UPDATE: Gwen Graham Says WASP Reference Directed at Special Interests

UPDATE: Gwen Graham Says WASP Reference Directed at Special Interests

UPDATE

The Graham campaign told the Tampa Bay Times that Graham was “comparing the wasps swarming outside to the infestation of special interests in the Capitol.”

ORIGINAL STORY

Days after a state-wide poll found Florida Democrat Gubernatorial candidate Gwen Graham a clear front runner, Graham made comments hostile towards whites before the state media on Thursday.

Straying from prepared remarks at the state capital, Ms. Graham referred to insects (wasps) buzzing in the room and decided to make the connection to the acronym WASP – which stands for White Anglo Saxon Protestants.

Graham said, “you think the wasps are symbolic of something here in this building? Cause it’s a concern. We need to get rid of all the wasps. We need to get rid of all the wasps…human and otherwise.”

 

The Tampa Bay Times (TBT) wrote, “Presumably the joke was about WASPS, as in White Anglo Saxon Protestants (like herself and unlike three of her current or prospective Democratic rivals, African-American Andrew Gillum, Jewish Philip Levine, and Catholic John Morgan).

These comments come as some in the Democratic Party continue to demonstrate an open disregard for whites.

Earlier this year the Florida Democratic Party hired as its new President, Sally Boynton Brown, a woman who made headlines for stating that, as chair of the Idaho Democratic Party, ” My job is to shut other white people down when they want to say, ‘Oh no I’m not prejudiced, I’m a Democrat, I’m accepting.’ ”

Also, more recently, noted left leaning political commentator Chris Matthews, when discussing the next presidential race stated, “I think whoever the Democratic candidate is next time, it’s got to be somebody who hasn’t discarded the white working class.”

Surprisingly, the Florida’s state-wide media has all but ignored Graham’s comments.

This is in stark contrast to the attention given by the mainstream media to the Steve Southerland male only fundraiser incident that made news during the Southerland-Graham congressional race in 2014, which Graham won.

The popular statewide SaintpetersBlog, published a story in 2014 by Peter Schorsch about the incident under the title, “Loser of the Week: Steve Southerland’s He-Man Women Haters Club fundraiser.”

In addition, the 2014 incident was covered by Politico.com, TheHill.com, TheHuffingtonPost, USA Today and the Tallahassee Democrat.

57 Responses to "UPDATE: Gwen Graham Says WASP Reference Directed at Special Interests"

  1. She is a huge disappointment. Hung on to daddy’s coattails as hard as ever.She just lectured everyone about morality on her Facebook page concerning the latest sleeping around with people other than spouses. I seem to remember a story about her mother and an FDLE agent at the mansion when her dad was governor.

  2. It does not matter what she says because John Morgan is going to clear the field. Gillum is a joke that gets funnier and funnier and Graham is a lightweight whose only claim to fame is her father.

  3. Plastering on billboards with voters will not work. Look no further than the media actions that took place when it was exposed that Rocky Hanna did not pay child support for 10 years when he knew he was the father of a child, we looked the other way and have not held him accountable for compiling misleading and knowingly false conjecture to start a rougoue FBI investigation to ruin a man and his family combined with his professional ethics violation we then elect him to lead our schools. Sad days in Tallahassee. The truth does not overcome the myths.

  4. Let’s make sure this quote gets plastered on billboards all over the State at Primary/Election time. It needs plenty of repetition.

  5. Just keep in mind Gwen is the failed congresswoman the local propaganda arm of suicidal leftists “The Tallahassee Democrat” (TDO.COM) sponsors. TDO has taken an anti-Mayor Andy propaganda stance by publishing truthful articles on our local criminal usual suspects under FBI investigation which TDO would normally provide cover for.
    TDO.COM would still totally have their nose far up inside Mayor Andy’s backside if they did not so much prefer the fragrant aroma of Gwen’s WASP backside (yeah that’s totally raciest, sexist, and biased on the part of TDO).
    So just because TDO seems to hate Mayor Andy at this moment – avoid that trap of your all so warm and friendly conservative feelings (which are proven ALWAYS wrong anyway) – that we can “cross the isle” and work with TDO. TDO still remains a big time enemy to all things conservative.
    Even though TDO may be acting somewhat like “useful idiots” to us at this moment in time, in their disdain for Andy which is based solely on their support for WASP Gwen, TDO is not conservatives “new friend”.

    1. I hadn’t put that scenario together yet, but now that you have, it sure does explain their flip on covering for Andy & his syndicate.

