Breitbart’s defenders need a dictionary. Sherrod’s relative was lynched
While many conservatives rightly and promptly demanded that Andrew Breitbart apologize for his smear of Shirley Sherrod, some on the right have — inexplicably — kept up their crusade to prove that Mrs. Sherrod is, if not a racist, then a contemptible liar. It’s very odd and has had the effect of making conservative media outlets like The American Spectator appear unhinged.
In a piece on its Web site, the Specator comes to the conclusion that Sherrod told an outrageous lie in her NAACP speech when she said a relative had been lynched.
This is the Spectator’s proof, from Supreme Court documents:
The arrest was made late at night at Hall’s home on a warrant charging Hall with theft of a tire. Hall, a young negro about thirty years of age, was handcuffed and taken by car to the courthouse. As Hall alighted from the car at the courthouse square, the three petitioners began beating him with their fists and with a solid-bar blackjack about eight inches long and weighing two pounds. They claimed Hall had reached for a gun and had used insulting language as he alighted from the car. But after Hall, still handcuffed, had been knocked to the ground, they continued to beat him from fifteen to thirty minutes until he was unconscious. Hall was then dragged feet first through the courthouse yard into the jail and thrown upon the floor, dying. An ambulance was called, and Hall was removed to a hospital, where he died within the hour and without regaining consciousness. There was evidence that Screws held a grudge against Hall, and had threatened to “get” him.
So the Spectator apparently agrees that Hall was viciously beaten to death by law enforcement agents, including the sheriff. Still:
It’s also possible that she knew the truth and chose to embellish it, changing a brutal and fatal beating to a lynching. . ..The image stirred by the image of the noosed rope in the hands of a racist lynch mob was, to say the least, frighteningly chilling. Did Ms. Sherrod deliberately concoct this story in search of a piece of that ugly romance to add “glamour” to a family story that is gut-wrenchingly horrendous already?
I have no idea why the American Spectator would go to such lengths to prove that racist law enforcement officials actually beat a black man to death and were not forced to pay for his crime, in the service of attempting to make his distant relative, Sherrod, look bad.
It is certainly true that the widely perceived definition of “lynching” is to hang a person with a rope. Nevertheless, if this argument is really over semantics, here’s the definition of lynching, from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: “To execute without due process of law, especially to hang.”
That’s especially, but not exclusively.
Geez.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
200 comments Add your comment
godless heathen
July 26th, 2010
9:16 pm
Good fight: Take a deep breath yourself and read CT’s post.
“There was evidence that Screws held a grudge against Hall, and had threatened to “get” him.”
Sounds like an old-fashion murder to me. But the race baiters prefer to play the “lynch” card. Doesn’t sound like a lynching to me, unless every unlawful killing meets the criteria.
godless heathen
July 26th, 2010
9:21 pm
If Rodney King had died, would we say that LAPD lynched him?
Kamchak
July 26th, 2010
9:21 pm
!etacifitrec htrib a …………… kooL
Keep up the good fight!
July 26th, 2010
9:25 pm
Heathen, again your ignorance of the entire story taints your commentary. Read the prior paragraphs about his arrest and that the beating was at the hands of law enforcement under a claim of color of law. Now if I hate you and I am law enforcement, and I then arrest you and I and my deputies beat you to death, you want to play “it wasn’t a lynching, it was just a brutal killing” and ignore the arrest, etc. How many lynchings were done by mobs who didn’t have other motivations such as prejudice and hate?
Sounds like you are grasping for pathetic distinctions.
godless heathen
July 26th, 2010
9:28 pm
The point here is that a professional word smith (Ms. Tucker) pulled out the dictionary and tried to get even more mileage out of the Sherrod dead horse. Based on the account cited in Ms. Tucker’s column, i.e. Hall beaten to death by a couple of cops, the term lynching is not what should be applied.
Marie
July 26th, 2010
9:38 pm
I find it so curious that Cynthia who accuses Breitbart and Fox of distorting and editing the speech of Shirley Sherrod has chosen to the do same with this American Spectator editorialist. She pulls out the pieces of the article which SHE CAN USE to make her point and actually dismisses the portions which states that the author is not “stating for sure” that Ms. Sherrod lied. In on instance Ms. Tucker even chops up the actual paragraph and gives you only the beginning and end and eliminates what the author actually has written.
