Talk:Victor Ashe

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--A. B. 23:50, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Alleged homosexual"

Kelly's assertion that Ashe is homosexual is already cited in the main body of this article and does not need to be restated in the summary. I don't think it is especially relevant to his performance as Mayor of Knoxville or Ambassador to Poland and therefore should not go in the summary. If some editor wants to add more to the summary, I would think Ashe's former state legislative experience or his U.S. Senate race against Gore would be more central to a description of his career than a discussion of Ashe's personal reproductive choices. This is especially true since the homosexuality stuff does not seem to have been picked up in any major media outlet, just Kelly's highly controversial book.

The wording, "alleged homosexual", was also a bit odd, even archaic; it seems to make homosexuality sound sort of criminal. It makes me wonder about 75.7.22.220's motives.--A. B. 05:46, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

A Google search turns up no reputable news media confirming or even mentioning the Kelley allegation. In particular, the Knoxville news media, both pro-Ashe and pro-Ashe and anti-Ashe have never addressed the topic, notwithstanding Ashe's often controversial 35 years in Knoxville politics.--A. B. 20:29, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

I removed the "alleged homosexual" section; it cited no sources and I have never found a reputable source, as you say, for this rumor. Additionally, Ashe's romantic involvements, real or imaginary, have no bearing on this article.Acantha1979 03:25, 20 September 2006 (UTC)Acantha1979

Knoxnews is rather biased, they had to heavy ties with Ashe to defame him.

Perhaps, but Metropulse never published anything, nor, to my knowledge, did any of the conservative alternative newspapers that have come and gone over time. Such rumors were never even printed on flyers stuck under doors anonymously just before elections. It just never came up to my knowledge in Knoxville. Victor Ashe had no shortage of enemies in Knoxville. When he was a legislator, he was especially disliked by many of his colleagues. In other words, there are plenty of people in Tennessee that wouldn't scruple to exploit this if they thought there were any substance to it.

My sense is that this rumor is really more about striking at Bush than about striking at Ashe. --A. B. 18:23, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sources?

I added a source template to the Ambassador to Poland section of this article. I am specifically concerned about the last paragraph of this section.

Ashe is ambassador during the investigations into rendition, kidnapping and torture by the United States Central Intelligence Agency, at Black sites in Poland [10]. CIA is traditionally based in the United States embassy, which is traditionally used as a cover story for covert operations involving terrorism and narcotics trafficking, under orders of the White House [11].

This paragraph should be better sourced, or else deleted. The first reference given is from www.rawstory.com. The Wikipedia article about that cite says it is a "left-leaning news and politics weblog founded in 2004." I don't think we should include this information unless there is more evidence from another more reliable source, unless someone can verify the reliability of www.rawstory.com.

The second sentence in the paragraph quoted above is sourced from a long narrative about the Iran/Contra affair. I didn't bother to read it (it is quite long). But it doesn't appear to be concerned in any way with the U.S. Embassy in Poland.

That second sentence actually seems to be advocating U.S. embassies traditionally comply with the CIA and the White House to provide for terrorism and the drug trade. It appears to be baloney to me. Can someone provide some additional sources? If not, I will delete this paragraph. JBFrenchhorn (talk) 00:13, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

Since I made these observations, nobody has provided additional sources. I will delete the paragraph. Feel free to RV if you find more sources. Thanks. JBFrenchhorn (talk) 07:01, 11 March 2008 (UTC)