L. Brooks Patterson: "In Beijing, they don’t have any Mexicans, so it’
Oakland County's chief executive might deserve credit for consistency, if only he weren't so consistently kooky.
L. Brooks Patterson's latest "there he goes again" performance came on "Michigan Matters," a CBS Detroit public affairs show. When host Carol Cain asked if he favors of a U.S.-Mexico border wall, the 77-year-old Republican said:
"Every other country has fences. . . .
"China built a wall 2,000 years ago. In Beijing, they don’t have any Mexicans, so it’s working."
L. Brooks Patterson: "In Beijing, they don’t have any Mexicans, so [the Great Wall] is working."
We're not making this up. Neither is Metro Times editor Dustin Blitchok, whose Tuesday afternoon blog post shares Patterson's unintended humor and the reaction of election challenger Vicki Barnett, a Democrat running to deny him a seventh term.
Patterson's non sequitur joke (as two readers suggest in comments below) about Beijing's lack of Mexicans drew an eye roll from fellow guest Denise Illitch, who glanced at Cain with a smirk.
Blitchok quotes a sentence of former state Rep. Barnett's reaction Monday on Facebook. Here's most of her post:
"Once again our Oakland County Executive shows his embarrassing intolerance and insensitivity!
"In yesterday's broadcast of Michigan Matters, host Carol Cain asks if Donald Trump should apologize to Michigan's Muslim community when in Detroit today. Brooks responds, 'What does he have to apologize for?'
"Amazingly, he then defends Trump's efforts to build a wall, proclaiming, 'China built a wall 2,000 years ago and in Beijing they don't have any Mexicans, so it's working.' It's clear that we need new leadership in Oakland."
Patterson, who was county prosecutor for 16 years, has been Oakland's top elected official since 1993.
