In the political arena, there seems to be no shortage of sleaze merchants who happen to have magical regenerative powers. Part of their DNA appears to be a propensity for getting publicly taken to task by those who they work for. It's a win-win situation. The sleaze merchant puts out false and/or irresponsible info then willingly takes the fall as a "loose cannon" while those who they work for get to pretend that they've taken the high road by issuing public condemnations, even calls for the loose cannon's resignation.
Of course the lack of name recognition that the loose cannon has makes it easy for them to show up with a repeat performance months later, while the average soundbite consumer's mind doesn't pick up on the fact that they've just watched a re-run. But the most ambitious members of the GOP’s designated fall guy battalion set their sites on breathing the rarified air of the unaccountable celeb shill (see Malkin, Coulter, Rush, et al).
I now introduce you to one of the fully bought and paid for hopefuls trying to make that leap; Bill Hobbs, Communications Director for the Tennessee State Republican Party.
I actually worked with - or shall I say in spite of the guy. We were both on staff at an environmental blog for much of 2007, though Hobbs wasn’t serving in any official capacity for the Tennessee GOP at that time. Hobbs's writing was what I considered to be very antagonistic to the environmental movement and he would engage in what I perceived to be blatantly biased attacks on Al Gore, to the point where I and each of the other bloggers on the site actually mentioned in email exchanges with him that we thought he was behaving like a GOP attack dog, which he disputed. There is much that can and should be written about that experience, but for today I will focus on the GOP's use of Hobbs as the fall guy de jour, as well as his penchant for showing up in situations that have caused him to be accused of engaging in bigotry.
You're of course aware of Obama's warning shot to those who have chosen to attack his wife. The following appeared in the NY Daily News's report on the story:
Bill Hobbs, communications director for the (Tennessee) state (Republican) party, fired right back. He said Obama's warning was "hypocritical," "condescending" and a "little scary."
"If Sen. Obama thinks that his wife can go out there and make campaign speeches and yet somehow be immune - or be off limits - to criticism for the things she says in campaign speeches on his behalf, then, he's just wrong."
Hobbs said Michelle Obama is a campaign surrogate and "we have every right as Americans" to examine and criticize her public statements.
Asked to respond to Barack Obama's claim that the state party distorted his wife's remarks, Hobbs replied, "A lot of people said that about Jeremiah Wright's words, too, and then we found out that Jeremiah Wright really was the way he was portrayed."
Note the use of the word "scary" in the Hobbs statement, along with the inevitable Jeremiah Wright inclusion. Actually got the Revs name two times into one sentence.
This is the same Bill Hobbs, communications director for the Tennessee state Republican party, who less than three months earlier was the fall guy for tactics that were perceived as racist, even to the point for John McCain was forced to publicly voice his disapproval. Hobbs put out a press release titled "Anti-Semites for Obama".
Chris Matthews saw it for what it was:
As did Keith Olbermann:
John McCain was forced to condemn the tactics and after initially adopting an appallingly ham-fisted and simple-minded defense, the state party removed the press release from their website.
Updated 4:58 p.m. CST: Lee Pitts, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), has issued the following statement: "Senator Alexander has talked with Robin Smith, and she is removing the release and the photo from the website. She and the senator agreed it could be easily misinterpreted, taken out of context and considered inappropriate."
Updated 4:04 p.m. CST: Crystal Benton, a spokeswoman for the John McCain for President campaign has issued the following statement to Tennessee media: "Senator McCain has made clear that he rejects these sort of tactics and will campaign on his record."
Updated 2:44 p.m. CST: State Rep. G.A. Hardaway (D-Memphis), a member of the Tennesseans for Obama steering committee, has called on the Tennessee Republican party to apologize for the press release titled “Anti-Semites for Obama.” Hardaway told NashvillePost.com, “This is a bigoted press release that had to come from the mind of a bigot.” He then called on Republican Party Chairwoman Robin Smith to repudiate and distance herself from GOP Communications Director Bill Hobbs.
"...the mind of a bigot." A strong charge. I don't know what resides inside of the mind of Bill Hobbs, but G.A. Hardaway isn't alone in questioning the motivations and tactics of Bill Hobbs.
