The Problem Isn’t Just McCain’s Racist Tweet, but Conservatives Defending Racism

By: Sarah Jones/politicususa

John McCain tweeted, “So Ahmadinejad wants to be first Iranian in space – wasn’t he just there last week?” In this tweet, he linked to a story about Iran launching a monkey into space. After some backlash, McCain pulled out his “I was just joking, lighten up” card, which is crumbling from over-use but this is John McCain.

Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) tweeted, “Maybe you should wisen (sic) up & not make racist jokes. “@SenJohnMcCain: Re: Iran space tweet – lighten up folks, can’t everyone take a joke?”

It’s true that John McCain can’t get out of the locker room long enough to realize how inappropriate he can be. McCain is known for making tasteless “jokes” while taking great umbrage at things he imagines others did or said.

George W. Bush supporter John Podhoretz, also a columnist for the New York Post and a speechwriter for former President Ronald Reagan as well as former President George H.W. Bush, stepped into the fray in order to defend McCain by explaining that it’s okay to be a racist against an anti-semite, “How dare McCain say something demeaning & disparaging abt the foremost anti-Semite on the planet.” He added, “So…it’s defend-the-Jew-hater-from-the-war-hero day.”

Podhoretz isn’t the most rational guy in the world, but then what do you expect from someone who called W “the first great leader of the 21st century”. He has defined anti-semitism as Pat Buchannan calling Israel’s military action “Un-Christian” (talk about a war between reactionaries). “You want to know what anti-Semitism is? When Pat Buchanan calls Israel’s military action ‘un-Christian’, that’s anti-Semitism.” So those are his standards for what he sees as “his side”.

What is really telling is how Podhoretz justified McCain’s “joke”. It’s hard to stand tall against anti-semitism while concurrently justifying racism. Some people don’t seem to get this, but racism is the same mechanism as anti-semitism and it’s used for the same purposes. In other words, children, if you don’t want it done to you, don’t do it to others. Calling someone a “Jew-hater” does not excuse you from upholding your own value system, provided you have one.

And there it is. Republicans don’t seem to have a set of values, but rather cherry picked causes of resentment. According to them, it’s not okay to use some people’s heritage against them, but Republicans have made a party out of using other people’s heritage against them. That means that they don’t have a value or a certain level of behavior to which they don’t permit their leaders to stoop publicly. A value is something you apply to yourself as well as others, even when it’s not easy.

Imagine if a Democrat tweeted what McCain tweeted, but insert a different target. Insert a Republican cause. The wounded cries of self-pity would be echoing off the Hill for years to come. Instead, we have conservatives petulantly justifying McCain’s tweet because the other guy started it. It’s okay to be a racist if the other guy hates someone you don’t hate.

Personally I don’t believe that John McCain is a racist in the purest sense of the word. No, I am not excusing the racism inherent in his party or his pandering to the racists in his party. He is guilty of using racism politically when it suits him, but McCain’s adopted daughter was also the victim of racist attacks by his own party (while I’m distinguishing between the true believers and the cynical abusers of “isms”, neither is okay). That said, his tweet was an inappropriate racial attack and as such, it painted him out to be a racist.

McCain has always suffered from an out of control temper, bad judgment and jokes better suited for the last century. That’s nothing new.

The interesting nugget born of this scuffle is the thinking behind conservatives’ reactionary, immature and ever moving principles. Podhoretz just defended racism because he hates the other guy for hating more. And these are the people who criticize Obama’s foreign policy. Talk about leading from behind.

New Romney Spokesman Used Twitter For Sexist Attacks

By Judd Legum and Alex Seitz-Wald/Think Progress

Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s new foreign policy spokesperson Richard Grenell has anodd penchant for targeting the wives of male politicians and women in general on Twitter.

Grenell, who served as George W. Bush’s spokesperson at the UN and was announced as the Romney campaign’s new representative yesterday, has gone after Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Callista Gingrich, Sandra Fluke and others. He also asserted that President Obama’s children should be fair game for political debate. A selection of his thoughts on women:

In another comment, that has since been removed, Grennell discussed the first lady “sweating on the East Room carpet.”

This afternoon, Grennell offered an apology, of sorts, for his attacks, writing, “my tweets were written to be tongue-in-cheek and humorous but I can now see how they can also be hurtful. I didn’t mean them that way and will remove them from twitter. I apologize for any hurt they caused.”

Rep. Anthony Weiner exploring legal action over ‘Weinergate’ fiasco

By Eric W. Dolan

Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner is consulting with his lawyers after it was reported that the New York congressman sent a racy photo to a female college student from Seattle via Twitter.

"We’ve retained counsel to explore the proper next steps and to advise us on what civil or criminal actions should be taken," Weiner spokesman Dave Arnold told The Daily Caller in an email. "This was a prank. We are loath to treat it as more, but we are relying on professional advice."

RELATED: College student at center of Rep. Anthony Weiner Twitter photo scandal issues statement

Weiner has claimed that his Facebook account was hacked and that, while the photo did appear on his Twitter feed, he did not send it. The photo shows a man's erect penis outlined in a pair of tight boxer briefs. The photo was first published by Andrew Breitbart'sBigGovernment.

The photo was quickly deleted along with all the other photos on the congressman's yFrog account.

Unlike a shirtless photo of former Rep. Chris Lee (R-NY), which resulted in his resignation, skeptics have doubted the authenticity of the so-called "Weinergate" image.

