Dems Amazed Media Ignored GOPer's 'White Rednecks' Remark: What About Jim Webb?

Over at the DNC's official blog, Tracy Russo thought he'd found another Macaca moment:

If a Democratic uttered something even close to this the media would be all over it like white on rice:

“White rednecks” who “didn’t show up to vote for us” partly cost GOPers their cong. majorities, Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) told fellow Republicans today. And Putnam, seeking the post of GOP conference chair, chided ex-Chair J.C. Watts (R-OK) for ruining the conference’s ability to serve its members.

Three Republicans in the room independently confirmed to the Hotline the substance and context of Putnam’s remarks.

Ezra discusses it over at TAPPED.

Ezra Klein wasn't quite as pro-Democrat as Russo, but he was still professing that Democrats would be crushed for such a remark:

Imagine if Nancy Pelosi uttered the same remark, then compare that imaginary firestorm with the one likely to result from Putnam's comments. It's all well and good to argue that Democrats carry seeds of elite condescension towards low-income whites. What's foolish is to think the GOP's powerbrokers aren't precisely as disconnected, though with a heapin' helpin' of opportunism and exploitation thrown in for good measure.

Putnam's full quote was “heck, even the white rednecks who go to church on Sunday didn't come out to vote for us.” But didn't these people see Jim Webb touting his white "redneck" credentials in the media during the campaign? How quickly they forget this beaut of a quote from Webb in the October 19 Washington Post, which trumps Mr. Putnam:

"Towel-heads and rednecks – of which I am one. If you write that word, please say that. I mean, I don’t use that pejoratively, I use it defensively. Towel-heads and rednecks became the easy villains in so many movies out there."

Does anyone recall the "firestorm" from the media? The media all over it like "white on rice"? Nope. "Redneck" is not a highly offensive word, although you'd think "towel-head" would be.