Bob Schaffer probably wishes Facebook didn't exist

Every Denver station had the story on its website, too (0.00 / 0)

KHOW's Craig Silverman also has been discussing this all week, the Denver Post has covered it, as have the Colorado Independent, Associated Press, Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, SquareState, ColoradoPols and others.

Noticeable by its lack of coverage is the Rocky Mountain News, which apparently is fine printing whatever Dick Wadhams tells it without vetting for factual accuracy, but won't cover a national story in its own back yard (beyond a reference buried in Vince Carroll's Wednesday column). Read more:

http://colorado.mediamatters.o...

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by: bmenezes @ Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 11:34:20 AM CDT

I'm surprised this story has had such long legs (0.00 / 0)

4 days now! It's something else... Also surprised Fox covered it at all.  

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by: truthiness @ Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 14:41:06 PM CDT

We really should watch our own hypocricy.... (0.00 / 0)

http://www.squarestate.net/sho...

Didn't we all get up in a hubbub when a very similar situation happened with Ed Pearlmutter's daughter on Facebook?

It's all BS... Kids are kids-- especially college kids.  

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by: jsdailey @ Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 16:04:38 PM CDT

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sorry? (0.00 / 0)

Do you really think they're anywhere near the same level?

revolution from within

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by: johne @ Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 16:29:32 PM CDT

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I do actually (0.00 / 0)

Let's give the Schaffer kid the benefit of the doubt for a second, that he's not actually a belligerent racist. I know that's a stretch given the level of tastelessness of the images posted. But consider it this way:

*19 year old kid puts something on their facebook page that they think is harmless and somewhat amusing.
*Dad of said kid is a politician.
*Opposing group finds information and tries to make the father look bad by attacking the kid's sense of appropriateness/humor and arguing that this reflects on the parenting skills and therefore the fitness to lead of Dear Ol' Dad.

With Abby it was relatively benign, yes, the charge that she belonged to a silly group. With Justin he posted some images that are darkly humorous, if you have a twisted sense of humor. (To me, the Republican Jesus could almost be a lefty-satire image, poking fun at the way the neocons would have to envision Jesus for Him to agree with their policies.)
Humor is in the eye of the beholder of course, and I won't argue with anyone who was offended by the idea that Jesus would carry an assault rifle or that ancient Egyptians had it right using slave labor in the construction of their tombs. Seriously though, how many immature 19-year-old guys have crossed the line with humor, not yet realizing that their idea of "funny" could be seriously hurtful?

Mostly though I don't think this speaks to the character of the father at all. We have plenty of other things to disagree with Bob Schaffer about; we don't really need his adult son's sense of humor as a point of attack.

"We are not going to settle for what is, we are going to imagine what might be."- Barack Obama

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by: w0nderm0nkey @ Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 23:14:54 PM CDT

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At the very least (4.00 / 1)

It demonstrates that the Schaffer campaign doesn't understand the Internet...at all.

That they didn't have someone going through Facebook, MySpace etc. looking for problems a year ago and then periodically checking up demonstrates that they have a total lack of knowledge. If I had to guess, I'd say Dick Wadhams had never heard of Facebook (or at least never seen it) until this incident.

Note to campaign managers and candidates (and businesspeople and parents) everywhere: The Internet might as well be a billboard or a TV ad, only it doesn't cost as much. The bar for entry is far lower, but it is no less public. Use it to your advantage and beware of the pitfalls.

After a dozen years or so of popular Internet use, this stuff should be elementary by now. Yet it still eludes some people.

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by: janus303 @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 00:27:00 AM CDT

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Absolutely (0.00 / 0)

It's pretty basic to dig up dirt on your own guy to anticipate attacks and how things could be distorted to work against you. It seems like quite the oversight that this wasn't corrected.
Every candidate running for any office needs to discuss this with their internet-savvy children..."Hey kids, I'm running for office, so please don't embarass me, 'k?"

"We are not going to settle for what is, we are going to imagine what might be."- Barack Obama

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by: w0nderm0nkey @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 00:38:30 AM CDT

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I couldn't have said it better myself (4.00 / 1)

Really, I couldn't.

Thanks for the explanation w0nderm0nkey.

And Janus, I'm pretty sure Schaffer's campaign understands Facebook and everything the internet entails, but that they also have more... I dunno... faith? in the the idea that father is not the son (and vice versa) and that people have enough decency or common sense to ignore situations (getting children of candidates involved as wedge issues, or speculation of the nature of personal philosophy as reflected by Facebook) like this. This naivete obviously has bit them in the ass, but should we really write them off for being optimists? Or should we really try and 'change' the way campaigning (and the political structure) works by actually ignoring this whole fiasco and all related, future situations involving political children and innocuous, juvenility?  

At least that's the way I choose to look at this, as a college male.

and PS Johne: I really do put these two situations on the same level. Whether it's the Bush daughters trying to get fake ID's, Chelsea Clinton working for a hedge fund while her mother vilifies said economic institutions, or Biden's daughter getting arrested for obstructing police business at a bar... etc etc. These are private family issues that really don't (or shouldn't) reflect on the parents. We've all done things that we thought might embarrass our parents, right? It's a part of being young.

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by: jsdailey @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 10:53:47 AM CDT

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I'm sorry, but (0.00 / 0)

I disagree.  If it was just Justin Schaffer saying at 19 he likes to drink, that's as innocuous and unremarkable as anything you've just listed.  However, racism is learned and usually learned from one's family.  That's how it reflects on the father.

revolution from within

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by: johne @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 13:00:17 PM CDT

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This assumes (0.00 / 0)

that the images are meant as a seriously-meant glorification of slavery and not a display of off-color humor. If the kid is a racist, that's a problem. If the problem is that we liberals are offended by someone else's off-color sense of humor, that's a different issue entirely. Either way I don't believe we gain anything by going after alleged parental malpractice.

"We are not going to settle for what is, we are going to imagine what might be."- Barack Obama

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by: w0nderm0nkey @ Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 15:51:03 PM CDT

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Yet again, w0nderm0nkey... (0.00 / 0)

you steal the words from my mouth.

And johne, you did say

However, racism is learned and usually learned from one's family.

"Usually" isn't damnable evidence... That's legitimizing stereotyping... (this is hyperbolic... and well... possibly a slippery-slope argument but still, see how it might apply)

Usually, (in the last 20 years) it has been people of Arabic descent and/or members of the Muslim faith that have committed acts of violence against Americans (both internationally and domestically).

And because usually individuals learn racial tolerance and moral practices from their families... it can be assumed (taking your statement and extending it out to the logical conclusion) that all arabs/muslims and their families and their families' families (etc) hate America...

Do we want to accept arguments like that?
I admit flaws in my analogy, but there has to be some sort of logical connection in what I've said... take it for what it is and mull it over.

Just because we dislike a particular politician, that doesn't mean we should allow a double standard by judging and blaming him or her, any differently than we'd do with ourselves, our family members, or our friends.  

'Equality' isn't just a catchphrase...

And I agree, completely with w0nderm0nkey:

This assumes that the images are meant as a seriously-meant glorification of slavery and not a display of off-color humor. If the kid is a racist, that's a problem. If the problem is that we liberals are offended by someone else's off-color sense of humor, that's a different issue entirely. Either way I don't believe we gain anything by going after alleged parental malpractice.

JSD

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by: jsdailey @ Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 13:42:56 PM CDT

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