Belling Starts Digging That Hole Deeper

Yesterday, we discussed how Mark "Bombastic Boy" Belling dug himself into a bit of a hole with what could easily be conceived as an anti-Semitic remark. He was kvetching about the proposed Marriott Hotel and the delays in getting the proposal approved.

Instead of clearing things up like an adult, Belling takes the advice of Ron Johnson who said that if you find yourself in a hole, "start digging."

Since then, it made the local paper when reporter Tom Daykin brought it up. The key part of his post was Mayor Tom Barrett's response to Belling's bigotry:

Belling, Barrett told Horne, was “way off-base with his offensive comments. I was offended. There is no reason to bring someone’s religion into this debate and I think he owes an apology."

Today, Tim Cuprisin of OnMilwaukee.com picked up on the story. According to Cuprisin's report, Belling was anything but apologetic. Belling's rant about the issue was incoherent in itself. But the telltale mark comes at the end of Cuprisin's article (emphasis ours):

Belling repeated that it "may be neither here nor there," saying "It's what I meant and what I believed."

"I don't care what it sounds like I'm saying," he said. "I don't give three rips what it might lead people to think."

James Rowen, who has been covering this since the beginning, is also putting his two cents in.

Belling: Anti-Semitic, Paranoid, Or Both?

Last week, Mark Belling went on the tirade de jour, which involved the question of whether to allow the Marriott Hotel to be built at the cost of some historic buildings.

During said tirade, Belling came out with a conspiracy theory that involved "a cabal" who are determined to prevent anything new to come to Milwaukee.

For good measure, he pointed out what he thought was a pertinent fact:

“The fact that the majority of them are Jewish may be neither here nor there.”

Michael Horne, reporting for Milwaukee News Buzz, had this to lead off his report on the matter:

The topic at hand was the proposed Marriott Hotel and Belling’s belief that there is a conspiracy among the Jews to keep it from being developed as planned. According to Belling, the group that controls things uses a network of “patsies” to do its bidding. These pliant Gentiles include Ald. Bob Bauman and architect David Uihlein.

Their overlords are “The Marcus family, Franklyn Gimbel, who runs the convention center board dominating the west side of the river.” They are “part of this cabal of people that just don’t want anything new to happen in Milwaukee,” Belling charged, “a handful of people who control things.”

It is difficult to determine whether Belling felt that he had to point out some sort of Jewish cabal masterminding all of the events in Milwaukee was just his natural bigotry bubbling through, the rantings of a paranoid half-wit, or a little bit of both. But whatever cause you wish to attribute to his rants, it does not have a place in civilized conversation, much less being broadcast over public airwaves.

But perhaps the slandered Franklyn Gimbel put it in the best and most succinct way:

Attorney Frank Gimbel, who has been head of the Milwaukee Convention Center District Board since he was appointed in 1994 by Governor Tommy Thompson, tells NewsBuzz, “Belling’s comments, as usual, are Bullsh-t.”

It should also be noted that James Rowen was on top of this story from the beginning, complete with updates.

Pure Genius

When Tom McMahon came up with the anti-Semitic, prejudicial bastardization of the COEXIST bumper sticker, Sykes thought it was "pure genius."

McMahon has just posted one of his four squares that Sykes will probably wet himself over.

It has it all. Racism, anti-Semitism and most importantly, egocentrism. It is the trifecta of the Hate Right. I'm sure it will be only a matter of time before McMahon gets his own talk show, or at the very least, a regular column at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The Audacity Of Hypocrisy

Sykes puts up a post, complete with video and a copy and paste job, of a Reverend Eric Lee, President/CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles.

The story is that he said some pretty awful and anti-Semitic things. This is not condoned by Whallah!

What else is not condoned is the way Sykes portrays Lee. Sykes would leave the reader with the impression that this is similar to the Reverend Wright story. It's not. Lee supports Obama, but not as a close ally. Just as one of many Americans that support Obama. If every candidate had to distance themselves from a crackpot that said something stupid, and said they liked that candidate, that is all they would have time to do.

McCain alone would have to disavow just about every conservative squawker out there.

What is really egregious on Sykes part, where he reaches a new high in hypocrisy, is that he is making a big deal out of Lee's anti-Semitic remarks. After all, Sykes is the one that thought photoshopping the Star of David into a Nazi Swastika was "brilliant" and "pure genius." He is also the same one that belittled local religious leaders that politely asked him to take the hateful, anti-Semitic post down.

How does he look at himself in the mirror?

How Symbolic

A couple of months ago, the conservatives were foaming-at-the-mouth mad at Miller Brewing for being the corporate sponsors of the Folsom Street Festival. Led by Sykes and McBride, they were supposedly outraged about an advertisement for the event that had a group of leather-bound people doing a parody of the Last Supper. They claimed their righteous indignation came from having this group mock a painting of a Biblical story, and started a boycott of Miller products until Miller finally offered up an apology. The moral of the story appeared to be that everyone has the freedom of speech, unless it mocks their religion.

Apparently, that moral only applies to their religion. Today, Charlie Sykes posts on his website a posting that was originally posted by another right-wing blogger. The essence of the post is their umbrage at this bumper sticker:

Apparently, they feel threatened by peaceful coexistence.

Anyway, this other blogger photoshopped this bumper sticker into another form. (Due to the reprehensible nature of the photoshopped sticker, Whallah! is choosing not to post it, but if you really need to, you can find it on Charlie's site.) The gist is that two symbols of the original, the e and the Star of David are changed to the Sickle and Hammer and a swastika, respectively.

Yes, you read that right. They changed the Jewish icon, the Star of David, into a swastika, the symbol of Nazism, which hates the Jews, and tried to eradicate them in the Holocaust.

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Now, Whallah! recognizes the fact that everyone has a right to free speech. Whallah! also has it on a good, reliable authority, that the original author is a respected, if not affable person, who can say dumb things at times. Then again, who doesn't say things they later regret? I would not begin to speculate if the original author meant this maliciously, but would rather prefer the opinion of my friend that feels it was just an awkward blunder to prove some point.

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Likewise, even Charlie has the right to free speech, even though he doesn't feel the same to others. But it has to be noted the Journal Broadcast Group, which is affiliated with the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal, TMJ4, and 620TMJ radio, pays Charlie his salary to do this, pays for the site, and provides the technical support for him to do this. Does this mean that the Journal advocates this? Should we boycott the Journal, Channel 4 and the radio station until they apologize for this perceived bit of anti-Semitism?

I would vote no, but then again, I don't have the hypocrisy and the selective outrage thing down pat like those in the right-wing media. And besides, how else can Whallah! continue to monitor their foolish antics?

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For a different perspective of the same issue, check out Pundit Nation.

McBride Admits Her Views Are "Over The Line"

In yet another post about Iranian president Ahmedinijad's appearance at Columbia University, McBride gives the following quote:

There is no value in it. Some repugnant viewpoints don't deserve the legitimacy
accorded by such a forum. I acknowledge that defining viewpoints as "repugnant"
can be a slippery slope. But virulent anti-Semitism and homophobia of the sort
spouted by AhMADinejad should be obviously over the line. A society that has
lost the ability to recognize that fact is a society without an internal
compass.

By McBride distorting Ahmedinijad's name into a schoolyard taunt, she is practicing anti-Semitism, as all Arabs are also Semites. And McBride's homophobic tendencies are evidenced in her posts about Sen. Larry Craig.

Whallah recognizes the truth in that these types of views are over the line, and will continue to point them out until McBride finds her internal compass.