A local New Hampshire Teablog called GraniteGrok ran a strange blog posting today called " An example of the low esteem in which Progressives hold others ".
It was based on a paragraph (quoted from an unspecified source out of any immediately intelligible context) about someone named Brenda Speaks who made some comments about shoplifters at Walmart which proved conclusively that all progressives are contemptuous of working people. I immediately wondered who is this Brenda Speaks who speaks for all of us progressives, presumably including me?
The paragraph was:
Brenda Speaks, a Ward 4 ANC commissioner, actually urged blocking construction of the planned store in her ward at Georgia and Missouri avenues NW partly because of that risk. Addressing a small, anti-Wal-Mart rally at City Hall on Monday, Speaks said young people would get criminal records when they couldn't resist the temptation to steal.
It turns out that it is not just GraniteGrok's Skip who has been dumping on Brenda Speaks. She has been villified all over the Teablogosphere in the past few days.
Who is she? Well, the (indirect) quote is from a op-ed piece in the February 10, 2011 Washington Post. There is a dispute over a plan to build Wal-Marts in the District proper. Mall-Wart has been in the surrounding suburbs for decades, but there are no stores in DC. The Ward 4B Advisory Neighborhood Comission is one of 37--- count 'em 37--- neighborhood councils. There are over 300 citizens who sit on those councils. Her job is important but her position is not exactly prominent.
Ironically, or maybe not so ironically, the bloggers who are dumping on Ms Speaks (it's not just Skip) missed out on the presence of an actual prominent progressive in the original Washington Post story. Former Clinton White House aide (and former communications director for several Democratic Presidential campaigns) Leslie Dach is now Wal-Mart's their chief lobbyist, and he has been working hard to get the DC stores built. Just for laughs, here is his official bio, which is impeccably liberal (aside from his work for Walmart, but hey! even Hillary Clinton has worked for Walmart):
Leslie A. Dach
Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Government Relations
Leslie Dach is Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Government Relations for Walmart. He is responsible for public policy, reputation management, corporate communications, philanthropy, government relations, and the company’s social responsibility and sustainability initiatives. He also manages the company’s global security, aviation and travel departments.
Before joining Walmart, Leslie was Vice Chairman of Edelman, a major global communications firm, where he led the Washington D.C. office, the company’s research, advertising, and corporate social responsibility consulting divisions and its global public affairs, crisis, technology, and healthcare practices.
Leslie has been active as a strategist in Democratic politics and worked in senior positions in a number of presidential campaigns. He served the Clinton administration in a variety of project capacities. Leslie has also served on the government relations staffs of the National Audubon Society and Environmental Defense Fund, and as special assistant to the chairman of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee.
Leslie has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Yale University and a master’s in public administration from Harvard University. He serves on the board of directors of the World Resources Institute and the United Negro College Fund.