While the Ray Rice domestic violence video that surfaced last week — showing the former NFL star knocking his then-fianceé Janay Palmer unconscious with a single punch to the face — has been met with almost universal condemnation, the key word is “almost.” One former top Republican official, who now heads a local South Carolina election commission, took the opposite view in a recent Twitter post.
Todd Kincannon, former head of South Carolina’s Republican party, who now chairs the Simpsonville Election Commission, posted a tweet in which he referred to Janay Rice, who was the victim in the domestic violence incident, as a “dumb b***h.”
According to Kincannon, Janay Rice, then known as Janay Palmer, “initiated” the violent incident and therefore Ray Rice “justifiably beat her a**.”
Kincannon has a long history of outrageous and offensive statements on his Twitter feed. Earlier this year, he posted a Twitter tirade against Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis, in which he referred to Davis as a “whore” and a “hooker.”
In 2013, Kincannon gained national attention by stating via Twitter that it was “a shame” that Iraq War vet Mike Prysner, who became an anti-war activist after he service in Iraq, “didn’t come home in a body bag.”
In later tweets, he reiterated his call for Prysner’s death, saying, “I wish the Iraqis had better aim with his ass.” Should Prysner ever return to combat duty, Prysner hopes that “the enemy splatters his brain JFK-style. He deserves it.”
The tweet about Janay Rice may have caused even Kincannon to realize that he had crossed an unwritten line, as the tweet was soon deleted. But that didn’t stop Kincannon from continuing to attempt “humor” at the expense of Janay Rice and the Ray Rice domestic violence scandal.
Maybe next week an NFL player can beat his Indian girlfriend with breast cancer and her child while screaming “Take it, Redskin squaw!”
— Todd Kincannon (@Todd__Kincannon) September 13, 2014
. @AshelyKincannon somehow psychicly figured out I was at 4% battery and brought me a charger. I gave her a get-out-of-beating-free card.
— Todd Kincannon (@Todd__Kincannon) September 13, 2014
South Carolina Republicans have attempted to put daylight between the party and Kincannon after his earlier offensive tweets. One Republican official said last year that Kincannon’s claim to have led the South Carolina Republican Party represented “generous editing” of Kincannon’s resumé.
Coincidentally, the federal Violence Against Women Act turned 20-years-old on September 13 . The law was signed into effect by President Bill Clinton in 1994, and has been renewed three times by Congress.
But Republicans opposed the 2012 renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, delaying passage of the extended bill for about an entire year.
It therefore appears unsurprising that a Republican operative has posted what is being called the single worst response to the Ray Rice domestic violence scandal.