Hardaway in '08

"If you don't get your figner out of my ass, I'll fucking kill you."

It's official. Tim Hardaway has thrown his hat in the ring with the likes of John McCain, Sam Brownback, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008. I wasn't aware that the patriarch of the UTEP two-step had an interest in becoming the leader of the free world, but with his initial public statement it's clear that he's actively courting the conservative vote, leaving no doubt where he stands on divisive social issues such as, say, homosexuality. Let's have a look-see at what the former NBA star turned politician had to say yesterday regarding gays:

"You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known, I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."

Whoa.

While I don't personally agree with the above remarks, I do give credit to Hardaway for implicitly declaring his intention to capture the Republican Party's presidential nomination in a rather unorthodox manner (in an interview with Dan "the Bastard" le Batard on a Miami sports radio talk show) and for making perhaps the most candid statement in political history.

In a later interview with a Fox affiliate in Miami, Hardaway did, however, display some political savviness in attempting to perform a bit of damage control

"Yes, I regret it. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said I hate gay people or anything like that. That was my mistake."

Ah-ha, although Hardaway is indeed a novice politician in terms of years, his choice of words proves his political shrewdness. Notice that he did not actually say he doesn't hate gay people; only that he shouldn't have said it--pure genius. What better way to court the right wing of the Republican party than by unabashedly proclaiming your hatred and fear of gay people, declaring that our great nation is no place for such repugnancy, and then following that up with a faux-apology that functions as a "wink-wink" to the conservatives and a display of humanity and compassion to the rest of the nation.

Tim Hardaway is a GOP dream; not only is he black (which brings the previously democratic-leaning African-America populace to the right side of the aisle), but he hates gays too.

Beat that combo, Sam Brownback!