How do our County Executive candidates, in both Lehigh and Northampton County, feel about Donald Trump's assertion that there are "very fine people, on both sides," in connection with the tragedy in Charlottesville. I have responses from three of the four candidates:
Phillips Armstrong, Lehigh County Exec Candidate: "I condemn the violence and racism that was on display in Charlottesville this past weekend, and I say unequivocally that Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan are always in the wrong. I don't believe it takes more than a minute to see that. I believe it is time to move beyond the divisions and supremacist groups in this country and to move forward as one team - Americans."
Brad Osborne, Lehigh County Exec Candidate: ""President Trump's condemnation of white supremacy and racial bigotry made this past weekend is the correct moral response to the events that took place in Charlottesville. There is no room to equivocate from this condemnation.
I also believe that the diversity of Lehigh County residents is one of our greatest strengths, and I look forward to working with leaders of all races and backgrounds as county executive."
Lamont McClure, NorCo Exec candidate: "The Nazis and White Nationalists are solely responsible for the violence in Charlottesville. Any other point of view, is an attempt to normalize the odious, outdated, discredited and repugnant beliefs they spew. If I'm elected County Executive, our people can be confident that all people, no matter their sex, religion, race, ethnicity or national origin, will be treated by their county government with the dignity and respect that they are due by virtue of their Humanity."
John Brown, NorCo Exec candidate: No response.
68 comments:
it's ok tp whack someone with a bat if you think they say something that suggests they are a Nazi
Where do Charlie Dent and Pat Toomey stand?
Brad Osborne just FAILED the Leadership test. To suggest any form or fashion that what Trump said was the correct response is appalling. Seems he is trying to parse Trump's word and have his cake both was. Truly a missed opportunity.
When the KKK and neo nazis thank trump for his what they interpret as words of support, there is no misunderstanding of what trumps was doing in his press conference. There are no Nods and Winks. Words matter. The most respectable Republicans, Democrats and business leaders across this country correctly point out that trump missed the mark. White supremacy was wrong 5 hrs ago, 5 days ago, 5 months ago, 50 years ago, and Forever.
@6:47 Something really doesn't seem correct about this incident at Charlottesville, Virginia. Evidence is turning up from, of all places, the Southern Poverty Law Center, that this character, Jason Kessler, who organized the and Alt-Right demonstration in Charlottesville, Va. that blew up in everyone's face, is a holdover from the Occupy Wall Street movement and a former Barack Obama supporter. I smell George Soros money, sabotage, and Democrat dirty tricks here.
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/jason-kessler
It took a president five days to condemn the group that assassinated five police officers. It took McClure five days to condemn nazi thugs. Five days seems to be the magic number.
Here's what's missing.
Trump correctly pointed out, at the rally the night before, and on the sidewalks the next day, there were obviously some very fine, well-meaning people PRESENT. Some there to protest moving a monument and re-naming a park, others there to speak out against nationalist hate groups.
Read the damn transcript of his remarks WITHOUT political bias!
A mass hysteria is taking over our nation, and our media is loving every bit of the action.
Anonymous 7:24
The organized permitted rally was billed as "unite the right". Among the groups that organized and then subsequently "united"...
Neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer (ORGANIZER)
The Right Stuff (ORGANIZER white nationalist blog)
The National Policy Institute (lobbying group for white supremacists)
The Nationalist Front
The neo-Confederate League of the South
Vanguard America
The Ku Klux Klan
The Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights
The 3 Percenters
Identity Evropa
The Oath Keepers
The American Guard
Various right wing militias
The Detroit Right Wings
The Rise Above Movement
True Cascadia
Above are the identified groups that formally participated. The groups that answered the call of a self described "white activist" Jason Kressler.
So no, ZERO people who officially participated in this event were "good and decent" people. No "very fine and well meaning people" associate with these groups. Again, this is what the event was advertised as and who participated.
Further, no "good and well meaning person" thinks... "hey I think taking down these monuments is wrong". Even if a good decent might believe that they don't then hop in the car and head down to a park rally and join together with THESE GROUPS in protest.
Even your naive enough to not understand beforehand what specific forces organized teh rally and you just heard there is this rally to "protect monuments" and you head down to the park to join.... once you got there you would have then seen nazi flags everywhere... And if your a decent person you don't stay. So no, NO decent or well meaning person stays and joins these groups in protest. ZERO.
What we have here are two hate-groups that fight in public. Only one side gets blamed.
Why? Because the media is part of one of these hate groups.
Charlottesville was a supposedly conservative demonstration, where violence erupts and people are killed, and guess who just happens to be a ringleader of the various ultra-right to Alt-Right organizations ranging from KKK and neo-Nazis to the kind of patriotic folks who might go to a Flag Day celebration!
Um, that would be our vaporous political will o' the wisp, Jason Kessler, whose Occupy activities may well have put him in operational cahoots with high-level Democrat operatives. And owing to the leniency of Virginia open carry laws, too many of Jason's followers just had to parade their personal armories in all their camo combat gear, showing off their minuteman firepower.
My first reaction at seeing those clowns strutting down the street like they were in Mosul was, like that of many of my fellow NRA members and military veterans, shaking my fist and yelling at the TV, "No! No! No, you idiots! No!"
And that kind of award-winning stupidity makes me wonder if the head planner for the event, Jason Soros...er, Kessler, didn't have that firepower demonstration all lined up and ready to go precisely to make those right-wing tools look just like the fools they were being, while scaring the bejeezus out of the lefties, blacks, and MSM twerps.
We heard chants about Jews but no chants about statues. No chants about our history but chanted about our streets and blood and soil. Given these mirror Nazionale chants, clearly the rally was more about hate than about history. Make no mistake about it, there were no confederate reenactors present but there were neo nazis holding torches and chanting hate speech. Trump was wrong to make a comparison between sides and those that try to parse his words are wrong too.
I was going to vote for Lamont McClure in the next election, but I am seriously thinking about reversing this thought. To state, "The Nazis and White Nationalists are solely responsible" is a misnomer and refutes the evidence at hand. What about Antifa and BLM movements at the protest, as well as the City of Charlottesville. There is a lot of blame to go around and to make this statement shows a direct bias on his behalf. Obviously, McClure doesn't want to associate himself with the KKK and NEO-NAZIS, but to simply label them wrong because of their affiliation is ill-responsible.
Mr. Beitler has given the requisite politician answer.
He knows the motivation of every onlooker at rallies held in public spaces. This includes office workers, shopkeepers, journalists, apartment residents, etc. who are caught-up in the moment. Some of these innocent, curious, perhaps naive, but otherwise good people actually get seen on camera and physically harmed.
And then, Mr.Beitler knows the motivation of Antifa members and every other witness who "happened" upon the scene. Including locals who occupied the same sidewalks with radical nut jobs, like paid anarchists of different stripes.
1.) IMO the removal of confederate monuments is a LOCAL decision. And an often complicated decision. The chief individual organizer of the protests against the removal was from Charlottesville, HOWEVER the organized groups were from all over the country. They came to Charlottesville with the expressed intent as outsiders to interject themselves in a LOCAL decision. With the intent to agitate.
2.) The President said there were "well meaning people" in the group then doubled down "very fine people in the group". That's false. On the side of the White Nationalists there were ZERO decent people present at that rally. Even if you feel as though taking down the monument was a mistake NO decent person associates with a group chanting hate slogans and carrying nazi flags.
3.) Antifa is a terrorist organization and should be labeled as such. There are aspects of BLM that are counterproductive and that movement has been co-opted by violence on occasion. And both did infiltrate the counter protesters with a violent intent. There were also Charlottesville residents who just wanted to demonstrate against Nazi's parading in their streets with no violent intent. I have no problem with that. In fact, if White Nationalists groups were parading in my neighborhood or any of our local public parks with tiki torches for any reason - you bet your ass you could count me in to peaceably demonstrate AGAINST them.
As of now, there's still not enough evidence on the actual violence, other than the schizophrenic kid who ran over the woman, to make any kind of assessment as to who did what in the confrontations between the right-wing demonstrators and the surprisingly strong counter-demonstration.
I have to wonder if this Kessler fellow, the strong Barack Obama-supporter that he is, had a hand in making sure his Alt-Right marchers were clearly guaranteed to encounter a strong crowd of riled up counter-protesters as well. The reporting of Kessler's background, as well as that of Charlottesville mayor and Democrat activist Mike Signer and Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy, has convinced me that Charlottesville was a Democratic Party undercover operation, planned, organized, and carried out to its successful conclusion, to make the media portray all these conservative whites (as well as President Trump) as stupid, racist, and violent.
I believe that it was done by this soulless young man, who is possibly a George Soros Democratic Party Operative who succeeded in selling himself to the dumb-bunny right-wingers as one of them.
@9:12 Wrong.
Relative to the content of this post. I do support Brad Osborne. But his answer was a political answer. Agreeing with the President but not acknowledging the Presidents waffling and longstanding moral ambiguity on these issues is a political statement. I'd say that to him.
I don't do political answers. I don't care about politics. I care about issues and productive conversations. The political answer is for a Republican to side with the President always. I don't play that game. Trump was wrong here.
Say exactly what you think and what you believe. Don't try to calculate or triangulate the popular answers. That's playing politics.
I deleted a few of the usual blanket condemnations of people for being a Democrat or a Republican, along with a shot or two at me.
Ron (8:41 AM)
I'd also like to add as I watched it unfold live on TV skirmishes first broke out between these groups on Saturday. I seen for myself these groups who were given permits to stand around the statue on a raised mound began to chuck things down on the protestors, then went down to confront them. The media wasn't making this stuff up I saw it for myself on three separate TV broadcasts carrying it live.
They then began to attack the local clergy as they were being interviewed live on TV and had to be whisked away in the middle of their interviews.
On the tone of this rally that was understood well in advance of it taking place.
I have an acquaintance on facebook. He's a relatively well known former young (controversial) elected official. He holds some very fringe views. Although he flirts with nationalism he's definitely not a white nationalist. He often attends rally's/gatherings etc of like minded individuals.
In the week leading up to this he made a post about this particular "unite the right" rally since it was widely discussed in the groups he runs with. He stated something to the effect of (paraphrase) "I won't be attending the charlottesville rally, the groups intent is clearly provocation".
This guys views are wrong on a great many things (IMO). But he's rationale. And I like I said, NO rationale person on the right would have attended this rally, associated with these hateful groups and expected anything other then exactly what went down.
There were NO good people in that rally. It was a magnet for the very worse of humanity.
(post deleted above was a duplicate)
7:07, The notion that the organizer of this hate rally was an Obama supporter has been snoped and is a lie being promulgated by fake news sites. Try being honest if you can.
Charlie Dent and Pat Toomey have both released statements condemning the white supremacists.
e can start by tearing down the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington and then removing George Washington`s visage from the quarter dollar as they both owned slaves. Next attack and tear down the Confederate statuary in the of the National Civil War Battlefields.
...other than the schizophrenic kid who ran over the woman...
Seriously? "schizophrenic kid"?
It seems to me that in typical Trump supporter fashion, the effort is now to take the focus off of the hate groups and their proven history of violence and murder.
It was all a plot by the opposition party? More FOX talking head propaganda?
My disappointment in the statements made by Executive candidates is not one of them had the balls to call out Trump by name, as a pompous asshole.
Maybe in the future, disgruntled Americans who vote for an idiot only to blow up the system of political insiders, will realize what happens when you put a lying POS in the highest office.
MrBill, Stop the nonsense. George Washington set his slaves free in his will. He wanted to send a message,and did it in his typical Washingtonian way. He was a great man. Jefferson was a piece of shit who never attended Washington's memorial. He is one of the most manipulative and deceitful persons to ever hold office. He is a large part of the reason why we remained a slave nation for so long. His place in history is undeserved. But this is not about tearing down statues. That is the red herring raised by racists and white supremacists to go on a rampage. You are looking for every justification you can find for this hate. Stop already.
Charlie Dent was on CNN this morning discussing Trump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mdQSmcdVxo
Ron Beitler, I get your criticism. My sense is that Brad Osborne was being careful, not political.
10:16, Stop the identity politics. I am not interested in your slurs at the "left" or Democrats. This is about right and wrong, not right and left. I know numerous Rs who are just as disgusted as I about what has happened and by Trump's reaction. So let's stop playing that game.
Somehow I am not surprised that John Brown the county executive for Northampton County remain silent. That is not a coincidence..
He had more time than anyone else to respond.
This incident is much too complex for ANYONE to make knee-jerk reactions. Particularly those with political motives. You know, like the 10:21AM response.
“Good people can go to Charlottesville,” said Michelle Piercy, a night shift worker at a Wichita, Kan., retirement home, who drove all night with a conservative group that opposed the planned removal of a statue of the Confederate general Robert E. Lee.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/us/politics/trump-republicans-race.html?smid=tw-share&mtrref=undefined&gwh=5EFC7C2072B7A9EFBF30691D07E11340&gwt=pay&_r=0
Not all of the protestors at Charlottesville were Nazis.
Actually, this is a situation that DEMANDS an immediate reaction. There can be no wiggle room for white supremacists or neo-Nazis. That is precisely what Trump does, and sycophants like you attempt to justify it. This needs to end.
"You have some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. You had people in that group — excuse me, excuse me — I saw the same pictures as you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name." - President Donald Trump
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/15/read-the-transcript-of-donald-trumps-jaw-dropping-press-conference.html
Trump condemned the white supremacists, KKK members, and neo-Nazis in the Charlottesville protest, but he also said that some people who were not extremists were there to voice a legitimate grievance against the removal of the statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee. That was confirmed by the New York Times article that was posted earlier.
12:03, That's not the point. The point is that the rally was organized by and largely sponsored by white supremacists and Nazis. There is no middle ground when it comes to that.
Bernie, you must have missed trump responding to this incident immediately, AS IT HAPPENED. He publicly condemned the violence and hate being witnessed.
This "sycophant" respectfully wants to know why you don't condemn the local officials who issued an official gathering permit to such obvious animals and dangerous people? You wouldn't have done so, it seems.
22:47, I missed nothing Trump immediately and this honestly created a false equivalency something he continues to this moment
Mr. McLure's statement was purely political... "If I'm elected County Executive..." If he wasn't running he would not make a statement about the issue. Anyone who doesn't make a statement condemning "white supremacy" must be associated with them?
"We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence. It has no place in America.”
“The driver of the car is a disgrace to himself and his country… the driver of the car is a murderer and what he did was a horrible, horrible inexcusable thing.”
“I think that what took place was a horrible moment for our country.”
These quotes were taken from the c-span text and video of the press conference at TT 8/16/17.
When did we start judging others by what they do not say? Or if they do not say words as we would like them to?
I should not have to say I am not racist, or opposed to "white supremacy" etc..,in order to not be racist. It should be the default position for us. We should also assume those whom we deal with also hold that default position, and call them out if they do not.
Jeff, Lamont and two others provided a statement. Brown did not. That speaks volumes. When it comes to the horrors of Nazism and white supremacists, nothing short of an immediate denunciation is satisfactory.
@12:47
Nothing was missed. Trump went off script during his "condemnation" and showed his true colors. Watch it in real time. It was hilarious when he tried to identify himself with President Obama.
You, anonymous poster, are an ignorant fool to believe otherwise.
12:32, what you seem to have missed - and I did make a point of watching the entire circus - is that Trump cannot simultaneously condemn white supremacist s and then call them "very fine people." That is nothing short of a wink and a nod to the neoNazis.
Anonymous 12:47 PM Said...
"why you don't condemn the local officials who issued an official gathering permit to such obvious animals and dangerous people?"
The city denied the permits. The ACLU took the city to court. They lost. The permits (as per the constitution) allowed for "peaceful assembly". When the fighting started it allowed the city to pull the permits from both sides who had them (despite what you might have heard from Trump). Then go in to break it up.
The same would go for any city including ours.
Sorry, Gary. This "ignorant fool" made no value judgments or called anyone names. Just stated a "fact" related to the matter of responding immediately.
Even someone with your intellect and composure has to admit there is nothing Trump could have said that would satisfy all persons. Trump DID respond immediately, did he not? Should he have called you first, perhaps?
1:48:
apology accepted!
In this toxic climate we have, something which President Trump can do immediately is to rename the aircraft carrier USS John Stennis, which honors a 20th-century racist. He was a mere politician who never served in the armed forces.
well two scoops would have to go against ST ronnie who said
"When announcing this ship would be named after Stennis, then-President Ronald Reagan said, "Senator, when I consider your career there is a certain comparison that comes to mind.
http://www.stennis.navy.mil/john-c.-stennis-(cvn-74)---history.html
so was ronald reagan a big supporter of racists?
as to the side argument of removing Washington and Jefferson statues.
did either of those gentlemen act as traitors to the US?
did they fight against the US nation?
aside from a battlefield site why would anyone want a statue of a traitor
When did it become controversial to call out the KKK and Neo=Nazis as being very, very bad people? Seriously!
The notion that this discussion has ANYTHING to do with the legitimacy of these statues is a red herring, and one that Authoritarian Donald Trump spewed in an attempt to deflect attention from his refusal to disassociate himself from neoNazis and white supremacists.
@4:05 President Reagan served in the Army Air Forces during World War II. He had previously joined the Army Reserve on March 18, 1935, and by December 1936, he had completed 14 courses. He then joined the Army's Enlisted Reserve Corps at Des Moines, Iowa, on April 29, 1937, as a private in Troop B, 322nd Cavalry. On May 25, 1937, he was appointed a second lieutenant in the Officers' Reserve Corps of the Cavalry and on June 18, 1937, he accepted his officer' commission.
Lt. Reagan interrupted his acting career and on April 19, 1942, went on active duty. This was not achieved without some difficulty because when Reagan took his first physical exam, he was not accepted for active duty due to eyesight difficulties. His persistence finally triumphed and he was given another exam, which he passed. He was classified for limited service only, which permanently denied to him his ambition of serving overseas. His first assignment was at the San Francisco Port of Embarkation, Fort Mason, Calif., as Liaison Officer of the Port and Transportation Office. On May 15, 1942, he applied for transfer from the Cavalry to the AAF.
The transfer was approved and on June 9, 1942, Reagan was assigned to AAF Public Relations as P.R. Officer in Burbank, Calif., and subsequently to the 1st Motion Picture Unit in Culver City.
While on active duty with the 1st Motion Picture Unit and the 18th AAFBU, Reagan served as Personnel Officer, Post Adjutant, Executive Officer, and even Commanding Officer, often two or more at the same time. On May 15, 1945, in a memo to Gen. H.H. "Hap" Arnold, Commanding General of the AAF, Maj. Gen. James P. Hodges, the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff for Intelligence, wrote that Reagan "has proven himself to be an officer of exceptional ability, demonstrating unusual initiative, and performs his duties in a superior manner. Captain Reagan has received a 'superior' efficiency rating continually since 1 Jul., 1943." The reference to "unusual initiative" undoubtedly resulted, at least in part, from Reagan repeatedly volunteering to assist in producing and narrating AAF motion pictures, in addition to his regular duties. By the end of the war, his military units had produced 400 training films for the AAF.
In 1945, Reagan was recommended for promotion but because there was no major's vacancy in his unit at the time, the request was not approved. On April 1, 1953, his commission in the Officers' Reserve Corps was terminated as required by law and his military affiliation apparently ended.
On Jan. 20, 1981, however, he was inaugurated as the 40th president of the United States and became Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces.
@4:45 That's your story and you're sticking to it.
5:00, what does that long post have to do with anything?
"I am very happy to take part in this unveiling of the statue of General Robert E. Lee.
All over the United States we recognize him as a great leader of men, as a great general. But, also, all over the United States I believe that we recognize him as something much more important than that. We recognize Robert E. Lee as one of our greatest American Christians and one of our greatest American gentlemen."
- President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1936
Imagine if President Trump had said those words ? Lee thought slavery was a great evil and he worked to reunite America after the Civil War. While his judgment was misguided, and the evils of slavery should never be understated, history is always more complicated than people may think.
Brown os running the county and allowing county departments to fall by the waist-side, just like Trump's administration. Where to start, 911 Center, Gracedale, the jail.........?
5.00
okay ronnie could conquer any hill in Burbank.
so what?
why would ronnie support a racist? was the point.
donnie two scoops does not want to attack the nazis as he then would have to explain to his base why the alt-right were wrong.
trump would have to explain how removing statues of traitors is a bad thing.
5:44 further attempts at deflection will be deleted.
Sorry but this post is not about the propriety if removing the statues. You allowed yourself to be deflected
Smart not to say a word, it'll all be over in a week and by then we'll have more bread and circuses to talk about.
Remember Benghazi and how important that was?
Morning Call showing a LA Times story to help determine who was responsible for the violence in Charlottesville. Reactions of Local Exec. candidates might be different now that further is coming out.
There was a lot of violence on both sides...in World War II.
Timothy McVeigh and Dylan Roof represented the views of alt right of America. Enough said.
anon @ 6:35
I think it might be possible that those who generally get outraged and protest acts of racism viewed that incident as a case of workplace "mobbing" gone bad, instead of the political narrative of "terrorism" afforded the state because the perpetrators where not white.
Local Virginia officials handled that situation very poorly. I really don't want to find out how our local grandstanding Exec. candidates and other politicians would respond to the same situation here.
7:01, you are off topic and were deflected.
Mitt Romney had the perfect response as it relates to Charlottesville, the Presidents missed opportunity, and the direction the Country should go.
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