Now, I don't ordinarily blog about purely political issues, but this part of the article caught my eye:
He insisted that his decision to skip the MLK Day events had nothing to do with race.OK, now, here's the thing -- I'd think that the fact that my son is black would be the number one reason I'd WANT to attend a NAACP event honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.!
“If they want, they can look at my family picture,” he said. “My son happens to be black, so they can do whatever they’d like about it.”
LePage’s son is adopted.
Wow, it's one step up from "I've got black friends!!!". What a tool.
ReplyDeleteAhh, the old "All I have to do is adopt a black kid and no one can ever accuse me of being a racist" card.
ReplyDeleteWhat about those slave owners who fathered their own black children? They couldn't possibly been racist then either by that standard. "Some of my favorite children are black" SMH.
Ahhh...I get it. Because I have a Chinese daughter and a Chinese son, I am now excused from all future Asian Festivals (big event in our town for Lunar New Year) and FCC events because I am already immersing myself in Asian culture, and of course my children prove that I am prejudice-free. Yeah.
ReplyDeleteI understand that he may have many meetings and engagements on any given day, but couldn't he express his sincere regret at not being able to attend nor take his son to the events, rather than saying "kiss my butt"?
I second what you said....
ReplyDeleteI am in no way endorsing Governor LePage's comments, but the NAACP does have a history of discourteous behavior toward GOP officials whom they have invited to their events.
ReplyDeleteI am embarrassed to admit that I am from Maine. I need to correct the record: from what I've read, the young man who LePage calls his adopted son is actually not his adopted child--he is the 25 yr old Jamaican son of a man who caddied for him while LePage was on vacation in Jamaica several years ago. This young man came to the US at age 17 to finish high school and to attend college here. That's not to say that he isn't loved and considered a part of the family, but I find it somewhat disingenuous (and perhaps useful in times such as these) for him to call him his son.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer refused to wear the ribbon and was ganged up on and beaten up. His own beliefs regarding the cause appeared to be in line, but because he refused to do everything that was dictated by the PC group, he was attacked. Lesson learned, wear the ribbon.
ReplyDeleteNot to put too fine a point on it, but it was reported in the Bangor Daily News today that LePage attended an MLK breakfast in Waterville "that he'd attended for the past several years". Apparently he wasn't interested in attending an event hosted by the NAACP, not any MLK event specifically. Can't speak to anything else, but I do know he himself was homeless as a child and in foster care for many years himself.
ReplyDeleteCall it what it is, the governor is a racist pig.
ReplyDeleteAnd a coward, hiding behind the ethnicity of another person.
Why elected officals are allowed to behave like this in 2011 is a testament to the lingering racism within the older white generations in this country.
9:38 a.m. Anon -- thanks for the update! Can you provide a link? The article I read said he just showed up at the breakfast and people were surprised, which doesn't much sound like he planned to go all along. . . .
ReplyDeleteAnother embarrassed/saddened Mainer here. The Governor claimed he would not attend the NAACP's MLK event because they were a "special interest group." Yet that statement (along with the more crude one) was made directly following a meeting with the Chamber. The next day he joined the Maine Right to Life's rally.
ReplyDeleteCringing here in Maine - he is unbelievable. I see someone already filled you in on the fact that he doesn't have a black "son" from Maine.
ReplyDeleteOops, didn't mean to say "from Maine" at the end there. Anyway, ugh.
ReplyDelete