In case you missed it, Joe Biden’s rapid response director Andrew Bates took a nasty shot at CBS News’ Catherine Herridge after she committed the crime of reporting on the list of Obama administration officials — including Biden — who had submitted unmasking requests for the individual who would ultimately be revealed as Michael Flynn.
Here’s Bates’ tweet again (which he’s since deleted):
Screen shot of Andrew Bates' deleted tweet. pic.twitter.com/QDsT89lx0t
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) May 13, 2020
For Bates to have deleted that tweet — a tweet he was no doubt very proud of — he must’ve gotten a lot of unexpected blowback. And we mean a lot. From average Joes on Twitter to CNN’s Jake Tapper (with an asterisk, of course) to … whistleblower attorney Mark Zaid. Zaid’s not the kind of guy who’s shown any inclination to promote a narrative that could benefit the Trump campaign, but even he was disgusted by Bates’ low blow:
I've worked with @CBS_Herridge for many years & this is untrue. It is also beneath integrity of Biden campaign. You do not help your candidate by going maliciously low like Trump & his campaign.
You should apologize & delete this tweet. Be better than this.
— Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) May 13, 2020
It’s nice to see an avowed Trump foe call out the Biden campaign for bad behavior.
Good for Zaid to say this. https://t.co/5X0qfQZABc
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) May 13, 2020
Would’ve also been nice if, unlike Tapper, he’d resisted the urge to compare Bates’ actions to those of someone from Team Trump.
Meh….should have stopped at the first sentence.
— joey in the woods (@joeyinthewoods) May 13, 2020
Loses goodness points when he can't say it without making it about being "like Trump."
Sometimes your side is wrong. You should be able to say it without slipping in something about the other side's badness.
— Valar Addemmis (@ValarAddemmis) May 13, 2020
Still insulted Trump. Its a tic.
— Gimli (@UnumDeum) May 13, 2020
Oh well. Hopefully at least Trump fans and foes alike can agree that Herridge didn’t deserve to be smeared.
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