(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . GOP's golden-boy recruit busted for frat-boy misogyny in Facebook posts [1] ['Daily Kos Staff'] Date: 2023-07-12 The latest unflattering story about Montana Republican Tim Sheehy, the Navy SEAL veteran and aerospace company CEO whom national Republicans recruited to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, is a report from Insider's Bryan Metzger detailing Sheehy's newly uncovered racist and misogynist posts he wrote on Facebook from 2006 to 2008. One included a photo depicting Sheehy costumed in a robe and keffiyeh next to friends who appear to be playing Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong Il. Another featured a photo of a woman with an exposed nipple; Sheehy, apparently referencing his now-wife, wrote, "I tagged it as carmen and she untagged it...bullshit." More pictures uploaded by Sheehy during that period showed the candidate, who was a student at the U.S. Naval Academy at the time, and his friends partying, including a shot of another man appearing to drink from a bottle nestled between a woman's breasts. Sheehy, who tagged another of his friends in that photo, included a comment saying that "I don't think her boobs are that big…." Sheehy's campaign responded to Metzger by dismissing the posts as "photos of teenagers goofing around." It also deployed some whataboutism by highlighting how Washington Post reporter Ben Terris recounted that, when he was visiting Tester's farm for a profile, the senator "suddenly started relieving himself in an organic pea field next to his tractor without covering himself up." Sheehy's spokesperson argued, "Neither he nor his staff have yet to explain why a grown man at 66 years old would find that behavior appropriate," adding, "So, spare us your hypocrisy and harassment of a war hero over some goofing around as a kid." Sheehy, though, is just the latest in a long string of Republican candidates in recent years who've drawn the wrong kind of attention for sexist social media posts, including some from well before they ran for office. Democrats last year were quick to act after CNN reported that John Gibbs, who was the GOP's nominee for Michigan's 3rd Congressional District, had loudly argued as a college student in the early 2000s that women don't "posess [sic] the characteristics necessary to govern." Gibbs had also linked to and praised an anti-feminist website arguing that women's suffrage had turned America into a "totalitarian state." Gibbs' team, like Sheehy's campaign this week, also insisted that his rants were simply the product of "a college kid being over the top." That excuse by no means stopped his Democratic foe, Hillary Scholten, from airing ads attacking him over his remarks, which helped her run up a dominant 55-42 margin and flip the seat. Another 2022 Republican hopeful, Oregon's Alek Skarlatos, also faced scrutiny last year over his history of creepy and misogynistic behavior toward women on social media. That included "liking" Instagram photos of underage girls as young as 15 who were wearing revealing clothing and "joking" about women violently dying during sex. As with Gibbs, House Democrats didn't hesitate to run ads educating voters about Skarlatos' nature, and he went on to lose the 4th District to Val Hoyle 51-43. Sometimes, it's gotten so egregious that national Republicans have outright abandoned their candidates thanks to their offensive online writings, including New Jersey's Seth Grossman in 2018 and California's Ted Howze in 2020. The GOP, though, has far more tolerance for candidates who still appear to be viable: While reporters continue to dig up past comments from North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson—including a 2017 Facebook post declaring, "I am so sick of seeing and hearing people STILL talk about Nazis and Hitler and how evil and manipulative they were"—prominent Republicans remain committed to their likely nominee for governor. Sheehy himself has had to deal with plenty of unwelcome press since news first broke about his Senate dreams, though of a different nature. Last week, Bloomberg published a piece pointing out that his aerospace firm gets most of its funding from the federal government, which would create a potential conflict of interest if he were to make it to the Senate. Stories from before Sheehy's late June campaign kickoff also documented how the self-described "cowboy" actually owns two mansions; ardently opposes abortion rights in a state where an anti-abortion measure failed at the ballot box last year; is the defendant in a lawsuit over a plane crash that badly injured a 17-year-old on the ground; only moved to Montana in 2014—he's originally from Minnesota. (It also didn't help that Sheehy was just busted for using stock photos on his website supposedly depicting agricultural scenes in the state he's seeking to represent that were in fact taken in Kentucky and Ukraine.) Republican leaders, though, are sticking by Sheehy, whom they view as a prize recruit. Indeed, just a day after the Insider story broke, Politico reported that NRSC chair Steve Daines, who is Montana's junior senator, will host a fundraiser for Sheehy later this month. The only likely alternative to Sheehy, by contrast, is Rep. Matt Rosendale, whose losing 2018 effort against Tester left observers unimpressed. The congressman, who reportedly has been telling people he plans to try again, responded to Sheehy's launch last month by tweeting, "Now Washington has two candidates - Tim Sheehy and Jon Tester - who will protect the DC cartel." [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/12/2180730/-GOP-s-golden-boy-recruit-busted-for-frat-boy-misogyny-in-Facebook-posts Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/