Some more eyebrow raising tidbits from American’s political “discussion.”
NUMBER ONE: Yes, you knew it. Sooner or later some cretin would do a t-shirt like this and wear his racism not just on his sleeve but on his entire body. Well, at least it doesn’t cover him as much as a white sheet would.
This photo was widely run on many weblogs. We’ve injected TMV with some ant-bacterial protection so running this pix shouldn’t infect our whole site. But here it is..the moment many Americans just KNEW would come:
The Romney campaign has repudiated this kind of shirt. And let’s just say a)this slogan is not a surprise since it is the attitude of some b)the guy wearing it has put the donkey into the donkey pit when it comes to himself (this is a family site, you know).
NUMBER TWO: You KNEW someone would say this, too. The only surprise is that it didn’t come on talk radio from a caller or in a talk radio song parody:
Jason Thompson, the son of former Governor and Wisconson Senate candidate Tommy Thompson, speaking this morning at a brunch attended RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said that “we have the opportunity to send President Obama back to Chicago — or Kenya.” A woman in attendance then chimed in “we are taking donations for that Kenya trip.” A spokesman for Thompson did not immediately return a request for comment.
But here, too, an update notes that the senior Thompson did talk to his son about this, etc. But it reflects a mind-set that is indeed out there. And it begs the question: when someone makes a joke like that what does it say about the circles in which he/she travels and about those with whom he/she interacts?
NUMBER THREE: Here’s one that will raise some eyebrows, but it’s not like the other two and most likely not intentional (but some will say it is). Mediaite:
Former South Carolina Governor and Fox News contributor Mark Sanford wandered off the Appalachian Trail again Sunday morning when, in yet another completely isolated example of a Republican being totally-not-racist even though he sounds racist, said that President Obama is going to “come out and throw a lot of spears” at Tuesday’s upcoming debate.
(We report YOU decide…)
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.