Today on "NOW" our panel discussed how both sides of the political arena can be prone to jumping to conclusions, without necessarily knowing all the facts.
This seems especially true in the Twitterverse.
Karl Rove's super PAC, American Crossroads, tweeted this morning about a series of traffic accidents involving Commerce Secretary John Bryson this weekend in California.
Here's the tweet that went out at 8:02 ET this morning:
ABC News reported that American Crossroads posted two other tweets:
@AmericanXRoads: @BarackObama response to @CommerceSec news: “Wait, John Bryson is my Commerce Secretary? Who knew. Sure he’s #DoingFine.
@AmericanXRoads: Breaking: John Bryson cited for reckless endangerment of the economy and failure to yield to common sense, but he’s #DoingFine #TCOT
At about 9:30 ET this morning, the Commerce Department released a statement saying Bryson had suffered a seizure. Within about 30 minutes, American Crossroads deleted the tweets, and posted this:
During our discussion, Glenn Thrush of Politico blamed the rush to tweet on what he called the "culture of rapid response," and added, "We've gotten to the point where people need to shut up and wait 'til they know what happened."
A Commerce Department official told the Associated Press that Bryson has a "limited recall" of the events. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the department was unable to confirm what caused the seizure or when it occurred; either before the car collisions or as a result of them. Bryson had not had a seizure before, the official said.
President Obama commented on Bryson's condition in an interview with KTIV, the NBC affiliate in Sioux City, Iowa. He said he had only found out about the accident earlier Monday, and hadn't personally spoken with the Commerce Secretary. "My hope is that he's doing all right," the president said, adding, “We’re still trying to find out, it sounds like it was health related in some way. But we’re going to make sure that obviously he gets the best care."
Late Monday night, the White House announced Secretary Bryson will be taking a medical leave of absence. According to a statement from Press Secretary Jay Carney, "The President's thoughts are with Secretary Bryson and his family during this time. Secretary Bryson assured the White House that the Commerce Department staff will not miss a beat in their work helping America's businesses compete."
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A note to Nicolle Wallace who actually gave credence to Karl Rove's tweet: A seizure or in this case multiple seizures present as behavior(s) similar to having a drink or actually being drunk.
So yes, having multiple accidents in the span of minutes then leaving the scene is actually a sign of diminished cognitive ability, and at first is thought to be what it appears. But are exactly the presentations of such an attack. Not necessarily due to alcohol or drugs. It's easy to be drawn to the easy answer ... Oh it must be alcohol.
I know this because I had a series of minor to medium seizures due to the appearance and growth over time of 3 lesions on my brain, which slowly compromised my cognitive and motor ability.
Before I was aware of what was going on the only thing I was of aware was that I wasn't aware - I wasn't up to par and yes Nicolle ... it appeared that at times I may have been drinking. This also involves a slight but obvious slurring of words or the inability to maintain a train of thought. Or in my case being able to voice, put into words, ideas or thoughts.
And regardless of what I did I couldn't get back to normal. It wasn't until I was diagnosed with a catastrophic illness that it all made sense. Since then I have been on serious meds that have helped me go into remission, which was 7 years ago.
So before you bring up the idea that "it's worth looking into" - as you said - know what you're talking about or better yet - don't say anything at all. Because when you do - you come across as politically selfish and personally ignorant.
Especially when it means giving voice and legitimacy to Mr. Rove, who we all know is the king of lies, and a champion in the art of deception and defamation.
By the way - after I was diagnosed with my illness - my health insurance provider dropped my coverage. Because as they said: "we decided it was going to cost to much money ..." My meds cost $3K a month. I now receive Social Security Disability, Medicare, Medi-cal and even section 8 housing assistance.
I can't work even part time due to this illness.
Thank God for Government.