by Benjamin J. Kirby
Just a quick post tonight -- but I couldn't let this one go.
As you know, I serve as a spokesperson for a governmental organization in my non-blogging capacity (one of a few things I do there). The hallmark of a good spokesperson is to never become the story -- so I'm always interested in the spokesperson actually does become the story.
Like the spokesman for Rep. Nan Hayworth’s (R-NY) -- a guy named Jay Townsend. You honestly couldn't make this crap up:
On a Facebook discussion board maintained by local Democratic activists, Jay Townsend mockingly suggested throwing acid on female Senators who supported the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act but paid their male staffers more than their female staffers.
“Listen to Tom,” he wrote Saturday, in reply to another Facebook user who had criticized Republicans. “What a little bee he has in his bonnet. Buzz Buzz. My question today…when is Tommy boy going to weigh in on all the Lilly Ledbetter hypocrites who claim to be fighting the War on Women? Let’s hurl some acid at those female democratic Senators who won’t abide the mandates they want to impose on the private sector.”
Townsend has, of course, resigned. And he has, of course, offered the -- wait for it... wait for it... -- non-apology apology:
“I posted a stupid, thoughtless and insensitive comment on a Facebook page,” Townsend later wrote on his Facebook page. “It was stupid because my words were easily misconstrued; thoughtless because my choice of words obscured a point I was trying to make, and insensitive because some have interpreted the comment as advocating a violent act.”
Okay, woah.
Let's just break this down real quick. I posted a stupid, thoughtless and insensitive comment on a Facebook page. Um, yes Jay. Yes, you did. You're off to a good start. What's next?
It was stupid because my words were easily misconstrued...
Wait, what? What is there to misconstrue? Maybe the kind of acid you want to "hurl" at "female democratic Senators"? Maybe it's the amount of acid. Well, it's a mystery, I guess.
...thoughtless because my choice of words obscured a point I was trying to make...
So you're really sorry to yourself (and, as a quick aside, I don't actually see the word "sorry" or "apologize" anywhere in there, so this isn't so much an apology as an explanation of why you're so hateful and stupid), for not being more coherent. Great.
And, finally, ...and insensitive because some have interpreted the comment as advocating a violent act.
This is my favorite part. "Some" may have "interpreted" your comment as "advocating a violent act." But in fact, hurling acid -- at anyone! -- is... not... an act of extreme violence... ?
Hurl acid. Hurl fucking acid.
How in the hell did you get signed on as a spokesman anywhere at all?
This is your Republican Party at work, America. I'm sorry, but it's true. This is their very soul, the beating, black heart of the GOP. This is the base. This is the voice of the D.C. staffers who live and breathe Republican politics. And they so hate to lose, they're so afraid that their tenuous hold on American political power is slipping, they'll say anything -- and then pretend they don't understand the outrage when they suggest savagely attacking Senators who support equal pay for women.
Good riddance.
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