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Mayor Loon

25 comments on Mayor Loon

Mayor Loon

: Correspondent TVsHenry sends me this quote from Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley. I can’t find the context and source or confirm it but with that caveat in mind…. The guy is apparently a lunatic, an idiot, and a traitor — not to the President but to his fellow citizens, his own constituents, the real and potential targets and victims of terrorists’ attacks. This is the mayor of a major American city who’s supposed to save his residents from terrorists? He’d let the terrorists in and keep the President out. TVsHenry says he said:

“I remember after the attacks of September 11th, as the Mayor of this city, I was very, very worried about al Qaeda… and still am. But I’m even more worried about the actions and inactions of the Bush administration.”

And I’m worried about you, Mayor.

25 responses to “Mayor Loon”

  1. Donald Sensing Avatar
    Donald Sensing

    He’s more worried about Bush than bin Laden.
    I guess when Bush masterminds the murder of 3,000 Baltimore people, Mayor O’Malley’s reaction will be, “Whew! He’s not as bad as I thought!”

  2. Trent Avatar
    Trent

    Will you guys use your head and think a little instead of jumping at the first opportunity to use the word “traitor” and rag on people?
    The guy runs a city. He’s pissed off that he’s not getting support from the government to defend the city. That’s what he’s saying.

  3. Jeff Jarvis Avatar
    Jeff Jarvis

    And why don’t you turn down your speaker for a moment and listen to what the guy is saying: He is MORE worried about the President of the United States than he is about mass murderers who killed 3,000 innocent civilians in America. That’s not just rhetoric. That’s not just stupid. That’s not just insane. That’s not just offensive. It is sick and dangerous.

  4. APex Avatar
    APex

    “Will you guys use your head and think a little instead of jumping at the first opportunity to use the word “traitor” and rag on people?”
    Giving aid and comfort to the enemy? That’s a traitor.

  5. Angelos Avatar
    Angelos

    I’m siding with the overreaction crowd here.
    Yes, these were poorly chosen words. But in the end he’s saying: “3 years ago, I was worried about Al Qaeda, today I’m more worried about our useless administration.”
    I’ll second that.
    Seems like you’re hitting the very hyper-reactive extremes you so intelligently tear apart in just the previous post, and in your final post yesterday.

  6. Mike NYC Avatar
    Mike NYC

    Giving aid and comfort to the enemy? Oh please, APex! That’s now what he was doing.
    I agree that people should think before stating the Bush administration is worse than Al Qaeda. But it’s good that politicians and other citizens are being critical of the Bush administration’s choices.

  7. tim Avatar
    tim

    The quote is legit. The mayor made the remarks earlier this week at a fundraiser in Baltimore for John Kerry.
    There’s a thread about this on baltimoresun.com:
    http://www.baltimoresun.com/cgi-bin/ultbb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=17;t=014846
    The story emerged from WBAL radio, an AM news and talk station in Baltimore, which played the clip heavily on Tuesday.

  8. Joe Baby Avatar
    Joe Baby

    If I was Mayor of Baltimore, I’d be more worried about Ray Lewis.

  9. mm Avatar
    mm

    Welcome to China, where being “worried” about your government and expressing criticism is traitorous.

  10. HH Avatar
    HH

    What’s more worrisome is Kerry’s tacit endorsement of such sentiments… He needs to be called on to denounce them.

  11. HH Avatar
    HH

    mm – Mr. Moore, is it? If someone said FDR was a bigger problem than Hitler, would you object?

  12. Doug Avatar
    Doug

    The Bush administration’s actions impact the day-to-day duties of an American mayor far more than Al Quaeda’s actions. So why is it so surprising that a mayor would spend more time worrying about Bush administration policy than about Al Quaeda?
    This is just dumb “gotcha” politics, based on an out-of-context soundbite. No better than Michael Moore, really.
    -Doug
    (Baltimore homeowner, O’Malley voter)

  13. HH Avatar
    HH

    He said it, so it’s not “gotcha.” Please explain the “context” if you think it’s out of context, disingenuous-breath.

  14. Michael Zimmer Avatar
    Michael Zimmer

    Doug is right – the Administration’s actions have much more relevance to the duties of a mayor than some unknown Al-Qaeda threat.
    If Jeff is so concerned about us not being a nation divided, he should examine his own rhetoric. Too often he is dismissive – and divisive of people’s opinoins he doesn’t agree with. Disagreeing is one thing, but falling into the rhetoric of calling people “a lunatic, and idiot, and a traitor” is why we feel like a country divided.

