Al Lipscomb Apologizes....Sort Of

As I reported previously, during last week's Dallas City Council debate concerning the "strong-mayor" change to the city charter, local gadfly Al Lipscomb made remarks comparing Mayor Laura Miller (who is Jewish) to Adolf Hitler and the strong-mayor provision to the Holocaust.

Now Lipscomb has come back with an "apology" of sorts....

"I write this to try to diffuse or stop the erroneous perception of my analysis of the proposal for a strong-mayor system of government in Dallas.

I never demeaned or trivialized the horror of the Holocaust, and I definitely should have used a different analogy, other than the Holocaust, to depict the power grab.

I have written a personal note of apology to Dallas City Council member Mitchell Rasansky and his family (Ed. - Rasansky is Jewish and protested Lipscomb's analogy during the Council meeting). For almost 40 years, I have had the unwavering support of the Jewish community in my efforts to ensure that there was equal justice for all in Dallas. I want to assure all Dallas citizens that my ill-suited choice of words does not in any way reflect my personal belief or feelings toward any ethnic group here or anywhere else on God's earth.

Also, I would like for all citizens of Dallas, on both sides of the Trinity, to come together to do what is in the best interests of everyone in Dallas."

Memo to Lipscomb: What you did was not even close to an "analysis" -- it was flat-out, blatant, rhetoric that bore no link whatsoever to the reality involved, was done purely for effect, and based from the fact that you were reading off notes, planned well in advance. Furthermore, you have only said that you should have used a different analogy, NOT that you are sorry for using the one that you did.

Furthermore, we know full well why you are writing this to the Morning News one week after the fact -- because, as columnist Jacquielynn Floyd wrote, the whole city was watching the "crazy uncle" of Dallas politics verbally berate Mayor Miller with the worst possible slurs that can be laid against a Jew and a political.....as she sat there quietly, smiling to herself, fiddling with a pen, not turning red or screaming back at you. SHE looked mayoral and professional -- just the kind of person Dallas would want as a "strong mayor" running City Hall. YOU looked like an idiot -- and, under the current system, everyone knows that the idiots like you are the ones who run City Hall.

In short, Mr. Lipscomb, in just a few minutes, you did more damage to the OPPOSITION to the strong-mayor petition than you did to those who support it. To that, I say congratulations...and, on behalf of all of us who support the strong-mayor proposal...thank you. :)