Update: Bartley has gone on Twitter and given a thorough apology for his unfortunate comment.
The VTGOP’s “victory coordinator” Jeff Bartley had himself a nice relaxing Sunday evening, kickin’ back and watching the Giants and Cowboys face off in hard-hittin’ NFL action. And, being a young, tech-savvy pre-Millennial, he occupied his spare moments by live-Tweeting the events.
Including, sadly, this little number.
Dez Bryant is a monkey:
— Jeffrey Bartley (@JeffreyBartley) November 24, 2014
In the words of the great philosopher Scoobus Doobus, “Ruh-roh.”
Jeff might be too Vermonty to realize that calling a black man a “monkey” is kinda-sorta askin’ for trouble. And he might be too young to recall that a similar comment played a big role in ending Howard Cosell’s Monday Night Football career.
Your move, Jeff. “I apologize to anyone who may have been offended…”?
The Vermont Political Observer. 
Like others, I’ve followed Mr. Bartley’s pratfalls you’ve shared over the years. However, tweeting racist language is a new low for a guy who holds the prestigious VTGOP Victory Director and Colchester Selectman titles. How tone-deaf is this guy? How does the VTGOP keep him on the payroll? Bossmen Super Dave Sunderland & Phil Scott okay with this?? Republicans fight the stigma of not being tolerant to minorities and one of the leaders of the Party is calling black guys monkeys? Good grief what’s next, women should be seen and not heard? Next up, Bartley’s in-depth analysis “Ferguson: Negroes need to calm down”.
Watch, he’ll claim ignorance and the Republicans will give him a pass. If the VTGOP had balls they’d relieve this guy from his duties before the monkeys start flying again.
He did post a pretty thorough apology on Twitter. He wouldn’t be the first Vermonter who was honestly ignorant about racial issues or implications because we live in such a homogeneous state. Which, of course, is all the more reason to take care and educate yourself, especially if you aspire to a career in politics.
OK, give him the benefit of the doubt that it genuinely didn’t occur to him. (I find that a little hard, but whatev). Seems to me that utter obliviousness to one of the core issues continuing to plague this country over the last several hundred years is disqualifying in and of itself for any public position. OK, we don’t have a big racial resentment issue in Vermont because there are so few non-whites here. But what, the man doesn’t read ever?
When one scratches a bit below the surface, Bartley’s faux apology doesn’t hold water. By looking at his twitter posts, he’s obviously a huge New York sports team fan. I suspect after a few Bud Lights Mr. Bartley was despondent over his beloved Giants losing to the Dallas Cowboys and called star Cowboy Dez Bryant a MONKEY as a derogatory term with obvious racist overtones. Regardless of claiming Woodchuck status, Bartley used the term as a negative toward an opponent. His mea culpa doesn’t pass the smell test, but that shouldn’t surprise anybody.