Peter Schorsch's Racist Tweet

No one ever confused Peter Schorsch with Heywood Campbell Broun, Ernie Pyle, Nellie Bly, or even the rawest cub reporter.

Schorsch is the St. Petersburg-based owner of Florida Politics -- the widely acknowledged pay-for-play echo chamber for Florida politicians, political operatives, and lobbyists -- that lamely attempts to pass itself off as a “news” website.

On Saturday, the day before the “Souls to the Polls” American ritual, Schorsch posted the abhorrent tweet you see on this page. His vile sentiments went viral before he could pull it. The fact that Schorsch’s racist garbage received seven likes and one retweet mystifies.

Horrified readers carpet-bombed social media with the off-the-wall tweet. Schorsch, for all his blunders and indiscretions, now gets no credit for a modicum of common sense.

He owes Andrew Gillum, who remains above such battles, an apology. No one familiar with Schorsch is holding his breath. He is self-loathing and insecure; I have emails attesting to that.

Andrew Gillum, unlike Schorsch, is proud of himself and his roots. The Tallahassee mayor touts himself as the only non-millionaire running in the Democratic primary and recounts his humble beginnings.

The Florida electorate has had to bear for seven months Gwen Graham’s bleatings about her gender and lineage because she has no accomplishments that appeal to Democrats (or Republicans for that matter). From Schorsch, not a peep. We don’t have to wonder why.

This isn’t Florida Politics’ first brush with bigotry. Breitbart News accused one of Schorsch’s “reporters,” Phil Ammann, of anti-Semitism. Yes, Breitbart, which also noted that Florida Politics reported Congressman Bill Young’s death two days prematurely.

Besides bigotry and accuracy woes, Schorsch’s lack of integrity seems to make regular headlines.

Schorsch was drummed out of the Florida Press Association because of ethical lapses. It is difficult to comprehend how he obtained membership in the first place.

The News Service of Florida sued Schorsch over copyright infringement, as reported by the Miami Herald. Sunshine State News last year called out Schorsch for his ethics being MIA.

Saturday’s blatant bigotry in a public forum reflects a new low for Schorsch. The plug was pulled on his credibility long ago; now, even common decency has fallen by the wayside.

Jim Bleyer, a former reporter at the Orlando Sentinel and Tampa Tribune, writes the Tampa Bay Beat blog.