Let’s pause for a moment and consider this image.
As previously noted, this is part of an anti-Shumlin stunt that the Dubie campaign denies has anything to do with them. The Dubie campaign classifies this as jokes and games, but they somehow fail to notice that this is about racism.
Wearing a swastika while protesting a candidate is fairly tasteless. Wearing a swastika while protesting a Jewish candidate goes far beyond that. This isn’t something that any campaign should be disavowing as a trick or a prank. This is something that Dubie’s campaign should be calling out as overtly racist.
The failure of Dubie’s campaign to note this action as something which is (a) at least partially their responsibility and (b) dog whistle racism is a sign of where some of his support lies. Just like with the “Take Back Vermont” crowd, the tea partiers supporting Dubie are not just about lower taxes but, as with the various racist imagery we’ve seen at tea party rallies during the 2008 campaign, about xenophobia and racism as well.
To be clear: this is not something everyone in the tea party supports and this is not necessarily something even the Dubie campaign itself supports. But the campaign knows it’s beholden to the interests, some of them powerful interests, of people who proudly support some of this racism. For the Dubie campaign to push back against it would actually probably cost them some of that support.
This is an ongoing problem with falling in bed with right wing radical groups: their support and energy is helpful to you, and their fundraising can be strong, but then you are placed in the uncomfortable position of being completely incapable of responding properly to overt racism.
Keep in mind: I am not accusing the Dubie campaign of racism. Nor am I accusing most of his supporters of being racist. I am saying that there is enough of a racist faction within his support base that they can’t be easily alienated or fought, especially not in an election this close.
To put it more simply: I don’t think the Dubie campaign is racist, but I think this “stunt” demonstrates quite clearly that they’re racist-adjacent.
As I’ve said before, I don’t mind “stunts” at all, but this is much more than that. It ain’t a dog whistle, though, it’s outright bigotry on display, as well as perpetuating the lies Dubie has told about Shummy’s corrections/early ed plan. I think the campaign’s response perfectly illustrates the candidate’s lack of character and courage.
can we see the rest of the photo? Just wondering.
…that the idiot in the picture put that much thought into it. Probably closer to “what kind of tattoo would a prisoner have, uhhh… a swastika”
Pure Dubie
it looks to me like a dirty trick made even dirtier with the Swastika–Nazi cons support Shumlin? Seems to be the message here. I don’t really understand how there can be any debate about this kind of crap. It’s the same old anti-gay, anti-immigrant, anti-anything good and decent crap that gets a lot of play in the MSM, mainly FOX TV, and if you keep bombarding people with shit, some of it, unfortunately, will stick. And that’s the point here. Who started all this trash about releasing hundreds of guys like this into the community to prey on our children? Dubie thinks it’s funny cause he’s getting a ‘freebie’ in the Vermont media.
Something like this should be investigated as using Hate & Fear to corrupt what elections should be really about–issues.
The AT’s office should jump on this, AND our own MSM. I guess those Patriot Laws protecting the public well being from fear don’t apply to something like this–but you can bet, sure as shit, the Feds are monitoring any discussion of it.
Repulsive and Loathsome. If it’s a joke, it’s one with an agenda.