City Councilman Brian Maienschein wasn’t going to say anything. But after several critics came forward to lambaste the council for thinking about appointing Council President Scott Peters to the Port Commission, Maienschein told his colleagues he had to speak.
He offered a soliloquy that tied criticisms of Peters to criticisms of Michelle Obama’s red-and-black dress on election night. Here’s as much as I could scribble down of what he said:
It’s very easy to come down here and say hateful things about somebody, especially when that person can’t respond. That’s an easy thing to do, you get the microphone for three minutes, you get to be on TV and do that. It’s unfortunate that that’s the case, but that’s what it is and it should be recognized as such. That’s should be noted.
No matter how you voted, Barack Obama’s election last week was historic, Maienschein said. He continued:
I remember the next day seeing 2,500 blogs criticizing Michelle Obama’s dress. It’s really remarkable that someone would take the time to sit down at a computer and say her dress is ugly on a night like that. That’s part of it. I think it’s also fair to say that people who do that are really missing the point. It’s not about her dress. Nothing could be sillier than that. Some of the comments today — hatefulness and meanness is driving it. That needs to be recognized for what it is. That’s what I’m going to say.
A vote is coming. More soon.