Anatomy of a comment
Since Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker rose in late winter to the top of some polls for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Democrats and media members have been busy trying to knock him off his perch. The most recent occasion came when he was defending his state's mandatory ultrasound law on TheBlazeTV and proved a good example of how one media outlet's misquote can cause a firestorm.
"We just knew if we signed the law, if we provided the information," he said of the ultrasound measure, which pro-abortion groups decry, "that more people if they saw that unborn child would ... make a decision to protect and keep the life of that unborn child."
Later, discussing the wonder of the ultrasound machine, Walker said how he and his wife still have the first ultrasound pictures of their 19- and 20-year-old sons. "It's just a cool thing out there," he said.
Politico picked up the "cool" comment and wrote how "Scott Walker defends mandatory ultrasounds: 'It's just a cool thing out there'." Salon's headline was "Scott Walker: Women should be forced to have transvaginal ultrasounds because they are 'a cool thing'." Other left-wing websites followed suit, and Planned Parenthood chimed in with a misquoted Tweet.
In this case, the left's fake War on Women is quite simply a War on Walker.
Warren's hypocrisy
Turns out, Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has something in common with former Republican Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney -- they buy low and sell high. Romney, the former Bain Capital executive, did his work with businesses, while Warren did hers with houses. There's nothing illegal or untoward about either one.
The difference is that Romney, who was excoriated for his wealth and business interests during the 2012 presidential campaign, never apologized for what he did for a living. Warren, on the other hand, has called the buying and selling of properties quickly for a profit "a myth" that contributed to the country's economic woes and criticized banks that foreclosed on the homes of working-class Americans.
"Everyone seemed to have a story about someone they knew who was getting rich by flipping houses," she wrote in her 2014 autobiography about events that precipitated the Great Depression.
One of those someones was Warren, who "bought and sold at least five [residential, and some foreclosed-upon] properties for profit," a recent National Review article pointed out. Minus remodeling costs, according to the article, she netted $240,500.
Texas flood theories
The Rev. Al Sharpton may have realized the idea was a bit out there for even far-left MSNBC, where he hosts a talk show, so he took it to Twitter, where he is reported to have near a half million followers.
"Keeping it real," he said on the social network site, "do you think the Texas flooding is related to climate control or God's rebuke?" He suggested listeners call in to his radio show to weigh in.
First, there is the reference to "climate control." Did Sharpton mean climate change or was he thinking about the limousines in which he rides? Second, was he mocking old Louis Farrakhan or Pat Robertson claims about Hurricane Katrina being God's wrath over -- pick your minister -- racism or the country's abortion policy, respectively.
Whatever he meant, he immediately found a few online responses.
"I thought I knew what 'Keeping it Real' meant," said Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online. "Now I'm not so sure."
"I think the mere suggestion that innocent people are killed due to God's 'rebuke' is repulsive," said Glenn Greenwald.
Ever in an alternate universe, Sharpton remarked on Twitter that the topic created an "interesting dialogue."
In this photo taken May 20, 2015, Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., poses for a portrait before an interview with The Associated Press in Washington. For Democrats who had hoped to lure Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren into a presidential campaign, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders might be the next best thing. Sanders, who is opening his official presidential campaign Tuesday in Burlington, Vermont, aims to ignite a grassroots fire among left-leaning Democrats wary of Hillary Rodham Clinton. He is laying out an agenda in step with the party's progressive wing and compatible with Warren's platform _ reining in Wall Street banks, tackling college debt and creating a government-financed infrastructure jobs program. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) But he means well
Imagine the shock if a 2016 Republican presidential candidate had written in an essay, even 40 years ago, about how women fantasize about being raped by three men simultaneously. To date, there is no allegation that one of the many Republican candidates did that, but one Democrat candidate did.
That would be Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who wrote the article for a now-defunct publication when he was 30 in 1972. So far, no one has called for his ouster from the Senate or from the presidential campaign as there would have been had a Republican written something similar. But the self-proclaimed socialist's campaign did distance itself from the publication.
The article, spokesman Michael Briggs told CNN, was a "dumb attempt at dark satire in an alternative publication" and "in no way reflects his views or record on women."
"It was intended to attack gender stereotypes of the '70s, but it looks as stupid today as it was then," he said.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., appears to be getting a pass for a risque essay he wrote more than 40 years ago. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)