Hate Me Tender

I am often surprised by the subject matter that gets folks worked up enough to write McGinty's Mailbag. This time though, I was shocked by the sheer bile.

You folks truly despise Marion Barry, don't you? I mean I knew he wasn't exactly Mr. Popular outside his natural (now shrinking) constituency, but when a Washington Post writer called him a 'crackhead' and 'useless' the depth of the Barry hatred was revealed.

I asked viewers to chime in on whether Post writer Tim Page ought to be fired for sending such a nasty email to the sitting Ward 8 councilman. Not only was the answer a resounding "NO!", it was so vitriolic that I hesitated to use most of the responses on the air. For example:

Given Barry’s past and not so distant scandalous history of cocaine use, purchasing illegal drugs AS A CITY OFFICIAL, whores, etc. and his more recent scandals regarding cocaine, whores (Déjà vu??) oh yeah, tax evasion, driving erratically, NEED I GO ON? Barry should just accept the fact that he will always be known at that crack addicted Mayor with scandal after scandal.

James

And look at this one:

Marion Barry, whose most famous political quote, immortalized on film courtesy of the FBI, was "I'll be damned, the bitch set me up," wants a reporter fired for writing something factually correct? Unbelievable! He is a crack-head! Let's remember too that he uttered those words while holding a CRACK PIPE, in a hotel room, thinking he was about to have sex with a hooker! I think Tim Page should have called Mr. Barry a whore monger too! Marion Barry's opinion is as worthless as he is a human being. He disgraced himself, his office(s), and the citizens of D.C. long ago; in doing so he should have made himself irrelevant - except for the immoral idiots who re-elected a crack-head whore monger to office - twice.

Scott

Alexandria, VA

Ignoring for a minute the fact that Barry was not about to have sex with a "whore" in that hotel room, but rather a Barry acquaintance the FBI was using to bait the trap....you should realize that most of the email I got on the ex-mayor-for-life was just about as nice as these two.

The lesson here is obvious: Marion Barry is not just held in contempt or viewed as irrelevant. He is hated. At least by some.

I'll admit I'm a bit confused by the passion that drives all this. Why is it worth it? I know race plays a part, but some of the emails came from folks who said they were Black. And there was only one email that defended him and it was too incoherent to use.

So what gives? 20 years after the Vista hotel sting, and long after Barry paid his debt to society, a lot of folks think he still owes and they apparently want to take it out of his hide.