So here is a portion of what the author actually wrote (NOTE: The article is rather long so I can understand the AJC not reprinting the whole article but I do think when you portions Ms. Tucker decided to delete sheds a different light on what the author is saying and does not make it appear that he is just splitting hairs as Ms. Tucker wants her audience to believe) :
So why in the world would Ms. Sherrod say something like this?
No idea. It’s possible that Ms. Sherrod simply doesn’t know the truth. As with any family, stories from generations past can get handed down and over time the truth gets rubbed away and fantasy or fiction replaces it, younger generations none the wiser. This event took place before Ms. Sherrod was born, so that is certainly possible.
It’s also possible that she knew the truth and chose to embellish it, changing a brutal and fatal beating to a lynching. Anyone who has lived in the American South (as my family once did) and is familiar with American history knows well the dread behind stories of lynch mobs and the Klan. What difference is there between a savage murder by fist and blackjack — and by dangling rope? Obviously, in the practical sense, none. But in the heyday — a very long time — of the Klan, there were frequent (and failed) attempts to pass federal anti-lynching laws. None to pass federal “anti-black jack” or “anti-fisticuffs” laws. Lynching had a peculiar, one is tempted to say grotesque, solitary status as part of the romantic image of the Klan, of the crazed racist. The image stirred by the image of the noosed rope in the hands of a racist lynch mob was, to say the least, frighteningly chilling. Did Ms. Sherrod deliberately concoct this story in search of a piece of that ugly romance to add “glamour” to a family story that is gut-wrenchingly horrendous already?
Again, I have no idea.
There is also a third possibility for what appears to be a straight-out fabrication. Having watched Ms. Sherrod’s speech and read the transcript, I think it’s abundantly clear that she is a liberal or progressive political activist.
Keep up the good fight!
July 26th, 2010
9:39 pm
xnay on the long formay Kam!
godless heathen
July 26th, 2010
9:51 pm
Good fight: You ignored my question if Rodney King died, would we call it a lynching? Of course you ignored the question, because you know it shoots down your shaky position.
You lose.
Scout
July 26th, 2010
10:02 pm
If I could I would personally hang the captain of that Dutch ship that dropped anchor in Jamestown Harbor in 1607 and sold the colony 20 African slaves.
hnf
July 26th, 2010
10:07 pm
keep up the good fight,
reading comprehension fail. utterly incoherent response.
Avenger
July 26th, 2010
10:08 pm
Scout. War is hell. All kinds of atrocities occur during war. That is why it is call war. My great, great grandfather (who was from the deep hills of W.Va. and may not even had ever seen a black man up to that time) fought for the Confederacy and was captured by Yankees at the age of 62. He was sent to Camp Chase, Ohio were he was starved and brutally treated (even though the Yankees had plenty of supplies). He was finally paroled but died from his treatment.” In the 1800s’, maybe people were just more cruel and evil – who knows and who cares. Your comparison is just simply double talk comparing war evils with the evils of the1900s when America’s terrorist arm was committing evils acts on law abiding citizens with impunity from the law. and sanctioned by majority of American people.
“Bottom line ………….. a lot of people have been mistreated in our past” You people need to get a different line than this one. For one reason – you try to justify your “lot of people have been mistreated line by using ill comparisons like the one you used above. Pure double talk
bank walker
July 26th, 2010
10:13 pm
I am with you Scout. That was the dumbest thing ever done was to bring slaves to America. See what kind of mess we have gotten into over it?
soames
July 26th, 2010
10:15 pm
I agree with Senator Webb on this issue.
Folks need to learn to look past their differences and embrace what they have in common with one another. That is what being American is all about…or that’s my version anyhow.
I don’t know why CT has to post something about race every other week but it is tiring so I won’t be commenting on anymore stories that pertain to race. Equal Opportunities abound.
Thomas
July 26th, 2010
10:29 pm
I am sure all the blogging advanced the healing of the great racial divide- what is in tomorrow’s bag of tricks? Anyone following the nut job Oliver Stone or is his “media” deemed ok?
ODDOWL
July 26th, 2010
10:35 pm
There are stealth Democrats buried deep within the Republican party. They await their orders to sprang the October surprise. Boycott the NFL on Fox.
