Not to, you know, tag team with Blogtown, but the latest on Robert King’s House of Wingnuttery comes via that blog’s mention of King’s editorial in the latest edition of the union’s newsletter.
While it does not yet appear to have been posted to the Rap Sheet, the front-page editorial, according to Blogtown, has King saying this: “My goal is to communicate, communicate, and communicate.” In addition, King reportedly laments the “politically liberal environment” and “little meaningful media support” in Portland.
I am, at times, tempted to be strident and I know there is widespread support in our membership for outrage. But in most cases I think our role is to be professional and respectful — even with groups that have very different perspectives from our own.
It’s a curious statement for King to make. He seems to claim that his is the voice of calm reason, holding back the flood of anger from the officers he represents.
Out here in the reality-based reality, we know that King’s conception of “professional and respectful” has been put into action (to cite just one example of many) by arguing that his officers are too dim to both know when and how to use force and to write reports about its use afterwards.
Should we expect him to be professional and respectful to other groups when his zealotry for getting his way leads him to insult his own force?
(What are the other examples? Claiming that any discussion of the issue of racial profiling is the equivalent of calling all police officers racists. Distorting and conflating fact with fiction in public comments in an effort to confuse the public after officer-involved shootings. Pick your own favorite, since there’s plenty to go around.)
No one told me this was going to be banner week for wingnuttery out of the ranks of the Portland Police Bureau. First the commentary in today’s paper, and now word of the latest King drivel. What’s next?
