The problem ain't in DC....it's here in the Ozarks: Billy Long Racism, Homophobia Allegations

All hat, no cattle breaks the story:

Billy Long’s candidacy for Congress has just become more problematic. Up to this point, stories about Billy’s questionable conduct in his personal life had been mostly limited to private discussions. This is no longer the case.

There has been significant coverage of Billy’s love for gambling but a string of new allegations have to be considered much more serious. Speaking on a condition of anonymity, a local woman has decided to break the silence that has seemed to have paralyzed the mainstream media’s inquiry in to the story.

“I worked in the service industry in Springfield for many years and had more than just a few dealings with Billy Long, his friends, and his family. My experience with Mr. Long is that he is demeaning to women and people of color among other things. I witnessed Mr. Long refuse service from a person of color and one server he suspected was homosexual, calling him a “swisher.””

“Furthermore, as a employeer at the Metropolitan Grill in Springfield, I found Mr. Long and the people he surrounded himself with to be of low moral character, often drinking to extremes, and offending others. On several occasions, he and his friends would close down the grill after returning from Las Vegas and bring in strippers from a local strip club to entertain themselves. Nights like these involved gambling, strippers, and reports of inappropriate contact with staff and underage drinking by some staff. On several occasions, staff were threatened with their jobs should anything be disclosed. Some were pressured to sign confidentiality agreements. I never did, which is one of the reasons I feel the need to speak out.”

The buzz is that more information regarding the claims made in this letter will be appearing shortly.

A commentator named Nathan Hale made a comment on an earlier post on the bus.

On facebook, someone who calls himself "Machiavelli Tzu" invited me to join a facebook group called "Fed Up! With Billa Long", which I did. I also friended "Machiavelli Tzu."

Last night I, along with other Machiavelli Tzu's friends received this status update:

Machiavelli Tzu http://www.free-press-release.com/news-republican-nominee-billy-long-is-implicated-in-hate-speach-against-african-americans-and-gays-1286420134.html
Republican Nominee Billy Long is implicated in hate speach against African-Americans and Gays.
www.free-press-release.com
Republican Nominee Billy Long, Missouri 7th Congressional District the seat former Majority Whip Roy Blunt held, is implicated in racial charged epitaphs as well as slurs against gays.
Yesterday at 9:45pm · Comment · LikeUnlike · Share · See Wall-to-Wall · Flag

As Allhatandnocattle (no, I don't know who writes the blog) says, for a long time this has been a private discussion, like the soft underbelly of Springfield that naively I didn't think existed.

Long will, of course, deny all the allegations. He has to. He will put on his victim act, which he does very well, just witness his behavior during the KOLR10 debate.

Aside from the allegations of underage drinking (I don't think Long can be blamed for that unless he purchased drinks), nothing against the law appears to have taken place at these private parties.

I mean if some guys want to get together, fly out to Las Vegas, come back, rent the back room of a restaurant to play poker and bring in some strippers who's to stop them? As long as they got the money to pay for it what difference does it make what they do.

The alleged racial and gay slurs are boorish and offensive but that kind of behavior is not illegal.

But when you look at the total package we've seen since Long presented himself in the public eye: these allegations, the gambling, the "Hot Diggity Dog" debacle, the "is he fed up with career politicians or is he not" drama, the carelessness in his speech, even in the consultants he hired to run his campaign, his tweets from Big Cedar... it's just getting to be too much.

Every day Long becomes that much more damaged goods. He has too much baggage.

More on this story from The Fuse Joplin.

Developing