Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) was trying to make a point on Twitter on Wednesday when he shared a video clip of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) talking about white supremacy. In the clip, Omar says we should be worried about white men in power, followed a few moments later with the suggestion that perhaps we should subject white men to "profiling."
It didn't paint Omar in a great light. But media quickly informed Rubio he had just shared a doctored video - one that omitted some relevant context. In the full interview, Omar had added, "if fear was the driving force of policies to keep America safe."
Rubio says that wasn't the point. What he was interested in, was how the media was going to respond to the video he shared. He argued that if a Republican had said the same things she had, they would not have been coddled quite so much or had the media bend over backwards for them to find the complete context. For instance, he notes how his former colleague, Sen. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), did not get the benefit of the doubt when he was running for governor last fall and said voters shouldn't “monkey this up” by voting for his African American opponent, Andrew Gillum. The media didn't even think twice when they accused him of being racist.
More proof of how many in media have an outrage double standard
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 25, 2019
Republican’s don’t get benefit of “context” from many (not all) in media for saying things far less provocative. Ask Ron DeSantis smeared as a racist comment in an interview.
https://t.co/3Tcc52trI3
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Interesting, my tweet asked if media would characterize her statement as racist.
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 25, 2019
It’s described very differently in this story.
What happened to the need for “context”?
This is why the outrage-response cycle is so stupid.
Rubio will likely also have seen the platform the NYT gave Omar to call President Trump a racist. White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway said on Fox News on Thursday that she was "disappointed" The Times printed her.
"They never fact check her," Conway noted.
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