(Chicago Tribune photos By Bob Fila)
by Frank James
The soon-to-be-ex-mayor of Los Alamitos, Calif. sounds like he's maybe not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Not only did he e-mail a doctored photo of the White House South Lawn covered in watermelons under the words: "No Easter egg hunt this year" but he then came up with a lame explanation of what happened.
According to the Associated Press:
Grose said he didn't mean to offend anyone and claimed he was unaware of the racial stereotype linking black people with eating watermelons.
Ahem, Mayor Grose, if you were unaware of the stereotype then what made the e-mail worth sending out?
He did the honorable thing by announcing his plan to resign Monday.
But he ruined a good apology and his fall onto his sword with his laughable explanation.
Here's an AP excerpt:
Grose came under fire for sending the picture to what he called "a small group of friends." One of the recipients, a local businesswoman and city volunteer, publicly scolded the mayor for his actions.
Grose says he accepts that the e-mail was in poor taste and has affected his ability to lead the city. Grose said he didn't mean to offend anyone and claimed he was unaware of the racial stereotype linking black people with eating watermelons.
Comments
Watching the Repug party self destruct makes for great theatre.
Pass the Popcorn!
Posted by: Johnny Knoxville | February 27, 2009 4:36 PM
What is this? Only black people eat watermelons? What are all those white folks eating at Taste of Chicago? Next they'll be saying that whites can't eat fried chicken.
Posted by: Jamal | February 27, 2009 4:38 PM
A nation of political idiots?
Apparently at least 46%.
Posted by: TheReamer | February 27, 2009 4:42 PM
I just read all about this on a blog here in DC. What a clown this mayor is.
http://muckbreaker.blogspot.com
Posted by: Tom Hynes | February 27, 2009 4:56 PM
No, sadly, it's even higher. At least 54% of Americans are political idiots, ignoring track records and actions, and taking meaningless words in their place.
Posted by: Rahmian<Rovian | February 27, 2009 4:57 PM
Personally, and this may be a white people thing, but I like to take myself a watermelon and fill er' up with various liquors. Stuff it in the sand (beach not a playground) with multiple two foot straws (keeps it cool) and suck it up bebe!!!
Posted by: Tim | February 27, 2009 4:59 PM
Frank, aren't you missing an important atribute of Dean Grose, the REPUBLICAN mayor of said town!!!! While it was assumed, I did check it out to be sure. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us%3AIE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7TSHA&q=mayor+dean+grose+ca+republican
I am not sure when the "good christian right" lost their souls, but they surely demonstrate everything they tell others not to do.
Posted by: Xcellentform | February 27, 2009 5:54 PM
Actually, Rahmian, the majority of Americans DID take track records and actions into account in this last election. That's why the Republicans lost.
Posted by: Milw-Town | February 27, 2009 7:37 PM
It is terrible this guy thought this was funny. But it's just made me crave watermelon.
and it's really really good for you!
Posted by: makes me want to plant watermelon | February 28, 2009 11:49 PM
You know what's sad: all the black folks in the world can make as many jokes as they want about "whitey" and "cracker" and not get any beef about it whatsoever. But God forbid anyone make a joke about a black person! Then it's racist!
Double standards are sickening.
I guess that's why everyone expects "white to do what is right"
Posted by: Brown | March 3, 2009 1:08 PM
Wow! I just hope that this wake-up a whole lot of people that believed all was well and forgotten just because we elected our first ethnic-minority President of the United States. The surface has only been scratched. This and other comments and/ or emotions have been laying dormant like a cancer within other individuals as well. In November the very thing that their minds never conceived would happen; happened. There's more to come; oh please believe me! Since this election; if you have not already, you will find out a lot of unknown things about colleagues in the workplace.
Posted by: Michael | March 4, 2009 6:11 AM
Its not that there's a double standard for racially influenced humor, its that there is a time and a place... This is not Saturday night Live, this is the Political arena... People who have been put in charge to "lead" must live by a different standard, or perhaps get a less demanding position.....
Posted by: jeroboham | March 7, 2009 9:30 AM
This comment is for the ignoramus Brown, whose above comments I find hateful. I'm a white and whites like Brown make me cringe. Brown - you talk like you're the victim. You lack perspective. Whites have always had the power and white males, in particular, still have all the power. How did you miss that the person in power is not the victim? Were any of your white relatives ripped from their homeland against their will, chained & packed like cargo into the bowels of a ship with no food or water, then enslaved by blacks? Were any of your naked white relatives sold in public, like cattle, by black plantation owners? Were any of your white relatives loyal, hard working, dirt poor sharecroppers, expected to break their backs, whose black boss denied them basic rights and sustenance? Have you ever been denied access to a restaurant, a public bathroom or any public place because your skin is white? Have any of your white relatives been hunted, tortured, hung from trees by the neck, burned, or had their genitals brutally cut off by blacks? Have you or your white relatives had to go to impoverished schools because blacks don't invest in white children? Have you or your white relatives ever been denied a house, an apartment or a job by a black person because your skin is white; something you have no way of changing? Were your white relatives beaten, sprayed with fire hoses, attacked by dogs or killed by blacks for asking to be treated fairly? Do you think you would have had the guts to endure this peacefully, as most blacks did? Do you think you would have as much patience as blacks have had with whites? If blacks never forgive whites for all these indignities, I think I will understand. Some things are unforgivable. Like your comments. You are proof that there are whites out there who are still heaping injustice on blacks. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Posted by: Ally | March 8, 2009 2:51 AM