Calley defends candidate who's maybe not racist, just ignorant

Cole

I have no interest in starting a war of words with Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, but I can't ignore a provocative column that appeared on the Petoskey News-Review website today.
Columnist Mark Pontoni wrote about Triston Cole, the northern Michigan right-wing Republican candidate for state House who lost out when Calley cancelled his scheduled appearance at a Cole fundraiser on Monday.
Calley said on Tuesday that his cancellation should not reflect on Cole. The lieutenant governor said it's unfair to criticize Cole due to the support he has from Republican National Committee member Dave Agema. The LG added that it's beyond the pale to suggest that Cole has any type of racist past.
Well, Pontoni presents a viewpoint that suggests Cole is cut right from the cloth of Agema, who is associated with homophobic and racist views.

After viewing an online, hour-long interview by the News-Review with Cole, Pontoni said he was dumfounded by the Mancelona farmer's inability to grasp issues. 
A tea party favorite, Cole said he and his friends had never seen discrimination against gays so who says it exists?
He supports cuts in food stamp payments because he once went into a 7-Eleven and saw people buying beef jerky and energy drinks with a Bridge card.
And he opposes a minimum wage hike because business owners who employ teenagers are already engaged in "babysitting" of their workers.

These are summations, of course, but here is Pontoni's big-picture takeaway from the overall Cole interview:
"Watching this man, who wants to represent a large portion of northern Michigan, stumble and bumble his way through the interview almost made me feel sorry for him. Riding a wave of tea party support, Mr. Cole ...is uniquely unqualified to represent the vast majority of northern Michigan citizens."
Wow. Maybe Pontoni discovered the real reason why Calley stayed away from Monday's fundraiser for Cole.