As we told you earlier, the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank rode valiantly to OMB Director nominee Neera Tanden’s defense, pointing out that Tanden’s only sin all this time was tweeting the truth when others weren’t ready or willing to see it.
On its own, Milbank’s piece was special. But you know what they say: two simps are better than one.
That’s why it’s so great to see Politico get in on the action, too:
We now have two "Actually, Neera Tanden is awesome at twitter" columns pic.twitter.com/ubRiNfWcPF
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) February 25, 2021
Double the fun!
Twitter was designed to tempt you into angry tweets. It's also made it very easy for a broad coalition of enemies to unite to take down one person. It was only a matter of time until it happened in politics, too. https://t.co/1fTKBnkl3C
— POLITICO (@politico) February 25, 2021
She was powerless! She couldn’t help herself!
Joanna Weiss writes:
In hindsight, it looks like a repeated lapse of judgment. But to some extent, this was part of Tanden’s job. As a president of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress and a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton, she was frequently deployed as an attack dog, especially during campaigns and news crises. And Twitter was a natural ally in that work—like Washington, it was also a place where making all the right people mad could be an asset.
…
Tanden did her duty and apologized profusely, hinting that she wanted to distance herself from the cesspool Twitter had become. But the truth is, she was following the rules of her chosen medium all along. There’s no point in tweeting if you aren’t saying something that can rile people up. “Our networks have been designed for this exact outcome,” Phillips says. “The most rancorous stuff becomes the stuff that is most visible, that has the most purchase.”
In other words, the internet did everything in its power to make Tanden act the way she did, rewarded her with nearly 377,000 followers, then punished her in the end. And yet, with every tweet, she had free will. [Psychiatrist David Greenfield, founder and medical director of the Connecticut-based Center for Internet and Technology Addiction] counsels his patients who want to change their internet habits to never actually type out a tweet in the “compose” box, in Twitter or any other social media platform. Rather, he says, type your message in the Notes app, think about it for a minute, and cut and paste when you’re good and ready.
Recommended
actual 'news publication' asserts abusive behavior by a political figure on their side of the aisle is caused by……
TWITTER!
thats right folks. Twitter made Tanden be abusive. dont blame her, she is the VICTIM here. pic.twitter.com/ZMvNjjMqj6— TakemetoDavos (@G7Summitleader) February 25, 2021
lmaooooo you see, Neera Tanden was tempted by Twitter. it made her shitpost like a lunatic crank. and then Republicans pounced. pic.twitter.com/JJiox2vXJ2
— tsar becket adams (@BecketAdams) February 25, 2021
Damn Republicans and their pouncing.
Always blame someone else, politics 101
— Joe (@Fun_Days_Always) February 25, 2021
So you’re saying she has no self-control, but she should be excused for that. Interesting. I seem to remember this was a knock on another politician. Was it different then because you didn’t like him?
— HacerNoMal (@muyalazar) February 25, 2021
"The evil Twitter-devil made me do it" is . . .not the defense Tanden or any of her supporters should be going for. As head of OMB, she would have oversight of and power over tremendous resources. If she can't handle the temptation of Twitter, how is she going to manage that?
— Faye Hausendorff (@FayeH321) February 25, 2021
She’s not. Because she has almost no chance of getting confirmed.
What a shame that is.
FFS it’s not just about her tweets.
In person she’s vile and vindictive.. that’s not me or republicans saying that.. that’s her fellow progressives saying that. https://t.co/wz1tF99WSV— LaurieAnn ??♂️? (@mooshakins) February 25, 2021
Politico twisting itself in a pretzel trying to make Neera Tanden (one of the most vile, hateful players in politics) a "victim" of Twitter. https://t.co/fQbjpCAERw
— john jackson (@pvtjokerus) February 25, 2021
Neera Tanden is not the hill to die on. But they’re gonna die on it anyway.
leftwing commentators putting in more effort to save neera tanden’s nomination than she ever put into saving ThinkProgress is a twist i was not expecting. https://t.co/j1qtNfu6wY
— tsar becket adams (@BecketAdams) February 25, 2021
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