Racist and homophobic, all in 6 sentences. Your "friend" might be pleased to know that she has a future with Fox News.

Got through the three sentences and realized it wasn't worth my time to continue reading.

Hopefully that type of person continues to stay off the Internet.

I should probably let this go, more proof that gman cannot be taken seriously, but...

Nutter hmmm a candidate who has forgotten his roots, to me he's a black-white man--yes his skin color makes him appear black, but this is only a facade.

Pardon my language -- but fuck that shit.

This woman's comments about the other candidates also veer into hatefulness -- Dwight Evans as Tinkerbell? -- but that one takes the cake.

And Gman, the fact that you saw "no harm" in putting this up doesn't speak well of you. Instead of coming with this BS yourself, you put it up by proxy -- probably a troll, since this no-name woman writes just like you do, and like you, only takes the white political candidates seriously.

We do not have time for this garbage.

Supporting Michael Nutter for Mayor.

My intention wasn't to offend. Rather, different people from around the city communicate in different ways and see things from different perspectives. Also, many don't communicate in the style with which we do. I made sure to characterize that these were the comments from an African-American woman in West Philadelphia who asked me to put them up, and who doesn't have access to a computer.

I apologize if anyone was offended, but I think there is value in understanding the different views from around the city and the neighborhoods. From time to time, some of these views may be challenging, but I believe there is value in letting every voice be heard.

I'm sure many people in this city or on this site don't understand why Michael Nutter isn't in first place. Or maybe why Tom Knox is.

The only way to know, is to not just keep hearing the "intelligencia", but people from North, South, and West Philly, or the Northeast, etc.

Again, I apologize if anyone was offended, but it was my sense (maybe incorrect) that one way to move the debate forward on this site would be to hear from some new voices who may be more representative of the Philadelphia electorate.

gman,

First of all:

I apologize if anyone was offended, but I think there is value in understanding the different views from around the city and the neighborhoods.

is not an apology. Any apology that has "if" or "but" in it is not an apology and this one happens to have both.

Second, while it may be true that

different people from around the city communicate in different ways and see things from different perspectives. Also, many don't communicate in the style with which we do.

That doesn't mean that people with a greater understanding of the issues and the backgrounds of the candidates, as well as an idea of how things work in other places outside of Philadelphia, can't help to increase the level of understanding among the "different people from around the city."

There is value to understanding the different views from around the city and the neighborhoods but if those views are racist, homophobic, sexist or just flat-out ignorant, then those views need to be changed. Granted, I didn't get to read the post before it was deleted, but I think this goes in general for all of those who claim to champion the "view from the neighborhood."

It is precisely because candidates and elected officials have been playing down to those views rather than trying to convince people who hold them that there is a better way, that we as a city have been stuck in a rut for the last 45 years. That's the reason we don't have more intraregional cooperation. That's the reason we don't have clean and efficient government.

The way we "move the debate forward" is confront these attitudes and, where necessary, educate, inform and change them. By putting those views out there without criticism, the debate only moves down.

Campaigns, at the their best, bring unity and educate people about what is important and necessary (if painful). At their worst, they pander and divide, something we've seen for far too long.

---------------------------------
Supporting the Process in 2007

The Next Mayor Project

check out thenextmayor.com

I still don't buy that this was any "view from the street" at all. In the absence of a name, email address, or any other way to contact this person, contest her positions, or verify her existence, I hold that it's incumbent upon Gman to prove that she is anything other than a poorly constructed persona to spout off nonsense about the other candidates. Or to defend them and his decision to pass them along without qualification or comment. And Gman hasn't backed away from supporting the substance of what she said, not just how she said it. I'm assuming he endorses it.

For people who missed the original post, it was a total piece of pro-Brady propaganda. After the usual rips on Tom Knox, it bashed Chaka Fattah for not graduating high school, called Dwight Evans "Tinkerbell" and "Robin Hood," plus the comments on Nutter being a "black-white" man. Then it turned to effusive praise for Bob Brady, who despite his apparent setbacks was clearly wonderful and would win the race. I don't think anyone who is just an ordinary person from West Philadelphia thinks all of the candidates are garbage but waxes lyrical about Bob Brady's emanating wisdom and goodness, or whatever was being shoveled.