      And you’re spot on.
      Nothing conservative – fiscal or otherwise – about that Enemy of Tallahasseeans.
      Don’t buy it.
      Don’t subscribe.
      If you do – cancel.
      Best way to force Gannett to sell them off is to starve them of your cash.
      I hear they’re having trouble finding renters for their vast unoccupied space, even with that sad sign in the front lot.

      1. Ms. Maven, I completely agree with your summation of our local “newspaper”. I worked as an editorial news graphics manager and graphic artist for over twenty years at both major metro and mid-size newspapers, and after moving here 10 years ago, I was astounded at the poor quality and marginal (at best) professionalism of the Democrat.

        One thing that’s always puzzled me is how the Capital City of the 3rd most populous state in America can have such a poor excuse for a newspaper – one would think that a big media company would put major talent and money into the Capital paper, due to all the state issues, policies and laws that are decided. But Gannett never had a great reputation to begin with in all my working years, so maybe the question answers itself.

        Maybe we’ll be fortunate and if Gannett sells the Democrat, a new media company may start another newspaper (a real one this time) with a new name – and high journalistic standards. I’d love to see TR grow into a larger media company and assume a major role in that.

        1. When Gannett bought the TD from Knight-Ridder, the newsroom still had plenty of veteran staffers with “institutional knowledge.” But in the following decade, they methodically eviscerated the newsroom, sending those veterans packing. Occasionally hiring a clueless kid for 40¢ on the dollar as a “replacement.”

  6. Even if she “corrected” herself, what she said initially was her true feelings. Certainly, I don’t like believing Gwen despises her own race, but liberals are quite contrary.

  7. Anyone who uses race to divide people in the name of getting votes is not worthy of holding office. It’s more of the same old thing. Candidates should put forth ideas and be willing to listen to the people.

  8. You do a lot of good work here but this is laughable, more like Alex Jones or kooky SJW paranoia than anything resembling a serious argument.

      1. Equating Adam Smith’s blog with the full weight of the Tampa Bay Times, if that is what you are implying, is misleading. Nor does your link support the original headline to your article: “Gwen Graham Says We Need To Get Rid Of All The White Anglo Saxon Protestants”. You have changed the headline, and updated the article, which is a positive step and more rational. The article as written should have been put on your opinion page, if at all.

        1. Mr. Clum, Your point is specious at best, and falls apart through basic empirical circumstances.
          TR is simply reporting Ms. Graham’s documented statements at a media appearance – there’s no “opinion” in that. As a Democrat running for office, whose party regularly disparages Whites (and some nonsense they term “White Priviledge”), Gwen used the term “wasp” as a pejorative racial term, hoping to gin up votes via resentment and division, as Democrats regularly do. She even deviated from her prepared remarks to make that statement – it was deliberate and unmistakable.
          That’s it, pure and simple – trying to spin her clear choice of words as anything else is simply obfuscation.

  9. I wonder how many workers her granddaddy graham exploited when he owned the dairy farms around Miami? Were granddaddy and daddy Wasps as well as herself?

    1. Anyone remember a story about putting up a fence with a cow inside, just so Bob could qualify the parcel as “agricultural” and pay a much-lower property tax rate on the Miami land?

      1. I don’t remember the article but saw the property in an urbanized suburb of Miami, Doral. Those poor cows had to live in the middle of a developed city so Bob could fleece the tax system!

        1. Just looked into it. Called the “Greenbelt Law.” Started in 1959. Sen Bill Nelson has saved $43,000 in tax payments by using a Rent-A-Cow biz to put 6 cows on land he owns so it qualifies at a reduced tax rate.

  10. Wasn’t Gwen Graham the school board attorney/official that settled the transfer of a teacher that Rocky Hanna dated when he was the supervisor of the teacher at Leon High School? If memory serves me correctly, Mr. Hanna admitted to kissing the teacher during working hours on campus, when the teacher called off the relationship Mr. Hanna had the teacher transferred with a monetary settlement. Covering up a possible ethics violation by Mr. Hanna is something that should be fully investigated.

    1. And very few of us have any respect and no rehard for someone who won’t post under their real name and hide behind a ficticious handle. At least Preston owns his opinions, unlike you!

    2. That’s somewhat hilarious because Preston has at least much more support than you’ve ever had, and likely more than you’ll ever have. Scott has been around & prominent for no less than almost two decades. That sounds like a lot of regard. Keep up the great work Preston! Irritating liberals like a boss for years now.

