I think it has become clear that Democrats aren’t really good judges of character. They tried to make character an issue in previous elections, and yet time and time again, they prove that their own party has incredibly low standards for its own caucus. Heck, Graham Platner survived the Nazi tattoo, countless disturbing Reddit posts, and even domestic abuse allegations before, finally, the rape allegation ended his candidacy for good. Yet, in the weeks since Platner went away, Democrats haven’t learned a thing.
For one thing, Maine Democrats are now on the verge of nominating Troy Jackson, another socialist candidate with his own troubling history, which includes abusive behavior toward women. But this isn’t a problem limited to Maine. It's a party-wide habit.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, a Democrat who just reentered the race for Wisconsin governor, is now facing his own version of the Platner problem. Crowley is confronting scrutiny over an old Twitter account loaded with offensive posts about women, black Americans, and gay people.
Oh, but don’t worry, he insists none of it reflects who he really is.
The account, handle @No_pork_plz with the display name "Dirt McGirk," launched in 2010 and went quiet in 2014. One post announced, "Follow No_pork_plz for those who don't know it's DC aka David bka Dirty or black a** dude hahaha... just STFU and follow #retweet." Another, from May 25, 2010, read, "That's just NASTY!!! I wouldn't (expletive) her with YOUR d**k!!!! #slapyourself." A May 10, 2010 post read, "I love kicking it with drunk women!!!!" And a May 29, 2010 post read, "only n- like you have #gaythoughts LOL fuggin tamberine player LOL."
His campaign has come up with an absurd defense, and boy is it a hoot. They claim he wasn't the only one posting to the account. A spokesperson said several people had access to the account and could post to it.
"David was one of many people who had access to this Twitter account more than a decade and a half ago," the spokesperson said. "He did not write or post the problematic content in question."
Sure. Okay. Who really believes that?
The account's bio read, "A different side of me…" That doesn't exactly sound like a tagline written by ten or twelve different people, does it?
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The campaign did confirm one thing: Crowley posted about believing he was a father before learning the baby wasn't biologically his, an experience he's discussed publicly before. "David did post on the page about his paternity history, which he has publicly spoken about in the past," the spokesperson said. "Bottom line: David strongly condemns the language used on the page and the people who know him recognize he would never say these things."
Can you hear me rolling my eyes?
"The people who know me will be the first to tell you that I would never say these things,” Crowley said in a statement. “Bottom line: I strongly condemn the language used in these posts from a decade and a half ago."
Even NBC News isn't buying the shared-account story. NBC News reporter Natasha Korecki noted that Crowley was working for Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) at the time, and that the account repeatedly refers to its owner in the first person, includes his selfie and his initials, and states that "this is my twitter page where I loosen up the tie and bring out the bottles!! Ya dig!" It also reads, "I can't really have my face out there when i'm representing #DWightman!!"
It remains to be seen how any of this lands with Democrat primary voters, or with the same establishment Democrats who rushed back to Crowley's side to try to save the campaign. The pattern is impossible to miss. Democrats keep rallying behind candidates with troubled pasts, which they should have known about before. At some point that stops being bad luck and starts looking like a party that simply doesn't check who it's hiring… and that’s probably because they don’t care.
