Doesn't Kwame ever learn?

[SharonRB]

Did anyone see the story Steve Wilson did on the news last night (or maybe the night before) about Kwame's wife sending a staff member ahead to hold a parking space for her so she could park right in front of the store she was going to shop at in Birmingham to buy a gown for the pre-auto show gala?

They put a cone in the spot and turned away other patrons and wouldn't let them park there. I didn't hear the entire story, but it seems some other elected official (I'm not sure if it was a state rep or a U.S. House rep who lives in the area) was in the area or heard about it and wasn't happy.

I just went to Channel 7's web site to get the details, but interestingly there's nothing there. Wonder who quashed that story? Other Investigators stories are posted, but not that one.

[noonwitch]

1. I hate Steve Wilson

Not that I'm a huge Kwame fan (he is a great speaker, however, his second inagaural speech about how if you are from Farmington, you are from Detroit, was fantastic), but Steve Wilson is an arrogant jerk who looks to incite outrage over silly things. How much digging did he have to do just to uncover some tidbit like this?

This is Channel 7's way of feeding their mostly white suburban viewers with tales of allegedly shady behavior by black Detroit officials. This has been their story since Coleman Young was mayor. I'll never forget the time their drunken anchorman (Bill Bonds) challenged Mayor Young to a boxing match (they sent him to Betty Ford the next day) or suggested that former Gov. Blanchard send the national guard to MSU's campus to qwell a drinking party (Cedarfest).

[SharonRB]

2. I agree that Kwame is a great speaker.

He really got the crowd going at the Clinton rally the Saturday before the election. He's generally not one of my favorites, though.

[Strawman]

3. I dislike Wilson also, but that's still bs

If that staff member doesn't have anything more important to do they shouldn't have a friggin' job on the taxpayers' dime. This is a city that can't even afford to properly equip police cars (among other things) and we've got someone whose job duties include holding parking spots for the mayor's wife? Are there bigger problems for Wilson and others to look at? You bet. Are Channel 7 and Fox 2 News and others who do these stories exploiting suburban racial resentment? I suspect they are. After all, how many stories do we hear about L. Brooks Patterson's problem drinking in comparison to the Mayor's partying? But, all that aside, that's still outrageous for the mayor to use staff that way.

The whole thing is just pathetic all around. Wilson flies in from Florida to do his little easy hit job stories, and this administration keeps giving them to him. White suburbanites watch these little episodically framed stories and blame everything, not just the things he deserves blame for, on the mayor (or blacks in general) as if the suburbs have no role in all this or no responsibility or there are no larger problems. The mayor could be married to friggin' Mother Theresa and the city would still be in trouble. If a city worker never took a nap in a parked car (the hit piece of choice during the Archer administration), there'd still be big problems to confront. It's just so frustrating all around. When's it ever going to stop?

As far as Mayor Kilpatrick being a great speaker, all I can say is, personally, bullshitters and hacks don't impress me. Not Steve Wilson and not Kwame Kilpatrick. They're both a couple of big fat jokes. It's a goddamn shame too because the people in the city desperately need real leadership and the people in the entire metro area need better. more relevant information about the problems that the central city is facing. They'll get nothing worthwhile from those two clowns, but you can bet that both of those idiots will make damn sure they get theirs.

[michigancaucus]

9. Wilson BAD

Just stop watching him.

[skipos]

4. Detroit deserves a MUCH better mayor than Kwame. nt

[maddogesq]

5. OT-Draft Schweitzer...I'm all for it. He rocks!

When Rachel Maddow was on in the mornings, he would call in. What a smart guy with a really wacky sense of humor. Rachel always said that he is the only person that was allowed to call her "cowgirl." Brian has the soul of a real cowboy, unlike Jr., the little emperor who tries to act like one.

[skipos]

6. Yes, I agree. Make sure you sign it! nt

[maddogesq]

7. Done with pleasure. NT

:)

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

8. It's good to be the king

Lording it over the subjects, displays of high-handed corruption ...

It's the most fun a mayor can have without killing a stripper.