My Exchange with a Vicious and Bigoted FFFFwad

Greg Diamond and wife half a month after meeting

Either a legitimately happy couple or really good actors. (She doesn't like this photo, but I do!)

I find Friends for Fullerton’s Future (FFFF), which most people seem to call “Tony Bushala’s blog” so I’ll do the same, to be important reading for understanding Fullerton and OC politics.  At its best, it’s very interesting.  At it’s worst, it’s much like the worst of Orange Juice Blog or Lib OC or Pedrozastan or OC Weekly or The Register, but there’s just so much more of the worst than anywhere else.  This bothers me because I have a lot of respect for Tony Bushala as an activist, even if we agree on only half of our issues.  When I push him on what solutions his slate of candidates supports, it’s not so much a matter of politics as it is of really wanting to know whether they are going to throttle Fullerton for the sake of anti-government ideology.  I would love to hear a firm commitment that the answer is “no.”

I’ve tried to avoid writing about FFFF nearly as much as I’m tempted to.  It’s a fascinating place — suffused with the Tea Party spirit of right-wing Mme. LeFarges, above which the more respectable types like Tony and those running for office present their arguments that the cheering section will repeat like screaming drunken fans.

Not my cup of tea — but, again, they’re right about some issues and I try to respect that when I visit there.  They make no bones of wishing that I would shut up, but it’s still generally without the bounds of normal politics.

Where I have a problem — there and here — is with vicious personal attacks made from the cloak of anonymity.  I know that Dan C., Pedroza, and other bloggers claim to be opposed to them as well, especially when they’re the targets.  Normally, I try to respond to something particularly offensive with a comment that undercuts it.  Occasionally, something will get deleted, but it’s rare — and when it happens, it’s never (so far) been about me.

Sometimes, though, something comes through that’s so stark that I doubt that people who aren’t really part of the OC political scene will believe it.  That happened tonight.

A commenter has appeared on FFFF with the name of “Matt’s Evil Twin” who believes that I am the liberal analog of Matt Cunningham.  (If being the liberal analog means not earning any money through politics, that’s one argument for it.)  He, like other pseudonymous and anonymous posters at FFFF (and elsewhere, here included) likes to toss out insults and accusations.  My attitude is that this is cowardly — and I said so.  Here’s what ensued:

by Matt’s Evil Twin on May 4, 2012

I think a coward is a fat American guy who rally’s on about equal rights for women and then imports one one from Asia.

I am discusted by those that claim to be “Liberal” and then buy a wife using their citizenship as a lure, because they are too fat and ugly to get a woman.

This is a problem in North Orange County. I hope as an elected official, if sucessful you will address this. In the meantime, this would be a great subject for you to bring up at your Democratic Party meetings.

We all care about poor, helpless women being tricked and taken advantage of, especially by white men who see themselves as saviors.

by Greg Diamond on May 4, 2012

Wow — lying that shameless about such personal matters is certainly impressive in its way.

I’ll address this here exactly once: I met my wife here in California. She had planned on going back to Asia to be with her children — and she almost did, which would have put off our being married for over a year. I had to court her like mad to get her to spend an additional six months here without them before we could even visit them — which was one of the hardest things that she’s ever done. Then it was about another year before three of them could come here. This was a heart-wrenching struggle, but was worth it. You apparently have no idea of what life is like for even legal immigrants.

You are a rotten person and a bigot and you always will be. While I am fat, at least I might someday lose weight.

Anyone else here who wants to comment on this guy’s post, in support or in condemnation, please do.

I was at a meeting of the Democrats of North Orange County tonight at our new field office in Fullerton, and as often happens someone commented on how I was so brave to run for office here, that they wouldn’t have the thick skin for it.  That need for thick skin to deflect the slings and arrows of cowards keeps a lot of good people out of politics.  Lucky for me, my wife comes from a country where political candidates sometimes get kidnapped and murdered, so vicious lies like this, while unpleasant, aren’t the end of the world.

I do with that people would give up the bigoted notion that foreign-born wives who come here are just out for U.S. citizenship — and I presume that Bob Huff and Chris Norby, for two, would agree with me.  My hope is that some of the FFFFsters will speak up and shame that FFFFwad, but I won’t hold my breath.

I just thought that people here might be interested in a glimpse of politics that they don’t usually see — or seek.


About Greg Diamond

Somewhat verbose attorney, semi-disabled and semi-retired, residing in northwest Brea. Occasionally ran for office against jerks who otherwise would have gonr unopposed. Got 45% of the vote against Bob Huff for State Senate in 2012; Josh Newman then won the seat in 2016. In 2014 became the first attorney to challenge OCDA Tony Rackauckas since 2002; Todd Spitzer then won that seat in 2018. Every time he's run against some rotten incumbent, the *next* person to challenge them wins! He's OK with that. Corrupt party hacks hate him. He's OK with that too. He does advise some local campaigns informally and (so far) without compensation. (If that last bit changes, he will declare the interest.) His daughter is a professional campaign treasurer. He doesn't usually know whom she and her firm represent. Whether they do so never influences his endorsements or coverage. (He does have his own strong opinions.) But when he does check campaign finance forms, he is often happily surprised to learn that good candidates he respects often DO hire her firm. (Maybe bad ones are scared off by his relationship with her, but they needn't be.)