An analysis of a screenshot of the congressman's yFrog account, which was published by BigGovernment, shows the image was manipulated, according to the progressive blog DailyKos. The screenshot was allegedly altered to make it appear that the racy photo was associated with Rep. Weiner's account. Another DailyKos blogger has suggested that nearly the entire incident was fabricated by a conservative Twitter user.

Reuters' Anthony De Rosa noted that the phone data on Weiners' previous yFrog images does not match the data of the racy photo. "Not conclusive evidence, but puts relative suspicious about the validity of tying the image directly to Anthony Weiner’s phone," he said.

Mediaite's "resident expert" Philip Bump added that the current evidence did suggest that the congressman was the victim of a hack, but there was little to no evidence to suggest that contributors to Breitbart's websites fabricated the lewd image.

Motor City Liberal Comment: This is what these right wing bastards do they cooked up something up then they ruined someone career and when they get busted they will say it was only a prank and beg not to be sued.

Congressman: I follow Twitter just to f*ck with Tea Party

By John Byrne

We're sorry for all the headlines about the Tea Party. Really. But this one we just couldn't keep under our coats.

A liberal New York congressman jokes that he's discovered a new use for Twitter: F*cking with the Tea Party.

“I follow Twitter for the Tea Party and just show up to fuck with them,” Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) recently told a crowded New York bar, according to the New York Observer. The assembled throng of "20-somethings crowed."

“No," he purportedly added. "I don’t do that. I just sit at my desk and they send me talcum powder every couple of weeks.”

The Brooklyn congressman wasn't joking. In March, his office received an envelope of talcum powder -- sometimes used to imitate anthrax -- during the heated debate over health care reform.

In July of last year, the New York Democrat suggested the United States didn't need health insurance companies at all.

“What we’ve learned is that government-administered healthcare works pretty darn well,” he told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow in July. “It’s got low overhead and people like it. So, when my colleagues pound the drum and pound the podium about how they hate government-run healthcare, I guess they haven’t looked at what they get.”

The congressman added that he believes Medicare works so well and is so simple that America doesn't require managed care firms.

“Why do we even need the insurance companies?” he asked. “What constructive role are they playing? They’re taking tens of billions of dollars each year and putting that into profits when that should have been going into healthcare.

After Twitter shuts down GOP accounts impersonating Dems, party complains of ‘free speech’ infringements.

By Amanda Terkel Twitter has shut down 33 fake accounts created by Connecticut Republicans meant to impersonate Democratic state representatives. According to the Hartford Advocate, the GOP scheme was designed “to send out posts under the Democrats’ names mocking the liberal tax-and-spend bastards.” Twitter strictly forbids impersonation “intended to mislead, confuse or deceive others” on its site. However, the state GOP chairman is now complaining that Republicans’ “free speech” rights are being violated:

“That’s unfortunate,” was state Republican Chairman Chris Healy’s response when told of Twitter, Inc.’s decision. “I’m not quite sure what the issue is, other than that the Democrats were successful in stopping free speech.”

Healy’s party may have suffered a setback with the loss of its Twitter campaign, but Republicans are still operating the 33 Web sites they created using the names of those same Democratic lawmakers. As far as anyone knows, this is the first time any state party has used such a tactic to mock its state opponents.

Healy is also claiming that Democrats are protesting the fake sites because they’re just jealous: “They didn’t think of it first, so that’s why they’re whining.” But political communications experts say that the sites are clearly unethical and “deceptive.” (HT: Blue Mass Group)

M.C.L comment: It was one of the things the founding fathers left out: You can make fake Twitter accounts to attack your opponents.

‘I don’t give a f*ck about Michelle Malkin,’ Meghan McCain Tweets

By Ron Brynaert Months after feuding with Ann Coulter, Meghan McCain, the media’s favorite new go-to for quotes, appears to be at war with another prominent conservative female pundit. Even if the lady doth protest by Twitter.

Thursday afternoon, Michelle Malkin was asked during a chat at Politico’s The Arena by moderator Fred Barbash, “Who would you say is the most insightful liberal political figure or commentator out there right now? Who is a conservative political figure of commentator who you think needs to shut up?”

“Hmmm…interesting question,” Malkin replied. “On the right: Less Meghan McCain. On the left? Tommy Christopher is an honest lib.”

Apparently, folks began Tweeting Meghan McCain about the Malkin insult.

So, the daughter of the 2008 Republican presidential candidate Tweeted back, “chill people, I don’t give a fuck about @michellemalkin.”

In March, Malkin wrote that the “trouble with Meghan McCain” was that - like her non-ideological father - she “inherited the notion that playing the ‘maaaaverick’ imparts her with moral authority and credibility as a fresh voice for the GOP.”

After getting f-bombed via Twitter, it’s doubtful that Malkin will raise her opinion any.

But some conservative followers of McCain on Twitter aren’t pleased with her choice of words.

“Now that is a disgusting thing to say….I just stopped following you..,” a user named sdelaurier Tweeted.

Quillspiller Tweets, “If you really didn’t give a f____ about Malkin, you wouldn’t have cussed.”

On the other hand, a few on the left, apparently, are Tweeting support.

“I’m a Democrat proudly (for social reasons), but if more Republicans were like you, it’d be hard for me to stay Dem,” a user named kmhollan Tweets, while a user named aeligature notes, “Well, @michellemalkin would have all Muslims thrown in internment camps. How can you take her seriously about anything?”