Ventura County Democratic Chairman Richard Carter sort of distanced himself from a racially tinged rant tweeted by his vice chairman Wednesday. However, Carter apparently wasn't so much offended by Atkins' sentiment that racism runs rampant through the Republican Party, he just didn't like the choice of words he used.

"The only rebuke I have is to say that his comments do not represent the views of the Ventura County Democratic Party," Carter said. "They were posted on an individual's Twitter account."

Just like Anthony Weiner. Atkins lists his position with his party on his Twitter masthead, and sent the offensive comments from a state-sponsored political event. 

Carter said Atkins won't face any censure, and suggested that other people corroborated Atkins' belief that Republicans used racial "code words" during a redistricting commission hearing. 

Unfortunately for Carter, Twitter limits posts to 140 characters. If Atkins can do this much damage to his party in tiny posts, what can he do on the Daily Kos website where there is no limitation? 

An anti-conservative tirade was posted earlier this year on Daily Kos entitled, "Shooting Black People for Sport" (emphasis added). It stated:

There's nothing more complicated about hardcore conservatives than this.  They believe wholeheartedly in their own magnificence and self-reliance.  They believe that minorities are fundamentally subhuman.  They want all aid to minority communities eliminated.  And then they would like nothing better than to use minorities for target practice when social unrest develops.

The author of the screed is identified as David Atkins. He apparently came across some offensive anonymous comments at the end of a conservative blog and then immediately tried to hang it around the necks of conservatives as a whole, particularly the Tea Party. He continued in the same vein as his recent remarks about opponents to redistricting (again, emphasis added):

There is no coming to terms with these people, or negotiating with them.  In the end, we can share a country and political system with them, but we cannot share a bipartisan future with them.  The only way forward is to defeat and expose them for what they are: racist, bloodthirsty lunatics with a profoundly warped sense of self-importance.

Chairman Carter distanced himself over the "KKK" and racism accusations. What does he do about the accusation that large swaths of American people are "bloodthirsty" and are itching for a chance to shoot minorities in the street?

Ventura County Democratic Chairman Richard Carter half-heartedly distanced himself Wednesday from comments made by his vice-chairman, after the Ventura County Star followed up on an article I wrote criticizing David Atkins for offensive statements he posted on his Twitter account. From Timm Herdt's article:

Comments posted by a Ventura County Democratic Party official on his Twitter account last week in which he wrote that some east county Republicans who testified at a hearing in Oxnard should "just put your white hoods on already" do not represent the views of the county party, Chairman Richard Carter said Wednesday.

Atkins also tweeted that the "racist" Republicans were "afraid of brown people" and were just trying to protect their "lily-white" communities from being separated under the state's redistricting proposal.

Not surprisingly, the statements offended members of the Republican and Tea Parties.

While Carter said he believes Atkins now regrets those comments, Atkins' statements since the story broke seem to indicate otherwise.

In Herdt's article, Atkins said he is "proud of calling out the obvious racism that was on display" at the hearing, although he acknowledged he "might" have used different language in retrospect. He went on to describe his actions as courageous and said even commenters that write on the Star's website show a "virulent underbelly of right-wing racism in Ventura County, and the Oxnard hearing was no exception."

Carter said he did not condone the language Atkins used.

Had a Republican officer said something similar, we can only imagine what Atkins and Carter would have done. Osborn said he wouldn't tolerate it from a member of his executive board and suggested that Atkins step down.

Certainly fairness calls for that--again, if Osborn said something similar Democrats would call for his head. Justice also calls for it--the vitriol Atkins publishes really is beyond the pale and shouldn't be tolerated by a political party.

But Republicans might be secretly hoping that a politically wounded Atkins keeps his job near the top of the county Democratic food chain.  Someone that is prone to posting hateful emotional outbursts for the world to see not only shows Ventura County voters what the modern Democratic Party is willing to tolerate, he provides a recurring handle for the GOP to use over and over again.  Earlier this year, Atkins wrote that conservatives want "to use minorities for target practice."

Of course, Carter might neuter Atkins and put him on a short leash, but given Atkins' history he won't stay housebroken long.

In the final analysis, if he gets booted out of his position, local Republicans would be pleased that justice was served. If he stays, they can take heart he only does so at the expense of the daily embarrassment to his party.