Still debating Stapleton’s great grandfather
Re: “The New York times kneecaps Walker Stapleton,” Jul 29 commentary
Yes, I am voting for Jared Polis for governor of Colorado. However, The New York Times piece that covered the activities of Walker Stapleton’s great grandfather in the Ku Klux Klan was inappropriate.
To tie Stapleton to someone whose actions are a good three generations removed is just wrong. This was a very low point for the Times and every bit as bad as those who promulgated the “Obama is a Muslim” lie. Letap show some human decency toward Stapleton.
Mike Filion, Denver
Op-ed writer Mario Nicolais states that a recent New York Times article “kneecapped” Republican gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton, by associating him with his Klu Klux Klan leader great grandfather, Benjamin Stapleton. Nicolais claims the sins of the great grandfather should not be visited on his gubernatorial-aspirant great grandson.
That would be true had not Stapleton wanted it both ways: he has in past campaign ads extolled the accomplishments of his Denver mayor forebear, which were considerable, while conveniently omitting that the elder Stapleton was a leader of the Colorado Klan.
Now, after Benjamin Stapleton’s Klan leadership has become public knowledge, Stapleton’s TV spots never mention his great grandfather at all, as if Stapleton has no memory of the man. Benjamin Stapleton? Never heard of him. So Walker Stapleton got exactly what was coming to him, a thorough outing by, as Nicolais sneeringly calls the Times, “The Gray Lady.”
Robert Cooperman, Denver
