ISBL Asshat of the Week: North Carolina Republican Robert Pittenger

Oh, North Carolina, what did you do to deserve this mess? I mean, I get it that most of you, a majority, at least, elected that crackpot, hate-filled governor of yours, but these days, in light of the floods in the north state — is God trying to tell y’all something — and the police shootings, and protests in Charlotte, y’all don’t need any more drama.

But you have it, in one two-term Republican, of course, state congressman, Robert Pittenger, who represents North Carolina’s Ninth District, which includes Charlotte, the scene of those protests over the shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott.

And as that area’s representative, Pittenger was interviewed by the BBC about the violence, and the non-violent protests, taking place in Charlotte and in that interview Pittenger says that those people inciting the protests and unrest are black people who “hate white people.”

And the racist is out of the bag, especially when you consider that had Pittenger been watching the protests he would have seen people of all colors and ethnicities and ages and genders, all people who are tired of these, near daily — there was another one in San Diego yesterday — police shootings of black men.

Robert Pittenger is what’s wrong with these scenarios; he is what’s wrong with the South, with its racist elected officials. He used quotes by Martin Luther King in one of his comments, and then demanded that President Obama, Attorney General Lynch, and other black leaders get down to Charlotte and appeal for calm, and then laid blame for all of this protesting not at the police, not at the abundance of weapons in the country, not on the underlying racism that still exists, but Robert Pittenger blamed President Johnson and the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Of course, he also blamed Obama because, why not, and, perhaps most telling, because Pittenger is an ardent supporter of Donald “Stop-and-Frisk” [t]Rump.

But back to Pittenger’s interview; after he stated that this is all because black people hate white people the interviewer, James O’Brien says:

“With respect congressman, I don’t think the people on the streets last night or the night before were protesting against Lyndon B. Johnson’s almost half a century old policies. What is their grievance in their mind?”

Pittenger doesn’t state the obvious, that people, of all colors and sizes and ages and genders, are sick and tired of these shootings and just want police to stop the unjustified killings of black people; instead, he went this way:

“The grievance in their mind is the animus, the anger. They hate white people because white people are successful and they’re not.”

And then he goes off on a rant about the “welfare state” — because, you know, everyone on welfare is an African-American since the white folk are oh so successful — and he says welfare “puts people in bondage, so they can’t be all that they’re capable of being.”

Ah, using bondage to discuss the anger of black people against white people is a good move, especially considering the bondage that white people put black people into over the course of centuries.

O’Brien then asks:

“So, a black man gets shot by a black police officer, and the people protest because they hate white people?”

And Pittenger replies that is the truth because “that’s what they’re saying on TV.” I must have missed that part, because all I heard was people being disgusted by yet another shooting.

And, as happens, when racists, ignorant racists — which is really redundant — get in front of a microphone and  start spewing their hate, Pittenger is trying to walk back his comments. He seemed, for a moment at least, to rethink his racism, and his lunacy, or at least try to hide it from view, and Tweeted one of those non-apology-apologies, via Twitter:

“What is taking place in my hometown breaks my heart. Today, my anguish led me to respond to a reporter's question in a way that I regret.”

Followed by:

“I apologize to those I offended and hope we can bring peace and calm to Charlotte.”

To those I offended? Howsabout everyone?

The sad news is that Robert Pittenger will most likely remain in Congress in the state as he is one of many Republicans who represent extensively gerrymandered district that is safely in the Red Zone.

But, we know, and many of the people in North Carolina know, and folks in his district now know, that he is an ignorant racist Asshat … Of The Week.

If You Only News

Hey Governor McCrory? Say His Name! Keith Lamont Scott

With each passing day, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory seals his fate and will very probably be drummed out of office in November.

First he passed Hate into law, and then lied about it; then he tried to divert funds from the state’s natural disaster relief fund to cover the costs of the lawsuit brought on by Hate, and then he accused every group who chose to take their business out of the state of extortion, and now this …

In the days following the shooting death by police officers of Keith Lamont Scott, McCrory held a news conference and never once mentioned the dead man’s name.

Instead, he scolded the media for not discussing the flooding in the northern part of the state and suggested they get out of Charlotte and make the floods the national news story … not the murder of another black man in America.

He continued, ignoring the big story, by heaping praise on the first responders to the flood relief and bragged about how they gave him a blue shirt; he bragged about getting a shirt just seventy-two hours after Keith Lamont Scott was gunned down.

A man was shot to death in the street, but I got this cool new shirt!

And then, making sure he’d be voted out of office in November, McCrory praised law enforcement officers — not citizens — for maintaining order during last Thursday night's peaceful protests; he went on to call those who caused damage “outside agitators” and “anarchists.”

“There are groups from out-of-state that want to cause anarchy. This state, this governor and Charlotte will not tolerate those individuals who want to cause harm to our basic society norms. … Thank you very much to National Guard. I saw people hugging, them hugging back. The best in America that we saw. We saw the best of Charlotte in tense situations, where we had community leaders and members of the clergy step in between the Guard and people who didn’t want to have a peaceful situation.”

And so as he talked about everything but Keith Lamont Scott, one news outlet online began posting split-screen images from the video taken by Rakeyia Scott, the wife of Keith Lamont Scott, and McCrory; they also posted images of the protests, and even of one man apparently trying to clean tear gas from his eyes.

All this was shown while McCrory praised Charlotte police officers for their efforts, and then offered sympathy and support to the police, noting what a challenging week this has been for them — without, again, ever mentioning the victim; no words of sympathy for the Scott family … not Keith Lamont Scott, not his widow, Rakeyia Scott, and not his seven fatherless children.

But why should he have sympathy for the family? He’s working, along with Charlotte police chief Kerr Putney, to keep the video of the shooting from ever being seen; McCrory signed a law, which goes into effect October 1, that makes it illegal for such videos to be released unless ordered by a judge.

So there will be no video of what happened, either to prove or disprove how the police say this went down.

Is that how we work to resolve this disconnect between the public and the police? By allowing police to hide evidence in these shootings?

Governor McCrory needs to go; when the governor cannot be bothered to even mention the name of a man gunned down by police, but instead, praises the police and signs an idiotic law that allows police to keep evidence of the shooting out of public view, he does not have the best interests of the people of North Carolina.

He needs to go, North Carolina, and you can do it.

NCRM