South Carolina GOP Operative Apologizes For Racist Tweet Against Obama
Indigo Journal, a liberal blog in South Carolina, reports that GOP operative Mike Green posted a racist joke about President Obama on his Twitter account over the weekend -- and in a brief conversation with TPM, Green did not deny it. (Late Update: Green has now admitted it in a new set of Tweets, and apologized. See new section after the jump.)
Green posted this, then deleted it some time later:
JUST HEARD OBAMA IS GOING TO IMPOSE A 40% TAX ON ASPIRIN BECAUSE IT'S WHITE AND IT WORKS.
That post is not currently on Green's actual Twitter page, but Indigo Journal has what purports to be a screenshot, documenting it from when it was still up. I called Green to ask if this was true. "I don't know," said Green. "Let me give you a call back." I also asked Green if anyone else writes on his Twitter account, or if it's just him. Again, he said he would have to call back. He has not yet called back.
Indigo Journal says that Green works for Congressman Gresham Barrett's campaign for governor. However, Barrett communications consultant Jim Dyke told TPM that while Green's firm, Starboard Communications, might do the odd bit of work for Barrett (who is on the client list), Green does not work for the campaign.
"I'm happy to make a personal comment about the statement, but he doesn't have a relationship with the campaign," said Dyke. "I have to believe that is something that he would like to take back. It doesn't sound like something that was funny or intelligent or useful. That's my personal opinion."
Late Update: Green has now apologized in a new set of Tweets:
First this:
Correcting misinformation. I am not a Barrett aide, I have never been employed by Barrett nor do I work for him now.
Then this:
I sincerely apologize for the comments I made on Twitter yesterday. I made a mistake.
And finally, this:
I realize that my comments were hurtful, wrong and have no place in civil discourse.
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
They just can't help themselves, can they?
June 15, 2009 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's hard to stop yourself when you don't even understand why someone might think a joke like that reflects on one's character. That's the mindset--they think it's just a wry observation based of objective fact. Nothing racist about it, because everyone knows those people don't want to work. Besides, it would be funny coming from [fill in name of black comedian], therefore to say it isn't funny coming from this guy shows that you're the one who's racist.
June 15, 2009 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think you're giving them entirely too much credit intellectually. It seems so preternaturally reflexive that a doctor might describe it as Good Ol' Boys' Tourettes Syndrome.
June 15, 2009 4:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
"What kind of music do you play here, anyway?"
"Why we got both kinds, wingnut and b@tsh^* crazy."
June 16, 2009 1:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve is spot-on right. The logic unfolds exactly as he describes, and is predicated on a single-minded unwillingness to imagine any insult from the standpoint from the insulted.
June 15, 2009 9:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually Eric, I think FITSNews broke this latest story. The guy really seems to be catching a lot of these things lately. He's done a good job reporting them.
June 15, 2009 4:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
And then there was another...more racist technology use by the GOP.
June 15, 2009 9:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let me just say I grew up with right wing, white, affluent Republicans and unfortunately still have to consort with family and personal friends of that ilk or mindset and this is the example of their basic thinking----
It is no different than the Pollock jokes of my youth, the "wetback" jokes of my teen years, and now the gay funnies of today.....
They find it funny and amusing to degrade and denigrate others because they feel deep inside that they are personally superior because of birth, class and position in society...it is no different than how the Nazi's denigrated the Jews....
Like the boy caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar, this low-life of a politico apologized not for what he thought and believed, he apologized for being publicly caught and exposed.
I hope he is reading this....actually Monsieur Green, you are inferior with that kind of thinking.
June 16, 2009 11:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
You don't even need a screenshot. Deleted tweets still show up in search. So just search Twitter for
gopgreenhouse aspirin
Like so.
June 15, 2009 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know, considering that the conservative movement is banking on Twitter as being its technological salvation, they sure don't seem to understand it terribly well.
Not that I'm surprised. Just pointing it out.
June 16, 2009 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why do Republicans + social networking technology = SO MUCH FAIL?
June 15, 2009 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's because the technology captures thoughts out loud. A real problem for Cavemen Republicans.
June 15, 2009 4:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Given all the comments that 'slip out' into the media makes wonder what these guys must say when they're alone with each other.
Do they just talk about baseball, football, and how anybody that isn't a white southerner is messed up?
