# Was this the correct thing to do? (Geico announcer fired over call to Tea Party org.) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 22, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037 "2010-04-22T21:34:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/61 "2010-04-23T17:24:06Z")
[The ad on the bottom right](http://www.sirblah.com/misc/geico-teabaggers.jpg) of their page made my ironymeter explode. ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/62 "2010-04-23T18:02:32Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > They do? Where? Are you new here? Don’t read the board much? Have a selective leftist memory? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/63 "2010-04-23T18:34:32Z")
> [@yoyodyne](#): > > Are you new here? Don’t read the board much? Have a selective leftist memory? Please show cites where board members have claimed that the SDMB does not tilt to the left. kthanksbye. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/64 "2010-04-23T18:47:27Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I heard this rumor that the guy wasn’t actually the voice of the gecko. Don’t put much stock in it, though. Why do they dub his voice anyway? Is his natural one too high-pitched and squeaky? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/65 "2010-04-23T18:49:22Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Guernsey. I was going to say Isle of Man, but then he’s not one of those tailless lizards, is he? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/66 "2010-04-23T18:58:49Z")
I don’t see where this is even an issue. Of course Geico had every right to fire him, it was a perfectly reasonable response to a pretty stupid act by the Baxter. If he did this, what other stupid act would he do next. It’s a no brainer. I don’t see this as a liberal or conservative thing, it’s simply good business. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/67 "2010-04-23T19:34:31Z")
“That kid’s name was Lance Baxter, and the commercials he did were for GEICO. This was a great man, a man of vision and guts. And there isn’t even a page, or a blurb, or a thumbnail of him on the company website! Someone put a bullet through his career. No one knows who gave the order. When I heard it, I wasn’t angry; I knew Lance, I knew he was head-strong, talking loud, saying stupid things. So when he turned up shit-canned, I let it go. And I said to myself, _this is the business we’ve chosen_. I didn’t ask who gave the order, because it had _nothing to do with business_!” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/68 "2010-04-23T19:38:35Z")
Okay, okay. Thread titled changed _again_ to make it clear we’re not talking about the lizard, here. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/69 "2010-04-23T20:25:04Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > If Kelsey Grammer hadn’t turned out such cinematic masterpieces as [An American Carol](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190617/) and the awesome [Fame](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1016075/), he’d have a better career. Just sayin’. You forgot _Down Periscope_… ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/70 "2010-04-24T08:24:55Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Seriously, though…had he been a Tea Party person and called up a liberal organization (ACORN, for example) and said something that stupid, you folks would be howling like broke-dick dogs over it. What a load of fucking horseshit. Hate to break it to you, but you saying it don’t make it so. > [@](#): > > But because it was a liberal calling a Tea Party organization, your overall attitude is meh. Our attitude is meh because it was a guy doing a dumb thing. Happens all the time, on both sides. But what gets me is that the protectors of the You’re-with-us-or-against-us, gays-undermine-marriage-and-the-miltary, liberals-pander-to-terrorists-and-hate-America ideology are such tough butch patriots when it comes to starting wars and waterboarding prisoners, but get in their grill by leaving a dissenting, insulting voicemail and they turn into the frailest little set of boo-hoo pantywastes. And no, clearly not all Teabaggers are like that. But obviously the influential ones appear to be. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/71 "2010-04-24T14:00:12Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > What a load of fucking horseshit. Hate to break it to you, but you saying it don’t make it so.Our attitude is meh because it was a guy doing a dumb thing. Happens all the time, on both sides. Allow me to back up my man **Archive Guy** on this. I’m getting sick and tired of the “well, your side would be doing the same, if not worse, if the situation were reversed” argument. No, this is \*your \*side doing it, **Clothahump** - if the other side does it some day, then feel free to start a thread condoning it. Until then, your “argument” isn’t worth the pixels it’s printed on. If the situation were reversed, I’d be just denouncing it just as loudly. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/72 "2010-04-24T15:36:49Z")
