REPUBLICAN GENERAL ASSEMBLY AIDE SENDS AROUND RACIST PHOTOSHOP- UPDATED

Should I release the name and office of the person sending this filth around?

UPDATE:  After reading your emails, tweets and comments a majority of people have asked this information be released.

The aide in question was Mike Hazelwood- an aide to Delegate Bill Janis.  Prior to his defeat in November, Mike worked for Phil Hamilton.  Given the evidence that criminal activity may have taken place in Hamilton's office, and Janis' decision to then hire Hamilton's chief aide raises serious questions on what is going on in the office of Delegate Janis.  Apparently they are not only corrupt, but enjoy a racist joke every now and then too! 

Comments

[twitter.com/SatirclAlxndria]

Ben, of course you name names. Out the moron. THAT IS WHY YOU ARE HERE, DUMBASS.

[Bob]

duh

[Captain Kirk]

Name names.... that way a bunch of other organizations can call on whichever delegate it is to rebuke the LA.

[Kristin Smith]

I demand that you name names. Don't talk about it, be about it.

[Spock]

It would be only logical to release the names...

[rightwingtroll]

Hey, dude, if it was a white gal in a mini-skirt shining Obama's shoes, would you "out" it as racist or sexist ... or just think it was funny?

Just asking.

ciao.

[Brian W. Schoeneman]

Might as well. We've gone a whole 24 hours without a pointless witchhunt that accomplishes nothing.

[Dan]

This really isn't news. It is an all too common occurrence. It seems many of these folks have a mindset that tells them this kind of stuff is okay. They are not hateful so much as they are clueless.

They often seem genuinely puzzled at the reaction to their stupidity. I don't think they are all haters. They are just clueless morons.

[Gretchen Laskas]

What Dan says. I also think that American humor is often very cutting of nearly every group you can think of, and this can make it harder to understand what is truly offensive. And of course, it allows the person making the "joke" to hide behind the rebuttal of "It was just a joke" or "X just don't have a sense of humor."

If this is being sent out by a public official, and might be connected to their attempts at re-election, then yes, I think it is worth knowing about. If this is simply a private citizen (even a politically active one) with what I feel is a repugnant sense of humor, then I'd let it go.

[Brian]

The first thing to do, Ben, is unwad your panties.

[Just. Do. It.]

Are you going to do it or what??

[Not Larry Sabato]

I'm still trying to decide.

[who cares]

Where did you find the conscience? You have never previously shown signs of having one.

[not not larry sabato]

I could probably find 1,000 photoshops of the ex-president doing worse.

How many race cards do you have left in your deck?

If I made fat jokes about you Ben, would that make me a bad person?

[not not not larry sabato]

No, but then Ben would put up a compromising post about you

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkYqVwrKwZRlpD2yAerf60smeBA4DpEeUc]

Well that photo is not nearly as bad as the teabagger photo of Obama wearing a Hitler style mustache and a Gestapo uniform and armband.

[change]

Maybe you could find the pic of Obama bringing “Clinton and Kennedy coffee”, or Harry Reid helping with his “negro dialect”.

Never mind, those can not be racist, they came from democrats.

I'd chalk this one up under the "who cares" column.

[Brian W. Schoeneman]

He's an interesting question - what's worse...sending a tasteless photoshop around to a bunch of people via email or putting it on a website where it can be viewed by anyone?

I'm not defending whomever did this, mainly because I don't know who did it, nor do I think it's that important, but I have to wonder if calling the person out and posting the picture does more harm than good.

[Gretchen Laskas]

Sigh.

Having actually read GAME CHANGE, even someone who was as anti-Clinton as I was during the Dem primary was able to see that the comment was about age and experience, not race. The same would have been said for anyone under the age of 50.

And there are racial comments (like Reid's) and racist comments. One doesn't always imply the latter. That said, I'm as tired of hearing cries of "racism" every other breath from Democrats as much as I was disgusted by cries of "unpatriotic" by Republicans during the Bush years (and to a lesser extent, even today.)

[Not Harold Ford]

Righwing Troll posted:

"Hey, dude, if it was a white gal in a mini-skirt shining Obama's shoes, would you "out" it as racist or sexist ... or just think it was funny?"

"Just asking."

No, it would be a Republican attack ad.

[Gordon Sumner]

I highly doubt that photo is from 2007.

[not change]

The stock photo that had Obama and Palin's heads shopped on is likely from 2007.

That said, the aide that sent this is a disgrace to their member, assuming the member didn't also find it hilarious.

[HisRoc]

DEMOCRATIC BLOGGER POSTS XENOPHOBIC VIDEO

Should I release the name of the person who posted an offensive South Park video titled, "Blame Canada" last Sunday?

Ben,

So, some Republican staffer is an idiot. Big news there. Please drop this one in the crapper, along with that pointless General Assembly health care nonsense, and get on with telling us about New South Investments.

[For Justice!]

HOw dare people disrespect our presedent like this. I am outraged. The racist all-white republipunks aryna nation types still can except us having a african american president. Bunch of maggots. All of them.

How long before we can round up all those neandethals and just lock them up where they wont do any more harm to the country. Maybe they could have all the crap in their feeble heads sucked out with a decent education in social justice and basic human decency while theyre there.

I just hate stupid people that show us every dfay just how stupid they are. If they cant educate themselves maybe they could be forced to.

