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Cambridge council candidate withdraws on revelation of his teen posts to a white-supremacist Web site
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Youthful errors
As youthful errors go, this one is pretty serious. Still, he was 16 and he regrets his actions today. I don't think he should feel forced to withdraw his candidacy as a result, and I certainly hope he does not withdraw entirely from Cambridge civic life.
Did you read the article, Ron?
He explains why he feels the need to withdraw his candidacy (with lack of support, his chances of winning are practically nil) and, as for your hope, he states it quite clearly: "I am withdrawing completely from Cambridge public life...."
Yes, i read it
and that's why I wrote what I did.
good point Ron
I think you make a good point Ron. We need to be willing to forgive people and get passed their decades old anti-social transgressions when we know the person has a sense of the offense and shows genuine regret.
When you're 16 and your dad's doing time, you might withdrawal and if you're gay and it's a secret you protect, you have withdrawn. So he's worked through some things I never had to and he has a good sense of self and a healthy regret.
Absolutely encourage him to engage in public and civic life, he obviously wants to. When you don't, you isolate and that's not a healthy way to live.
Really?
So, dope peddling and violence are not a big deal and can be forgotten a couple years later, but leaving an idiotic message on an idiotic website should haunt for the rest of your life?
Citation please
Can you give an example of a violent drug dealer running for office, never mind one successfully?
Did you read the comment you
Did you read the comment you're replying to?
Really?
Do you really think that "dope peddling and violence are not a big deal and can be forgotten a couple years later"? Do you know of anyone with such a past who is running for public office? For that matter, do you know of anyone with such a past who is trying to get any ordinary job and finds that past considered "not a big deal" and "forgotten"?
I know the whole "violent criminals get off with a slap on the wrist these days" is a narrative that's convenient to some agendas, but a rational examination shows that it's a false one. Maybe it's better abandoned.
"I know the whole "violent
"I know the whole "violent criminals get off with a slap on the wrist these days" is a narrative that's convenient to some agendas, but a rational examination shows that it's a false one."
Scroll up three posts and see the resume of the lovely Fenway throat slasher.
39 strikes and YOU'RE OUT!
Ummm
Chuckie boy? Stuffed Bra Diane? Good old Jesse Junior? Oh, and the god himself, the liberal lion? True, those weren't drug peddlers and only one of them was a murderer, but bringing up their past shenanigans gets you crucified.
Crack smokin' DC Mayor Marion Ryan
is another.
Barry
Marion Barry..
Hey everyone, meet
Hassan Smith. Killed a guy, not by accident, while a member of a street gang. Served his time, repented and was forgiven by his victim's family, and got further than Doug Bennett in his quest to be Suffolk County Sheriff.
Still not there
So you've found a guy who ran for office, and did not win. The fact that he did better than some guy named Doug Bennett (?) means nothing to anyone but you.
Here's a citation for you
That would be you, in the post I replied to. I gave a former gang banger running for office. He got more votes than Dougy, without the cool signs or trolling of various news websites.
There are numerous examples of people winning elections after being convicted of things. A violent drug dealer would be a tough sell, but I gave you a convicted murderer getting to election day.
Okay, slow clap 4 you, but
We still haven't got back to the original point that these things will be forgiven (the subject at hand) by the public. (More votes than your boy doug does not count). But we understand that some people sit in front of their computers all day trying to tie every story back to Chappaquidic.
not all are forgiving
Not to contradict but to expand the argument: Some of Kennedy's political opponents were people who "sit in front of their computers all day trying to tie every story back to Chappaquidic" or at least hold him accountable, and many of his supporters re-elected him every six years because of his politics, despite his role in the death of another human being because they forgave him.
So pols don't need everyone to forgive just half of the voters plus one. And pols need to make themselves indispensable.
I honestly think Cambridge would have considered giving this guy their vote if he explained and convinced folks about his 16 year old self, and his growth (which he did,) and why they should consider giving him their vote.
Youthful errors...that stretched over five years
While I feel bad for him, and wouldn't rule out voting for him, it's worth noting that while he started posting when he was 16 he was still active on the site as recently as 2009.
I am SOOOOOOOOOO glad
I am SOOOOOOOOOO glad everything I wrote when I was 16 isn't on the internet right now. Not that I was posting on white supremacist websites. Not that I was posting anywhere because there was no internet. Give this kid a break! You say and do a lot of idiotic stuff when you are 16.
Perfect mediocrity versus imperfect excellence
I would not be surprised if this man grew up in a racist and homophobic environment. Animus of people who are different doesn't arise from a vacuum. It is taught. What is unforunate however is that apparently the political elites of Cambridge (and perhaps a majority of voting Cantabridgians) believe that the words of a child repeating the views of the people who raised them is an unforgivable sin.
They will look for someone who is mediocre but palatable instead of supporting someone who is imperfect but could turn out to be a great leader. Anyone who grows up in an environment that teaches hatred and grows beyond that hatred possesses life experience and possibly wisdom, if not actual compassion, that people who grow up on milk and honey can not fathom.
