The saga surrounding Kansas State Representative Bill Otto (R – 9th District) continues to be played out in the media. Here on Forward Kansas, I broke the news that last month Bill Otto posted a video entitled “RedNeck Rap” on YouTube.
Throughout the week, as the story gained traction and the criticism over Otto’s racist remarks mounted, State Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley commented on how this was another example in a history of racism on the part of Otto. In the last 24 hours, most major media outlets have reported on Otto’s video and the surrounding controversy.
Otto’s daughters took the video down out of their dislike of their father being called a racist.
As we in Kansas know too well, Bill Otto can’t sit by and let others have the last word. He reposted the “RedNeck Rap” video on YouTube with a new special message at the beginning. Instead of being apologetic about his remarks, he instead gives an incoherent and hypocritical response to his critics. Here is the “RedNeck Rap” with the new beginning:
After listening to the opening of the new video, I’m left wondering where is the apology? Otto doesn’t even recognize that his comments were racist. A research director from the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that keeps a close eye on incidents of prejudice and discrimination in America, has even said that Otto’s video is in a long line of incidents of criticism leveled at President Obama that are “racially tinged.”
Bill Otto seems more worried that his proud Ozarkian heritage as a “hillbilly” might be confused with his original description of the rap as “redneck.” Otto also says that we should just forget the phrase “redneck” in his rap and think of hillbillies or cavemen.
However, in most Americans eyes hillbillies and rednecks are synonymous with each other. He doesn’t address the previous claims of racism on his part. Otto can’t even form a coherent excuse, let alone an apology. At least Lynn Jenkins gave the famous “I apologize if I offended anyone” line. He also says that he is trying to bring some humor, like Will Rogers did in the Great Depression. Bill Otto should know that Rogers used humor that brought people together, not by being distasteful and discriminatory.
Instead of a mea culpa, he continues to drive his radical right wing agenda with dubious claims. He says that Congresspeople need to read the bills before their passed, even though he advocated cutting programs (mostly minority advocacy groups) of which he had no prior knowledge of their functions or budgets. He says that the criticism in the video was meant to be directed at Congress, however, the entire rap is directed towards President Obama.
Bill Otto even tells President Obama that “talking to little kids ain’t your order.” I, myself, witnessed Bill Otto talking to school children at a Kids Voting Kansas Candidates’ Forum in September 2008, where he explained his stance on the issues. Bill Otto talks politics to kids and that’s OK, but President Obama can’t give a speech about the importance of staying in school.
This is hypocritical of Representative Otto. The hypocrisy doesn’t end there. Otto claims he’s not a racist, and that it is similar to calling someone a Communist in the 1950s. Otto obviously has missed the fact that he and his own party continue the same red baiting strategies to this day.
Otto continually claimed throughout the Sunflower coal plant debate that former Governor Kathleen Sebelius and the Democrats’ ultimate goal was to invoke a socialist power grab of the Western Kansas farmers’ land. He finally claims that even a redneck understands that we can’t spend $1.4 trillion more per year than we take in. I will not disagree, but this is not President Obama’s debt, this debt lands straight on the front step of the Republican Party. Between the two quagmires in the Middle East, the disastrous Medicare drug plan, the $1.3 trillion tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, and other unfunded mandates, at this time we can hardly blame President Obama for this deficit.
Bill Otto is a walking contradiction. He can hardly form a coherent response to anything. If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a million times over, Bill Otto is not a representative of the Kansas I know. He’s very ineffective as a legislator. Otto is even a joke to most Republicans, that’s why he’s always challenged in the Republican primaries. Now, Bill Otto has brought upon the national spotlight on his ridiculous antics. He is an embarassment to the state of Kansas and the district he represents.
However, I’m afraid the lesson won’t be learned on the part of Kansas Republicans. Bigotry is a tough trick to unlearn. This is why the progressives in this state must rally their support to unseat the radicals and take our state back so that we can move forward to the future.
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