Curt Schilling, the former MLB pitcher who was fired as a TV analyst with ESPN for his insensitive social media posts, has said he wants to run as a Republican for the U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts in 2018.
He better improve his debate skills, if a recent Twitter exchange is any indication.
Schilling, who was part of two Boston Red Sox teams that won the World Series, took offense to Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones saying that Red Sox fans yelled racist slurs at him during a game in Boston on May 1. Schilling has publicly said several times that he thinks Jones is lying, though he was not at the stadium that night and offers no proof. Jones, one of MLB’s stars who led the U.S. team to its first World Baseball Classic Gold Medal in March 2017, has been outspoken against racism and other issues
About a week after the Jones incident, Schilling reiterated his Jones-is-a-liar stance by posting a link to a rant on the right-wing site, American Thinker. Schilling writes, “For all you liberal race baiters out there,” a term he uses to pretty much denigrate anyone who disagrees with Schilling that Jones is lying.
The American Thinker ranter even writes, “Time after time over the last 30 years, national outrage has been stirred over an incident that proved white racism – only to turn out to be a lie.” He provides no evidence that occurred “time after time.” He mentioned the usual incidents that are mentioned by right-wingers, but provides no studies on the matter. An actual study by the Southern Poverty Law Center of hate incidents that occurred shortly after last November’s election found that 1 percent to 2 percent of people lied about the incidents.
Schilling pinned that tweet to the top of his Twitter feed, which usually means he thinks it is the most important one he has issued lately. If you want to get a response from someone like Schilling, it is best to respond to the pinned tweet rather than a recent one. Or do both, if you have time.
So after reading a story about the Portland incident in which two men who came to the aid of Muslim women being harassed were stabbed to death by the mentally-unstable assailant, I posted the following on Schilling’s pinned tweet early Sunday:
I wanted to show why many people don’t confront a racist yelling the n-word and worse in public. Sometimes they get killed. At ballparks, many are with their families and don’t want to see repercussions against their kids or spouses. Relatively few are in the position of being by themselves or with a friend that has their back — or have the guts — to confront a racist. Even if they take videos, they often don’t turn them over because then they have to get involved and possibly be stalked. It’s a sad, but understandable, situation.
Soon, Schilling responded with this:
My response in two tweets, including a link to a Washington Post story on actual Red Sox players like David Price saying that his team’s own fans shouted racial slurs at him:
I also tweeted Schilling this and received a response:
Apparently Schilling thinks the Portland accused killer is a “radically racist liberal and Sanders lover.” Or he is calling me that. Or he thinks both the killer and me are such.
But let’s say it’s the former. The accused killer is actually a virulently anti-Hillary Clinton, mentally unstable proclaimed “Nihilist” who was even kicked out of a Trump meeting. While tweeting some pro-Sanders stuff and liking Sanders’ page during the primaries , he more recently tweeted, “Thank God for Trump over Hillary. I take the fast poison over the slow." So he apparently likes Trump more than Hillary, because the former will destroy the country faster in his view. As a Nihilist, he wants to see the social order destroyed, which is similar to Trump senior adviser and Breitbart founding member Stephen Bannon’s views. The killer even liked Breitbart’s Facebook page at one point, as well as Sanders’ page.
While he claimed to vote for Sanders in the primaries, if he is harassing Muslim women and stabbing people, he is not a real “Sanders lover.” Sanders advocated nonviolence and tolerance towards Muslims. So it’s debatable that he even voted for Sanders. If he did, it was as a protest vote or one to confuse people and mess with actual Sanders supporters, as well as register his opposition to Clinton.
If you study Nixon’s dirty tricks tactics, such diversions were a staple of CREEP’s campaigns. This is from my book, Not Our President, about Nixon’s dirty tricks:
[For the 1972 campaign,] Nixon and his team discussed kidnapping and beating protesters, donating to black Rep. Shirley Chisholm, who ran for president in 1972, to help cause dissension among Democrats, and wiretapping the headquarters of Democratic presidential candidates Edmund Muskie and George McGovern. They eventually only carried out the wiretaps and burglaries, while lobbying for tax audits of potential presidential opponents and others. The IRS reportedly targeted more than 1,000 liberal groups and 4,000 individuals.
In addition, Nixon’s team did other dubious acts to disrupt the campaign of Muskie, who Nixon reportedly feared the most as an opponent. Nixon’s campaign bribed Muskie’s chauffeur $1,000 a month to photograph key campaign documents and deliver copies. Surrogates produced ‘fake news’ releases on counterfeit Muskie stationery accusing Democratic candidates Hubert Humphrey and Henry Jackson of sexual scandals to make it appear like Muskie was planting the stories.
In Florida, they had a naked young woman run through Muskie’s hotel claiming to be in love with him. Nixon people posed as Muskie supporters to wake up voters in the middle of the night. Muskie ended up coming in a distant fourth in the Florida primary behind George Wallace, Humphrey, and Jackson.
In Wisconsin, the Nixon dirty tricksters handed out fake fliers about a free lunch supposedly organized by Muskie in which they could meet Coretta Scott King. The potential supporters blamed Muskie after they showed up to find there was no lunch or King. Nixon’s squad even did petty things like steal and throw away the shoes that Muskie aides left in hotel hallways to be polished. McGovern won that primary with Muskie again a distant fourth.
With Muskie neutralized, Patrick Buchanan, a Nixon speechwriter and adviser who later ran for president as a Republican, recommended that Republicans focus on helping McGovern get the nomination since he was viewed as one of the weaker opponents. Once McGovern secured it, Buchanan advised that McGovern be labeled an extremist and the White House tapes burned.
Nixon also focused on Edward Kennedy, who would not run for president until 1980, and urged plumbers to obtain more dirt, including tapes and photographs of Kennedy in sexually compromising positions. Nixon even ordered campaign literature from McGovern to be planted in the apartment of Arthur Bremer, who shot Wallace in May 1972, in an attempt to implicate the Democrats. Nixon also had the IRS investigate Wallace’s brother to pressure Wallace into running as a Democrat, rather than independent.
So you see, the Republicans have engaged in dirty tricks for a long time to discredit Democrats. “Fake news” was occurring at least as long ago as 1972, probably even back to the late 18th century campaigns in one form or another. While it goes the other way at times, the Dem tricks have not been as numerous or blatant in modern times. Some say this accused killer could have been paid by a right-wing benefactor to engage in such diversionary techniques and discredit Democrats. That is entirely possible.
Enter shills like Schilling, who picks up on the narrative that the accused Portland killer is another “racist liberal.” That fits in with Schilling’s agenda and, ultimately, the Republican far-right agenda.
My response to Schilling:
I have yet to hear back from Schilling on these responses. Perhaps Schilling is reviewing his strategy for his presumed 2018 Senate campaign.