    3. LOL…you are probably correct. How in the world I have managed to do what I do in this town (well-left leaning) for sixteen years is a testimony to God’s grace and maybe the fact I am fair with my guests whether I agree with them or not. The fact is, “Cynical,” your anonymity establishes you are unwilling to own your words; like all illiberals you choose to attack me versus what I wrote. Therein is the problem you face coming to these forums. Tallahassee Reports offers fact-based (often public record based) investigative reporting and the majority of people who read here (growing all the time) are well-informed. It’s why your comments ring so hollow. In other words…if you want to post here and have your words considered raise your game.

      1. We are lucky enough to have you here, Preston. You’re a welcome beacon of common sense and Conservatism in a city of liberal blather. Between you and the generally Conservative culture of NW Florida, it’s what (almost) stops Tallahassee from being North Florida’s version of Berkeley, CA.

  11. Oh my goodness. Does she realize she just handed herself a loss at the polls? I am saddened by her comments. Such hope for her as an eyes-wide-open realist in the morass of political quagmire government has become. By no fault or effort of my own, I was born to white parents. I was raised Episcopalean too. Ms. Graham wants to get rid of me? All those that look like me and attend church with me? Is she advocating genocide for white Anglo-Saxon Protestants? This, from the daughter of our revered former Florida Governor and U.S. Senator, Bob Graham? How can she ever hope to win back my vote for her? Is this her plan? Me? I am a national security conservative. I am a financial conservative. I am, like Charlton Heston, a natural resource conservation conservative. I am a humanist. Eyes-wide-open realist shocked by the extremist religious conservatives to the right, and the looney-tunes-anything-goes liberals on my left. If you feel like both major political parties in America have abandoned, We, in the center, you may be exactly correct, and certainly are not alone.

  12. I really thought that she had a mind of her own and would not fall for the vomit that spews from the mouth of the left. Guess I was wrong

    1. She does NOT have a mind of her own. She lacks a fundamental understanding of our Constitution and the founding of our nation – I know this for a fact from a personal conversation with her. She refuses to answer questions she cannot prep for or which might come from a contrary point-of-view. Just keep this in mind – had she run using her married name she would not have garnered twenty percent of the vote when she ran in D.2 for Congress. She was so lacking confidence in her accomplishments and “independence” she did not even bother running for re-election. I have very little regard for her.

      1. Preston, your comments are right on target. Gwen is like Hillary; vote for me because I am next in line. John Morgan is like Trump, appealing to the Democrat base, and I think he is going to sweep the rest of them aside. Gilligan Gillum is a lovable bafoon who is just in this for the entertainment value.

  13. Gee, Ms. Graham – Before I was born, I don’t recall getting a form where I checked “White” in the box. Guess I missed that part where I was prejudiced just for having a skin color, since I didn’t get a chance to choose mine. Actually, I can’t remember ever meeting anyone who got that Before-Birth form.

    You seem to forget that Hillary made similar race-baiting statements, and her last campaign didn’t fare very well. So please Gwen, by all means, keep making those divisive statements while you run for governor, loudly and more often.

    The vast majority of Florida media outlets are simply Leftist advocates for the Democrats, so most people disregard their reporting and opinion just as they do any mainstream media. So whatever the St. Pete Times or other Lefty media outlets say is pretty much filed in the trash bin as biased and slanted propaganda or fake news. For all their noise, they couldn’t help Hillary either.

    1. Before Mr. Hanna could be investigated you must find Ms. Graham’s reports and findings. She has a history of hiding paperwork. Like Hillary, like Gwen.

    2. Well, After reading through the comments today, I have to admit my mistake. Steve Stewart reminded me that the (former) “St. Pete Times” is and has been the Tampa Bay Times for years now.
      (I grew up in Clearwater in the 1970s when the paper had their original name, and calling it the St. Pete Times is automatic). The fact that the Times published an article criticizing Gwen’s comments is notable – and the paper deserves credit for that.

      To be fair, perhaps Gwen was misunderstood – and what she meant was “Wacko Antifa Socialist Protesters”. In that case I could generally agree with her.

    1. There’s a simple explanation for this: Gwen was looking down at Thomasville Road from her speaking spot on the 22nd floor of the Capitol, and got tongue-tied being distracted by all the big ‘ol trucks with confederate flags!

    2. This article and these comments are fake news. Congratulations for getting duped. I’m also sick of lobbyists paying for laws, of the Tallahassee elite contracting all the government jobs out to their pals, spending our hard-earned money to get themselves in the position of being owed favors. It’s disgusting but completely pat for the course in Tallahassee. They don’t even realize it’s wrong and don’t even need to hide it because fake news media comes up with some bs like this that people blindly jump on.

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