Reposted from Dailykos
This has been covered, but it bears repeating. JD Vance put up a post “joking” about the CNN interview with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
Here's Mr. Funny man in action.
Ho ho, that’s hilarious. It’s funny because Kamala rambles incoherently and she's a woman. LOLZ! (No, she doesn’t — but she does use some fairly high-concepts that MAGA simply don’t get) Ha ha hah haw…
So that’s already a dick move - but when asked about it Vance doubled-down.
The fact is that the video that his posted was of beauty pageant contestant Caitlin (Caite) Upton — who had a moment of incoherence on camera in a moment that became pretty viral. We see this kind of thing all the time, people being publically humiliated and embarrassed. But we rarely think about the personal pain that causes, and how people deal with such humiliation.
For example, we all who’ve seen the Star Wars prequels pretty much think of Jar Jar Binks as an embarrassment. But did you know that Ahmed Best who played Jar Jar contemplated suicide as a result of how much his character was hated?
Ahmed Best provided the voice and motion capture for the gawky CGI alien in the Star Wars prequels, beginning with 1999's Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.
At the time he was 25, and it was his first major film role.
Sadly for Best, the reception from fans and the media was terrible.
Jar Jar Binks quickly became the most hated character in the Star Wars universe, and critics branded Best's cartoonish portrayal a dumbed-down exercise in child-pleasing - or worse, a racist stereotype with a misplaced Caribbean accent.
Best did not name the Star Wars films in his emotional post, but shared a picture with his young son, writing: "20 years next year I faced a media backlash that still affects my career today. This was the place I almost ended my life.
Best eventually landed a role as a Jedi Master Kelleran Beq in a game show called Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge. And then reprised that role in a crucial scene in The Mandalorian where he rescues young Grogu from Order: 66.
Similarly, Jake LLoyd the young man who played an 11-year-old Anakin Skywalker in the Phantom Menace also suffered from the backlash against his character that essentially destroyed his life.
The child actor, chosen over 3,000 others to play podracing phenom and Jedi-to-be Anakin Skywalker in the George Lucas space opera, turned 35 last week. Since the movie, Lloyd has been mostly out of the spotlight, his life largely a mystery to his devout fans.
In an exclusive interview with Scripps News, his mother, Lisa Lloyd, provided a glimpse into Jake’s personal saga in the years since appearing in that galaxy far, far away — sharing her son’s turbulent struggle with mental illness, family tragedy and the reasons she’s more hopeful today than she’s been in years.
She also wanted to set the record straight about what her son really thinks about "Star Wars."
Lisa noted that her son is aware that she is speaking out to tell his story.
“Jake started having some trouble in high school,” Lisa said, recalling the time she first noticed her son’s personality changing. “He started talking about ‘realities.’ He didn't know if he was in this reality, or a different reality. I didn't really know exactly what to say to that.”
One day after school, Lisa asked her son if he’d finished his homework.
“And he was like, ‘Well, I don't even know if I need to do it. I don’t know which reality I’m in,’” she said. “And I'm like, ‘Well, you're in my reality today, so you have to do your homework.’”
Lisa took Jake to a doctor who suggested he might have bipolar disorder. They tried different medications to treat his symptoms, but she says nothing worked. Jake graduated from high school in 2007 and was looking forward to attending classes that fall at Columbia College Chicago.
Like them, contestant Caitlin Upton was pushed by her brush with infamy into a suicidal situation. JD Vance was told this by John Berman — he showed exactly the kind of heartless creepy bully and dick that he really is.
On Friday, CNN's John Berman told Vance that Upton "had, you know, she struggled answering a question back in this beauty pageant. I'm not sure you're aware, in 2015 Caitlin Upton did an interview in New York Magazine about all the social media attention this clip got, and she said, 'I definitely went through a period where I was very, very depressed, but I never let anybody see that stuff, except for people I could trust. I had some very dark moments where I thought about committing suicide.' So when you posted this last night, were you aware that the woman you were posting a picture of had contemplated committing suicide for the attention it received?
