Dumb Racists Deploy Wrong Ethnic Stereotype Against Maine Mayoral Candidate

Jeez, guy, where's your sense of humor?

The great thing about racists is that half of them are so stupid they spell their favorite slur with only one "g." Case in point: anonymous signs in Lewiston, Maine, attacking mayoral candidate Ben Chin with the slogan "Don't Vote For Ho Chi Chin," along with communist imagery and a really bad caricature of Ho Chi Minh. Fer crying out loud, you morons, if you're going to go all out and be racist against an Asian-American candidate, at least get the right ethnic stereotype. Chin is Chinese-American, not Vietnamese, so you need some Maoist sloganeering or something. Vietnam is a whole other country, you know.

It's a sad day when a liberal mommyblog has to correct a bunch of racist yahoos on how to do racism right.

While the racist signs don't have the required attribution -- This message paid for by Inbred Hicks For A Better Tomorrow, perhaps -- the Maine Beacon notes that the two signs spotted so far are mounted on buildings that are "owned and managed by backers of incumbent Mayor Bob Macdonald." Macdonald, you may recall, is the charming assemblage of weaseldicks who recently called for the creation of a website that would list names and addresses of all Maine residents on welfare, since being poor is so similar to being a sex offender. We are shocked -- shocked! -- to learn that some of his biggest backers may also be dumbfuck racists.

[contextly_sidebar id="Z3e2J8jS4nWM5IYUaEr4JSMMGSodzTVf"]

In a nice bit of local shoe-leather journalism, the Maine Beacon checked the property records and learned that the buildings are owned by longtime Macdonald allies:

[Both] of the buildings where the signs have appeared are owned and operated by Normand and Constance Rousseau and Joseph Dunne. Normand Rousseau is a former City Councilor and one of Mayor Macdonald’s largest donors in his 2011 and 2013races. Dunne is a property manager with a long list of shell corporations and one of the worst histories of code violations and tenant abuses in Lewiston.” [beginning of quote and attribution unclear in original -- Dok Z] Last month, Macdonald defended Dunne in a newspaper column, calling him “a big-hearted landlord.”

And wouldn't you know it, Ben Chin has made cracking down on sleazy landlords one of the key issues in his campaign. He has singled out Dunne and other Lewiston property owners as " corporate slumlords " who "use legal and financial structures to shield [themselves] from liability, taxes and, apparently, moral decency."

We're pretty sure we like this Ben Chin fellow. Anyone who could drive local rightwingers to such extreme tactics must really scare the bastards. Even the official Republican Party has gone nuts in attacking Chin; the state party set up a Facebook page and Tumblr blog depicting Chin with a background of fires set in Oakland, California, during the Occupy movement. Obviously, a vote for Chin is a vote for radicals to burn down Lewiston, population 36,592.

Maybe they should bring in Mike Huckabee to help Macdonald's campaign.

[contextly_sidebar id="0Dg8wuLRyHbgCqzU8XCStDkyxALnl0qY"]

For his part, Ben Chin said pretty much exactly what a smart politician should when sleaze is being thrown, going with the "not going to stoop to their level" trope:

“The future of Lewiston is too important to be sidetracked by filth like this. Macdonald’s friends can plaster racist caricatures over every building in town; it will only make me fight harder to bring people together to revitalize Lewiston and improve our city’s reputation,” said Chin[.]

Since Mr. Chin is clearly aiming for classy and above the fray, we'll feel free to add that part of improving the city's reputation would be to get its municipal government out of the hands of racist fuck-knuckles. A less mature person might have responded by threatening to pee-pee in their Coke.

Chin's campaign manager, Gen Lysen, suggested that anyone offended by the racist signs might want to convert that outrage into a campaign donation, should they feel motivated. Also, check out Chin's campaign bio; guy's got a great family story and solid progressive bona fides.

Also, too, a big hurrah to the tenants in one of the buildings: In a window next to one of the racist signs (apparently) put up by the landlords, the renters have posted their own handmade signs reading "Vote for Ben Chin for mayor" and "We Support Ben Chin for mayor." Power to the people, dudes.

[ Maine Beacon via tip from Wonkette Operative "Andrew" / Sun Journal / Ben Chin for Mayor ]