Krugman: Scott Brown suggested that Obama may have been born out of wedlock

[johan helge]

The video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAjCaxN-_s8&feature=player_embedded


Krugman (http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/brown-coakley-and-the-outrage-gap/):

"Wow. A video clip has surfaced from 2008 in which Scott Brown, the Republican candidate for Senate in Massachusetts, clearly suggested that President Obama may have been born out of wedlock.

I’m sure some will try to dismiss this as an isolated stray remark. But it’s clear if you watch the video that there’s a broader context: Brown is clearly aligning himself with the Limbaugh wing of the GOP, in which slurs along these lines are standard fare. And as Steve Benen points out, claims about Obama’s illegitimacy were an integral part of the birther craziness.

So will this actually make political waves? If Brown were a Democrat, it would instantly be a huge scandal. The outrage machine would be working overtime. And the news media would, of course, pick it up.

But Democrats don’t have the same kind of outrage infrastructure. Can they nevertheless find a way to use this? I guess we’ll soon find out."

[johan helge]

1. I kick myself: In honor of Martha Coakley!

[WeDidIt]

2. Donkey Kick

:kick:

[Faryn Balyncd]

3. "outrage infrastructure"

That's a useful addition to the lexicon. A quick Google only revealed 9 hits, about half of them accidental juxtapositions, about half sourced to Krugman's article, and 1 from a political blog in 2006.

But it is a relevant concept.