Dem
51
GOP
49
Does it hurt to be this damn dumb? We don't know, because no matter how many times we may have erred in a lecture or a colloquium presentation or a blog posting, we're pretty sure we never popped off with something as stupid and half-cocked at this.
This week's subject of infamy is state Rep. Matt Maddock (R-MI). Somehow, he either took or received photos of buses waiting at Wayne County Airport, which serves the Detroit area. And he promptly got on eX-Twitter to provide his "analysis":
In case you are wondering, Pete Hoekstra is the new chair of the Michigan Republican Party, having just replaced the whackadoodle Kristina Karamo.
What was actually going on? It was definitely not an immigrant caravan. Here's Maddock's colleague, state Rep. Mallory McMorrow (D-MI), with an explanation:
McMorrow is the representative who achieved fame for her speech defending herself against charges of being a "groomer," which went viral.
If Maddock, or whoever took the pictures, had bothered to wait and watch while the plane travelers disembarked, it would have been obvious that this could not possibly have been Mexican immigrants. First, inasmuch as these folks are a basketball team, a disproportionate number are well north of 6 feet tall. Second, for those who do not follow sports, Gonzaga is a rural, Catholic university. Its basketball team is rather well known, demographically, for having an unusually high percentage of... well, let's say, Maddock's kind of people. Nonetheless, even after his error was pointed out, the Representative refused to believe it. For example:
And again:
Does Maddock actually think "commie" is spelled like that? Or is he trying to imply that his detractors are also racists (i.e., "KKK" plus "Commie")?
It is at least possible that the Representative put one over on us all, and that he did this just to get some attention. If so, then it sorta worked, since 99%+ of the people reading this never heard of him before yesterday. That said, he is the absolute butt of the joke across Michigan and across the country. So, he's really putting to the test the old aphorism that there's no such thing as bad publicity. (Z)