A native American news magazine has slammed the "ugly side" and "racist imagery" of the Scott Brown Senate campaign after staffers were caught on video yelling out "war whoops" and making "tomahawk chops" with their hands. Their target was the Cherokee heritage of Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren. A field coordinator for the state GOP, as well as Brown's constituent service counsel, state director, special assistant, and deputy chief of staff have all been identified on the tape. "The ugly side of this issue" and the "racist imagery" has been "with the campaign for months," complains the Indian Country Today Media Network, pointing to insults against Warren like calling her “Pinocchio-hontas.” Warren told the Boston Globe that she was "appalled" by the action, and that there would be "serious consequences" had her staffers behaved in such a way.
As for the rally, Brown told WCVB-TV that the behavior is "certainly something that I don't condone," but added that the "real offense" is what Warren has done. He has repeatedly attacked his Democratic challenger for telling past employers that she has Native American blood. Warren has said she never received any professional advantage from identifying herself as part Cherokee. Brown again attacks Warren on the issue in his latest political ad. At least one Cherokee doesn't know why it bothers Brown so much. “I wish every congressman and senator in the US had a kinship, or felt a kinship, to the Cherokee Nation," said Cherokee Chief Bill John Baker. (More Scott Brown stories.)