Do you feel bad for Kwame Kilpatrick? Could he have gone national?

[Suburbia]

We all remember former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, son of a black big city political family dynasty, a man who could have been a national contender one day if not for his stupid political and personal errors. Remember him? Kilpatrick was Detroit mayor from 2002 until his resignation in 2008.

Very well dressed and charismatic, he is now in jail.

Do you feel bad? Could he have gone national?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdU5AZ0BDTk

https://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2018/06/kwame_kilpatrick_transferred_t.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_3DmqCvVgs

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

no?

I tend to not feel bad for politicians who hold vast political power, prestige, and often wealth than the average American can dream of.

It goes without saying that that's especially true for those who use their power for bribery and extortion, especially in a city that's as problemed and in need of good leadership as Detroit.

[Bojack Horseman]

No. Not in the slightest. Kwame was the mayor for the bulk of the part of my childhood that I was old enough to remember, and growing up in the Metro Detroit TV market, his scandals were on the news every single day. It could be a slow news day where nothing was going on and there would be yet another scandal out of the mayor’s office. From the money he stole to the sexcapades he covered up to the stripper he had murdered, Kwame got exactly what he deserved with his 25 year prison sentence and he shouldn’t be released one day early.

[OSR stands with Israel]

No. Not in the slightest. Kwame was the mayor for the bulk of the part of my childhood that I was old enough to remember, and growing up in the Metro Detroit TV market, his scandals were on the news every single day. It could be a slow news day where nothing was going on and there would be yet another scandal out of the mayor’s office. From the money he stole to the sexcapades he covered up to the stripper he had murdered, Kwame got exactly what he deserved with his 25 year prison sentence and he shouldn’t be released one day early.

Wait what

[Terry the Fat Shark]

Never heard of him tbh

[Adam Griffin]

Knew this was a bronz thread before I clicked, because the sheer inanity of it is so substantial.

[ON Progressive]

Knew this was a bronz thread before I clicked, because the sheer inanity of it is so substantial.

[Antonio the Sixth]

No. Not in the slightest. Kwame was the mayor for the bulk of the part of my childhood that I was old enough to remember, and growing up in the Metro Detroit TV market, his scandals were on the news every single day. It could be a slow news day where nothing was going on and there would be yet another scandal out of the mayor’s office. From the money he stole to the sexcapades he covered up to the stripper he had murdered, Kwame got exactly what he deserved with his 25 year prison sentence and he shouldn’t be released one day early.

Wait what

Yeah what the christ

[Bojack Horseman]

No. Not in the slightest. Kwame was the mayor for the bulk of the part of my childhood that I was old enough to remember, and growing up in the Metro Detroit TV market, his scandals were on the news every single day. It could be a slow news day where nothing was going on and there would be yet another scandal out of the mayor’s office. From the money he stole to the sexcapades he covered up to the stripper he had murdered, Kwame got exactly what he deserved with his 25 year prison sentence and he shouldn’t be released one day early.

Wait what

Yeah what the christ

Several months after he was sworn in, Kwame held a wild party at the mayor’s mansion that included strippers. His wife came home and physically assaulted one of the strippers out of rage for what her husband was doing. A few months later, one of the strippers, Tamara “Strawberry” Greene, was short to death drive-by style while she was sitting at a red light. The ballistics test determined the gun used was the exact same model that Detroit PD officers are issued for their sidearms, and the DPD announced that it was a planned hit. No one was ever arrested for the crime, but it’s not hard to figure out why this woman with politically damaging information had to die.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Kilpatrick#The_murder_of_Tamara_Greene

[pbrower2a]

No. Not in the slightest. Kwame was the mayor for the bulk of the part of my childhood that I was old enough to remember, and growing up in the Metro Detroit TV market, his scandals were on the news every single day. It could be a slow news day where nothing was going on and there would be yet another scandal out of the mayor’s office. From the money he stole to the sexcapades he covered up to the stripper he had murdered, Kwame got exactly what he deserved with his 25 year prison sentence and he shouldn’t be released one day early.

I'm not so sure about the stripper. If she was also a prostitute, then she took a very dangerous choice as a way of making a living. Auto racing and Big Cat taming are both safer.

I also live in Michigan. I remember my father using Kwame Kirkpatrick as a reason to not vote for Barack Obama because Obama was a Chicago pol and Chicago is almost as corrupt as Detroit. (Truth be told, the Chicago machine wanted Obama out of Chicago politics as early as possible, and got its wish. We got stuck with him as a result -- and we got a good one. The only thing wrong about Obama was that he is black, which may have kept him from getting the recognition that he deserved among people whose racism still polarizes America). Obama would have been a terror as a rackets-busting DA or federal judge who got to hear corruption cases. He's one of those merciless "do the crime - do the time" types that mobsters and corrupt politicians dread -- like Kim Worthy in Detroit, who took Kwame Krookpatrick down in a court of law.
 
When he was on the front page of Detroit newspapers every day for his shortcomings I frequently mocked Kwame Kirkpatrick as Kwame "Krookpatick" for his corruption. He was monstrously corrupt, and he illustrates what is possible under single-Party government with no meaningful opposition. Donald Trump is far more like Kwame "Krookpatrick" than like the admirable Barack Obama.

