Here at Deadline Detroit, we've been following Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema's antics pretty closely. And we've wondered how long conservatives would allow this guy to continue defecating in their punch bowl, so to speak.
For as controversial and factually inaccurate as Agema's recent anti-gay comments were, he seems to be hanging on. So when GOP activist and outspoken Agema critic Dennis Lennox sent an email with news that Rep. Fred Upton called for Agema's resignation from the RNC via Twitter, we were intrigued.
The problem is Rep. Fred Upton didn't call for Agema's resignation. A fake Fred Upton Twitter handle "called" for Agema's resignation in a tweet that is as critical of the GOP generally as it is Agema.
@mirsnews I'm joining calls for @daveagema to resign. We can't stand for official RNC reps outing our party's bigoted platform to the public
— RepFedUpton (@RepFedUpton) April 8, 2013
@RepFedUpton isn't Rep. Fred Upton. The congressman's actual, verified Twitter handler is @RepFredUpon. The real Upton has sent out just one tweet so far this month, a reminder about National Autism Month. Going back to October, nothing in his feed mentions Agema by name.
Rep. Fred Upton, to be clear, has not at present called for Agema to step down.
Now, Lennox's mistake is certainly understandable. We nearly fell for it too, although the "outing our party's bigoted platform" bit raised a red flag.
What isn't understandable is why Upton nor Gov. Rick Snyder nor Attorney General Bill Schuette nor Secretary of State Ruth Johnson nor MI GOP leader Bobby Schostak nor any other major Republican official has called for Agema's exit, not only for posting a factually inaccurate homophobic column that was sourced to witch doctors, out-of-date studies, and unemployed Nazi chiropractors, but all of his other shenanigans.
Agema can say terrorists are pretty much always Muslims and get away with it. He can claim President Obama is a secret Muslim and get away with it. He can cheer on police violence against protesters and get away with it. He can post dishonest slurs against gays and get away with it. It's like, how low is the bar within the Michigan Republican Party? Even if all those things taken separately aren't grounds for removal--they are--surely taken together they make a pretty strong case that Dave Agema is unfit to lead.
The question Joseph Welch once famously asked of Joe McCarthy could very well be directed to the Michigan Republican Party's entire leadership: "Have you no sense of decency, sir[s]? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
UPDATE: Dennis Lennox, recognizing his mistake, has retracted his email. This is more than can be said for Dave Agema who doubles down on his mistake rather than manning up and making a correction.
