It’s MSNBC contributor Claire McCaskill’s turn in the barrel.
The former Democratic senator from Missouri is apologizing this week as speech cops and Twitter warriors attack her for offhandedly using the term “transsexual” during a post-Election Day broadcast.
“That’s not what I meant, obviously,” McCaskill said Wednesday after she was falsely accused of saying “transsexuals” are why Democrats struggle to win working-class voters. “Look at my record. I’m tired and was trying to say we need to also focus on the economic issues we champion.”
Later, on Thursday, she continued to beg the forgiveness of her own team.
“I’m so sorry I used hurtful term last night,” McCaskill said. “I was tired, but never a good excuse. People have misinterpreted what I was trying to say.”
I’m so sorry I used hurtful term last night.I was tired,but never a good excuse.People have misinterpreted what I was trying to say.Our party should never leave behind our fight 4 equality for trans people or anyone else who has been marginalized by hate. My record reflects that.
— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) November 5, 2020
She added, “Our party should never leave behind our fight 4 equality for trans people or anyone else who has been marginalized by hate. My record reflects that.”
For the record, the term “transsexual” is considered offensive, especially by gay and transgender people. McCaskill would have run afoul of critics regardless of where she used the term, but that she said it during an appearance on MSNBC basically guaranteed her spot in the shame corner. Few are as primed to take offense at problematic language as the people who watch cable’s premier left-wing news network.
“The Republican Party, I think, very adroitly adopted cultural issues as part of their main theme,” McCaskill said Wednesday as she theorized as to why Democrats appear to be having such a difficult time courting working-class voters, “whether you are talking guns or issues surrounding the right to abortion in this country or things like gay marriage and the right for transsexuals and other people who we as a party have tried to quote-unquote look after and make sure that they are treated fairly.”
That was it. That was what apparently necessitated a two-part apology. McCaskill clearly meant no offense, yet she is being treated as if she slowly, lovingly over-annunciated a slur with a sneer all the way to her ear. People with preferred pronouns in their social media bios are jumping down McCaskill’s throat without even a moment’s thought of maybe cutting the 67-year-old former lawmaker some slack.
Ma’am, you still said the word.
The fact that you haven’t updated your vocabulary from 1996 is telling of where your pulse is.
— Tony Choi (@tonykchoi) November 5, 2020
You said what you said on national television to millions of viewers. You didn’t correct yourself in the moment. You carried on like you said nothing wrong. Clarie, I think that’s very telling.
— Brianna Westbrook (@BWestbrookAZ8) November 5, 2020
On Wednesday, the aggrieved got their apology. On Thursday, they got a little more. Whether McCaskill’s mea culpa will be good enough for the offended is entirely up to them. The former senator has no choice but to hope they grant her absolution.
Really, though, the wildest thing about woke culture is its total lack of charity and its constant demands for expiation, even in the absence of any intended harm or offense. It is like any normal religion but with more judgment and fewer paths to salvation.
