What Were They Thinking

You have to wonder if people think about what they do sometimes. In this case if anyone uses their brain when putting out political fliers.

Below is what the Loudoun County’s GOP committee sent out in an e-mail.





















It goes on:

The e-mail invites supporters to a Halloween parade. “LCRC members and Republican candidates: We are going to vanquish the zombies with clear thinking conservative principles and a truckload of Republican candy...It’s fun and a great way to represent our candidates to a ton of voters (and their kids) just before the election.”

Somehow none of the great brain trust that makes up the Loundon County Republicans thought it would be in poor taste to show President Obama with a bullet hole in his head ( guess the zombies got to them first and ate all of their brains).

At least their were Republicans at a higher level that had some common sense on this:

“The disgusting image used today on a mass e-mail has no place in our politics. Ever,’’ said Pat Mullins, chairman of the state party. “The Republican Party of Virginia condemns the image and its use in the strongest possible terms.”

Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) said through a spokesman that the e-mail is “shameful and offensive.’’

“He calls on those involved to apologize for their actions and to immediately ensure that such imagery is never used again,” McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin said. “The governor has long stressed the need for more civility and respect in our politics. An e-mail like this one undermines those goals, offends all Virginians and discredits our entire political process. It will not be tolerated.”

When called on this stupid stunt there was the following response:

Mark Sell, chairman of the Loudoun County Republican Committee, issued a statement that said:

“The Loudoun County Republican Committee yesterday sent an email to its members that represented a light-hearted attempt to inject satire humor into the Halloween holiday,’’ Sell wrote. Apparently, some individuals have interpreted an image of Barack Obama that appeared within the email as intending to portray the president as a victim of a violent crime. Nothing could be further from the truth, and we deeply and sincerely apologize to the president and anyone who viewed the image if that was the impression that was left. The LCRC deplores any effort to display, suggest or promote violence against the president or any other political figure.”

I love the "some individuals have interpreted an image of Barack Obama that appeared within the email as intending to portray the president as a victim of a violent crime." Gee, I'm so sorry but seems to me anyone would "interpret" a picture of anyone, morphed into a zombie or not, with a bullet hole in their head would be a victim of a crime.

This is the same BS we've been getting from established Republican organizations since Obama became president. The picture of Obama's face on a monkey comes to mind. Again the lame excuse of "oh I guess some people might be offended by it. But we certainly didn't mean to offend anyone or denigrate the president in any way." I think the only reason their is any sort of an apology is this came to light in the media. It is the some people might be offended by this. Instead the apology should be along the lines of wow we did a stupid thing. We thought it would go over as a joke but clearly it didn't.

I also love the comments on the story in the Post. Inevitable Republican apologists that say when Bush was president he got burned in effigy and called Hitler and all other sorts of names. I was so glad another comment post said the difference with Bush was the Loudoun County Democrats didn't say it. And it was roundly condemned by Democrats. There was never "well you can understand people feeling that way" as elected Republican politicians say on a regular basis.

Frankly I'm sick of this crap. The zombies here are the Loudoun County Republican officials who thought this was a good idea in the first place.