The former Waynesboro vice mayor who got himself and the city in trouble for calling former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg “Pete Buttplug” was photographed this week sitting uncomfortably beside the openly gay man running for lieutenant governor on the Republican ticket.
This sure is going to end well for those MAGAs, isn’t it?
John Reid, the aforementioned lieutenant governor nominee, for his part, didn’t look all that comfortable having to sit beside the guy he was sitting beside, either.
And why would he be?
Jim Wood, the aforementioned gay-bashing former vice mayor, and local Republican Party chair, didn’t exactly walk back that 2023 slur of Buttigieg on a Facebook podcast, if you remember.
ICYMI
- Waynesboro vice mayor hits Buttigieg with gay slur after asking for federal money
- Waynesboro vice mayor defends ‘Pete Buttplug’ slur of Pete Buttigieg
- Waynesboro Vice Mayor Jim Wood offers half-hearted apology for ‘Pete Buttplug’ slur
- Jim Wood ‘matter’ is ‘closed,’ and Waynesboro leaders are pretending it never happened
“The constant political attacks and threats on me by certain groups have been nonstop since the election, and I am honestly sorry that my words were hurtful to some,” Wood said in his defense, after having dismissed the use of the slur as “a play on his name only.”
“I hope people take the time to see through the ‘political theater’ to know that I have nothing but the best of intentions and will put forth my best efforts for the future of Waynesboro,” Wood concluded his “apology.”
This all went down just weeks after Wood, ahead of being elected to Waynesboro City Council by a 17-vote margin, made headlines for his homophobic comments directed at Paul Pelosi, the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
ICYMI
Addressing the politically motivated home invasion hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, Wood asserted that the attack was as a “domestic dispute” perpetrated by “a male prostitute and advocate for Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ.”
“Both in their skivvies, and both had a hammer. Nothing to see here. Huh? How about that? Yeah. Yeah. Funny how that works,” Wood said.
Later in his rant on the attack, Wood offered what he called a “dad joke.”
“The best dad joke I’ve heard in a while has been floating around today, said right before that incident, you know, Nancy Pelosi, she texted Paul to say, I hope you’re not drinking and driving. And the reply was, No, I’m just staying at home getting hammered,” Wood said.
Turns out, the attacker – and this was no surprise to anybody – was a MAGA.
So, no, it can’t be easy for John Reid to have to schlep for votes sitting beside a guy who thinks his very existence is a joke.
According to a report in the News Leader, the discussion at the Waynesboro campaign stop included what had to have been a torturous sidebar on gay marriage, in which Reid made clear that he supports a repeal of the 2006 state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, which was rendered moot by a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision, but is still technically on the books in Virginia.
“Everyone needs to be left alone to live as they want to live. To me, that seems very American and very fundamental,” Reid said, according to the News Leader report.
Could be that this was the topic at hand around the time the photo that appeared with the story was snapped.
ICYMI
- John Reid rails against ‘swamp,’ ‘corrupt’ Republican political machine
- Earle-Sears backs Reid in fight with Youngkin, who wants Reid off the ballot
Reid has had to fight for his political existence since being named the Republican lieutenant governor nominee in April.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin enlisted his minions to try to persuade Reid to step down as nominee, using what appears to be dirty tricks inspired by Nixon’s daffy plumbers, in the form of a social-media account set up under a username associated with Reid to post gay porn, prompting Reid to respond that the Virginia GOP is a “corrupt political machine that’s been hindering Virginia’s success for years.”
“I’m a conservative Trump supporter, and I’m gay, and everybody knows it, because I’ve told you in person and in the media for decades,” Reid said in an April video response to the pressure. “I’m the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, and I’m more transparent, and I’m more conservative, and I’m tougher than any of my detractors, and I’m not going anywhere, except to get back on the campaign trail, win this election and take these people to court.”
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Chris Graham
