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March 20, 2008

Novick's cheap shots at Obama continue to reverberate

The Oregonian's Jeff Mapes wrote about Novick's "fraud" attack on Obama. But he left out what is arguably the most offensive part of Novick's diatribe against Obama - the quip about Barack Obama being the "great Kenya-Kansas hope." PolitickerOr's Lauren Lafaro wasn't so hesitant.

Joe Baessler, political coordinator of the AFSCME, which broke with its national union in order to endorse Obama, chided Novick for his pronouncements.

...

“It is this kind of disregard for consequences of what he is saying that makes it harder and harder for us to even be friendly anymore,” Baessler lamented. “It’s hurtful when things like this get thrown around.”

Novick's campaign manager has been scrambling to portray his boss's comments as "satirical." But I just went through workplace harassment training at my day job and both the corporate HR guy and the attorney who accompanied him were very clear about the fact that couching something offensive in satirical terms doesn't change anything.

Novick's supporters have been pointing to another paragraph in Novick's December '06 post at Blue Oregon where he appears to mock his own Scotch-Irish heritage as evidence that anyone taking offense at the Obama attacks is taking it too seriously. But I pointedly asked the attorney at our workplace harassment seminar if self-denigration of one's own race/gender/orientation/whatever avoids breaching workplace harassment laws since one would be technically harassing oneself. His answer to my question was a blunt "No!"

Personally, I don't buy the "it was satire" excuse anyway. And apparently neither does Novick's campaign manager:

"He consistently offers an honest assessment of people and issues," Weigler said of Novick.

You can't have it both ways, Jake. Either it was satire which has been misconstrued or it was an honest assessment.

Posted by Kevin at March 20, 2008 08:07 PM