Minnesota County Republicans Pull Hilarious Slavery Joke From Facebook Page

The Republican Party of Chisago County, Minnesota, posted this awesome satirical image on its Facebook page for a few hours Wednesday, then removed it -- and the entire Facebook page, for a while -- before posting an apology, saying that the posting was "not representative of our party." Aw, come on, guys, enough Republicans have said that the attempt to ban abortion is exactly like the 19th-century abolition movement that you don't need to apologize. After all, isn't that exactly the hilarious point of the post, that legalized abortion is just as morally reprehensible as legal slavery? If anything, liberals should apologize for the slogan that inspired the Chisago GOP's amusing spoof, because choosing not to have an abortion while allowing abortion to remain legal for others is exactly like choosing not to own a slave while slavery as an institution continued, amirite?

The apology -- which is at least a real apology that says "we're sorry we let this happen," not a "sorry if you were offended" -- reads, in part,

The Chisago County Republican Party is very sorry that something so clearly improper (either intended or in poor taste) ever made it to our page. Postings like this are not representative of our party. We are a party that believes in Freedom for all Americans regardless of race or religion. It is after all where the Republican Party came from in its origins, the anti-slavery movement.

OK, "Freedom for all Americans" as long as they're not sluts who want an abortion. Bqhatevwr.

Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Keith Downey explained that the post resulted from too many people being authorized to post to the Facebook page; the apology noted that "the root of the posting could not determined at this time" and that all users would have their posting privileges blocked until the source of the post is identified.

On the other hand, not everybody in the Minnesota GOP had a problem with the post:

Minnesota Republican Party secretary Chris Fields said in an interview that he found "absolutely nothing offensive about that (Facebook) post."

Fields said that as an African American man he finds slavery reprehensible but saw the post as a reminder that the Republican Party started as an abolitionist party, at a time when Democrats supported slavery.

Although he said the posting would have benefited from further explanation, he added: "I’m not going to condemn that posting.”

We've already done one post about Analogy Fail this morning, so no, we're not going to go into the problems with saying that a surgical procedure is equivalent to owning human beings. Nor are we going to play the "Democrats supported slavery and segregation" game as if the 1960s never happened.

But we sure do want to congratulate Republicans on their awesome outreach to women and minorities, and we hope that similar efforts continue. We just feel kind of sorry for that poor chicken.

[ StarTribune.com / Facebook ]