  15. Jeff Jarvis Avatar
    Jeff Jarvis

    mm: Being worried about what your government is doing is more than fine. Being more worried about your government than murderous terrorists — from whom you, the mayor, should be protecting us — is crazy, stupid, sick, sad.
    Michael: I am now going to be in the habit of exposing extremists as extremists and extremist, divisive talk as just what it is. And this guy fits that definition! I can call Michael Moore an extremist. I can call Rush Limbaugh and extremist. And I call this nut an extremist precisely because they are trying to divide us with their extreme views. Chicken, meet egg.

  16. Michael Zimmer Avatar
    Michael Zimmer

    Jeff – fair enough. calling out people for “extremism” (however you choose to define that) is fine. its just that the downward spiral of language & insults often causes more harm than good.

  17. Doug Avatar
    Doug

    As a software engineer, I spend more time worrying about Microsoft security holes than I do about Al Quaeda. It’s part of my job. Does that mean I think Microsoft is more evil than Al Quaeda? Hell No!! However, I could imagine making the statement, at some time and place, that “I’m more worried about Microsoft security holes than about Al Quaeda.”
    Does that make me “sick,” an “extremist,” and a “traitor?”

  18. Alice Avatar
    Alice

    Amen Doug. Were I to use the mayor’s logic I’d be demanding Bush help me to de-frizz my hair and help me lose twenty pounds, because I spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about those two things. Screw AQ, where’s my gym membership?
    But seriously, Baltimore is a port city. He should be spending a very large amount of time making sure terrorists don’t step right off the tankers that pull up to the city on a daily basis. If you are the mayor of a port city, you have volunteered to protect the rest of the country from dangers associated with the doorway you’ve begged to be in charge of. He should also be spending a large amount of time protecting the long tunnel leading right into his city. As far as Jeff’s hyperbole, or lack of it, after listening to Jeff’s account of 9-11, I can see why he is using the word ‘traitor’. A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and that mayor is clearly a weak link.

  19. Lola Avatar
    Lola

    Not only that, but also Baltimore is about 25 miles away from where I live, and in the opposite direction about the same distance lies Washington, DC. So, I’m very concerned about terrorists picking up shipments at the port harbor and deploying it in DC. Either way I’m in the middle of the fallout.

  20. mm Avatar
    mm

    Lola – I was about to suggest you move to Oklahoma or somewhere safe from terrorism….but of course we all forget about domestic sources of terrorism these days, don’t we….

  21. Doug Avatar
    Doug

    Alice:
    Of course, the mayor of a port city should damn well be concerned about port security, and there’s nothing wrong with demanding that the mayor explain how his recent comments fit with his responsibility to provide security for his citizens.
    Mayor O’Malley is up for re-election this fall. Perhaps one of the posters here would like to ask him to explain himself at one of his campaign rallies.
    I think that you would get a better, less divisive reaction (from most Baltimoreans as well as the mayor) if your question did not include the words “traitor”, “nut” or “extremist.”

  22. Alice Avatar
    Alice

    Doug, I agree. I believe that he thinks he’s taking great care of his city and doesn’t want harm to come to anyone. However, his good intentions are not enough. He must do what liberals, like myself, are often uncomfortable doing: he must identify the enemy and feel no hesitation or pity while pursuing them. It’s fair to wonder how enthusiastically he’s doing that if he says he’s more afraid of Bush. I can’t stand George Bush. He is also not my enemy.

  23. HH Avatar
    HH

    “Perhaps one of the posters here would like to ask him to explain himself at one of his campaign rallies.”
    Or ask Kerry why he didn’t denounce him right then and there.

  24. jennetic Avatar
    jennetic

    O’Malley is only *technically* up for re-election. There is no one to run against him here, he won his re-election when he won the nomination. It sounds backwards, but it is how things work down here.
    O’Malley does speak his mind, but usually he’s more sane than this. I can’t really account for this bit of lunacy. He might argue that he’s not getting the support Baltimore and other port cities need, but to argue that he has to worry MORE about the President than the terrorists- that is just freaking nuts.
    Baltimore resident, O’Malley voter.

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