That famous Republican sense of humor on display in Wisconsin.
That's the 38-year-old son of Tommy Thompson, Republican candidate for Senate in Wisconsin, telling a Republican crowd at a campaign luncheon for his father that they can "send President Obama back to Chicago—or Kenya." Hahahaha. One woman in the crowd piped up, "We are taking donations for that Kenya trip." A Democratic tracker at the event got the video and shared it with
Buzzfeed.
Despite the fact that the RNC chair, Reince Preibus, and the state party chair were both present, no one seemed to think it was a problem at the time. Neither stepped up to say that birtherism isn't now official policy of the Republican National Committee. And no one seemed to think it was worth a heads up to Thompson the elder, who was not at the event, what was said. Asked about it at a news conference later in the day, Thompson said, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Eventually the word got around to him, forcing the campaign to release this ridiculous "apology."
“The Governor has addressed this with his son, just like any father would do,” the campaign said in a statement. “Jason Thompson said something he should not have, and he apologizes.”
As if Thompson's son was an errant teenager, not a middle-aged official surrogate for his father. No denunciation of birtherism, no actual words of apology from Jason Thompson, no statement from Preibus denouncing the remarks, and no statement from Tommy Thompson denying he's a birther, too. Just a stern, and apparently private, parental lecture.
That's just not good enough.
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