NY-18 GOP Candidate: At least he's not a non-masturbating witch

[BurtWorm]

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/gop-nominee-from-ny-18-who-could-have.html

He Never Gave The Slightest Hint

by digby


Justin Elliot is reporting that the NY GOP is saying that they will "cut loose" this fellow who won the Republican nomination for the 18th district because they didn't know about his "racist and ethnocentric" views prior to the revelation yesterday. Of course not. As they said it doesn't have "anything to do with the Republican Party. Certainly it has nothing to do with republican party principles."

Here's what the Republicans who voted for him did know about:

Russell, whose campaign website focuses on immigration and opposition to a housing desgregation settlement in Westchester, has not responded to a request for comment. But his campaign manager, Frank Morgenthaler, told the Journal News that the scrutiny on Russell's racial views is "mud-slinging."

Here's an interesting clip of a local newscast (from Russell's campaign YouTube account) that provides some context on what seems to be his primary motivating issue: opposition to a housing desegration settlement that Westchester entered into last year. The deal, reached after mostly white Westchester was found to have failed to comply with fair housing rules, requires the county to build public housing and market it to minority groups.

"Our neighborhoods have to be protected," Russell says.

No wonder they were stunned and shocked to find out he held racist views. He never gave the slightest hint about it.

[RandomThoughts]

1. I laughed at a racist joke once.

Although it was funny because of the punch line, not by accepting the views in the joke.

Seriously I was in a bar, a guy told a racist joke, I don't remember it, but I did laugh, because it had a witty construction to it.

It is one of the most interesting events in the last few years. I know I am not racist, because I have to think to find racist comments in items, but I do know there are many layers in many things.


So what does it mean if you laughed at a racist joke, but did not accept the premise? what does that mean. I had to think a long time on that.

Took me awhile to realize that even not being racist, the joke was still funny by its witty construction. Yet it was also a trap, by playing on my like of witty humor, the attached comment also in the joke, allowed for a bad representation to be constructed.

That is like the good and bad in everything. You can see something good, and not bad, and people will see the bad and try to attach it to you.

It goes to almost everything in smear and propaganda used against people, and is really interesting, and why it seems you have to find the heart of a person to know how they feel.


I figured out racism is about people trying to form groups to get advantage, and many can easily form identifications by obvious things like physical appearance, but the real bad about racism is how one group tries to fight against another, just for their group, not for better justice for both groups.

You can see the same thing in a few rap songs, where it is the same as white racism, the forming of a group by culture or something like skin color to create a group to fight another group.


I think fighting over things that don't mean anything are the worst kinds of fighting. Although much of it is just to form a group to fight another group for self advantage. And if anyone that did fight over culture or race succeeded by wiping out a group, they would just do the same thing to their own group, by creating sub groups, since to them it is about self advantage first.



And I am still due beer and travel money, and many good experiences :)

[leftynyc]

2. My district

Nita Lowey really had nothing to worry about no matter who won the nomination on the gop side. But it's very telling seeing the kinds of people the gop is serving up this midterm season.