James Taranto at The Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal writes:

If He Were a Republican, This Would Be Hate Speech...

It turns out the Associated Press account of an Iowa brawl between staffers for Dick Gephardt and Howard Dean, which we noted yesterday, was rather sanitized. Deanie Hunter Allen alleged that the two unnamed Gephardtians "used a derogatory slur," as the AP's Dept. of Redundancy Dept. put it.

The Sioux City Journal adds some crucial detail: "The Dean staff member, 24-year-old Hunter Allen, who is openly gay, said he was called a 'faggot' by a Gephardt staff member after being shoved and escorted out of the event."

OK, I'll bite:

It's hate speech. Absolutely.

Assuming he actually said it (he denies doing so), it's an utterly unacceptable slur.

Any more questions?