This piece from the Oakland Press editorial board is amazing. Joe Knollenberg and his staff insulted Asian Americans, and they're making excuses for Joe and his staff. Politically incorrect phrases are campaign issues, just ask George Allen, former senator from Virginia who referred to an opponent's employee as macacca, when it was discovered that macacca was a racial slur. Do I think Joe wrote the offending blog entry himself, of course not. But here's the problem, I do think in order for a staffer to write such an thing and post it on the Internet for even one second reveals a lot about Knollenberg and his campaign. In order to create a title that includes the words "Asian Invaders" referring to a group of Americans tells me that there is pervasive racism within the heart of the candidate and his staff for the person that wrote the title of the blog to even think it would be allowed to go forward. Then for the Oakland Press to defend Knollenberg is an egregious violation of journalistic ethics, especially when I have been taken to task by the Oakland Press for my criticism of Knollenberg and his hypocrisy on his health care voting record. It's time for the Oakland Press to come clean and reveal any relationship they have with Joe Knollenberg or anyone on his staff and why they continue to defend a U.S. Congressman who is clearly out of touch with his constituents and refuses to answer questions about his record in public.
It makes me wonder what would have happened if a Democrat had made a similar comment, whether written or orally.
I think a real apology from Joe Knollenberg himself, not his spokesperson, in front of the media answering questions about how this happened and how this racist blog headline made it to the Internet in the first place is in order. But I know Joe Knollenberg will never answer questions from the media about this incident. He thinks he's above answering questions for his constituents, at least any that disagree with him.
