barkley and some others had to say, they were spot on...

:thumbsup:

[MonkeyFunk]

37. Here's the CNN transcript of the whole interview:

BLITZER: And joining us now, NBA legend Charles Barkley.

Charles, what do you make of this uproar involving Tim Hardaway's comments saying he hates gays?

CHARLES BARKLEY, FORMER NBA PLAYER: Well, Tim Hardaway is a good guy who said something really stupid. That's all I can say. It was really dumb to say -- first of all, if he thinks that, it's really unfortunate. But it was just a dumb thing to say. BLITZER: What about when you were playing in the NBA? Were there gay players that you knew for sure were gay? Were there some who were willing to talk about it?

BARKLEY: I played with a couple guys who were gay. It did not bother me at all. I have several gay friends.

It's not up for me to judge somebody on their sexual orientation, because especially with being black. We've got to be inclusive. WE have no right. That was probably the most disturbing thing about Tim Hardaway's conversation. A black person can't be like that, ever.

And I'm disappointed in Tim. He's a great guy. It was just really dumb for him to say. But gay people don't bother me at all.

BLITZER: How prevalent is this homophobia among NBA stars?

BARKLEY: You know, Wolf, there's always -- I hear all these reporters talking about how we would treat gay players in the locker room. We're not dumb. We all know we have played with gay guys before. So -- and they never got treated bad.

And that's what bothered me the most is when you have these conversations. These reporters saying we would treat these guys bad. Hey, you'd have to be an idiot to think you have never played with somebody who was gay. I have. I think all players have and maybe didn't know it. And it's just really unfortunate that people think we would treat them bad.

BLITZER: Charles, thanks very much for joining us.

BARKLEY: Thank you.