Mitt Romney owns a house in Wolfeboro, NH, the town recently in the news for the action of one Police Board Commissioner, Robert Copeland and his racist behavior.
Well Mr. Copeland, even Mitt Romney now says that you should resign your political office because you used the N word (excuse me the Effing + N word) to describe the President of the United States. Maybe you should bow to the inevitable, rather than force your town to undergo the financial and emotional cost of a recall election.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, joins some political leaders and residents in the New Hampshire town of Wolfeboro in calling for the resignation of Robert Copeland. Romney owns a home in the town.
He says in a statement, “The vile epithet used and confirmed by the commissioner has no place in our community: He should apologize and resign.”
If you have no idea who is Robert Copeland, he’s a police board commissioner for the Town of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. He was overheard by a local resident, Jane O’Toole, at a restaurant calling President Obama an F***ing N*gger. She protested his actions at the restaurant. However, that was only the beginning of the story:
Resident Jane O’Toole overheard the comment and reported it to the town manager. Copeland admitted using the racial slur and justified it in an e-mail to Ms. O’Toole, saying the “current occupant” of the White House “meets and exceeds my criteria for such,” WMUR news reports.
That led to a packed Police Board Commission open meeting, in which the vast majority of citizens denounced his actions and called for his resignation. Skip to the 20 minute mark of the following video for the Town’s reaction to Mr. Copeland’s use of a racial slur, his refusal to apologize and his complete lack of contrition.
The Town Manager has called for Copeland to resign, though he has no power to order that resignation since the Police Commission Board is a separately elected body. To date, Copeland’s fellow commissioners, have refused to ask him to resign, though they claim they do not approve of his actions.
I doubt Mitt’s request will carry any weight with Robert Copeland, but it’s worth noting that “Establishment Republicans” after many years of courting the votes of people who hold racist attitudes, and many years of working so hard to polarize our nation along racial lines, to the detriment of our country’s reputation in the world, now realize that even many in their own base are uncomfortable as being branded as the party of racists.
I don’t for a minute believe that most Republican leaders will alter their electoral strategies over an incident such as this one, but it is telling that a figure such as Romney, the former candidate who has no love of President Obama, and was more than willing to run ads and have ads run on his behalf that played into racial stereotypes against minorities and President Obama specifically, feels he must weigh in on the matter.
This is not a new phenomenon, of course. Republican officials ever since Obama was elected have tried to cast doubt on the legitimacy of his citizenship, his religion, his family life, called him a terrorist, a tyrant, a communist, a fascist, shouted at a state of the union address that he was lying, and told numerous other falsehoods about him and his Presidency, as well send out racist “joke” emails by the hundreds if not thousands.
However, this is the first time I can recall the most recent Republican Presidential nominee issuing a public statement denouncing one of his own party for such behavior. Sadly, I doubt it will make a whit of difference to most Republicans or to Mr. Copeland, who to date has defiantly claimed this is much ado about nothing, while his fellow commissioners have also downplayed the significance of his remarks. Go to any message board where a story about this matter has been posted and you will find Republicans posting comments blaming Ms. O’Toole (a white woman, not that that matters) for her actions in complaining about Copeland’s “remarks” to the proper authorities, and blaming her for the “controversy.
It sickens me to see the blindness and hatred of so many. Copeland should resign. This isn’t an issue of his first amendment right to hold his hateful opinions. No government authority is suppressing his right to say whatever he wishes.
However, actions have consequences, or at least they should, particularly when it comes to public officials. His behavior as the member of a board that oversees the local police, a police force without one black police officer in a community that is 20% twenty African American residents, sows doubt and creates the impression that he will turn a blind eye toward complaints by minorities involving their interactions with the police. At the least this creates the appearance of impropriety and the possibility that the police in Wolfeboro will be emboldened to treat minorities differently than whites.
But hey, we got Mitt Romney on our side, for whatever that’s worth.
Update [2014-5-19 14:3:20 by Steven D]: The Washington Post and
WMUR TV have both tweeted that Copeland has resigned. Let’s hope that is true.
More reports of Copeland’s resignation:
WOLFEBORO, N.H. —A police commissioner in Wolfeboro under fire for using a racist slur when talking about President Barack Obama has verbally resigned to the chairman of Wolfeboro Police Commission.
The police chief in Wolfeboro said his department has been swamped with angry calls after a police commissioner refused to apologize and step down after making directing a racial slur at the president.
Robert Copeland, 82, had been facing intense pressure to resign after a resident complained about overhearing him use the N-word in a restaurant. Copeland acknowledged that he used the slur but refused to apologize or step down.
Wolfeboro Police Commissioner Bob Copeland, under fire for slinging a racial slur at President Obama, has resigned, according to Commission Chair Joe Balboni, Jr.
Balboni confirmed that Copeland submitted his resignation on Monday afternoon. Balboni was en route to discuss the development with Wolfeboro Police Chief Stuart Chase.
Sounds like it is real.