Nebraska Attorney General and Republican Senate candidate Jon Bruning has had a very rough week back home. After American Bridge posted video of him comparing welfare recipients to raccoons, he has been the subject of riducule both nationally and in his back yard.
Yesterday, we highlighted how Nebraska television stations reacted to the offensive blunder. POLITICO noted, “One way you can tell if an issue has really punched through is if it lands on local television newscasts. That’s why Jon Bruning’s comment comparing welfare recipients to raccoons matters.”
Today, things got worse for Bruning. The Lincoln Journal-Star published a scathing editorial titled “Bruning’s words are an embarrassment.” The paper wrote:
Attorney General Jon Bruning’s comment comparing welfare recipients to raccoons is dumb on every level.
The words would sound dull-witted if they dropped out of the mouth of the guy on the next stool at the bar.
It’s almost inconceivable that the remark came from a lawyer who makes his living by adroit use of the English language.
It’s alarming that they were uttered by someone who wants Nebraska voters to send him to the U.S. Senate in Washington so he can help write laws to govern the country.
[…]
There are no cuts on this recording. The words flow without interruption as Bruning speaks and gestures. His meaning is plain.
Bruning may not have intended for his words to have a wider audience. But in a world in which seemingly almost every cell phone is capable of capturing a video image, candidates have to assume that everything they do in public could show up on the Internet.
Voters will judge for themselves whether Bruning’s words were merely “inartful,” an unguarded revelation of his true attitudes or a calculated attempt to ingratiate himself with his audience. By any interpretation, they are an embarrassment.
Read the entire editorial here.
Published: Aug 12, 2011