OK, OK so it’s not the little green dude. But is it the same guy who does the awful [RINGA-da-ding-DINGY-DOOOONG!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNvo3dR3RIA) ringtone? That was hilarious. I might have to go download it now in case they decide to remove that as well. ---
**Author:** ![sharpright7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@sharpright7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sharpright7)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/73 "2010-04-26T06:11:48Z")
It seems to me that the lame stream media and everyone else on the left are way over anxious to hold the Tea Party accountable for everything that comes out of any of their members mouths or the mouths of any of their ‘party crashers’. Yet none of them want to be accountable for their words or actions. I say to Douglas: cry baby cry. Don’t dish it out if you cant take it. He is all upset over the imaginary remarks made to B Franks and those black congressmen. Then he gets on Geraldo trying to instigate people to express hostility toward the Freedom Works people. Can Douglas say “cry baby hypocrit”? ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/74 "2010-04-26T07:10:24Z")
> [@sharpright7](#): > > It seems to me that the lame stream media and everyone else on the left are way over anxious to hold the Tea Party accountable for everything that comes out of any of their members mouths or the mouths of any of their ‘party crashers’. Yet none of them want to be accountable for their words or actions. I say to Douglas: cry baby cry. Don’t dish it out if you cant take it. He is all upset over the imaginary remarks made to B Franks and those black congressmen. Then he gets on Geraldo trying to instigate people to express hostility toward the Freedom Works people. Can Douglas say “cry baby hypocrit”? Wow. Way to post a reasoned, thoughtful, and correctly spelled and punctuated defense of teabagger racists and homophobes. Look, let’s get one thing straight: you’re on the side of a bunch of people yelling “nigger” and “faggot” at congressmen. You have two choices – you can either admit these people are douches, or you can stand up and declare yourself to be a racist homophobe douchebag yourself. Though it looks like you’re pretty close to throwing out a “heil hitler” and lynching some uppity negroes, so I guess you’ll fit right in with the rest of the G.E.D. wielding day laborers who are scared that the mexicans will put them out of a job. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/75 "2010-04-26T11:54:53Z")
> [@sharpright7](#): > > I say to Douglas: cry baby cry. Don’t dish it out if you cant take it. He is all upset over the imaginary remarks made to B Franks and those black congressmen. Then he gets on Geraldo trying to instigate people to express hostility toward the Freedom Works people. Can Douglas say “cry baby hypocrit”? Yes, because criticizing people for their political views is EXACTLY like shouting hate speech at people for their race, religion or sexual orientation. And I like the subtly inserted “imaginary”…pegs you as a teabagger yourself, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/76 "2010-04-26T13:39:11Z")
> [@sharpright7](#): > > Can Douglas say “cry baby hypocrit”? I bet he can spell it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/77 "2010-04-26T13:58:36Z")
> [@ivn1188](#): > > I guess you’ll fit right in with the rest of the G.E.D. wielding day laborers who are scared that the mexicans will put them out of a job. Whoa whoa whoa - why are we picking on people with GEDs? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/78 "2010-04-26T14:12:16Z")
High school graduates only fear Guatemalans? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/79 "2010-04-26T16:06:17Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Whoa whoa whoa - why are we picking on people with GEDs? Y’all know what GED stands fer, right? Git 'Er Done. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037/80 "2010-04-26T16:24:28Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > What \*wasn’t \*cool, though, was the teabaggers calling to get him fired. If I disagree with you here on the SDMB, **Clothahump** , am I within my rights to try to get you fired? Sure. It’d also be a jerky thing to do. I keep seeing this idea in this thread and it says to me that some of you just have to blame something on the tea partiers. Let’s review the facts: Baxter calls up the press office of a PAC and leaves a smarmy and accusatory recorded message with his freaking contact info. They publish the phone call because that’s their job. It’s perfectly “cool” to do your job. Third parties bring the now published story to the attention to Geico and Baxter is fired. The blame lies with Baxter alone. He had to know that the goddamn press office is going to publish what amounts to a letter to the editor. So, **Lightnin** , FreedomWorks did not call and have Baxter fired. Baxter called and insulted their press office. The press office, being the press office, published it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-the-correct-thing-to-do-geico-announcer-fired-over-call-to-tea-party-org/537037.md?page=5)