Employee MD Kittle was writing about a Janesville restaurant that praised Paul Ryan (R- The Capitol) and faced a backlash from the local community. Then painfully to MDK, he(?) also had to write about how the exact same establishment let recall supporters use his empty parking lot during the recall and the backlash he felt from Walker supporters.
“Congratulations to Paul Ryan!!! We are proud to have someone from Janesville Wisconsin to represent the USA …he is a big fan of the Italian House and his signature is on the “wall” Best wishes to Paul and his Family!!!” the Facebook site declared.
Within minutes, the seemingly innocuous post generated a barrage of angry comments from some of the restaurant’s Facebook page’s fans who do not ‘like’ the Republican Ryan. Beyond directives like, “Stay out of politics, crawl back into your kitchen,” others threatened to take away business.
“I really do like the Italian house, but if they are for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, then I won’t go there again, sorry, you are a business, dont mix it with politics,” one commenter said.
Halabi, who tried to calm the politically aggrieved, said he wasn’t making a political statement, just expressing civic pride. Some of his customers got that, one suggesting Halabi run for president. But others didn’t and the misunderstanding cost the Italian House business, the owner said.
What was most galling, Halabi said, is that he had been down this road a few months ago, arguably on the other side of the political divide.
A group of Janesville Democrats pushing their end of the recall campaign against Republican Gov. Scott Walker asked Halabi if they could use his restaurant for a staging area for their petition drive. Halabi agreed, offering his empty parking lot for a couple of hours on a Sunday, when the Italian House is closed.
He quickly heard an earful of criticisms, some on par with the hateful posts following the Ryan post, from angry Republicans who felt he had crossed the line.
Halabi said he was just doing what he has done for the past quarter century in Janesville — help customers when he can, no matter who they are.
“If I said no to them, I appear like I’m on the other side. I want to be fair to both” he said. “I got the phone call from Republican customers of mine. I got totally bitched out.” He likened the experiences to having “acid under my fingernails.”
A Facebook post during the Paul Ryan flap summed up the sentiments of some on the right.While this story points out the need for people in WIto just take a breath sometimes, but that is a different story. Where MD Kittle actually reported was on a story that took place in March of this year. One that took place earlier in the year and one that the righties used incessantly to point out how they were on the right side of the recall debate.
“This coming from a place that supported “recall walker” is now jumping to the FAR FAR right??? I’m confused, the owner must have ben born with the same silver spoon ryan has….. Whoever is handing out the silver platters please stop buy my house!” the commenter said.
Thanks to MD Kittle's reporting we find out that the story was false and the participant lied to us. We also find out that the participant who lied to us, is big in the "tea party" astroturf movement - Santo Ingrilli!
This incident made the right wing crazy in March!
On Saturday, a group of six Scott Walker supporters decided to visit Rox’s Bar and Grille in Pewaukee, WI. They had spent the day at a rally supporting the governor, and one of them was wearing a “Scott Walker is My Hero!” t-shirt.This was so bad the hate triumverate of radio right wing squawkers set their henchmen on this establishment big time. As usual it was not pretty, and also as usual it was not true. According to the mysterious MD Kittle(emphasis mine):
They arrived at the bar around 1am, showed their IDs, and were told to have a good time. About an hour-and-a-half later, as they were on their way out, members of the group say the same bouncer who checked their IDs told them that because of the Scott Walker shirt, they were no longer welcome at the bar (although the exact verbiage used remains unclear).
A woman named Joanna Langworthy, who was one of the six, wrote on her blog that “the doorman said to never come back, due to wearing gear promoting Governor Scott Walker,” while Facebook and earlier reports suggest “don’t come back here wearing that crap again” was the phrase employed. Others maintain the bouncer said, “the next time you come here do not wear that shirt…my owner does not want that kind of stuff here.”
The storm has passed at the Rox Bar and Grille since April, when the Pewaukee pub and restaurant made national headlines over a politically charged T-shirt.
The shirt declared “I support Scott Walker” on the front. On the back it said, “He’s got nads.”
Dino Giacomantonio said he didn’t care for the message the shirt sent, worried that other patrons would find it offensive – politically and otherwise. He told the bar’s bouncer to inform the patron that kind of shirt would not be acceptable in the future.
The next day, a Facebook post by the disgruntled patron, who claimed he was kicked out of the bar for being a Walker supporter, launched a comment war on the Rox Bar and Grille’s Facebook page. The heated debate was picked up by Wisconsin conservative radio talk show hosts.
The Rox, which had been opened a couple of months, was painted as a partisan speech crusher, something Giacomantonio, who says he’s as apolitical as they come, asserts that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Beyond idle talk of a restaurant boycott, Giacomantonio said he received two death threats. Others threatened to burn down the restaurant, or, Giacomantonio claims, release cockroaches into the eatery, among other scares.
The worst of it, he said, occurred over three days.
“Those three days, it was the equivalent of watching your child being assaulted and not being able to do nothing about it,” he said. Cooler heads prevailed, when the disgruntled patron, Santo Ingrilli, and Giacomantonio’s friend Nathan Sass issued a joint statement asking for calm on Sass’ blog, “A Shot of Truth, On The Rox.”
But the incident cut into profits, something a new restaurant doesn’t need, the establishment’s manager said. Some have worn political shirts into the bar since. Giacomantonio has let it go.
Franklin said there’s no escaping the bitterness spilling over from politics into other spheres.
So Santo Ingrilli, AFP and tea party Astroturf member and blogger, lied about what actually happened to him in order to make scott walker look better. Ingrelli's exaggeration of the truth, caused someone to get actual death threats and a local business took a major hit.
Would it not have been better to just tell the truth?
Not sure why Ingrilli eventually came clean, but I do know that, as is typical of everything AFP has done in WI. We know now not to trust them!
What else have they made up or exaggerated to keep people's minds off the actual issues???
Does that sign say "Celebrate Walker"? LOL there's nothing on earth I'd rather not do more.
ReplyDeleteYes that was a right wing koch sponsored crazy fest in Wauwatosa last year. The one where tommy thompson said he wanted to make the recall supporters black and blue. The whole thing was a celebrate walker party.
ReplyDeleteAnd it technically violated city law, but the powers that be didn't want to make waves.
ReplyDeleteWigderson and Jeff Wagner in effect called for a boycott of Rox's, after bellyaching so much about the Johnsonville or M&I or Palermos things.
ReplyDeleteAre you saying that Wiggy and Waggy were massive hypocrites?
DeleteSay it aint so!