Wednesday, August 18, 2010

More Fallout From The Bader Tweet

Lee Holloway, the Chairman of the Milwaukee County Board, and a victim of Team Walker's racist ways, issued the following statement:
“It’s unfortunate that the decision was made to publicly connect a Soul Train video with the proposed high-speed rail line. The video was not appropriate in this context and demonstrates that some of the staff members working for Scott Walker are naïve and unsophisticated. This behavior also diminishes the importance of public transportation in our community.

“As Chairman of the Milwaukee County Board, it is my duty to denounce actions that reflect poorly on Milwaukee County. I expect Scott Walker to immediately issue a public apology for the behavior of his political staffers. He should personally admit that this was a mistake so we can all move on to more pressing issues facing Milwaukee County.”
Eugene Kane, columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, also opined on the matter. The key takeaway part of it comes at the end of his piece on the issue:

It would be easier to dismiss the gaffe as an honest mistake if not for the fact neither Republican candidate for governor seems to be making much effort to court African-American votes. Walker's hard-line stance against government spending pretty much ensures he's not going to make any promises to help low-income black residents in a city like Milwaukee.

It's hard to find many black people at all in any of the recent political ads by either Walker or Mark Neumann.

If that's what's ahead for black voters, it would at least be comforting to know the Republican candidates understand the need not to let clueless aides send out snarky messages that could be construed as racist. It will also be interesting to see what Walker has to say about this flap the next time he appears on local black radio, which I hope he does soon.

After all, the governor is supposed to represent everybody in Wisconsin, even the ones who used to watch "Soul Train" for the music and not the politics.

I am glad that these men aren't listening to the white, conservative Walker supporters who keep insisting that they don't have the right to feel that Team's Walker's actions were offensive.

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