June 15, 2009 5:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, pretty much. That and how all Democrats are liberal and that they are enemies of the state.
June 15, 2009 6:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
BartCop made the same comment a couple years ago. Topic was using the "N" word and breaking down barriers.
"I know how white people speak when there are no African Americans in the room. I wonder how many times J.C. Watts walked into a room of Republicans and heard them suddenly be silent."
Today BartCop would write that line, "I wonder how many times MICHAEL STEELE walked into a room of Republicans and heard them suddenly be silent."
June 15, 2009 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, the Party of No+Hypocrisy should keep their mouths shut, on both counts!
June 15, 2009 8:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's also really easy to do while drinking, which I'm imagining is a factor in some of these things happening. The Michelle Obama/Ape comment is another one that comes to mind.
June 15, 2009 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Only easy if this is the kind of trash that's on your mind, of course. Tax aspirin because it's white and it works. Charming.
June 16, 2009 4:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
There's the argument that Conservatives see things in ALL GOOD or All BAD. Liberals see things in terms of shades and nuance.
Conservative hears/thinks of a funny.
ALL GOOD says brain.
Must tell world.
oops...
Liberal hears/thinks of a funny.
Funny, he thinks, I'll post it. But then again, if you look at it from the other side, that comment may cause hurt to certain people. Hmmm...
I avoided using the phrase "see things as black or white" so as to not cause offence.
June 15, 2009 7:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's now posted an 'apology'.
Here
June 15, 2009 4:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
GOP Humor = racial, mean-spirited, crude and at the expense of others!
June 15, 2009 4:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
You want to know how destroyed the reputation of the GOP is?
I'm not surprised in the least at the offending tweet, but I'm utterly shocked that there was an actual apology.
Not even a "non-apology apology", but an actual apology. What year is it? Did everyone grow goatees? I suddenly feel lost in the world.
June 15, 2009 5:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Or, you know, it could just be somebody using social networking technology to pretend to be something he's not. In this case, contrite.
June 15, 2009 5:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Which just goes to show that in most of these 'apology' situations, they actually do know how to earnestly apologize for an offense, but they simply choose not to.
June 16, 2009 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Somebody contact the CDC, GOP racist stupidity spreading to Tennessee...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/6/15/742796/-TN-Republican-Staffer-Caught-Forwarding-DISGUSTING-Racist-Picture
June 15, 2009 5:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, for Pete's sake! How embarrassing. I keep hoping that the end effect of this outbreak of public racism will be a good thing. They're now showing their true colors.
June 15, 2009 6:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've been thinking about this lately. Went to the Tea Parties in April, and a beautiful 18 y.o. girl there carried a sign: "SORRY I'M LATE; BUT I ACTUALLY WORK FOR A LIVING."
There's a fear that underpins a lot of conservative dogma that someone else out there just might get something for free. Conservatives hate "public goods", because no one wants anyone else to get something (seemingly) for nothing.
It's a strong impulse -- twisted & sociopathic IMHO -- but very strong. This impulse blows the Christian brotherhood impulse out of the water.
June 15, 2009 5:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
"This impulse blows the Christian brotherhood impulse out of the water."
Yeah, but for most of these people it was never even close to being in the water in the first place.
How can I get mine and keep someone else from getting theirs? Really is pretty much all that goes through these people's minds, if you can call them minds.
June 15, 2009 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good point about the brotherhood aspect being stuck up in the dry docks. I really think Nixon laid the legal groundwork in a lot of areas, then Reagan cultivated this deep selfishness so that it infected the rest of the culture.
The economic pain that the typical West Virginia or South Carolina white guy (I'm also a typical working class white guy) is a direct result of dergulation and financialization. Minorities aren't taking anything away from them that they didn't gladly cede to Reagan back in 1984.
It's a class misidentification more insidious than anything Karl Marx could have imagined.
June 15, 2009 6:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, the God-fearing, "Christian values" white right-wing patriots have NO clue what "I am my brother's keeper" means. But they certainly see themselves as much superior to us "libruls".
June 15, 2009 8:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I called Green to ask if this was true. "I don't know," said Green. "Let me give you a call back." I also asked Green if anyone else writes on his Twitter account, or if it's just him. Again, he said he would have to call back. He has not yet called back."
I just love that part !
