UPDATE: Going national.
The story has been picked up by the Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…
The story keeps on going. Here’s the new post from Rob Towle, chair of the Rutland Republican Committee:
***OFFICIAL STATEMENT***
I totally regret that some members of the Democratic party were offended by the satirical post on this page yesterday. There were some that commented on the post that they did not see how the possibly inflammatory comments were anything other political commentary. This page is not the original author and the intent was to show the author’s frustration at the current economic situation that he/she finds themselves in.
I realize now that there are those that were deeply offended and for that I am very saddened and I will make sure that our editoral process will result in posts to our pages that reflect the spirit of good natured political discussions. My hope is that we can get back to the critical dialog necessary to move Vermont and the US back towards economic prosperity.
Any comments are greatly appreciated.
Now viewed in isolation, the second paragraph is almost a legitimate, sincere apology.
The problem is that it was preceded by more of the same truculent, self-justifying stuff he was posting yesterday.
First off, he claims that “some members of the Democratic Party were offended.” In fact, the first person to challenge him was the treasurer of the Franklin County Republican Committee. The offense was not personal to those who were offended, the post was offensive in itself.
Second,I’d like to hear his view of how the suggestion that President Obama is a cornbread and fried chicken-eating, praying-to-Mecca Muslim is any kind of legitimate political comment, satiric or otherwise.
When he’s done with that, how about explaining how the suggestion that President Obama is turning the country over to Spanish speakers, and that real Americans will be forced to learn Spanish?
And finally, how does any of this have any bearing on Social Security, a Democratic idea that we have had to fight to protect against Republican attacks for more than half a century?
Rob, our door is open. If you have any response to these points I urge you to post them right here.
…non-apology. Particularly interesting to me that one person who’d pulled the “you’re the real racists” card before the original post was removed then sounded all conciliatory on the new thread. Did somebody get a spankin’?
…that the apology thread is going well.
http://www.facebook.com/Rutlan…
…but what got my goat is how the media (including HuffPo) described it as an apology. Which it clearly was not. I’m glad the story got wider circulation, but I wish the media were a bit more critical in their reporting.
…this was more fun than when I trolled Joe Lieberman’s blog in 2006.
The bedrock of the Republican Party ARE the racist far-right extremists.
The Republican Party in Rutland has shown that this is the standard model here as well.
Now the racist ‘humor’ and extremism inherent in the GOP – even in Vermont – is revealed for all to see.
Lassie said in another thread that the Left’s ideology has failed. Well the Right’s ideology is the enslavement of the American People.
The GOP is still angry that they lost the Civil War.
++++++++++++
You know, I am greatly relieved to be reminded that not all Vermont Republicans are racist bigots. I went over to the RutlandGOP facebook and read the comments. There are many Vermont Republicans that are highly offended by the post and also point out the non-apology response.
Nice to see RutlandGOP shamed on HuffPo.