Today, Bob Brady and his campaigners are celebrating Brady’s entrance into the Mayor’s race ‚Äî one long in coming, and promising to be one of the more visible campaigns of the quickly gathering May storm. To some, Brady is a peacemaker among unions, pols and wards frequently at odds; to others, he’s representative of a Philly Dem scene still oddly content with back room deals and letting unions swing entire elections. But today on our daily YouTube crawl, we noticed something utterly baffling to us. The clip at your right was posted yesterday by an account called “Ward34D” (Brady is the leader of Philly’s 34th Democratic Ward) and is titled “Bob Brady For Mayor Of Philadelphia.” Watch it for a few minutes, and you begin to feel something weird; set to DJ Kool’s “Let Me Clear My Throat,” the clip ruminates on a clip of Chaka Fattah speaking on the House floor, before moving to stock footage of young black men dancing in the street, then Mayor Street, then, absurdly, Mumia Abu-Jamal and stills from pro-Mumia rallies. Suddenly, Bob Brady’s face appears on the screen. The montage continues, until just about the end, where a legend bears: “THIS MAY, DO THE RIGHT THING,” followed by a shot of a “Fattah For Mayor” placard with “Fattah” x’ed out in spray-paint, and ammended: “Brady For Mayor.” Not to put too fine a point on it, it’s fucking weird. The imagery and sequence of the whole thing suggests a play on a racist’s worst nightmare; the video suggests that if Fattah were to be elected, Philadelphia would be overcome by an African-American presence, with dancing in the streets, and lots and lots of Mumia and Street. Or maybe we’re crazy. But we don’t think so. Whether or not this is in fact a video put up by the Brady campaign, we can’t say, but we doubt it. This feels like political suicide. So here’s the question: Where is this coming from, and who the hell is doing it? We’re presently looking into it, and promise to report what we find. Stay tuned.
Previously: Bob Brady Announces That He’ll Be Announcing A Very Special Announcement

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 25th, 2007 at 4:35 pm.