As Twitchy reported, Mediaite grabbed a lot of attention Wednesday when a reporter went public with an exclusive audio recording exposing Sen. Tom Cotton using some questionable language, including slurs like “faggot” and “tranny.” No, wait, it wasn’t Cotton who said any of those things, but a former intern known only as “Nate.”
Plenty of people slammed Mediaite and reporter Caleb Ecarma for publishing the “garbage slanderous post” that made it appear as if Cotton had anything to do with it. The joke was on them, apparently, because later Ecarma took an additional victory lap for exposing hypocritical conservatives.
The same conservatives who always call for "personal responsibility" think Cotton should take zero responsibility for who he hires ¯_(ツ)_/¯ https://t.co/ENiBDIV3JD
— Caleb Ecarma (@calebecarma) June 22, 2017
Hires … and fires. Mediaite did give “Nate” a break in his future job searches by withholding his last name, and only later removing links to social media posts revealing it, a decision that confused the New York Times’ Sopan Deb.
Wait, so now the social media links have been removed? Why even write the piece?! pic.twitter.com/9UHWOoSKWS
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) June 21, 2017
Why write the piece? Obviously to make Cotton look bad and suggest that Republicans “apply their extreme vetting policies to their intern hiring process” — totally worth it.
i probably would have killed that post on Tom Cotton’s intern the moment i heard my reporter pitch it.
— Sam Stein (@samstein) June 21, 2017
Pretty sure no one at HuffPost would pitch you on their conversation with an intern.
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) June 21, 2017
Wait, somebody pitched that to the intercept too. Don't tell me somebody bit
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) June 21, 2017
This is so shitty. I can even begin to express how bad and misleading this reporting is.
— Wakanda Tour Guide (@ToureDeTrap) June 21, 2017
Mediaite’s managing editor noted that conservatives were “furious” that Ecarma had exposed a bigoted person for bigotry, because, yes, right wingers obviously were deeply invested both politically and emotionally in this intern, Nate.
Seems conservatives are furious that we exposed a bigoted person for bigotry, while the left is angry we didn’t conceal his name properly
— colbyhall (@colbyhall) June 21, 2017
So it wasn’t a thinly veiled hit job on Tom Cotton?
Hi @colbyhall, remember when you told me a few hours ago that Cotton wasn't the target of the article. Want to tell the author that? https://t.co/oJayL3Stoq
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) June 22, 2017
how can Tom Cotton reasonably take any blame for this?
— colbyhall (@colbyhall) June 22, 2017
You tell me. The author of the story clear thinks the story is that Cotton deserves blame for it: https://t.co/KFJjf33onh
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) June 22, 2017
"Our article in no way implied Tom Cotton had any responsibility for this"
Author of said article: "Hold my beer" pic.twitter.com/MtO6bdh0H2
— EducatédHillbilly™ (@RobProvince) June 22, 2017
This is a weasly way of making everything his fault. He didn't say something bad, but he *hired* the person who did.
Cool story, bro.
— neontaster (@neontaster) June 22, 2017
This thread goes on forever, but we’ll skip to the most pressing question out of many:
Then WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE STORY? pic.twitter.com/zCxXul57qI
— Biggie Skulls (@BigHeadSports) June 22, 2017
bigoted guy who works in powerful office says bigoted things on tape.
— colbyhall (@colbyhall) June 22, 2017
No, it was a lesson for conservatives in taking personal responsibility.
I don't think you know what personal responsibility means.
— Real Howard Wall (@HJWallEcon) June 22, 2017
The thing about taking personal responsibility for something is you have to actually be the person actually responsible for a thing.
— Attila the Honeybun (@TimMansplainsIt) June 22, 2017
Sometimes when you're an editor and one of your writers fucks up you just say…. oops.
— EducatédHillbilly™ (@RobProvince) June 22, 2017
* * *
Related:
‘Y’all suck’: Mediaite SLAMMED for ‘garbage slanderous’ hit piece on GOP Sen. Tom Cotton https://t.co/Z0YuM1aVoY
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) June 21, 2017
