Super PAC American Crossroads ignited a firestorm of criticism this morning with a gaffe tweet speculating that Commerce Secretary John Bryson might have knocked a few back before steering his Lexus into a series of Los Angeles County vehicles.
Not cool, @AmericanXRoads. http://t.co/9KA60Y2B
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 11, 2012
How does @AmericanXRoads have 3 inane tweets in 5 minutes and alcohol NOT be involved? #Skills
— Frank (@panndder) June 11, 2012
@AmericanXRoads attempt at humor my ass. your attempt to explain fails as miserably as your attempt at levity.
— B Anderson (@boilerba) June 11, 2012
Is extreme alcohol intoxication behind donations to @KarlRove 's @AmericanXRoads SuperPAC , or are there just a lot of dumfucks out there?
— Fresh Brew (@TheFreshBrew) June 11, 2012
hey @karlrove great job engaging young voters by making unfounded drunk driving allegation abt Obama cabinet member; http://t.co/zqQG3T9T
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) June 11, 2012
American Crossroads deleted the tweet after a Commerce Department spokesperson said Bryson had suffered a seizure.
Sad. Rather than apologizing for accusing Bryson of drinking and driving, @americanxroads deleted the Tweet pic.twitter.com/e53Yu20X
— Josh Nelson (@josh_nelson) June 11, 2012
ABC reports that two other tweets were deleted.
After deleting the tweets, the super PAC tried to make amends to a crowd armed with pitchforks and torches.
Earlier Bryson tweet with hashtag #skills attempted levity (before facts known) and failed miserably. We took it down and regret the tweet.
— American Crossroads (@AmericanXRoads) June 11, 2012
American Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio told Talking Points Memo:
“The hashtag (about his driving #skills) attempted levity, but it communicated poorly. We took it down,” Collegio said. “I regret the tweet.”
But contrition wasn’t enough. Cue the cries of “LIBEL!!!111!” and “SLANDER!!!!11”
.@AmericanXRoads Deleting your (libelous?) tweet isn't the same as correcting the record. Perhaps you should do the right thing & apologize
— West Wing Reports (@WestWingReport) June 11, 2012
Libelous, actually. RT @jaketapper: Not cool, @AmericanXRoads. http://t.co/9HOhBt2u. #p2
— April (@ReignOfApril) June 11, 2012
Will @KarlRove and @AmericanXroads & #fox be called to answer for the slanderous John Bryson tweets -as usual, no @anderson @cspanwj #p2
— Jack Hutton (@jackhutton) June 11, 2012
When a Republican-aligned super PAC offends, it’s not a misstep, it’s a malicious lie.
@americanxroads It will give us joy to see you buried under your lies. There's a special place in Hell for you and yours. #RWNJ
— SATAN of the GOP (@GOPSatan) June 11, 2012
Wouldn't be the first time @americanxroads has lied. They really should be held accountable for their work: http://t.co/3pZopmzU
— Joey (@joeyhunziker) June 11, 2012
This from the same deceitful Left that insisted 17-year-old Laura Bush killed a classmate with her car because she’d been drinking
Obama super PAC co-founder Bill Burton, also known as Pig Maher’s boy, had the gall to dump on American Crossroads for joking about Bryson’s crashes before reading the latest news.
Rove's response – predictably classy. // RT @AmericanXRoads: How does @CommerceSec have 3 car crashes in 5 mins and alcohol NOT be involved?
— @billburton (@billburton) June 11, 2012
Really? Less classy than when million dollar donor Bill Maher called Romney a cultist? Less classy than when Pig Maher aimed his misogynist “humor” at Bristol Palin?
Spare us the selective outrage.
As Ace of Spades pointed out on Twitter yesterday, the Left has an absurd double standard for what kind of comedy is acceptable.
David Letterman can call Sarah Palin slutty, but if Rush says that about Sandra Fluke, it's a hate-crime?
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) June 10, 2012
based on what? Based only on the assumption that liberals have greater rights, and greater protections, than conservatives.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) June 10, 2012
And I'm supposed to AGREE with this proposition? I'm supposed to say "Yes, sir!" when it's suggested I'm a second class citizen?
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) June 10, 2012
I have a two word response to that it's not "Yes, sir."
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) June 10, 2012
What American Crossroads tweeted may have been offensive. But the group’s true crime was tweeting while conservative.
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