Jim Purcell is full of shit

If you don't like the beating Jim Purcell has been taking on this blog, I suggest you don't read this post.

Jim Purcell has taken a great deal of heat since he twisted the racial conversation that has been going on here at MoreMonmouthMusings. He made it front page news for three weeks in a row and stopped publishing my column. He tried to smear me as a racist and tried to destroy my political and professional affiliations. He did this for his own political agenda and to sell newspapers. He sold out his papers for a few weeks, but he sold out his own integrity in the process and his struggling bird cage liner is in deep doo doo.

Purcell has asked several people to approach me about backing off or toning it down. In his column in The Courier Caliendo Crier, he either misses the point of why he is getting such heat, or he is trying to believe his own BS. He again says my objective was to make the use of the word nigger acceptable in the main stream lexicon. He knows I never advocated that and that I don't advocate that. He suggests that I have been trying to re-package 400 years of black experience, which is utter nonsense. He points out that the Bayshore is a place where Confederate flags, White Power T-Shirts and apprehension about blacks and Hispanics can be found, yet fails to point out that I have been a critic of these activities, because he is still trying to demonize me for his own political agenda.

Purcell slams Monmouth County as racist because he's gotten heat and I've gotten support. He's disgraceful. He says,

"Someone who is having such a high old time using the n-word very casually and conversationally in the Bayshore might try using that same speech just as casually in other parts of this state where there is great diversity- and see how it goes for them. In fact, the leaders supporting this "racial discussion" vocally or silently might ask themselves if this support is the kind of thing they want on their resumes. Because outside the small sphere of Monmouth, such nonsense would not be tolerated. Homogeneous communities are not going to be more prolific. And, supporting the use of slurs as common speech is betting on the wrong side of history."

Again, Purcell's premise is faulty because no one in this debate, especially me, is advocating the casual use of slurs. But Purcell can't give that up without realizing what a complete jerk he has been in this process.

I wonder if Purcell knows of any diverse communities in New Jersey. Let me suggest the Hidden Lake development in North Brunswick, or East Orange, on the border of Glen Ridge in Essex County, where I used to live. Purcell has no experience in diverse communities and has no commitment to racial harmony. If he did, he wouldn't be writing about me as if I was the problem.

He doesn't give a hoot about racial harmony. His sole purpose in life is to defeat Middletown Republicans because his bosses didn't get their development and because he would rather blame his former friends for the failure of his career than to look in the mirror.

Purcell complains that he is getting pressure to reinstate my column, as if I would actually give it to him again. I was never attached to the column. I wrote it because Jim asked me too. He promised me syndication and income opportunities which I didn't take seriously and were never forthcoming. Several times over the 10 months I wrote columns for his paper, Purcell told me he was getting heat over the column. Gordon Bishop complained that I was stealing his spotlight. Local Democrats were concerned that my criticism of Trenton Democrats would hurt them electorally. Each time I told Purcell I'd stop writing.

While it was fun to write and the feedback from the community was gratifying, it was never a big deal and some weeks it was a burden to write. Purcell still wanted it and still wanted to piggy back on the success of this blog. When I indicated here on the blog, and in conversation with him, that I was going to use the space to counter the paper's editorial policy of defeating Middletown Republicans, Purcell chose to attempt to demonize me. Had he simply told me the truth, "Art, I can't run your column because Big Joe and I are doing everything we can to defeat Peter Carton, Gerry Scharfenberger,Joe Kyrillos and Judith Stanley-Coleman and you're in the way of that" he still would have taken some heat, but nothing like what he has been experiencing and will continue to experience until he takes another job.

Purcell reveals his purpose and his alliances at the end of his column whimper over all the heat he has taken. He thanks the Azzolina and Scaduto families, Victor Scudiery, Lorenzo Dangler, Carolyn Schwebel, Joe Caliendo and Pat Walsh for their support and kind words.

What do all those people have in common? They all want to see Democrats take control of Middletown.