This is not about campaign tricks. This is about racism.

[garybeck]

Background: We have a close race for Governor in Vermont. The Democratic candidate Peter Shumlin is Jewish. Tea Partiers are coming out of the woodwork to support the Republican. The reason this racist moron is wearing an inmate costume is because Peter Shumlin has said that one way he will reduce the state's deficit and save money is to reduce or eliminate jail time for some types of non-violent offenders. The Dubie campaign is throwing out all kinds of scare tactics saying the streets will no longer be safe, etc... but more offensive than the uniform is obviously what is on the guy's arm. Me wants to know where he got the idea for the uniform, the sign, the tatoo, and who printed the letters on the uniform so nicely. I'm guessing it didn't all come from him.

NOTE: he was photographed here at a SHUMLIN (the democrat) rally, and the sign says "Convicts for Shumlin". What are the chances this guy has the where-with-all to think up something that elaborate by himself?

As posted on Green Mountain Daily

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by: JulieWaters
Tue Oct 19, 2010 at 16:00:00 PM EDT
Let's pause for a moment and consider this image.
As previously noted, this is part of an anti-Shumlin stunt that the Dubie campaign denies has anything to do with them. The Dubie campaign classifies this as jokes and games, but they somehow fail to notice that this is about racism.

Wearing a swastika while protesting a candidate is fairly tasteless. Wearing a swastika while protesting a Jewish candidate goes far beyond that. This isn't something that any campaign should be disavowing as a trick or a prank. This is something that Dubie's campaign should be calling out as overtly racist.

The failure of Dubie's campaign to note this action as something which is (a) at least partially their responsibility and (b) dog whistle racism is a sign of where some of his support lies. Just like with the "Take Back Vermont" crowd, the tea partiers supporting Dubie are not just about lower taxes but, as with the various racist imagery we've seen at tea party rallies during the 2008 campaign, about xenophobia and racism as well.

To be clear: this is not something everyone in the tea party supports and this is not necessarily something even the Dubie campaign itself supports. But the campaign knows it's beholden to the interests, some of them powerful interests, of people who proudly support some of this racism. For the Dubie campaign to push back against it would actually probably cost them some of that support.

rest of post/article:
http://greenmountaindaily.com/diary/6961/this-is-not-about-campaign-tricks-this-is-about-racism
(note, at the link there are more links to articles about this)

[democrank]

1. K & R

[flamingdem]

2. Guess it's not all Bernie supporter in VT afterall nt

[garybeck]

5. nope, we have plenty of tea partiers and morans up here too

in fact we've had 8 years of republican governor.

[Crankie Avalon]

3. He looks awful convincing in that inmate costume.

He looks just like some of the guys you see on those "Lockup" programs on A&E! And they have swastikas, too.

[Lilyeye]

7. I was thinking the same. That disgusting thug looks like he just stepped out of jail.

What a piece of shit that scumbag is.

[garybeck]

9. note, when questioned, he had a story

gave a fake name and said that he did jail time for a small amount of marijuana posession (highly unlikely) and said he was there to support the release of inmates and convicts.

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. In real life - I'd wager - he's Vice President of the local Young Republicans. nt

[w8liftinglady]

4. good point-Southern Poverty Law has a list of hate groups in the US

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/hate-map

it's pretty telling of the politics in the area.

[mstinamotorcity]

6. Please know that ignorance comes in all forms

But don't forget the repugs know its a recession and people are hurting for money. I have found instances where they are paying people in certain areas to do their bidding. In my community the repugs have put on a different face so to speak and are using our young men to spread their propaganda in our unsuspecting neighborhoods. Not to mention the billboards that pop up in our community around election time. "Did you know Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican". And the answer is yes we know. Do we care,NO. Do we also know that right wing christians are the ones who purged out the moderates like today's Teabaggers. Yes we do!!!!

[garybeck]

8. yes but

a person as ignorant as this doesn't have the where-with-all to think up such an elaborate scheme to make a costume like this and go to the democratic rally. someone else obviously thought this up and probably gave him the supplies. THAT's what bothers me.

[mstinamotorcity]

12. its the same old shit

Citizens United,Americans for Prosperity,Freedom works etc. The astro turfers are all around us.

[Scurrilous]

11. K & R

:thumbsup: