Why Is Ron Weiser Such a Sissy?
Note: I apologize for the lengthy outage yesterday. It appears to have been nothing more than a traffic issue, coming from Reddit readers who, like me, agree that HSBC should be subject for the law.
Top MI Republican Ron Weiser addressed the state’s Tea Party in August and explained why he was confident the state’s Republicans could deliver the State for Mitt. He rather predictably made a bunch of racist comments. He showed no awareness that his candidate had little appeal (especially in the state he tried to consign to bankruptcy) and–in retrospect though it was apparent at the time–little of the organizational ability it took to win a Presidential election.
But as someone who woke up before dawn on Election Day in 2008 to go make sure voters in a very poor precinct in Detroit weren’t harassed by Weiser’s thugs (I did voter protection in Grand Rapids this year, where GOP challengers didn’t show up until it was light), I’m wondering what kind of coward says this.
Obama has hired a lot of people to go help him get that vote out. But if you’re not from Detroit, the places where those pool halls and barbershops are, you’re not going to be going at 6:30 in November. Not without a side arm.
Of course Obama’s team didn’t send volunteers like me to pool halls and barbershops because those are simply Weiser’s suburban inventions about what people from Detroit do in the day. But I did (at the time a sheltered Ann Arbor resident, just like Weiser still is) drive right into a fairly dangerous neighborhood in Detroit, park my car, and spend half the day there, starting before 6:30.
Safely. Without a side arm.
The biggest threat of violence came when a white Walt Kowalski type came in in mid-morning and started screaming racist threats at everyone. What I saw from everyone else was quiet resolution and, for many, real excitment about casting their vote, either because they were voting for an African American, or because they were among the sixth of voters at the precinct voting for the first time.
I felt safe at Detroit at 6:30 AM in November 2008.
Maybe Weiser just didn’t think about how much less risky Detroit is for people who don’t bear its residence ill will?