This is not about what the electorate thinks, giving them a voice, or how we can convince them to change their minds. This about Brady supporters shoving crap down our throats, under the cover of someone else's identity, or a random snapshot of the electorate. I swear, if a single vocal Brady supporter on YPP -- apart from the elected officials who don't spend that much time talking about Brady -- felt like a real person rather than a tired, idealess, spiteful hack, Brady and his campaign would have a lot more credit with me.

I don't spend much time policing this site. I prefer to take other people's arguments face on and face value. But this is absolutely ridiculous.

MikeL, you make good points. I'm especially sorry if I've overlooked some sincere and thoughtful Brady supporters. And I like Bob Brady. Some of my excesses you can attribute to my losing my temper. I especially wished to contend Gman's claim that his post was "an attempt to move the debate forward," when neither this post nor most of his comments have tried to do anything of the kind, only to push Bob Brady.

I do want to address one of your quotes of mine, to clarify what I mean. A fuller quote is "I don't think anyone who is just an ordinary person from West Philadelphia thinks all of the candidates are garbage but waxes lyrical about Bob Brady's emanating wisdom and goodness." I do think lots of people think all of the candidates are garbage. But the imbalance between the nasty comments about all of the candidates and the effusive praise for Brady makes me think that at the very least, Gman's mystery woman is probably a campaign volunteer or fierce Brady supporter, not the average Philadelphia voter.

And while I can certainly look away, I think it's disingenuous for Gman to post something titled "Tom Knox Has You All Fooled" -- which as you point out, potentially has substance -- and spin it into a baseless attack on all of the candidates and a hymn of praise to Bob Brady. If I could have seen that it was Gman's post, I probably would have looked away. I certainly wouldn't have read the post if it had been titled "Dwight Evans Is Tinkerbell, Michael Nutter is Watermelon Man, But I Love Bob Brady" -- which given the content, would have been a much better description.

I appreciate the retraction and understand where you are coming from. However, I think this "I do think lots of people think all of the candidates are garbage. But the imbalance between the nasty comments about all of the candidates and the effusive praise for Brady makes me think that at the very least, Gman's mystery woman is probably a campaign volunteer or fierce Brady supporter, not the average Philadelphia voter." might be jumping to conclusions.

Remember, Brady has a base of support in West Philly (and across Philly for that matter).I don't think that his campaign is particurally concerned with Nutter or Evans, at this point. If anything I would expect his campaign, if they were involved in such a "post", would write solely about Knox.
And lets not forget, my man Milton referred to Nutter as the "watermelon man", and he is hardly a Brady supporter. Could it not be a possibility then that Milty's statement made some sort of impact on people and they actually believe it to be true?

The said reality of all this is that the race is not about substance but baseless attacks (IQ, racism). Then again, when your campaign is built on $$ and lies thats all you can resort too, Tommy...Sorry, I had too.

Gman has his email address listed in his profile. Its very easy to find out who he is and in fact, if he works for Brady. And I'm hoping that "asinine candidate plugs and text-book spin responses from their communications people" wasn't a reference to me.

In the world of cyberspace nothing can be taken as fact. I could create another profile right now and make posts to make Brady look bad if I wanted too....But the only thing we can do when reading these diatribes is take them at face value and not look too deep into them (unless of course, the poster is a known representative of a campaign).
How am I to know that you don't work for another candidate who is trying to smear Brady? In fact, because you have responded twice to this and claim gman is racist and works for Brady, I'm pretty sure you work for Queena Bass. I always knew that lady had some dirty tricks up her sleeve but I never guessed she'd use the internet to deceive voters. Such a shame...

There you have it folks, I've unlocked the god damn mystery.

Warmest Regards,
Matlock

All blogs should have at least some form of moderator deleting or editing inappropriate posts, and maybe this post was inappropriate.

From what I have read, however, it leaves me with a nagging feeling if there was a post making shrill comments about Brady and bashing Knox while singing the praises of say, Fattah; the post would not be deleted so quickly. I've made it a point to talk with people about the mayoral race recently; and while my results are highly unscientific I hear people supporting Brady, Knox, or Nutter. I haven't run into any Evans supporters, and the only Fattah supporters I've run into are on YPP, and the tone is a lot nastier here than it is out on the streets.

I'm pointing this out because if someone's post is deleted solely because the moderator doesn't like the poster's opinion then we fall into the same realm as freerepublic.com: An incestous group talking among ourselves and irrelevant to the outside world.