Republican race card (silly R. tries to smear D. city council candidate)

[Algorem]

http://www.clevescene.com/Issues/2005-10-19/news/firstpunch.html (4th story down)

Republican race card
When Matt Trafis sent a letter to his neighbors, lobbying against a plan to bring a new Aldi store to Seven Hills, it seemed an innocent play by a political upstart. Trafis, 23, was a candidate for city council at the time. He thought the city could better use the real estate.

Not long after his letter hit the streets, a concerned citizen named Elizabeth LiBassi blasted the media with e-mails over "Matt Trafis' Racist Scare Tactics." The candidate was "trying to scare citizens about a grocery store that may bring black people into their community," she claimed, though she wanted to remain anonymous.

Later, when Trafis was bounced from the council race on a technicality, he talked about a run for the Ohio House. So LiBassi sent the letter to black Democrats, then hit the media with more e-mails, saying that some "black state representatives were putting pressure on the Democratic Leader Chris Redfern to convince Trafis not to run because he is a racist."

But there were problems with LiBassi's story. First, the racial assumptions were all hers. Believe it or not, white people shop at Aldi too, and Trafis' letter doesn't even faintly allude to race. Moreover, black Dems have no worries about the candidate, says Redfern. "That's just horseshit," he tells Punch. "Nobody's pressuring me."...

[sweetladybug]

1. Well that sounds just like a manipulating republican but

you have to remember, this republican must have learn from the best manipulators of all (Bush and members of his crime family)