OK, so this is NOT the way to defend someone who made what appears to be racist jokes against an Obama staffer:
In a since-deleted Facebook post Thursday, former Broward County, Florida, lawmaker and campaign aide to Republican Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Susan Goldstein compared Obama to “Curious George.” The comments were first reported by the Miami New Times.
In the post, Goldstein expressed frustrations about Barr’s self-titled show being canceled in response to the racist comment she made about the woman, a former Obama adviser, on Tuesday.
“And I truly think Obama resembles the Curious George cartoon, who I think is an adorable character,” Goldstein said in a since-deleted comment. “Curious George that is. That is what my eyes see. And I am not racist, and there is not mean-spirited intent in my observation. But I can’t say it. Double standard.”
NO… BAD. Don’t do this!!!
Susan Goldstein, former @BrowardGOP lawmaker & a county chair of @marcorubio presidential campaign, wouldn't talk about her “I truly think Obama resembles the Curious George” FB post.
"I’m sorry. I can’t talk to you right now,” she said as she hung up.https://t.co/zPoBk4N9Xu pic.twitter.com/Be8O1po4Av— Anthony Man (@browardpolitics) June 1, 2018
Now I don’t think she meant anything malicious. She said “adorable”!! BUT you just don’t do such things without expecting that you’re going to be obliterated on social media. Now maybe you don’t care about such things. But if you’re a former Marco Rubio staffer, well, you should probably care about such things if you want to continue working in politics.
And she kinda doubled down on it:
Goldstein insisted that her comments were not racist, and that the comments were “among friends.”
“This is why people hate the press,” Goldstein told a reporter. “All I was trying to say is that I don’t get why this ‘comedian excuse’ works for some and not others,” she said, referring to former “Roseanne” writer Wanda Sykes’s comparison of President Trump to an orangutan.
“I don’t come from a racist society, so that never occurred to me,” she said. “I didn’t compare all black people to apes. I said Barack Obama looked like Curious George. I also called him cute!”
Hmmm. Good luck on your next career path, lady.
Also, have yourselves a lovely open thread.