As I blogged yesterday, the Michigan Republican Party and the campaign of Bill Schuette, Michigan's GOP nominee for Attorney General, have embraced the anti-Semitism of an individual who they featured in a campaign ad.
Yet today, many media outlets remained largely silent on the matter.
The story is not that some posted ignorant, bigoted comments on an newspaper website; but rather that the political climate in this country has become so toxic that rather than repudiate this individual's vile comments, the state GOP has not only refused to repudiate this blatant bigotry but has embraced the bigot, blasting the Democratic candidate, David Leyton, for daring to call out someone for being a bigot.
Yesterday, poster "ADAMSMOM" who identifies herself as the mother of a murder victim said the following:
how dare the FLINT URINAL not show me the respect to get my side of the story, instead of ONE SIDE,,,oh A JEWISH OWNED PAPER,,,,and lEYTON IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION
So naturally, the state Republican Party distanced itself from these comments, right?
Wrong. In fact, instead of repudiating Ms. McIntosh's bigotry, they called Leyton "sad and sleazy, but predictable," adding:
Mr. Leyton should apologize to Mrs. McIntosh for such awful accusations. The Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party is Jewish.
Of course their anti-Semitism is okay! They have Jewish friends!
The right-wing echo chamber that built the myth of the "liberal media" has now made necessary the creation of an alternate reality for conservatives. The consequences of this are evident every day.
We're just seeing the most extreme manifestations of this in the current election cycle.
Political candidates have completely boycotted the media. Well, all except Fox News. After all, it's not objectivity they're after - it's softballs.
But the dangerous underbelly of the echo chamber has reared its ugly head in this controversy in Michigan. Because now, in this swing state, the state Republican Party has accurately gauged its base and now knows that it can not only embrace anti-Semitic behavior, but feature those people who engage in anti-Semitic behavior in their campaign ads.
The media need to shine a light on this, and the American people need to take a stand. It's time for the media to stop playing nice with the Republicans when they won't do something as simple as take a stand against racism.
And we here in Michigan need people to speak up and say with a clear voice that this is unacceptable.
The climate here for Democrats is as bad as it has been in my life. In fact, what is happening here now is an uncanny representation of what is happening on the federal level. A Democratic governor has seen her popularity fall drastically after failing to clean up the mess left behind by the disastrous administration of the Republican that preceded her.
So naturally, this is the perfect opportunity to take a stand. The Democratic candidate for Governor, Virg Bernero, trails by nearly 20 points in the polls. Democrats are taking a beating in the polls, and we have just been given an absolute political gift.
We need to take advantage of this. This is a "macaca" moment, except it's one that isn't reflecting on one candidate - it's one that reflects on the Michigan Republican Party.
Between now and election day, we need to make sure that the message gets out that the uneasy relationship that existed between Republicans and bigots has turned into an unapologetic love affair.