Also worth remembering: although big-city mayors may have responsibilities that the governor of a small state might not have, big-city mayors typically lack the breadth of experience that a President needs as preparation. This is not to say that such types as Richard Lugar or George Voinovich (as mayors of Indianapolis and Cleveland) would not have been fine Presidents. We would have been better off with either of them than with Dubya. Of course, both became Senators. Most Presidents have been Governors or Senators before becoming President even if the Vice-Presidency or a cabinet post intervenes. Governors and Senators must address issues not strictly urban to have national credibility. Congressional Representatives? They typically involve themselves in local issues except in states with three electoral votes -- and as a rule, those states with three electoral votes are either fairly homogeneous (Montana, Vermont, Wyoming) or have one dominant community (Delaware).  With few exceptions, Presidents who do not have experience as Governors or Senators do not get re-elected.  This applies even when Senators were appointed by state legislators. The sole exception in the last century is Dwight Eisenhower, who (I think) is the most similar President to Obama in temperament and overall competence and integrity. Trump already looks like an explanation of why that rule works to an extreme extent. 

 

[Wisconsin SC Race 2019]

LMAO, perfect example of why ghetto politics don't work.

[OSR stands with Israel]

No. Not in the slightest. Kwame was the mayor for the bulk of the part of my childhood that I was old enough to remember, and growing up in the Metro Detroit TV market, his scandals were on the news every single day. It could be a slow news day where nothing was going on and there would be yet another scandal out of the mayor’s office. From the money he stole to the sexcapades he covered up to the stripper he had murdered, Kwame got exactly what he deserved with his 25 year prison sentence and he shouldn’t be released one day early.

I'm not so sure about the stripper. If she was also a prostitute, then she took a very dangerous choice as a way of making a living. Auto racing and Big Cat taming are both safer.

I also live in Michigan. I remember my father using Kwame Kirkpatrick as a reason to not vote for Barack Obama because Obama was a Chicago pol and Chicago is almost as corrupt as Detroit. (Truth be told, the Chicago machine wanted Obama out of Chicago politics as early as possible, and got its wish. We got stuck with him as a result -- and we got a good one. The only thing wrong about Obama was that he is black, which may have kept him from getting the recognition that he deserved among people whose racism still polarizes America). Obama would have been a terror as a rackets-busting DA or federal judge who got to hear corruption cases. He's one of those merciless "do the crime - do the time" types that mobsters and corrupt politicians dread -- like Kim Worthy in Detroit, who took Kwame Krookpatrick down in a court of law.
 
When he was on the front page of Detroit newspapers every day for his shortcomings I frequently mocked Kwame Kirkpatrick as Kwame "Krookpatick" for his corruption. He was monstrously corrupt, and he illustrates what is possible under single-Party government with no meaningful opposition. Donald Trump is far more like Kwame "Krookpatrick" than like the admirable Barack Obama.

Also worth remembering: although big-city mayors may have responsibilities that the governor of a small state might not have, big-city mayors typically lack the breadth of experience that a President needs as preparation. This is not to say that such types as Richard Lugar or George Voinovich (as mayors of Indianapolis and Cleveland) would not have been fine Presidents. We would have been better off with either of them than with Dubya. Of course, both became Senators. Most Presidents have been Governors or Senators before becoming President even if the Vice-Presidency or a cabinet post intervenes. Governors and Senators must address issues not strictly urban to have national credibility. Congressional Representatives? They typically involve themselves in local issues except in states with three electoral votes -- and as a rule, those states with three electoral votes are either fairly homogeneous (Montana, Vermont, Wyoming) or have one dominant community (Delaware).  With few exceptions, Presidents who do not have experience as Governors or Senators do not get re-elected.  This applies even when Senators were appointed by state legislators. The sole exception in the last century is Dwight Eisenhower, who (I think) is the most similar President to Obama in temperament and overall competence and integrity. Trump already looks like an explanation of why that rule works to an extreme extent. 

 

I would say Chicago is more corrupt than Detriot, but Detriot is worse in other areas such as the economy and quality of life.

[Technocracy Timmy]

LMAO, perfect example of why ghetto politics don't work.

You’re only 3 pant sags and 4 sideways hats comments away from just outright calling them the n word.

Keep going!

[Fuzzy Says: "Abolish NPR!"]

Kilpatrick could never have gone national.  To be the Black Mayor of Detroit, an overwhelmingly Black city that, fairly or not, is perceived as a city that failed as its white population fled, requires taking political positions and engaging in political rhetoric that will be beneficial at home, but will provide, however unfairly, soundbite fodder for your opponent in an election where you have to face a more diverse electorate. 

Cory Booker was sort of in that situation, but Newark isn't Detroit; it's a city WITHIN the NYC Metro Area, and not THE City that defines the Metro Area.  Booker, as Newark Mayor, wasn't the pivotal figure on local news media the way Bloomberg and DeBlasio were, whereas the Mayor of Detroit is the key local figure featured on Metro Detroit TV.  Booker was also perceived as a Mayor who cleaned up the mess left by his predecessor, Sharpe James.  Kilpatrick, even if he hadn't been corrupt, was on a city that was, inevitably, spiraling downward, economically.  I believe that Detroit's bankruptcy was something that could not have been forestalled by anything short of the state of Michigan dissolving the city and assuming all of its debt.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

This is more proof of my personal theory that bronz is a reincarnation of Boss Tweed. Heartwarming that a love of ultra corrupt machine politicos can cross the racial barrier.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

No. Not in the slightest. Kwame was the mayor for the bulk of the part of my childhood that I was old enough to remember, and growing up in the Metro Detroit TV market, his scandals were on the news every single day. It could be a slow news day where nothing was going on and there would be yet another scandal out of the mayor’s office. From the money he stole to the sexcapades he covered up to the stripper he had murdered, Kwame got exactly what he deserved with his 25 year prison sentence and he shouldn’t be released one day early.

I'm not so sure about the stripper. If she was also a prostitute, then she took a very dangerous choice as a way of making a living. Auto racing and Big Cat taming are both safer.

Wtf is this victim blaming nonsense? Do you also react to news of firefighters or soldiers getting killed with "well, it's a dangerous job"?

[Del Tachi]

No lol

Big city mayors almost have 0% potential as national candidates anyway