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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Politics / Woods Democratic Republican Worker Caught Emailing Offensive Pictures

Posted by Jeff Woods on Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 2:08 PM

click to enlarge One of the pictures emailed by the Democratic Republican worker.
  • One of the pictures emailed by the Democratic Republican worker.
A temp worker for a Democratic state legislator has been caught emailing pictures with politically incorrect captions targeting Asians, Alzheimer's victims and the handicapped. Besieged by negative press over their own staffer's emailing of the now-infamous Obama spook picture, Republicans are so happy about the Democrats' troubles that they supposedly are thinking about holding a press conference to trumpet this latest development. According to sources, House Speaker Kent Williams, acting at the request of Democratic leaders, already has dismissed the temp, who has been identified as Blake Graves who was working in the office of Rep. Karen Camper, D-Memphis. "It was offensive to Asians," says our source, just to mention one of the pictures. Democrats think they can claim the upper hand in this little contretemps because their staffer has been fired, unlike the Republican offender, Sherri Goforth, who was merely reprimanded. Update: Well, it turns out Mr. Graves isn't a Democrat at all. According to Pith's multitude of informed sources, he's a Republican. Whoopsies! Guess that's why the Republicans haven't held their little media event about this yet. Graves voted in the 2006 GOP primary. In addition, he lists among his Facebook groups the College Republicans, Bush is my Homeboy (whatever that is), and Republicans for Alternative Energy. Also on his Facebook, he says he's a fan of Bob Corker. We're not sure how he wound up in Camper's office. Update II: Sources now say Graves wasn't officially fired but agreed to resign. Kleinheider reports Graves was a legislative intern from January until April, then became a temporary legislative assistant last month. Update III: Democratic Party chair Chip Forrester applauds House Democrats for ousting Graves:
"I only wish that Senate Republicans, led by Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and Sen. Diane Black, would have the same courage and presence of mind as the House leadership. As I stated Monday, there is a pervasive pattern of racist behavior condoned by Republican leadership in Tennessee, especially directed at President Barack Obama."

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Kent Williams runs a tighter ship than Ron Ramsey. Ramsey can forget being governor.

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Posted by Ben on June 17, 2009 at 3:04 PM

So, the moral of the story is:
1. If you've been working somewhere for 20 years and you do something stupid, it's ok. If you're an intern, find another job.
2. Racism is ok. As long as it's not against Asians.
3. Ron Ramsey is spineless.

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Posted by common sense on June 17, 2009 at 3:14 PM

I smell the rotting corpse of Ron Ramsey's campaign for governor. I will find it.
Stop humping that body, Matt King. It's fucking dead.

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Posted by The Grim Reaper on June 17, 2009 at 3:42 PM

Holy shit. Toggling between Post Politics and Pith and seeing very different takes on this matter. Can you say: Dueling blogs? Woods v. Kleinheider! It's like the poor man's version of "Celebrity Death Match!"

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Posted by Harrison on June 17, 2009 at 4:08 PM

It took me ages to get that picture. I win the "Not Racist" game! Yay!

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Posted by Ashley on June 17, 2009 at 5:35 PM

No other group of people in this country, save for Native Americans about 500 years ago, have been an oppressed minority in the way African Americans have been. There is no comparison between these two emails. It's open season on hillbillies, holy rollers and, yes, fur-ners. But not on a group of people this country enslaved and who are still fighting for equality.

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Posted by meredith on June 17, 2009 at 7:38 PM

I literally LOL'd at it. Does that make me a racist prick?

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Posted by TobintheGnome on June 18, 2009 at 11:13 AM

I like to ask Ron Ramsey how it feels to piss away his chance at a governorship over one lame staffer. But, from what I've seen in middle TN he may pick up votes.

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Posted by Credo on June 19, 2009 at 1:21 AM

I met Blake Graves when he was Chief Clerk for TISL this past fall. I did not and do not find him to be a racist in any form or fashion. I would suspect he worked in Rep. Camper's office because he was a student at the University of Memphis. I would suggest those who have not met any of these persons in-person should refrain from labeling anyone, the fact that Blake resigned shows he has class.

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Posted by Philip Stoecklein on June 19, 2009 at 12:03 PM
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