The N&O’s, um, *”bombshell”*: Campaign signs get defaced!
If you were one of the handful of people who browsed by The N&O’s website this weekend, you’ll see that they’ve been highlighting — as their top story — all weekend the defacement of a Raleigh City Council candidate’s campaign sign.
Of course, the candidate is Muslim, has an Arab-sounding name, and is pictured on the sign wearing a hijab. And, of course, in the heart of liberal Raleigh, someone had defaced her sign with the words “Trump” and “sand n***er” (without the letters censored). And, of course, it happens right in front of election day.
Now, I’ve been around politics nearly 30 years. Campaign signs have been getting stomped on, stolen, set afire and defaced long before I came along. 
Why is this episode so worthy of such prominent coverage?
I don’t remember the McClatchy folks getting this excited over the firebombing of the Orange County GOP HQ last year. (Of course, it’s hard to believe the GOP still has a pulse in Orange County. That’s kind of like opening up a Presbyterian Church in downtown Riyadh or Tehran.)
Anyway, this story got me thinking about the spate of fake hate crime allegations that has a been exploding since Donald Trump took office. National Review has noticed this trend, too. As has Fox News.
It’s happening in New York. And Michigan.
I know there is a national effort to paint Trump supporters as the second coming of Hitler’s brownshirts. (Even though Hitler’s crowd agreed more with modern American leftists than us conservatives. But that’s a whole other discussion.)
This candidate in Raleigh is one of SEVEN candidates seeking two seats on the council. What a great way to get attention, and some sympathy, in very-liberal, very-anti Trump Raleigh!
Throwing Trump’s name into the picture is like a dog whistle for the drive-by media. It fits right in with the whole Fourth Reich theme.
Screwing with other people’s campaign material is wrong on so many levels. It’s a totalitarian violation of free speech. If it’s not on your property, leave it alone.
Campaigns are for debating ideas. Not stomping the bejeezus out of someone who doesn’t see things your way.
I live in yellow-dog Republican Pinehurst. Democrats can all fit in a phone booth here. Yet, the few that are here try to bait the rest of us with Obama and Hillary and Kay Hagan signs. In most cases, the signs stay pristine. 
(There was a hubbub a few years back, though, that I think might have been more of a publicity stunt.)
If this is true, it’s another sad case of an idiot with too much time on their hands and a lack of respect for the rest of humanity. Finding someone to charge will be a long shot, I’m sure.
But if this turns out to be crap, this candidate needs to be put through the wringer. (So does the N&O. Even Stevie Wonder could see what they were trying to do by highlighting this story so much on their website.)
This is the kind of garbage that gins up anger in people, divides us even further, and can lead to an escalation of bad conduct.
It’s probably the candidate herself, or someone connected to her campaign. What better way to distinguish your candidacy from a crowded field than to make yourself a target of a hate crime? She knows the media will be all over it – assuming she’s not colluding with them altogether – she’ll gain sympathy for weathering the storm of religious persecution, and stupid liberals will turn out in record numbers just to punish those deplorable Trumpsters.
This is exactly what I thought? Why would someone who actually wants to deface the sign put Trump on it? I can see the second phrase as more in line with the type of act, but not putting Trump on it. It definitely smells of trying to hype up the leftist hate. Also, I think if it was a third party that was trying to hinder the campaign they would just steal the signs instead of vandalizing them.