Haley Barbour Press Secretary Dan Turner Resigns After Japan Joke

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour's press secretary has resigned after "dark humor" remarks he made about Japan and Janet Reno in a daily e-mailed news digest became public.

Barbour is a likely candidate to run for the Republican nomination for president.

Dan Turner says he made poor decisions and does not want to reflect poorly on the governor.

The comments were parenthetical remarks about events from a website listing daily historic events.

About Otis Redding's posthumous gold record for "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay," Turner wrote "(Not a big hit in Japan right now.")

About Janet Reno's confirmation as the first woman U.S. attorney general, he made a joke that talked about her gender.

Turner says the governor never saw the jokes. He told Politico's Ben Smith earlier in the day of Barbour, "His sense of humor isn't so much in the SNL vein."

Comments

[Kevin Krooss]

12:23 AM on 03/16/2011

Press secretary!!! It's not like he doesn't know how to speak to the public. This is just another example of Republican's inability to feel empathy. And they reward people with that defict. Just like the mob.

[loboviejo]

11:24 PM on 03/15/2011

That pantload would throw his mama under the bus if it would help his campaign. His poor press
secretary didn't stand a chance.

[damnedgentlemen]

11:03 PM on 03/15/2011

Criminy. Can we stop vilifying momentary lapses of good taste?
I promise you what's bad for Haley makes me smile, but seriously...

[mardar35]

10:52 PM on 03/15/2011

i'm pretty sure the racists in mississippi thought the joke was funny. fortunately the majority of us don't think it's funny when people suffer.

my heart goes out to the people of japan.

i'm hoping all of us do what we can to help them. i'm looking to see what i can do.

[bg3]

12:21 AM on 03/16/2011

the white one or the black ones?

[Onlythetruths]

10:36 PM on 03/15/2011

He problably thinks god was punishing them for sins.

[Onlythetruths]

10:13 PM on 03/15/2011

The bad thing is he thinkin of run for president.

[hang319]

09:40 PM on 03/15/2011

This was a daily occurrence. Nothing more needs to be said.

[edtheengineer]

09:18 PM on 03/15/2011

Whenever you think that they cannot make a dumber move, they prove you wrong by exceeding the previous standard.

[Layman23]

09:10 PM on 03/15/2011

What a bunch of insensitive people. No wonder they are the last in everything except obesity.

[bg3]

12:21 AM on 03/16/2011

and first in charitible giving

[Layman23]

07:52 PM on 03/16/2011

Yeah. We saw how that worked during katrina.

[GRIMKAG]

09:04 PM on 03/15/2011

They should have kept Turner and gotten rid of Barbour.

[ExcellentObservation]

08:59 PM on 03/15/2011

He was actually fired for admitting he listened to Otis Redding.

[Duppy]

08:09 PM on 03/15/2011

Two clowns

[conservicide]

07:55 PM on 03/15/2011

Republican governor of Mississippi Haley Barbour surrounds himself with racist ahls. fact.

[Kathy Dukes]

07:46 PM on 03/15/2011

Quote::: Dan Turner says he made poor decisions and does not want to reflect poorly on the governor. ** Problem here is you were hand picked by the Gov to be his mouthpiece, so it does reflect on him.

[cdecisneros]

07:20 PM on 03/15/2011

He needs a press secretary? He only has one "news" outlet. Fox. He cannot keep track of that himself?