Oh man … Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp is in trouble. Like, big trouble.
As Twitchy told you, she identified women as sexual assault survivors without their permission. In an effing campaign ad. Well, she’s apparently been taking a beating for that, because she’s now apologizing:
HEITKAMP: "This is a huge mistake that anyone was includes who should not have been included… Some of the women who may or may not have been victims of sexual assault deserve their privacy… and I can't say I'm sorry enough. I am so, so sorry that it happened."
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) October 16, 2018
Heitkamp: "We worked through advocates and they provided the names… I can't tell you that there is any good or logical or appropriate reaction or response… there is no defense…"
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) October 16, 2018
Heitkamp: "There was a major failing… that's as much as we know right now…these women in no way gave their permission nor did they want their names in the ad… I will not deny that in any way shape or form."
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) October 16, 2018
Heitkamp: "This is on me. This has got my name on it… The worse thing you can do is take away their privacy… And I did exactly that. And I need to personally apologize and say I was wrong… There's no sugarcoating this… This was a collosal error."
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) October 16, 2018
Heitkamp: "Anything you say that people are feeling right now is fair… I'm not going to diminish the anger, the hurt, the irresponsibility of this. There's no answer for this except to say that I am so incredibly sorry…"
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) October 16, 2018
Heitkamp: "That's not going to be good enough for some people. All I can say is at the end of the day when I put my head on the pillow I know that I caused hurt… This was incompetent. This was wrong. This should have never happened."
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) October 16, 2018
Heitkamp: "Some people who are lawyers would say the worst thing you can do if you're worried about lawsuits is admit culpability or negligence and I'm admitting it right here… this is a very flagrant error of the campaign and I own it."
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) October 16, 2018
Heitkamp: "I disagree with a lot of your criticisms of me and the campaign… but today your criticism of this campaign is right."
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) October 16, 2018
Yeesh.
What she and her campaign did was terrible.
But damn if this isn’t the most honest and real apology from a politician I’ve ever seen.
Thread: https://t.co/8RVdkV1Vnr
— Ashe Schow (@AsheSchow) October 16, 2018
Dayum….yeah – that is
— Cheesetrader (@cheesetrader1) October 16, 2018
Yup. I was most impressed by her taking full responsibility for something that everyone knows was a staff error. Good on her.
— alexandriabrown (@alexthechick) October 16, 2018
No equivocating. A true apology.
— Cheryl B (@Cheryl707) October 16, 2018
Good on her for taking responsibility for that God-awful decision. Too bad she put herself into this terrible position in the first place.
She really has no choice but to say this. Better than a weaselly dodge, for sure, but what a massive unforced error in a race that already appeared to be going south for her. https://t.co/mPUns08qPu
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 16, 2018
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Update:
Yeah, this is bad:
"I know I'm not the only woman hurt by this." A North Dakota hairdresser says she never gave Sen. Heidi Heitkamp permission to use her name in a newspaper ad listing abuse victims. https://t.co/fPa6cJEY28
— AP Central U.S. (@APCentralRegion) October 16, 2018
This is a strange headline… the problem wasn't "misidentification," which suggests that the campaign accidentally used the wrong names.
The ad named people the campaign had heard were victims, publicly outing them to make a political point.
— Katie Landoll (@KatieSteampipe) October 16, 2018
The campaign printed names of "victims" without explicitly getting their signed permission. Many of the women say they never experienced assault.
This is campaign 101 and MAJOR legal mistake. Using someone's name or likeness in a paid ad is grounds for a lawsuit.
— Adrienne (@AdrienneRoyer) October 16, 2018
It’ll be a miracle if Heitkamp survives this.
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