"No," Vance replied, "certainly not John, and my heart goes out to her, and I hope that she's doing well.
This was the point where I knew — he was full of shit. His heart was going nowhere. He’s lucky it even beats in his chest.
“Look, I've said a lot of things on camera. I've said a lot of stupid things on camera. Sometimes, when you're in the public eye, you make mistakes, and again, I think the best way to deal with it is to laugh at ourselves, laugh at this stuff, and try to have some fun in politics."
Ok, he’s saying this was “in fun” even after being told that the woman he was making fun of contemplated suicide because of the trauma of this moment.
How exactly is that fucking “Fun?” to yet again repeat her embarrassment?
After lamenting they were not discussing policy, Vance said, "there's nothing that says that we can't tell some jokes along the way while we deal with the very serious business of bringing back our public policy."
Even when those jokes are directly harmful to someone? This is perfectly in line with how the MAGA treated Gus Walz when he became emotional seeing his dad accept the nomination for VP. They thought that was “Fun” and “funny” too.
Heh heh, look at the little spaz crying. Isn’t he pathetic?
If you’re capable of seeing your fellow Americans as pathetic, if you think embarrassing and demeaning them is “Fun” — what exactly is going to stop you from doing that with ANY American in the nation? Who else are you gonna try to demean and destroy in your mad scramble for more power and influence?
He then complained, "Politics has gotten way too lame, John, way too boring. You can have some fun while making a good argument to the American people about how you're going to improve their lives."
Politics is supposed to be lame. It’s not a comedy. It’s not a fucking game show. We're supposed to be deciding some serious shit here.
Berman revisited his question, stating, "Okay, I just want to be clear, though you said you didn't know. Would you like to apologize to Caitlin up there for posting that last night, given what you've now learned, John?
After a slight pause, Vance replied, "I'm not going to apologize for posting a joke, but I wish the best for Caitlin. I hope that she's doing well. and again, what I'd say is one bad moment shouldn't define anybody. And the best way to deal with this stuff is to laugh at ourselves."
Telling a mere “Joke” is exactly what you should be easily willing to apologize for. It’s nothing serious right? It isn't a statement of policy. It isn't a statement of substance. if you’re having fun — say you jokingly shove somebody off a cliff into a river — sure that’s all “fun and games.” Until someone tells you — “They Can’t Swim.” Your little innocent “joke” just put their life at risk.
Absolutely, anybody with any reasonable working empathy should be able to go “Oh, Sorry!” I didn’t mean to do that.
This is why one Democratic operative said that Vance should go through the same experience as some of the women who’ve had to deal with unwanted & emergency pregnancy - when they can’t legally get reproductive care anymore. Obviously, he can't, but he should spend an hour, or even a minute, In their shoes.
This is sadly, the idea that empathy can be forcibly instilled when you make the circumstances personal. Some people can be affected by this, but not all. Certainly not JD Vance. He doesn't have enough human decency.
If he can't find the basic human empathy to immediately apologize for re-igniting someone's near suicidal trauma — he really can't be trusted near or even around any position of authority over other human beings.
He’s not equipped for it.
At some point between Vance's post and Friday morning, Upton set her Instagram account to private. But Friday morning on X she wrote: "It’s a shame that 17 years later this is still being brought up. There’s not too much else to say about it at this point. Regardless of political beliefs, one thing I do know is that social media and online bullying needs to stop."
Yeah, but it's not gonna stop with someone like Vance. Or with Trump.
This is a perfect book-end to the Arlinton controversy where the one staffer who tried to remind them that it's not legal to film a campaign ad in Section 60 gets physically bullied at the site, verbally bullied for having a “mental health episode” afterward and then again bullied by violent Trump supporters who discouraged her from filing a police report.
The bullying is the point. The bullying is "fun.”
On point, Frank.
Wow, Frank, you’ve educated me today about some horrible stuff I had missed. It’s enough to make me avoid following anything online ever again. But of course I want to keep track of the Harris/Walz team’s march to victory so I can’t unplug altogether. Thank you for keeping me updated.