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ERLANGER - The racially charged overtones of the Democratic presidential primary has ensnarled Congressman Geoff Davis after a comment he made about Barack Obama during a Saturday night speech.
During his talk at Saturday's Fourth District Lincoln/Reagan Day Dinner in Boone County, Davis, a Hebron Republican seeking re-election, made the following comment when questioning the national security credentials and experience of Obama, an African-American from Illinois:
"I'm going to tell you something: That boy's finger does not need to be on the button," Davis said. "He could not make a decision in that simulation that related to a nuclear threat to this country."
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Davis is taking criticism because referring to an African-American as a "boy" is considered by many as racist and pejorative.
But Davis campaign spokesman said Davis misspoke and was not directing a racist statement at Obama but instead calling into question his qualifications for office.
"He simply misspoke," said Jeremy Hughes, Davis' campaign spokesman.
Scott Jennings of Louisville, a national Republican strategist and former Special Assistant to the President, attended Saturday's dinner and said Davis was making a valid point with his comment about Obama's experience.
"However poor a word choice it was, anyone who knows Geoff Davis knows that he wasn't making a comment about race, but rather about national security, an issue on which he is expert," Jennings said.
"I've known Geoff Davis for a number of years and he is, above all, someone who believes that all citizens are equal," he said. "Every politician has 'oops' moments, but poor word choice is usually just that - a poor choice of words, and nothing more. Geoff Davis, a decorated military officer who served alongside people of all races and backgrounds, is certainly not a racist, and anyone who alleges otherwise is trying to score cheap political points."
The dinner, one of the largest Northern Kentucky GOP events of the year, drew a crowd of about 400 to the Cincinnati Airport Marriott Hotel.
In the same speech, Davis recognized two employees of the hotel's wait staff who became U.S. citizens after escaping war torn Bosnia in the 1990s. Davis also presented Meliha and Senad Sahdan with a United States flag flown over the Capitol Building.
"The speech was well-received by those who heard it," Hughes said.
Davis and his oldest daughter, Becky, have served the African American-community as a mentor in inner-city Cincinnati schools.
The comment was posted Saturday on Bluegrass Bulletin.com, a blog written by Marcus Carey, a former Fourth District GOP chairman who attended the dinner.
"I have never heard Congressman Davis speak in any way which would suggest a racial prejudice, bias or hatred," Carey wrote. "And yet, in this highly charged environment where discussions about race are commonplace, there seems to have developed a hypersensitivity to the words being spoken by candidates and others."
The comment was also reported on PolWatchers, the Lexington Herald-Leader politics blog.
Campbell County Democratic Party Chairman Ken Mullikin said he could "not believe" Davis would make such a comment.
"When you get somebody in an emotionally charged situation they speak what is on their mind," Mullikin said. "That comment clearly shows what Geoff Davis really believes about African-Americans."
But Northern Kentucky Republicans strongly disagree that Davis is a racist. They said it is Obama who has slammed small town America and working class people with his recent comments that those voters are "bitter" and clinging to guns and religion.
"Geoff Davis is absolutely not a racist," said Fourth District GOP Chairman Kevin Sell of Alexandria, who attended Saturday's dinner but said this morning he does not recall Davis using the word "boy" to describe Obama.
"I've known this man since 2001, and have campaigned with him," Sell said. "This is a man of integrity. All he was doing in that speech was questioning the experience of a candidate and the defense of our country. There was no question about that."
http://news.nky.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20080414/NEWS0103/304150022&nocache=1
I'd be willing to give Davis the benefit of the doubt, but I can honestly say I don't ever, ever recall hearing a congressperson refer to another congressperson as "boy" (or "girl" for that matter). It's a too infrequently used word in the given context to be a mere slip of the tongue.
Christ, b/w Davis' "boy" in my neck of the words (he's my distrct's Representative) and Bill "Barack Hussein Obama" Cunningham just to my north in Cincinnati, I'm surrounded by racist
