LA Times:
'Ready for Hillary' hangman tweet leads to local GOP official's resignation
The Riverside County Republican Party official who tweeted a picture of a hooded hangman with the phrase “I’m Ready for Hillary” on Thursday resigned from his job with the state Board of Equalization.
Nathan Miller, a local party official and aide to Board of Equalization member Diane Harkey, accepted responsibility for the tweet, said Russell Lowery, a spokesman for Harkey’s office.
“He had a lapse of judgment and offered his resignation. We accepted,” Lowery said.
Wait, so he resigned from his job “with the state Board of Equalization” but continues to be a local party official? “Lapse of judgment”? These dangerous creeps need to be run out of the GOP. End of story.
Miller worked as deputy district director for Harkey, organizing tax information events for local businesses, Lowery said.
According to the Riverside Press Enterprise, the tweet was sent out by the county party’s official Twitter account at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The tweet was quickly deleted.
On Wednesday, Riverside County GOP Chairman Scott Mann said he was "horrified" by the tweet, and promised to take action against the person responsible. But in an email to the Press Enterprise shortly after the tweet was posted, Mann dismissed it as “political satire” that expressed how Democratic presidential nominee Clinton “has gotten away with every scandal and political flip-flop in her public life.”
A depiction of a hangman ready to execute Hillary Clinton is “political satire”, Mr. Mann? You, sir, are as much to blame for creating an environment that encourages such lunacy as the perpetrator Nathan Miller himself.
Howard Katz, chairman of the Riverside County Democratic Party, called the tweet a dangerous provocation.
Exactly. These idiots are out of control, and they are inciting Trump crazies who would maim and possibly kill to “do away” with what they hate.
Trump’s America!
Scott Mann, GOP Chairman Riverside County, Riverside, CA
More coverage, with a more forthcoming Scott Mann this time:
Riverside Press-Enterprise:
Tweet about hanging Hillary Clinton posted by Riverside County GOP
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UPDATE (Thursday, Aug. 4): How the "I'm Ready for Hillary" hangman tweet happened
UPDATE 2 (Thursday, Aug. 4): Inland GOP official loses state job over hangman 'I'm Ready for Hillary' tweet
Two tweets from the official Twitter account for the Riverside County Republican Party featured illustrations of a hangman holding a noose with the words, “I’m Ready for Hillary.
The portrait of the masked hangman features gallows with two other empty nooses in the background. The hangman wears an axe at this side and blood is visible on his shirt and apron.
The tweets, dated Wednesday, Aug. 3, were sent in response to another Twitter user who tweeted a picture of a man holding a “Republicans for Hillary” sign. The user asked where the signs could be obtained.
Two pictures of the hangman were sent. The second included the caption: “sorry they never arrived but this is pretty popular.”
The tweets had been removed from the GOP account as of 2 p.m. Wednesday.
In an emailed statement late Wednesday afternoon, Riverside County GOP Chairman Scott Mann said: “I was made aware of derogatory Tweet this afternoon toward Secretary Clinton when the Press-Enterprise called me for comment. I was horrified and had the Tweet taken down immediately. While some may think it was political satire, it clearly has no place in American political dialogue.
"As Chairman of the Republican Party of Riverside County, I apologize to everyone and anyone who was offended by it. I have taken steps to ensure that the individual who posted the Tweet no longer has access and I can assure you the person responsible will be held accountable.”
Well, Scott Mann was “horrified” late Wednesday afternoon. Yet, earlier in the day he emailed this:
Earlier he had said in an email: “That meme is nothing more than political satire. It simply expresses how Ms. Clinton seemingly has gotten away with every scandal and political flip-flop in her public life – from classified e-mail and Benghazi to her changing positions on health care, TPP, NAFTA, gay marriage, etc.”
“We will extend benefit of the doubt if even one person was genuinely offended and remove the tweet. Beyond that, we trust the discernment of citizens to view it for what it is – political satire.”
Yeah, Scott, you REALLY were horrified, weren’t you?
Riverside County Democratic Party Chairman Howard Katz was not amused.
“(The picture) didn’t say political satire. It appears to be a furthering of the violence that has been projected outward by (Donald) Trump,” he said. “They should know better than that.
“It appears to me that if anything happens to (Clinton) based on this kind of stuff that the Republican Party is printing or putting forth on social media, they should be held accountable for it to the full extent of the law,” Katz added. “That is not political satire. That is a threat. I take that as a physical threat.”
Exactly right. This is a threat. A physical threat.