{"id":27495,"date":"2015-04-17T11:26:11","date_gmt":"2015-04-17T18:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=27495"},"modified":"2015-04-17T11:52:58","modified_gmt":"2015-04-17T18:52:58","slug":"senate-gop-tweet-lincoln-was-assassinated-america-is-forever-indebted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=27495","title":{"rendered":"Senate GOP Tweet: Lincoln Was Assassinated. America Is Forever Indebted"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anyone who has used social media for twenty minutes has seen unfortunate miscommunications that can result in unintended embarrassment or worse. Sometimes they are caused by typos, sometimes by poorly thought out ideas, and sometimes by unmanaged anger. It remains to be seen what caused this disturbing comment<\/a> by the official Twitter account of the Senate Republicans:<\/p>\n

“150 years ago today the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. America is forever indebted.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Lincoln
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Was this simply a cringe-worthy mistake? Did the author of this tweet intend to say that Lincoln’s assassination was something that deserved the gratitude of the American people?<\/p>\n

The worst kind of rhetorical mistake someone can make is one that reinforces the most negative impressions that are already present. The Republican Party has long struggled with charges of racism, and for good reason. They have opposed many of the landmark reforms to civil rights laws. They advocate policies on social welfare, taxes, voting, employment, housing, etc., that are invariably detrimental to minorities and other victims of discrimination. They defend outright demonstrations of prejudice by law enforcement and private citizens. They have been caught fraternizing with unsavory characters associated with known hate groups. In many cases they have been discovered to be members of those groups themselves.<\/p>\n

Speeches and signs at Tea Party rallies have too often expressed blatantly racist sentiments<\/a>. Too many Republicans have articulated messages that coincide with segregationists, secessionists, and the neo-confederacy that Lincoln fought to eliminate. It is difficult ignore these instances of GOP support for, or tolerance of, such distasteful opinions. The primary media outlet for the right, Fox News, is rampant with expressions of racism<\/a> from both on-air personalities and viewers.<\/p>\n

\n

News Corpse Presents: The ALL NEW 2nd volume of
\nFox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.<\/a>
\nAvailable now at Amazon.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And that is what makes this tweet so troubling. While there is a good chance that it was merely a case of extremely bad grammar, it also represents the true feelings of many people on the far right, many of whom hold positions of influence in politics or the press. It also doesn’t help that the tweet features a statue of Lincoln that has its own controversy. They could have used the famous Lincoln Memorial in the National Mall, but instead chose the Freedman’s Memorial<\/a> in Lincoln Park that depicts a supplicant black man in a loin cloth and chains kneeling at Lincoln’s feet. That is hardly an image that projects emancipation.<\/p>\n

So does this tweet mean that the Senate Republicans are racists? Not by itself. But it does express, whether intended or otherwise, a way of thinking that has dogged the GOP for decades. And even after the posting of this tweet produced hundreds of responses calling attention to the ugly, but obvious, interpretation, it remains online without clarification or apology. That is a message in itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone who has used social media for twenty minutes has seen unfortunate miscommunications that can result in unintended embarrassment or worse. Sometimes they are caused by typos, sometimes by poorly thought out ideas, and sometimes by unmanaged anger. It remains to be seen what caused this disturbing comment by the official Twitter account of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Senate GOP Tweet: Lincoln Was Assassinated. America Is Forever Indebted","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,417,16],"tags":[1143,301],"class_list":["post-27495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-racism","category-wankery","tag-racism","tag-republicans"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/lincoln-assassinated-indebted-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-79t","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":57417,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=57417","url_meta":{"origin":27495,"position":0},"title":"President Biden Trolls Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Hysterically Lame Swipe at Democratic Successes","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/17\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The spectacle of the Republican Party's efforts to malign Democrats is spiraling ever deeper into an abyss of pitiful nonsense. 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