I was skeptical this was really the Milwaukee GOP but it’s followed by the main Wisconsin GOP account and has been tagged by them in tweets before. Re: this tweet about Ruth Bader Ginsburg pic.twitter.com/IaBe1WTuoc
— andrew kaczynski🧐 (@KFILE) September 25, 2018
The Milwaukee County Republican Party recently tweeted a meme mocking sexual assault and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The tweet has since been deleted. The official Milwaukee GOP Twitter account posted the meme on September 24, which featured a photograph of Ginsburg and was captioned, “Abraham Lincoln grabbed my ass in 1862.”
The meme appears to be a retread of an off-color joke told by Representative Ralph Norman (R-SC) just before a debate against his Democratic Party challenger Archie Parnell late last week.
In his introductory remarks, Norman made reference to the ongoing controversy surrounding Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh before saying:
Did y’all hear this latest late-breaking news from the Kavanaugh hearings? Ruth Bader Ginsburg came out that she was groped by Abraham Lincoln.
Norman’s comments didn’t go over well with the audience and were later widely assailed by South Carolina Democrats–as well as by the volunteer organization which had hosted the candidate’s debate.
The local Kiwanis Club noted, “Kiwanis clubs exist to help children. One way to help is to understand candidates’ positions on relevant issues; many Kiwanis clubs hold open forums like this for political candidates. Statements such as the one from Rep. Ralph Norman do not reflect The Objects of Kiwanis.
In a similar fashion, Twitter users quickly pounced on the Milwaukee GOP’s meme about Ginsburg. At the time of its deletion, the tweet was heavily ratioed–a Twitter phenomenon whereby offensive or off-base posts receive an inordinate amount amount of replies compared to a relatively small number of likes or retweets.
One Twitter user replied, “So the GOP official position is to mock victims of sexual assault in order for political expediency? Is this just your county or state wide GOP position, or did this come down from the top @GOP ?”
Another user asked, perhaps rhetorically, “Do any of you have mothers? Were you hatched?”
Law&Crime looked into those questions–leaving multiple voicemails and messages with the Milwaukee County GOP, the Republican Party of Wisconsin and other regional adjuncts of the party.
No responses from Badger State Republicans were forthcoming at the time of publication, however, and a volunteer with the Milwaukee County GOP insisted that their press contact person wasn’t in the office on Tuesday.
In comments to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Democratic Party state Representative JoCasta Zamarripa said, “It’s clear that sexual harassment is a joke to them. I can’t imagine what it’s like to have to endure this public humiliation.”
[image via screengrab]
Follow Colin Kalmbacher on Twitter: @colinkalmbacher
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