Buddy Changes Position On Mardi Cohen
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Yes, I read the comments posted on Browardbeat.com.
This time the readers’ reasoned arguments have convinced me to reconsider my original position on judicial candidate Mardi Anne Levey Cohen.
After further consideration I now believe:
Cohen shouldn’t have sent out a comparison piece with a black-and-white picture of her opponent F. Jahra McLawrence, who is black
I’ll take her at her word she didn’t have a racial motivation. But she should have known such a mail piece would have been perceived as being racist.
She exhibited an amazing lack of judgment and an insensitivity towards blacks fatal flaws in a judicial candidate.
There is no excuse. This is her third race for judge.
She claims the piece wasn’t targeted at heavily-white precincts. Even if it was, I’m not sure such racism works today.
Another person commenting on Browardbeat.com made a good point: If someone doesn’t like blacks, they probably don’t like Jews either.
And if they were Jewish, they might be inclined to vote for a Levey Cohen without reading the ad.
Levey Cohen should apologize to McLawrence, who is a terrific candidate with some real life experience as I wrote here.
To my readers, thank you for educating me.
Buddy
October 21st, 2010 at 9:57 am
Good for you Buddy. To be honest I don’t know why any decent person would want to run for office – it’s such a dirty business.
October 21st, 2010 at 9:58 am
Well said, Buddy.
October 21st, 2010 at 10:34 am
Buddy:
I’m sorry. I disagree. There is nothing problematic about adjusting the color on political advertising.
http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/ac125/PhantomFauxtoshopper/MardiforJudgeBlackandWhite.jpg
It’s just normal practice.
Big fan Buddy,
The Phantom
October 21st, 2010 at 10:42 am
Buddy,
I understand and respect your views past and present on Mardi. But, with all due respect, why doesn’t McLawrence deserve the same criticism when he put his name on the ballot as FJ, when he has never used that name professionally or otherwise. You were critical of Breslaw and Levine for doing the same thing. The name change coupled with the fact that he uses signs with his picture in black communities and no picture campaign signs everywhere else, certainly is as bad as what Cohen is doing. No, I am not saying Cohen is right. Fair is fair and they both should be called out for playing games with race and prejudices.
October 21st, 2010 at 2:00 pm
If someone doesn’t like blacks, they probably don’t like Jews either.
—
What about those Jews who despise blacks as (I believe the Yiddish phrase is) “little shvartzes”? Let’s not pretend bigotry is a 100% goy problem.
October 21st, 2010 at 8:42 pm
The piece is not racist.
“But she should have known such a mail piece would have been perceived as being racist.”
So, you were turned around because she should have realized others would misperceive racism.
When someone properly uses the word “niggardly,” that professor should be censured because it sounds like a racial epithet? But, it’s not.
Perhaps we should up the discourse.
Mardi Cohen used poor judgment when she allowed her husband, a sitting judge, to call her to testify in a motion to disqualify him.
We should not surrender our logic for “correctness.”
October 21st, 2010 at 10:20 pm
I thought you were independent however you have proved yourself a clone of loudmouths Howard Finkelstein and Bill Gelin. Shame.
October 22nd, 2010 at 10:37 am
Avalos did the same tatic with Ian Richards. The voters of Broward County figured out how racist and mean spirited she was as a cop/judge. Broward County voters voted her out of office. Before, you say how much work she did in the community going to Girl Scouts with her daugthers doesn’t count.
You backed Seidman a cop and prosecutor in a robe. Who is trying to hijack the justice system and deny innocent people justice.
http://jaablog.jaablaw.com/2010/10/20/pd-to-tobin-move-seidman-now.aspx#comment-3827591
Let’s get one thing perfectly straight. This kind of tactic has no place in a judicial election. It was wrong when Catalina Avalos tried it against Ian Richards http://jaablog.jaablaw.com/2008/08/27/was-the-cost-worth-it.aspx , and it’s even worse now, following long overdue reforms currently sweeping the courthouse and the historic 2010 primary.
FROM BUDDY:
I have no idea who you mean when you write “You backed Seidman…” I backed no one in the past election in that race. In the last few weeks I have written two stories exposing Seidman’s horrendous conduct on the bench.
What makes the 2010 primary “historic?” Every incumbent got reelected.
Although I do not approve of the advertising piece Avalos used, there is a difference between her race and Levey Cohen’s race. Avalos was running against a candidate who made a deliberate effort to hide he was black. McLawrence has not hidden his race.
October 22nd, 2010 at 11:06 am
Richards never hide his race from anyone. How can he hide his race when he is at your door asking for your vote?
His website (website had way over ten thousand hits)on his signs , mailers and campaign materials had his picture on it.
If you sat in Avalos courtroom and watch her any day you would see her true antics/colors.
Buddy do not hate Richards. He is better judge than Avalos.
October 23rd, 2010 at 10:58 am
Kudos to you Buddy for acknowledging your mistake.