Since the story broke on Wednesday drawing attention to a press release issued by the Tennessee Republican Party titled "Anti-Semites for Obama," the state party has been either publicly chastised or rebuked by the Republican National Committee, likely GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, GOP Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, GOP Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn and former GOP state party chair State Rep. Beth Harwell, just to name a few.
...
Almost universally, support for GOP chair Robin Smith among donors and elected officials remains strong and she is getting high marks for her overall leadership of the state party. However, those same individuals who asked not to be named out of deference to her want to see a shake-up at her office and are pointing squarely at her communications director, Bill Hobbs.Among the issues these Republican stalwarts have with Hobbs are his propensity to make the story about himself or his beliefs, which they say are not representative of the entire party. They feel that there a number of strong issues that Republicans can focus on in this election year, yet the message coming out of the Tennessee Republican Party consistently lacks discipline or merit. These are just a few of the issues these influential party members had before Wednesday.
Now, there is a growing feeling among donors and legislative members that Hobbs has either embarrassed the state party at the national level or that he has become so "toxic" that he will not be a credible voice for their message.
One state legislator told NashvillePost.com that, coupled with the reasons Hobbs left at Belmont University almost two years ago – depending on who you talk to, he either resigned or was fired – after posting an anti-Islamic drawing on the internet, the "Anti-Semites" release is indefensible and he should go.
Oh yeah, about that anti-Islamic drawing that caused a firestorm at the same time that Hobbs rapidly departed his public relations position at Belmont University. The following occurred in February, 2006:
(A)t the height of Muslim furor over cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, Hobbs created a contest in which he invited readers to submit drawings of Mohammed. “Exercise your right to free expression by drawing pictures of Islam’s ‘Prophet Mohammed,’ ” Hobbs wrote, “before the West gives in to Islamist intimidation and fear of Islamist violence and makes it illegal to do so.” To kick things off, he posted a stick-figure drawing of Mohammed holding a bomb. Underneath the cartoon, in crude lettering, he wrote, “Mohammed Blows.”
Mike Kopp, a longtime Democratic politico, unearthed Hobbs’ failed attempt at satire and posted about it on his blog, tennesseepoliticalpulse.com. “I have no quarrel with a person’s right to free speech, but as a Christian, I believe this kind of expression goes against all the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament,” Kopp wrote, claiming the faithful high ground. He then rhetorically challenged Bryson and Belmont to defend their affiliation with Hobbs.
In the comments thread, Hobbs replied. “I posted that cartoon, and invited others to draw their own cartoons, as a way of protesting both American media cowardice and Islamist attempts to suppress free speech via threats of bombs and bullets and burning and beheading,” he wrote. Then, he added an apologetic afterthought: “But then I never publicized the site and, quite frankly, forgot is was up until today.” From there, the comments thread descended into a series of recriminations, marked by several quick posts in which Hobbs defended himself a little too vociferously. One might say nervously. Oh, and he deleted the cartoon.
...But by deliberately desecrating Islam’s central figure—“the ‘Prophet Mohammed’ ” as Hobbs sneered, using quote marks for sardonic emphasis—he attacked an entire religion, not a group of fanatics who pervert the religion’s teachings. Then he drew him as a bearded stick figure holding a bomb and said he “blows.” It seems bearded Muslim terrorists are the new big-nosed, money-grubbing Jews. The more things change.... Here’s the best analogy five minutes of thought will yield: a stick figure rendering of Jesus sipping lemonade on the front porch while whipping an anguished bunch of black servants. “Jesus Slays,” the caption would read.
Here's a copy of the controversial drawing that Hobbs posted, then removed:
Classy, huh?
If you go to his personal blog, you'll find the following entry from 2007, which shows further behavior that some may consider to be consistent with racism:
My lunch yesterday...when you go to a Subway and ask for a "BLT" and they ask you what you want on and it you say "cheese," you don't think you also have to say "lettuce and tomatos" because you figure the sandwich-maker knows that's what the LT in a "BLT" is, right? Apparently not if the clerk is an, uh, recent arrival from somwhere south of Texas...
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