Political Hors D'oeuvres
Embattled GOP National Committeeman from Michigan Dave Agema is under fire from his own party — again.
This time Agema is in hot water for re-posting a testament from a public defender. In this essay, published in the white nationalist American Renaissance magazine, the author argues that African-Americans are inferior to all "other people."
"However, my experience has also taught me that blacks are different by almost any measure to all other people. They cannot reason as well. They cannot communicate as well. They cannot control their impulses as well. They are a threat to all who cross their paths, black and non-black alike," the author writes.
"Very interesting article by a public defender," Agema's public status said. "We are in a cultural battle. Very enlightening for anyone who is concerned about crime in America…" The post is signed "LARRY," and was likely a complete repost from someone else's status. However, Agema says he was simply sharing an article posted by Alan West, a former Republican Congressman from Florida and lieutenant colonel. West is black and called the article "the most racist article you will read."
"To take a sentence out of an article that Col. West calls a racist article and use it to call myself and Col. West a racist is ridiculous and deceptive reporting," Agema says in his defense. Agema's defense then is, "I did what he did." That post came to light in a Jan. 7 column by conservative writer Ken Braun on MLive. That resulted in a tidal wave of condemnation and a renewed call for his resignation. GOP leaders have held they cannot remove Agema from the national committee — but that appears to be a specious argument. The entity is governed by Robert's Rules of Order, which provides for the removal of any member of a board after a due process hearing. Instead of taking the steps to remove him, the national committee censured him. What that really means is that they told him, "You were a bad boy."
This is not, of course, the first time Agema has been under fire for his terrible use of social media. He has been chastised for republishing claims about gays authored by a member of the KKK and for attacking Arab fighter pilots.