Guido
July 26th, 2010
10:49 pm
Amazing how someone as one-dimensional as CT is able to keep a column. Her job is to stoke the fire of racial discourse, and she does it well. Such a shallow, closed-minded and petty “writer”‘ who could never get a job if she had to be objective.
Jose
July 26th, 2010
10:52 pm
Anyone who has watched the full video and does not think this lady has a little racist tinge to her is a moron. You might be a racist when you refer to a race as “one of his kind”. DAMN, people be ignorant when it comes to racism. In fact, they are Tuckers, race baiting BIGOTS. New term for racists, Tuckers. Feel free to use.
froghairs
July 26th, 2010
10:58 pm
Lessee … so far we have all “conservatives,” “tea partiers,” “right wingers,” “religious right” and so one smeared in an event that involved Breitbart, the blogosphere, the Ag Dept, and the WH. This is the problem with allying with any specific party or organization — you are frequently called on to defend the indefensible. Nope. Won’t do it. I saw the initial video, could tell it was edited “too soon” and that she was driving to a point. I’ve done this myself in speeches, where you use yourself as the person who learns the lesson — it makes it easier to break down the defenses of your audience. I told my husband that it looked like to was cut too soon, deliberately, but she did sorta incriminate herself — my not knowing at the time how long ago it had happened, and that she had a change of heart. But wait — there’s more! The blogosphere and the media are running with this football and with all the back-and-forth sniping. It’ll never end. But don’t blame Cynthia Tucker — when you are a columnist you are expected to sound off on these hot button topics. And if she’s made a career of following the trendline of the racial debate, so be it. There are other columnists out there. A writer’s gotta make a living.
froghairs
July 26th, 2010
11:00 pm
With that said, I find few people who want to rationally debate race in this country. The old speeches and writings of Thomas Sowell does come to mind, however — an underappreciated man, by both whites and blacks. Pity. We need minds like his to move us along and beyond.
froghairs
July 26th, 2010
11:01 pm
Sowell’s an economist.
Scout
July 26th, 2010
11:02 pm
Avenger :
Sorry ……… government sponsored terrorism (Camp Chase) is worse than individual terrorism.
Scout
July 26th, 2010
11:03 pm
bank walker :
You hit the nail on the head ……….. but then again we wouldn’t be on Cynthia’s blog and I’m just not sure I could stand that …………………
Beleck
July 26th, 2010
11:05 pm
well Brietbart pulled back the scab on the unspoken war that has been going on since the Civil War put down their weapons of guns, knives and artillery. Now we have that war being revisited. as well as the desire to rescind The Civil Rights laws. a Return to the Good ole Days for non white, female, and sexually nonconformists who so patiently will help the Republicans in their war on Blacks.
the topic is out there now. and we have the experiences from the ’60s on to decide which tactics will work best. Such a diverse and trite set of rules.
for someone who saw this happen in the ’60s as a child, i can only say we are in for as Betty Davis said, “We are in for a bumpy ride.” i hope that is the correct quote.
i, for one, don’t believe there is any hope in trying to convince the Right that there is some inherent White Society that minorities describe as being all pervasive. Being in the sea the idea of being wet is just not something you think about, because it is all “Wet”.
and with 40 yrs of the black vs white fight going on. it is so easy to just play the race card to stir up the pot. doesn’t even matter what or the particulars if you aim is noise to divert attention.
so smart people playing games with peoples’ heads. keep us poor and fighting each other while they figure ways to con us.
very smart people indeed
froghairs
July 26th, 2010
11:12 pm
Beleck — intelligent response, but I have to ask, what is the secret to the poor getting out of poverty? Sowell covered this nicely back in the ’70s, but no one listened to him. Sadly, it was likely because he’s black. But he knew the truth and he’s spoken it ever since.
B
July 26th, 2010
11:14 pm
so in the video, when Sherrod says “I didn’t want to help him because he was white” and the audience shouts “That’s right!” and “Amen!” – That’s ok?
froghairs
July 26th, 2010
11:19 pm
I don’t think those were her exact words. And I just don’t recall whether I heard them reply that way or not. But I think she heavily implied that there was a disconnect for her working with a white farmer. But she was clearly using it as a setup for her main point which was that it wasn’t about white or black but about being poor — and that’s pretty darned close to her actual wording before she was cut off.
