New York Times opinion columnist Charles Blow's "magic underwear" tweet about Mitt Romney has fueled the candidate's claim of media bias, and to no one's surprise, his apology this morning isn't good enough for some of The Times' critics. Blow's tweet and its blowback (sorry!) are just more proof that Twitter isn't the best platform for off the cuff political discussion, especially if the speaker is affiliated with a more established media organization. To recap:
To recap, Blow sent his tweet out during Wednesday night's debate:
Let me just tell you this Mitt "Muddle Mouth": I'm a single parent and my kids are *amazing*! Stick that in your magic underwear. #CNNdebate
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) February 23, 2012
Which prompted this response from Romney (as tweeted by BuzzFeed's Ben Smith):
Romney on @CharlesMBlow's tweet: "A little surprising...I guess we’re finding out for the first time that the media is somewhat biased."
— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) February 24, 2012
Just for clarification: Blow is an opinion writer. He is paid to be biased in the same way that his conservative counterparts at the paper are. Nonetheless, Blow apologized this morning, tweeting, "Btw, the comment I made about Mormonism during Wed.'s debate was inappropriate, and I regret it. I'm willing to admit that with no caveats." The New York Times' Public Editor, Arthur, Brisbane commended Blow's apology this morning: "I applaud @CharlesMBlow for apologizing for his tweet on Romney. Criticism based on religion is inappropriate, on Twitter or anywhere else."
Twitter being twitter, Blow's apology wasn't good enough for some. Big Government's Derek Hunter offered this tweet: "Alternate @CharlesMBlow: I regret not keeping my bigoted comments to private conversations with my progressive friends who share my bigotry." Texas Public Policy VP and former George W. Bush speechwriter Joshua Treviño adds, "This is what @CharlesMBlow would label #RealTalk: he's sorry his comment got him in trouble. He's not sorry for the content of the comment."
And many, many others have voiced their displeasure. That said, we aren't quite sure if Taliban corpse-urination advocate Dana Loesch is being sarcastic or earnest when she weighed in with, "So you're saying you're sorry, @CharlesMBlow ? Unclear."
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Alexander Abad-Santos



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