Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Thompson On Thompson: Kenya Dig It?

The gentle reader already knows that Jason Thompson, son of senatorial candidate and former governor Tommy Thompson and lawyer at the official law firm of Fitzwalkerstan, Michael Best & Friedrich, played the birther card while representing his father at a Republican brunch on Sunday.

On Monday, Jason Thompson issued an apology...to his colleagues at the law firm, but not to President Barack Obama or to the voters of Wisconsin:
Jason Thompson , the son of former Gov. Tommy Thompson, has apologized to colleagues at his law firm for saying at a Republican event over the weekend that voters have the chance to send President Barack Obama back to Kenya.

Michael Best & Friedrich, the firm where Jason Thompson works, issued a statement Monday distancing it from his widely publicized remarks.

"Over the weekend, one of our attorneys and the son of Senatorial candidate Tommy Thompson made a regrettable comment at a campaign event for his father," said the statement from the Milwaukee-based firm. "We want to make it clear that the comment made at the campaign event in no way reflects the views, beliefs or values of Michael Best & Friedrich."
As if that wasn't bad enough, Tommy Thompson has been mum on the matter. Not one word:



Besides the video, the Democrats have a long laundry list of some of the various places where this comment has been discussed. Tommy isn't one of them.

Well, Tommy Thompson's silence didn't last much longer after the Democrats released that video and press release.

He came out of whatever undisclosed location he's been hiding in to make a statement on his son's racist comment. And in making his statement, he shows us who taught his son about inserting his foot into his mouth:
Thompson addressed the issue on the shop floor of Grover Corp., on Milwaukee’s south side, where he received the endorsement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“My son feels miserable about it," Thompson said. "If you looked at the video, you would have seen that somebody, he said, ‘go back to Illinois,’ and somebody in the audience, if you looked at it, somebody said the other country (Kenya) and my son responded.

“Talked to my son he feels terrible about it and nobody is suffering more than he is about this, and he has apologized. That is all I am going to say about it.”

Reporter: “Do you think that he needs to apologize publicly and to the president?”

“No,” Thompson said. “He has already apologized and that’s enough.”

Reporter: Do you think he wasn’t that serious about those remarks, or what?

“It was an off-handed remark that somebody mentioned it in the audience," Thompson said. "If you look at the movie, he didn’t say it, somebody in the audience said it and he repeated it and I have talked to him about it and he’s apologized about it and that’s it.”
Oh, really?

Well, here's the video again. Turn up the volume.



The gentle reader can easily tell that no one said anything until after Jason Thompson made the Kenya statement.

So, Thompson the Elder first lies about the comment, trying to blame it on some mystery problem that no one else can hear. Or maybe Tommy is just suffering from auditory hallucinations. Either way, it's not good.

But Tommy goes on to dig that hole a little deeper by calling the comment an "off hand comment." That would infer that this is something his son said without thinking about it, which would mean that this is what he really thinks.

And do I really need to point out who was one of the greatest factors in forming Jason's attitudes and beliefs.

Tommy's third strike comes when he said that his son didn't need to apologize publicly. This might seem crazy, but I don't think telling the voters that they don't deserve an apology is not the best way to win friends or influence people.

Given the fact that Tommy appears to be just as bigoted as his son, if not more so, I hope he will be able to cope with the mere thought that he will have lost this race to a homosexual woman. If Tammy Baldwin were black also, he'd never make it.

2 comments:

  1. Tommy's pretty sure it was a democrat infiltrator that said it first and then recorded Tommy's son repeating it. He'd like to think this explanation will make him look good. Hasn't Tommy already explained what a bunch of wingnut horseshit all this birther Kenya commie crap is?

    He has hasn't he?

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  2. I actually think the timing of the reactions is in support of Tommy's contention that this was an echo, even if we can't hear the first iteration from the audience. But I'm blown away by the idea that if an audience member says something and you approvingly echo it, amplify it, bless it from the front of the room and then laugh as the audience applauds... that somehow that justifies an argument that you never said it. Video, Tommy. WE HAVE VIDEO.

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