But we’re adults here, aren’t we? And we know for a fact that people in power have biases — our pastors, our teachers, our police officers, our bosses … and it’s all wrong, and then it can go alright once we persevere and help them to see the right way to be. You can regulate, which is only as valuable to the citizens as a costly and public lawsuit, but you can’t force a heart to change. It happens over time, until something like this happens and everyone loses their minds again.
Time for a beer summit!
Beleck
July 26th, 2010
11:26 pm
oh like all blacks or whites are smart enough to realize that being dumb is the way to make race relations better. we learn at different rates, people. we need leaders who can show growth wisdom and tolerance, and tolerance means teaching others what is inappropriate and what’s okay.
so all whites are bigots? i think not. that whole thrown stones analogy. the purpose of learning to get over the misunderstandings that “black and white” thinking consists. life is full of gray. hold all accountable and expect no less from other to you.
we are all God’s children according to that book i see alluded to so often.
froghairs
July 26th, 2010
11:29 pm
bank walker: Unless you are posting from the great beyond, “we” didn’t bring slaves. I didn’t, and you didn’t — unless you are currently involved in an illegal activity. I recognize that there are far-reaching implications, especially since the Civil Rights Movement really was not that long ago. And even though we’ve all heard that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the sons, I do not personally hold any blame. However, Christ commands us to love one another, to serve one another, to hold others in higher esteem than ourselves. That’s a tall order, but we’d be in a much better place if we followed Christ’s teachings. How would these postings read if we just followed “Do unto others and you would have them do unto you”? Wow.
Beleck
July 26th, 2010
11:30 pm
why hold so much bitterness and hatred towards people you can’t change much less control. the acid you hold for them hurts you more than it ever could them.
froghairs
July 26th, 2010
11:30 pm
Apologies for the typos … as you would have them do unto you …
froghairs
July 26th, 2010
11:30 pm
Amen, Beleck.
Beleck
July 26th, 2010
11:46 pm
if you think these “others” are out to get you, then you are in real trouble. there are lots of them and only a limited amount of you. even if i were to go with white birth ratios compared to “others”, you know the amount of fear in that line of thinking is enough to light the entire grid of North America for a long time. the fear will only increase the amount of ill will/fear you will have to live with.
and most importantly, where oh where are we going to run to or from?
not like the “other” is going to go away. we fought the damn Civil War over the Blacks. isn’t that enough blood for this senseless fear of “there isn’t enough” to go around. and don’t dare give the Blacks what there “aint enough” of. that Blacks and Whites have lived together for so many years despite the BS between us.
but there’s enough white anger at having to share the country with blacks because the Federal Government told us to. talk about pissed children who have to share their toys, cause they feel they don’t have enough to begin with. now they see a way to stop the “progressive” way of thinking of having to live with “them.” roll back the Civil Rights, vote Republican and we can return to separate but equal. nowadays,i hear, blacks have made it enough so they can’t possibly need “government” help. now can they, after all this time. talk about growing up.
oh it never ends, nor is it supposed to.
itpdude
July 26th, 2010
11:55 pm
The distraction machine continues. There is a segment of the GOP that insists on distracting from the issues and getting into BS. The Sherrod vid was easily identified as a snippet of her talk. No context was given. And now that context is given, a lot of these blowhards can’t admit they screwed up or were led astray by manipulation.
So of course they are going to look for some other “gotcha” on a woman who was more honest about race publicly than Obama has been since taking office. Yeah, what a great victory for racial dialogue this whole thing has become.
I don’t blame the GOP for wanting to throw out red-herrings. If I wrecked the economy and led my country into two wars I’d want to change the subject too.
katwalt
July 27th, 2010
12:38 am
@A CONSERVATIVE (what, as opposed to a conservative?):
See, the difference is the Democratic Party has evolved and acknowledges its racist past. The CONSERVATIVES (well, not all, thank goodness, but an awful lot, especially in these comments) continue to defend a slime monger like Andrew Breitbart. Do carry on, though you may break your shovel digging that hole.
JustSaying
July 27th, 2010
12:55 am
What scares me is that some people will read the report of the event and still, to this day, think that he got what was coming to him.
