Johnson County Clerk, Jill Jackson, distributed an inflammatory chain e-mail to two of her employees who voted for Senator Obama in Indiana's Democratic primary.
Though the e-mail did not refer to Obama by name, it refers to Obama's ties with Reverend Wright, and in the words of the Louisville Courier-Journal, is "heavy with racial references, criticizing the candidate's parentage with such comments as, 'He is proud of his 'African heritage' (a father who got a white girl pregnant and deserted her)."
The letter concludes: "The U.S. citizens are just not ready to give up their country to this young, black 'Adolf Hitler' with a smile, poor direction and absolutely no experience!" Apparently, Hitler is not nefarious enough, so the author needed to add the "black" adjective.
Clerk Jackson states it was intended as a joke. WHAT?!? That's your excuse?!?! So are ALL racist jokes, Clerk Jackson, but it doesn't make them excusable to distribute to your employees. If these employees were African-American, this would be ACTIONABLE!
Kudos go to Doug Lechner, Republican Party chairman in Johnson County, who didn't even try to explain the letter away. He stated it was "unacceptable and taints Jackson's ability to appear unbiased in administering this year's election."
Only when both parties attack racism where they find it will it be uprooted. It's sad for the GOP that they find it in their elected officials.
