CT Gov. Makes Comments About ‘White Male Republicans,’ Danbury Mayor Reacts

According to the Patch, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont was speaking to NPR about the possibility of coronavirus passports and said:

These are the ways that people are beginning to think about the nature of a vaccination passport, or vaccination authentication, we've got to make sure we do it respecting civil liberties and people's privacy, but I think you are going to see a lot of innovative ideas coming out of it.

 

It will give a lot more people an incentive to get vaccinated. If you are a white male Republican and you feel a little grumpy about getting vaccinated, maybe NASCAR says you've got to be vaccinated to come in and see a race.

The Ethan and Lou Show asked a white male Republican NASCAR fan what he thought of the quote. That person was Danbury Mayor Joe Cavo. I (Lou Milano) read the quote to Mayor Cavo and this is what was said during the morning radio show interview:

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Lou: "Joe Cavo, you are a white, male, Republican, NASCAR fan. How does that make you feel?"

Cavo: "Well, you know I wonder sometimes where we come up with these ideas, I say to folks, do we sit and listen to ourselves? Do we think about what we're saying? You know, I think to pick on a group like white male Republicans about being grumpy about getting the vaccine, I haven't seen that. And, I don't know that, that necessarily is true. And so, you know to pick a group like that, I think the Governor should be encouraging everybody to get the vaccine and continue to work to get everybody vaccinated. You know, you do that through public education, you do that through public awareness. There's just so many better ways to promote this than to come up with something like that, so..."

Ethan: "So what you're saying is that maybe he should have paused and thought about how he was going to respond first?"

Cavo: "Absolutely, I think that's something that would require a tremendous amount of thought.

Look, when you get vaccinated, you get a card from the CDC that has your identification information on it and then it has the type of vaccine you got and the date you got it. And when you get your second vaccine, you bring that card with you and then that card sort of identifies that you've been vaccinated. For years, when we've gotten the flu shot and we get a card that says we've been vaccinated or a sheet of paper that says you've had the flu shot.

And so you bring that, if you didn't get it at your doctor's office, you got it at a CVS or Rite Aid, you just bring that to your doctor's office or you send a copy just so they know for your medical files that you've been vaccinated. It's normally the procedure on things like this.

I saw a great device the other day, a friend of mine who is a doctor has a wrist bracelet on, and what he did is he put the information from his card on his phone. And, when you touch the phone to the bracelet, your vaccination card comes up on your screen.

So you can have your card with you, but I don't get where we're picking on one particular group that might be grouchy about receiving the vaccine because I haven't found that to be true."

Lou: "We all understand stereotypes and how they work and there are some trigger words associated with different groups. And I think using NASCAR as an organization, I think we understand what he means there. I don't have to read too far through the lines, sometimes that's attached as a stereotype, he's calling you a redneck, he's calling you stupid and that's what it is and I never really cared for his arrogance and I don't. What is this what they teach in Harvard?

I know he went to Harvard, he's more brilliant than the rest of us so we couldn't understand what he meant because we didn't go to Harvard but I guess they teach you to talk about, you know just draw with broad strokes and generalize about race and your, you know, the kind of sport you like."

Cavo: "Right, and the things that we constantly fight against doing, the things we constantly say, you know have no place in our world today. And so I think we've all done things, we've all said things that you know, five minutes after we said them, we wish we could have retracted them. And, this may be one of those moments for the Governor.

It's hard sometimes when you are put on the spot, people are asking you questions and you try to come up with the right words and so things happen. So, I'm sure he would probably think back on this and say, probably not the best choice of words. But we'll have to see what happens with that."

Listen to the Ethan and Lou segment with Danbury Mayor Joe Cavo below.

Listen, I'm a big boy, I have no problem if the Governor wants to categorize people in such a broad manner, I don't care. But, I don't want to hear him get on his soapbox the next time someone he disagrees with starts categorizing the behavior or interests of Democrats.

Also, before you ask, I have listened to my radio show and I know we use certain stereotypes when storytelling. We don't operate using racial, sexual orientation or religious stereotypes but we certainly use age and gender stereotypes. When I say gender, I mean the differences between men and women and not gender identification.

It's true, it's a fact. We don't need to check the tape, it's a reality I am willing to be upfront with it, but I don't run the State of CT. If you want to categorize people, their behaviors and interests in such a lazy way, you get into radio or advertising, you don't run for Governor.

P.S. The "COVID-passport" being discussed throughout the Nutmeg State is exactly what it sounds like. It's some official form of vaccination I.D. that you would have to present to go certain places.

I don't have a problem with proving that I got the vaccine, I don't have a problem with getting vaccinated. I have a problem with the Governor going out of his way to say that all white male Republican are grumpy about the vaccine.

BELOW: The Greatest Hits of Ned Lamont segments on the Ethan and Lou Show:

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Lamont fired "MC One Con" - That's called sticking to your guns. MC One Con officially resigned.

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I'm not grumpy, you're grumpy.