Charlotte in dispair
July 27th, 2010
1:37 am
I should know better than to read comments, but I am boggled by peoples need to twist things around to justify their point of view. ..Oh forget it . nothing will penetrate the mind of a person in righteous denial.
ck hall
July 27th, 2010
3:41 am
When all issues are lost by the Democrat party ,you and Howard Dean revert to the old race based attacks!i.e.,FOX news is racist and Sherrod lied about lynching…When wil it ever end, and the real issues will come to the forefront?
Constructive Feedback
July 27th, 2010
4:00 am
Ms Tucker:
I would personally be impressed to see YOU take time out to specifically address one of the multitudes of murders of young Black males that occur every week within Metro Atlanta.
I notice – along the lines of the Tasha York/Cracker Barrel beating – that when it comes to people who think like you – it is the killer/assailant that determines the value of the life of the Black person.
You would like us to believe that the police are “special” and/or that a “Civil Rights murder” had more of a terroristic impact upon the Black community. Unfortunately the quality of these killings don’t trump the QUANTITY of the regular ole Black on Black murders that are too commonplace.
Do you realize how predictable you are Ms Tucker?
Will Jones - Atlanta Jeffersonian Exegesis
July 27th, 2010
5:02 am
American Exceptionalism is predicated on “left” (côté gauche) ideals – per the coiner of the term, Thomas Carlyle’s “History of the French Revolution,” just as “liberal” is the most praiseworthy adjective applied in the Bible to a “made in G-d’s image” human. Those failed Americans who disagree are merely ignorant of Our Founder’s writings and utopian sentiments, or actively, if dumbly, in service to the anti-”E Pluribus Unum” “Divide and Conquer” Old Sectarian Order we escaped in the this “Novus Ordo Seclorem.”
The fraudulent editing of Shirley Sherrod’s humbly sharing her witness of personal transcendence in our civil religion of credal Americanism is the means by which the Creator enabled We, the People, to see the “Fifth Column” false elite, the “pseudo aristoi,” in the open.
As the Electorate, sovereign individuals must not fail to recognize the difference between holy woman Mrs. Sherrod’s obvious righteousness, and the perversion and treason manifested in her detractors. There is no compromise with G-d, Who by “Annuit Coeptis” is The Single and Unique Foundation of Our Nation’s covenant, health, and posterity.
Agents of the Roman Anti-Christ, identified by Mr. Jefferson in his Kercheval letter, like Andrew Breitbart and “American Spectator”, are The Enemy Within: against Truth and Justice, against G-d, and against the People and Constitution.
That Mr. Obama has failed to curtail their treasonous activities by charging, trying and hanging their titular leaders Bush and Cheney for having committed 9/11 (Viz. “The New Pearl Harbor,” Griffin, Ph.D.) is unfortunate evidence of this administration’s “practicality,” cowardice, or “bi-partisan” cooperation. The L-rd does not let the Righteous stumble, yet stumble they did in firing one all Georgia should arise and make our next governor by acclamation and write-in ballot.
Upon Further Review
July 27th, 2010
5:26 am
So, Ms. Tucker, why do you believe that Andrew Breitbart should apologize for his “smear” of Shirley Sherrod, yet as far as I know, you’ve made no such demand of fellow liberal journalists who colluded on JournoList to undermine the candidacy of Sarah Palin.
Don’t try to tell me the JournoList was nothing more than journalists talking among themselves. In one comment, Joe Kline says he used the “accumulated wisdom of this august list” to write a column questioning Palin’s “militant” ideology.
Worse yet, some of the so-called professional journalists discussed the possibility of calling conservative commentators racists in order to distract the public from Obama’s Rev. Wright problem.
How is it not a serious breach of journalistic ethics (if you care about such things) when writers plot behind the scenes to influence a presidential election — with false allegations if necessary?
Upon Further Review
July 27th, 2010
5:31 am
itpdude wrote:
I don’t blame the GOP for wanting to throw out red-herrings. If I wrecked the economy and led my country into two wars I’d want to change the subject too.
__________________________________
*** And I don’t blame Obama groupies for throwing out red herrings like the one you just posted.
There’s an election in November, and it makes sense that you would want to distract Americans from recognizing that the unemployment rate, the federal deficit, foreclosures, bankruptcies and the national debt have all gotten worse since your socialist/progressive hero took office 18 months ago.
