Mistakes and abrogations

Senator Don McEachin and the usual suspects are up in arms over a Facebook post by Del. Buddy Fowler. The post in question showed…

…a photo of a snarling police dog on Facebook and adding a suggestion.
“I wonder if a few of these would help bring calm to Baltimore?”

Tasteless? Sure (or as the bien pensant would say, “too soon”). And we can add Fowler to the lengthening list of pols who seem utterly unaware that social media can generate more attention than a stream of press releases. And do so immediately.

Fowler has made his apologies and acknowledged a “mistake.” It sure was.

But that won’t keep the brickbats away. The Democrat Fowler beat in 2013 asserts the posting is “…racist, whether intentional or not.” Hyperbole? Of course. And hardly surprising.

Let’s get back to Sen. McEachin’s comments. The Senator said Del. Fowler “abrogated his responsibility as a public servant.” That’s not too surprising, either. But given the backdrop of what McEachin’s own Democrats did to poor and working class African-Americans in the 16th Senate district race calls into question whether McEachin & Co. really know what a public servant’s responsibilities are. In this case, it was to turn a blind eye to a process that intentionally “abrogated” the free association and speech rights of Black voters.

It happened right in your own backyard, Senator, and was perpetrated by your own party apparatus, playing by the old rules of the Byrd Machine.

I look forward to the Senator’s statement on the matter. And I further look forward to the RTD’s Jim Nolan applying his considerable talents into an investigation of what occurred. Maybe there will even be pictures to go along with the story, in case some folks need visual aids to understand whose rights were cavalierly trashed in order to avoid an inconvenient candidacy.