[Wolf Runner]

Ben,

YOU are the guy sending this filth around. Don't need to look any farther.

[HisRoc]

For Justice,

Well done, but you need to end with an emoticon or someone (Spock comes to mind) will take you seriously.

;)

[not change]

To all the people saying Ben is the real one propagating this:

There is a substantial difference between those who earnestly pass along this filth and those who expose them.

When you see hate like this, you don't pretend it doesn't exist and hope it goes away. You look it in the eye, you acknowledge it, and you expose the hateful for their hate.

[Not Paul Blart]

For Justice, when you are blasting other people for their lack of education, it's usually a good idea to spell-check your own post. Just saying. :)

[Not Ben]

Look, of the person did it from a personal email account, just let it drop. If they did it from a government email account, then, yes, it is highly inappropriate and go ahead and drop the name. If that person sent it from a personal account and later runs for office, let it drop.

[Not Ben]

oops, mistake in the previous email. If the person runs for office, drop the name, not the issue.

[Anonymous]

If a government official--a member of the H of D or an aide-has circulated this,why wouldn't that person's name and position be released? What reason could be asserted against the release? Let that person explain why it was circulated and defend that decision.

[WJ]

What an embarrassment. An aide has always got to be cognizant of how their actions reflect on the legislator they work for.

[not HisRoc]

What does Bill Janis have to say about his office being a racist joke factory? Is he cool with it?

[Brian W. Schoeneman]

I wonder if this release has anything to do with the fact that Janis decided not to tell you his personal health care insurance information.

[Interested]

Should this surprise anyone? Hazlewood is just a shady as Janis. Why would he hire him in the first place? What happened to his old aide? It would be interesting to know why he went from a young female to an old man with baggage.

[Mr. Jefferson]

Maybe it's because I'm too young, but how is this racist?

[Steve Vaughan]

Mr. Jefferson, must be because you're too young.
With that said, I know Mike Hazlewood and I don't think he's a racist.
He's a tone-deaf Republican partisan and that's how you get to this photo.

[Spock]

Ben- when was this e-mailed around?

[BigDog]

This 'outrage' is nothing more than NLS attempting to extort private information from a member of the House of Delegates. If you care so much for integrity, honor and transparency then you should tell folks the whole truth and not just the part that suits your agenda.

Your trash is exactly what the public finds so disgusting about about politics.

[Dan]

If these guys were racists they would not disseminate this stuff so openly. They truly have a mindset that tells them this kind of stuff is okay. So they send this offensive stuff openly and are genuinely startled when people find fault with it.

I know elderly people who grew up in a world where the word "nigger" was commonly used. They don't understand why referring to people as "colored" is unacceptable.

To be fair, I also know octogenarians who are pretty aware of the world they live in. Far more aware than the many clueless twenty, thirty and forty something Republicans who mass e-mail this kind of stuff.

[Glen Allen]

Honestly, Janis is a tool.

Righteous repub Janis doesn't really even work. 50k lawyer, really? Perhaps that is why he doesn't want to answer the Health care question.

[Just a Bubba]

Having worked at the GA for many years as an aide, I can assure you that the House Clerk's office does not allow using LA offices for jokes or games. You bet his boss will be furious. Also among aides in the House he has always had a reputation of being a complete jerk and the fact is he doesn't care. He is not clueless, this is who he is. He has quite a history at the GA

[Bubby Hussein, Hillbilly Sheikh]

Come on rightwingers, you get this stuff emailed to you all the time. Just own up to it. Your people think it is funny, and know you won't hold them accountable. And you are shocked, shocked that anyone would call you racist! You're are as transparently guilty as this hack Hazelwood.

[Sidelines]

Regardless of anything concerning Ben (eg - his health insurance investigation or Democratic affiliations), no aide should be dealing in this type of trash and no legislator should have an aide who does, plain and simple.

[Brian W. Schoeneman]

Guilt by association much, Bubby? I hadn't seen this before Ben posted it.

[tiredofjerks]

Grow up. Va is 4 billion inthe hole and you talk about this dribble? Duh...

[professional gal]

I'm at a loss here! Is it Tiger or Obama?
Lighten up. The "W" photoshops were pretty funny too.

[notjfred]

No surprise that it is him. As mentioned above, this is something that he would do and he has been pulling stunts like this for ages.

[Not Pat]

Where is the racist photo?

[Not a racist, yet doesnt take the issue of race too seriously]

Do you have proof that it is, in fact, photoshopped?

Who says this scene wasn't actually captured by a camera?

I think Mike Hazelwood was merely asking his colleagues their thoughts on whether or not this did or did not happen outside of the Woodley Park/Adams Morgan/Zoo Metro stop last week.

[WJ]

Do we know if this was sent from the delbjanis account?

[Steve Vaughan]

WJ-The more salient issue, which would answer your quetion as well, is when this was sent. I hear it was during the 2008 campaign, before Hazlewood worked for Janis.
Which doesn't excuse Mike for sending out this stupid, racist image.
But does raise questions as to why NLS is raising this as an issue now.

[change]

"But does raise questions as to why NLS is raising this as an issue now"

because it got attention and at least 50 posts....
lol

[Ronnie]

Regardless, all of this raises questions as to Janis's judgement. Maybe he was drunk when he hired him.

[Steve Vaughan]

Ronnie: Doh't you think Bill Janis' voting record is enough to raise questions about his judgement?