June 15, 2009 6:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Does anyone know if this story has hit the Cable chatter?
June 15, 2009 7:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't recall whether this (http://www.nashvilleistalking.com/2009/06/sen-diane-blacks-r-gallatin-legislative-aid-circulates-racist-email/)has been reported here yet. Sorry, I still haven't mastered creating links yet.
So, how long before someone demands that republican politicians address this during their media appearances? How about a statement from MC Steele?
I just listened to a weeks worth of media coverage regarding Sarah Palin's faux outrage at a non-existent call by Letterman for her 14yr old to be raped by a pro-athlete.
Over the course of a weekend, my first lady has been called a gorilla, my president has been depicted as a spook, and my people are being to reduced to a lazy, inferior caricature.
Where is the major media on this?
June 15, 2009 7:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's another pointer to the TN story, with pictures.
It's pretty ugly out there.
June 15, 2009 8:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
yay Twitter!
cuz Nietzsche's aphorisms are way too complex for today's twit.
June 15, 2009 7:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
The most offensive thing is that he's stealing jokes from the 1980s.
I can't recall if this one was in Truly Tasteless Jokes Volume 1 or 2.
June 15, 2009 8:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Twit of the day.
June 15, 2009 8:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks so much, Tom, for providing a link.
June 15, 2009 8:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
These dimwits are really showing their true mental capacities. If all they've got is insults good luck with that. Prez Obama has a high sense of moral peace and does not get perturbed by childish insults.
June 15, 2009 9:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
This must be what Republicans call "off the hook".
June 15, 2009 9:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is for all the children of Republicans that still live with their parents. Your parents and probably extended family (uncles, aunts,...) if they continue with the Republican party are pretty much racists. They apparently support torture and defend its use; they support passing laws to limit civil rights of people that they don't agree with, they supported the evident lying reason for the Iraq war and the spying on Americans, the bankrupting of American as we knew it. They support the lies, distortions and denials of their elected GOP officials. They short change American troops with equipment, health care, and stop loss; then they play the patriotic card. In short your elders are hypocrites, liars, racists and cowards for supporting the outing of a CIA operative by their Republican president and vice president (Bush and Chaney). My advise to you children is stay quiet, don't argue; and then get away from there when you are old enough.
June 15, 2009 9:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Was he tweeting or just whistling Dixie one more time? The Republican race to the bottom is driven by race from the top.
June 16, 2009 12:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hurtful GOP Operative Green or racist? What a moron. I love that Republicans use twitter for to advertise their prejudices!
June 16, 2009 8:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
JUST HEARD MIKE GREEN IS AFRAID OF ADVIL BECAUSE IT'S BROWN AND IT IS POWERFUL.
June 16, 2009 9:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is South Carolina the new, most racist place on earth?
June 16, 2009 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
There are jokes and then there is hatred. This type of thing isn't funny at all. It's sick and I'm sick of it. My email is flooded with the mess every day and I just keep deleting. If anyone thought we were past racism in this country, it's obvious that we're not. And we wonder why there is affirmative action....of course, they want to end it now because there is no need. Anyone really believe that?
June 16, 2009 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
It wasn't this incident, but I recall not long ago that one of that party made an excuse or apology for another by saying he'd "gone off the reservation."
Even when they're apologizing they use cliche phrases that are bound to offend. I try not to take personal offense, but I sure wince a lot.
June 16, 2009 1:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where is the McCain/Republican outrage & apologists... hell Letterman makes a joke about Bristol Palin, there's faux outrage! Comedians have been telling jokes since last August about the Palins. When it comes to Racial jokes, the Teabaggers, Repulsigans, and the Good Ol' Boys never seem to never quite get to clearing their throats, let along admonish the ignorance!
June 16, 2009 2:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was tending bar at a Denny Hastert fundraiser about 5 years ago, and in the mellow after dinner hours, the conversation turned into snide remarks about Ebonics, a minor flap 8 years out of date at the time, followed with the usual "ain't it just like a n*gger to bring a knife to a gun fight" type jokes. Most of the wait staff was Hispanic BTW. On a side note they were good tippers...
June 16, 2009 3:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Typical GOP/crank/lunatic fringe/white supremacist "humor": hateful, juvenile, stupid, and a lie.
June 16, 2009 6:56 PM | Reply | Permalink