Facebook Apologizes to Palin, Kerik Bashes Mosque on Twitter

Yesterday Facebook took down Sarah Palin's Facebook post about the proposed mosque and community center near Ground Zero. But the popular social networking site/major motion picture franchise later apologized, and explained that Palin's note was removed not because she's an insufferable asshole, but because the automated system made a boo-boo.

Websites like Free Williamsburg had encouraged readers to report Palin's essay (ha) as "Racist/Hate Speech," and it looks like they succeeded in triggering Facebook's auto censor. "The note in question did not violate our content standards but was removed by an automated system," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in a statement. "We're always working to improve our processes, and we apologize for any inconvenience this caused." You can now breathe easy New Yorkers, because the crazy Alaskan woman's advice for you has been reposted.

The past week has seen a flurry of Republicans rushing to boost their Tea Party cred by bashing the proposed mosque. So you can imagine how frustrating this has been for the former chief of police of 9/11 Town, Bernard Kerik. He's currently in the pokey for being a corrupt political hack, and in prison they don't let you go on Facebook, or even the Internet! (Which sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to us.) But yesterday Kerik found a way to share his opinion on the mosque debate, mysteriously tweeting a link to that anti-mosque commercial the networks refused to run. (A prison official speculated Kerik has someone on the outside using Twitter for him.)

So now we've heard from Kerik, Palin, Gingrich, Paladino, Lazio, and, let's not forget, the King of 9/11 Rudolph Giuliani. Who's left? Bush and Cheney have thus far stayed on the sidelines, as far we know. And why haven't we heard from old guard types like Henry Kissinger or Nancy Reagan? Where's the ghost of H. R. Haldeman on this?

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on July 23, 2010 10:28 AM

Comments [rss]

Wza

Haha Kerik.

Worry about dropping the soap buddy.

maatthias

Thanks for staying on this John. Your post yesterday was stellar too.

Kevin Bracken

OMG two blocks from Ground Zero!!!!

You know what else is two blocks from Ground Zero? Like half the Financial District. It's a big place, there's room for a mosque. If I didn't know better I'd think this was just an excuse to figure out exactly how racist everybody is.

Guest

Not to throw a wrench in your theory, but this has nothing to do with race. It's about religion.

Helen Thomas knows the score

I haven't heard anything from Dick, but his daughter, Liz, is very much a part of this fear mongering.

Her 'non-profit' interest group

http://www.keepamericasafe.com/

has lots of crap about the mosque.

IMO two things are important here

1 - Obama initially wanted to win/end the war on terror which meant we'd have to at least acknowledge the motivation for just about every Islamic terrorist attack on the US. So he said to our 'ally' in the middle east, 'build cities within your own borders, its causing us problems supporting you when flaunt international law.'

This caused a huge uproar. See the Democrats usually get the pro-Israel vote and more importantly, campagain donations. I've heard these donations amount to 40% of donations, but who knows...I do know that just about every politician tripped over themselves to tell Obama to back off and that in short order, he has totally capitulated. Some invisible hand slapped him down.

Obama having shown insolence isn’t going to get 'pro-Israel' money anymore, so the Republicans are doing everything they can to be attractive to the donors

Republicans usually defend religious groups that want to build compounds and stock weapons...remember Waco? but now they're leaving that behind, forget freedom of religion theres money to be made.

So too the policies of both parties such as the 'lets bomb Iran' meme is simply pandering for campagain donations.

It may seem unbelievable that people would quickly drop something like the first amendment to the bill or rights or flirt with war to increase their own fortunes...but I'm afraid it’s entirely true. Its true in America today and it’s been true in everywhere in the world since the dawn of time. power corrupts everyone. which brings me to the

2nd point, which is that if our media actually EDUCATED people, instead of repeating bs lines about how they hate our freedom in between stories about lady gaga, well just maybe our leaders would find it more difficult to manipulate public opinion for their own gain, which IMO is exactly whats going on with all this mosque controversy.

Mordicai

If a bunch of people report your hate speech as offensive, because they were offended...doesn't that...mean they were offended?

manuelmontalvo

tea party is racist

Guest

Everyone's racist.

hotstepper

people who rely on race to hate people are just being lazy. there are plenty of really good reasons to despise others, such as those who rely on narcissistic trash from Alaska to tell them what to think.

Guest

Agreed. That's one of the main things wrong with this country: people letting other people tell them what to think, no matter what their poltical leanings are.

The Man Bat

AWESOME!!! You nailed it.

wilson

Am I a pretentious douche for pointing out that Nancy Regan's last name is really spelled Reagan - you know, like her husband the former President?

Mr. Del Signore doesn't appear to be subliterate like some other Gothamisters, but like them he doesn't appear to read his posts before publishing them either.