With no John Street left to play footsie with — and clearly having backed the wrong candidate when she cozied up to Tom Knox — it’s not surprising that Jannie Blackwell‘s hammerlock-hold on old-school City Council bullshit is starting to come undone. According to the Metro, Blackwell took an opportunity yesterday in Council to, uh, “confront the haters.” The result was a three-pronged classic unravelling. See if you can spot the batshit:

Blackwell complained that the media, particularly the Daily News [1], has painted her as an “obstruction” to progress and said “it takes two to tango” [2] over and over again, though we’re not exactly sure why. Blackwell also said that her responsibility to her West Philly district supersedes all, and that she “isn’t just going to sit back and take something pushed at” her. Like the Youth Study Center, you mean?
Blackwell’s basic point was that she’s no obstructionist, and the media is working overtime to paint her in a negative light, even as her district continues to improve rapidly. She drove the point home (we think) by quoting from Ephesians 4 (“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace”) [3].

Nice. This one’s pretty easy, so everyone else on the edge of irrelevance in city politics, you might wanna take notes:
1. Blaming the media, even if they are to blame — and in this case, that is not so — never works. Especially if it’s the Daily News. Sorry, Jannie.
2. Every great meltdown needs a catchphrase. On first look, “it takes two to tango” may have no relevance here whatsoever, but as a catchphrase, it’s gold: Exciting, ominous, perhaps even a little threatening. You’re doing good work here, Councilwoman.
3. Ephesians! Holy shit! (Literally.) Now that you’ve got the Bible involved, hell, the playing field is yours. More please. Please?
Metropolis: Don’t Hate, Congratulate

This entry was posted on Friday, October 5th, 2007 at 10:49 am.