I really feel bad for the guy
I really feel bad for the guy and believe him when he says he's not that person anymore. Nevertheless, he obviously isn't going to win public office (in Cambridge!) with that on the resume. (It's like elections are some kind of popularity contest or something!) Now he has the added problem of being the hero to people who hold his old beliefs.
Remember when the grown ups kept telling you to be careful what you put out on the item-webs, because it can haunt you? Voila.
Interesting
We (some of us) forgive if not accept former bad guys (criminals, etc.), former members of dubious and violent radical organizations, Ben Carson is ex member of the Black Panthers and is running as a Republican, there are many other examples. What's the difference with this guy? How is he any different than, say, Bill Ayers? Ayers advocated murdering people, seriously advocated killing people,yet today he's a confidant and friend to presidents, other politicians, is a professor at a distinguished school, etc. But this guy,because he made posts to a disreputable website as a young teenager (I would hate to see some of the things I did as a stupid teenager become public, I'm sure this is the case with most human beings), gets hung out to dry? IMO he seems quite sincere in turning his life around from his bad old days as a 15-16 year old with a bad home life and lots of drama.
"Ben Carson is ex member of the Black Panthers"
Where on earth did you read that?
LOL
It's scary that people like that anon get a vote.
Even Gandhi....
Gandhi, as a young lawyer in South Africa, wrote racist tracts. The world is lucky that he was not forced out of public life as a result.
John Sanzone doesn't think Cambridge liberals can forgive
his non-liberal past. Too bad for the anti-car crowd. He re-painted himself all the right colors of the rainbow for their votes.
Arlington's former Democratic state senator Jim Marzilli has himself stayed out of politics since his sex offenses attributed to mental illness, so Arlington liberals too have a problem overcoming a past.
Wow
The depths of your monomania still surprise me from time to time.
Attempts to silence and intimidate will fail
where they might work for you against weaker people. The pro-bike/anti-car blogosphere/twittville/faceplant echo chamber is a daily barrage compared to my comparatively subtle comments.
Am I supposed to be humming "The Star-Spangled Banner"?
That was quite a stirring speech, MarKKK. Am I supposed to be humming "The Star-Spangled Banner" in the background?
He just switched the targets of his hate
Like the people who hate cars, he is just like them. His past was hating the "wrong" things on stormfront.com to the politically correct ones.
Pathetic
Utterly pathetic.
You do realize people can be
You do realize people can be pro-bike without being anti-car, right?
Yes, the normal, non-rabid ones
The evangelical, missionary cyclists however, usually go anti-car and want conversion of shared infrastructure to exclusive bicyclist use. Beyond that, its Critical Mass and calling for lynchings etc whenever a cyclist is injured or dies in a traffic accident, no matter the circumstances.
Ditto
Nobody you're talking about is anti-car, you simpleton.
You missed Sanzone's platform
http://johnsanzone.com/city-council-platform/
Being gay, anti-car etc., he had all the check marks to eventually become mayor of Cambridge.
reactionaries vs. former white supremacists
I don't see any initiative to restrict car use, just an explicit focus on implementing multi-modal transportation design; driving, rapid bus lanes, walking, cycling, subway.
I don't see a single item on his platform that's not worthy of debate. http://johnsanzone.com/city-council-platform/
I never thought I'd contemplate that reactionaries disgust me more than former white supremacists.
No, you missed it...intentionally
Copy and paste his most egregious "anti-car" statement.
It's the Markk show!
Starring Markk!
Today's checklist:
☑ "Anti-car mafia"
☑ "Anti-car mafia" as complete non-sequitur
☑ Thinly-veiled homophobic slur
☑ Accusation of liberal hypocrisy
☑ Unnecessary use of political party identifier as intended slur
☑ Arlington as complete non-sequitur
☐ Victim blaming
Come on Markk, don't quit now... you're so close to a perfect score! And this guy actually has a plausible story arc in which he is a victim who you can blame!
Got a victim?
I'm sure we can work out a blame angle.
Well
We already have the "traffic reduction agenda" = "hating of a full swath of humanity based on ethnic origin" false equivalence. Why stop there?
*Extreme Side Eye*
Reading the article then reading the comments here makes me think the skeletons in your closets must be massive. He projected racist thoughts, on the record, from 2004-2009, that is a long time and very recent.
I would have a hard time forgiving him for these comments anyway but the fact he thought it wouldn't come up shows the lack of seriousness he took his position. He must thought it was a simple job or something where as long as he passes the CORI this stuff would remain in the past.
The internet is forever folks.
It's one thing to make stupid jokes on the internet or trolling people for immature laughs, it's another to join a website of a hate group. I hope no one can relate to that. I wonder what his old Chinese bf thinks of his past? I wonder if he treated him like the model minority stereotype?
I wish I would find out one of my friends used to hate my people.