It’s another banner day for Neanderthal (i.e., Orange) County.
LOCAL REPUB LEADERS DON'T KNOW WHAT "INTENTIONALLY" MEANS. Apegate (aka
Chimpgate) opened a new and perhaps final chapter today. According to the
OC Reg,
The Orange County GOP official who sent an email portraying President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee was censured this morning by the county party’s executive committee in a 12-2 vote.
The censure of Marilyn Davenport, an elected member of the county GOP’s governing Central Committee resulted from the finding that she violated bylaw provisions prohibiting action that “intentionally cause(s) the embarrassment” of the party. It is the strongest step the county party could take under its bylaws. According to state law, it was not an offense that qualified for her removal from the committee.
 |
| Baugh |
She intentionally caused the party embarrassment? That means that she acted,
knowing that her action would cause embarrassment to the party.
Does anyone believe that? Don’t think so.
So either these local Repubs don’t know what “intentionally” means, or they’re just making shit up—that Davenport had an intention that, obviously, she did not have—for whatever reason. Um, what could that be?
Luckily, Party Chair Scott Baugh explained the committee’s action:
“She was censured because she knew the email she was sending out was controversial,” Baugh said after this morning’s vote. “After it went out, she downplayed it as a joke. Instead of owning up to her error, she immediately sought to blame others. ¶ “That resulted in a three-day barrage of negative media attention.”
OK, there is evidence that Davenport passed around an email that she knew was controversial. Among her many goofy remarks in the days after the email surfaced, that admission was included, although, as I recall, she also said she refrained from sending the email to those among her friends she thought would be upset by it. But knowing that it is controversial and knowing that it will cause controversy and embarrassment are two very different things. Perhaps she knew that it was controversial. We have no reason to think she knew that it would cause a major controversy and that the controversy would embarrass the party.
The Reg reminds us that, at first, Davenport was defiant, and generally pointed a finger of blame at others. A couple of days later, she issued an evidently sincere apology.
According to Baugh (says the Reg), thing then took a turn for the worse:
“Her subsequent press conference and media tour only served to reignite the controversy,” he said.
 |
| Davenport |
Well, I guess that’s true. But reigniting controversy is not the same thing as intentionally causing embarrassment. Davenport reignited controversy because she is clueless--she clearly has trouble understanding what was offensive about her email--and she is not ready for prime time, what with her daffy loose-cannon allusions to her birther beliefs.
According to the Reg, Davenport’s handler, Tim Whitacre, declared that Baugh and Co. had misinterpreted the GOP bylaws. How so, we’re not told.
Whitacre takes a swipe at Baugh:
“Once again, Baugh and company totally misuse the bylaws to extract their ounce of blood from their target,” said Whitacre, who unsuccessfully challenged Baugh for the chairmanship in January. “I think he perceives this as sending a message to people to not step out of line and that it deflects criticism of his leadership. But this censure means nothing coming from him.”
The Reg notes that GOP anti-Muslim poster girl Deborah Pauly and Zonya Townsend voted against censure. Natch.
 |
Baugh: "a three-day barrage of negative media attention."
|
MORE "SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE" ACTION. The OC Reg also
reports that a “local activist” in Los Alamitos—
J.M. Ivler—objected Monday night to the City Council’s practice of beginning meetings with “prayers that address ‘heavenly father.’”
According to Ivler, the prayer is pushing Christianity in a setting that is supposed to be “secular,” what with our nation’s embrace of the principle of separation of church and state:
"We are not a Christian nation any more than we are an Islamic one, we are a secular nation," Ivler said. ¶ "I understand that you may be people of faith, and that you may rely on that faith to lead you in your decisions on the dais," he told the council during Monday's oral communications. "But public displays of piety specifically those that follow Christian dogma do not belong in this secular hall. In doing so you are teaching our children a lesson that something that is very wrong is okay and the law is to be flaunted [sic]. And our children are learning that wrong lesson."
OC Reg readers lived up to their reputation with such comments as
• If you don't like what is going on in the room just leave the room, but don't make everyone stop what they are doing because you don't like it...
• J.M.Mer [?] should remove himself from the chamber if prayer offends him. I do believe the majority still rules.
As far as I know America is still a Christian Country, but does not condemn other religions nor deprive them from practicing what they believe. So why does he want to deprive the Christens??
• I hope this idiot gives up all their money since it says "In God We Trust". [?]
A new report by the Community College Research Center at Teachers College at Columbia University raises questions about how placement tests are used in community colleges. The report, “Assessing Developmental Assessment in Community Colleges,” reviews findings from more than 50 research reports, surveys, and other sources. Among the report’s conclusions is that placement tests appear to be more successful in placing academically prepared students than in placing academically underprepared students.
