Michigan Official: Let's 'Herd all the Indians' to Detroit

In Florida, meanwhile, a candidate wants Obama hanged
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 21, 2014 5:38 PM CST
Michigan Official: Let's 'Herd all the Indians' to Detroit
Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson in Detroit.   (AP Photo/The Detroit News, Clarence Tabb, Jr, File)

Today's adventures in classy political discourse include a Michigan lawmaker who thinks Detroit should be turned into a "reservation" for Native Americans and a Florida candidate who wants President Obama hanged:

  • Detroit: In an interview with the New Yorker, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said this: “I made a prediction a long time ago, and it’s come to pass. I said, 'What we’re gonna do is turn Detroit into an Indian reservation, where we herd all the Indians into the city, build a fence around it, and then throw in the blankets and the corn.'" He also called stopping for gas in the city an invitation to car-jacking, reports Raw Story, and he said that "anytime I talk about Detroit, it will not be positive. Therefore, I’m called a Detroit basher. The truth hurts, you know? Tough s---.'" Patterson, who apparently has a long history of controversial statements, is now crying foul about the interviewer having an "agenda," as civil rights leaders, the mayor, and other lawmakers in Detroit call for an apology, reports the Detroit Free Press.

  • Florida: Joshua Black, a candidate for the state House, tweeted that the president should be hanged for war crimes, reports the Tampa Bay Times. "I'm past impeachment. It's time to arrest and hang him high." In the subsequent brouhaha—a fellow Republican tweeted that he was "crazy"—Black said Obama's ordering of a drone strike to kill US-born Anwar al-Awlaki made him guilty of treason and, therefore, he should be executed for treason, just like Benedict Arnold. And then he apologized for getting his facts wrong about Arnold, who was never executed.
(More Detroit stories.)

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