Better to talk about Republicans “driving the car into the ditch” than admit that Obama drove the tow truck into a bigger ditch.
Upon Further Review
July 27th, 2010
5:36 am
CORRECTING MYSELF: I meant to spell Joe’s last name “Klein.”
firstborn40
July 27th, 2010
6:31 am
wow…stop the madness….why is it that there are some that want to act as though slavery didn’t happen and the continuously perpetuated harassment of racism is not prevalent in almost every aspect of the united states….just what did the african-americans do that you hate so much? you brought us here and made us slaves in a inhuman and vile way…and you are mad at us…why because we don’t want to take your crap anymore!
those that left england left basically because of the same system that you have in place here in the united states…the have and have nots – you enslaved a race of people to build this country for you and you now act like there is no place for them here and just like then as now…you refuse to admit what you’ve done and you want to label someone a liberal because they give a damn about the disenfranchised…i’ve asked this other times…who died and made you God???!!! it is obvious that you don’t have all the answers….you haven’t been able to do anything about your hate! and you are the same ones that go to your churches…the ones you formed when you left england because you wanted to worship how you wanted to worship.
i see why they contained how you prayed…when left to your own devises you pray to a God that allows hate and mistreatment of others.
bob
July 27th, 2010
6:51 am
Cynthia, why bring up fox news when it comes to race, you do it almost daily. So Obama made a hasty decision based on the fact that Glenn Beck might run the story ? Howard Dean said so on Foxnews.
Early Bird
July 27th, 2010
7:30 am
I know nothing about the story of Ms. Sherrod’s family member being lynched. But if we use liberal reasoning then we can certainly make sense of the situation.
Ms. Sherrod’s family member was lynched by a hillbilly sherif. Ms. Sherrod repressed her hatred for white people and used her position as an outlet to get back at white people. Her words not mine.
Liberals would say that Ms. Sherrod is justified in her racist selections because of her past experience with white people. So withholding funds to the poor white person was just a by product of her long past family member being killed by a white person.
Check the modern day statistics of black on white crimes in the US. Your head will spin. My question is, does this justify white people carrying a repressed hatred for the black race. Should Ms. Sherrod’s hate have been directed at the white PERSON and not the white RACE.
She was wrong, she admitted it. She’s a changed woman. Move on!
MAC
July 27th, 2010
7:53 am
Marie, CT doesn’t actually read the articles. She gets daily talking points on out of context quotes from Media Matters and Thinkprogress. You’re expecting too much.
_____________________
“I find it so curious that Cynthia who accuses Breitbart and Fox of distorting and editing the speech of Shirley Sherrod has chosen to the do same with this American Spectator editorialist. She pulls out the pieces of the article which SHE CAN USE to make her point and actually dismisses the portions which states that the author is not “stating for sure” that Ms. Sherrod lied. In on instance Ms. Tucker even chops up the actual paragraph and gives you only the beginning and end and eliminates what the author actually has written. “
common sense
July 27th, 2010
8:15 am
The more you hear about this woman, the more I despise her and realize she is a full-blown racist. So she had a thug relative that continued to resist arrest and he paid the price for it? How in the world is that a lynching?
CT, are you implying that every white person that has been mugged, robbed, beaten or rapped by a barbaric black should be a racist? Given the fact that blacks are overwhelming statistically leaders in every crime category I just mentioned, that would mean about 85% of whites, according to your logic, would have a perfectly good excuse to be racist.
jerry
July 27th, 2010
8:16 am
LOL!!! A relative I’m sure she never even met and one she probably didn’t even know she had and probably just heard this propaganda at a family picnic.
Williebkind
July 27th, 2010
8:28 am
I love this story! It is a reflection of how liberals use the media all the time. It is called the “gotcha clause”. Yep get someone to speak and look for something anything that can used against them and their supporters. Yepper the liberals use the gotcha clause all the time and now someone used it against them. It caused chaos in the liberal ranks. They can dish it out but can not take it. The gotcha clause conservatives, remember it use it.
Deal? Get real.
July 27th, 2010
8:29 am
“GOP Invites Breitbart to Fundraiser” Headline from today’s AJC. That should tell you everything you need to know about the GOP’s desire to use race for political gain, then play the victim when sullied by its backlash.