Todd Kincannon seems to have found his own Heart of Darkness


I’m not sure how else to put it.

I’ve known Todd, slightly, for several years now. Once, I would have said, “I know him to say hello to.” Now, I say, “I know him to exchange Tweets with,” which I have done frequently. I’ve only met him in person a handful of times, and when I have, he’s been a polite, friendly young man who seems to know how to behave himself in public.

But lately, his Tweets — and there are a LOT of them; I don’t personally know anyone who Tweets more constantly — have been trailing off into a strange, dark, extreme place. Following them is like traveling up the Congo (or, in Coppola’s version, the Mekong) in search of Kurtz, who had lost himself in savagery. Increasingly, they are of a sort that I can’t quote here without violating my own standards. Even showing you the ones that this post is about is a departure. But now that Todd has gone on national media to defend these truly indefensible Tweets, and not backed down an inch or admitted in any way that they are beyond the pale, and been identified to the world as a former executive director of the state GOP, well… I’m laying them out before you.

Here’s the one that the above video interview is about:

todd1

Here’s another related to it:

todd2

I don’t know what has led Todd on this path. I know that when he stepped it up (or rather, down) a few degrees a month or so ago, he found himself gaining a lot more attention, and I’ve seen that do bad things to people’s heads before.

Is it just immaturity? When Rusty DePass posted something on Facebook that deeply offended all who saw it, he immediately took it down (too late; it had been grabbed and preserved) and truly, sincerely apologized to everyone for it. (I think Kathryn, and others here who know Rusty, will back me up as to his sincerity.)

Todd operates in an environment where… well, the maturity level is pretty well established in the language used in this Wonkette piece criticizing him. A place where there are no rules of civility, or at least it seems that there aren’t — until Todd manages to find a way to violate them. (The problem with Wonkette’s reaction, of course, is that it helps Todd believe in his explanation that this is just a left-right thing, and he’s just doing what everybody does to people on the other side.) A place where obscenities that would only sound daring to a 7th-grader are the standard.

How hard is it to simply say that, for instance, Trayvon Martin was just this kid, you know? He was neither an angel nor a devil, he was just a kid who didn’t deserve to die because he had a run-in with this George Zimmerman guy, who wasn’t an angel or a devil either. MIsguided people on the left and right have glommed onto these people as some sorts of symbols, but they were just people. And his shooting was what the prosecutors in Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities would have called a “piece a s__t case,” a case that’s just a horrible, tragic mess any way you look at it, with no heroes, no one to admire, no good coming out of it, no redeeming lesson to be drawn.

But one thing is clear: Now that the kid’s dead, he sure as hell doesn’t deserve to have his memory trashed in terms that shouldn’t be used in public under any circumstances, about anybody.

Todd’s performance in the above video is nothing short of appalling. I don’t know what to say but to define it in Conradian terms, and express how sorry I am to see it. He might not be sorry, but I am…

26 thoughts on “Todd Kincannon seems to have found his own Heart of Darkness

  1. Mab

    “I don’t know what has led Todd on this path.”

    The same what that led Will Folks down his. Or maybe Will Folks was always vulgar?

  2. LIz

    It’s refreshing to hear such a spot-on but respectful expression of disappointment in Kincannon. Most of the people criticizing him are doing so after experiencing his mercurial wrath, where questions like “Could you tone down the vulgar language?” are met with ridicule and public blocks (so his defenders can see and pile on the innocent offender). I understand their disbelief and, in turn, their rage at being ostracized for doing nothing more than posing a question or comment. They get labeled trolls, bitches or even c__ts. It is truly insane, over-the-top behavior on his part and what is more bizarre are his headless sheeple who think every obscenity he utters is spun gold. Their willing blindness, the fact that they can’t see the damage Kincannon is doing to conservative unity, is really astounding.

    Some people just need a leader, any leader, and will overlook or rationalize any of his misbehavior as being justified against his imaginary enemies. But did Kincannon really have enemies before the creation and subsequent purging of #TGDN? If so, they were few in number. Now, they number in the thousands (and include people on the right and left) which, I guess, makes him feel important. It’s just tragic that so many decent people were hurt while Kincannon was working to build up his ego and tiny little empire. It all makes me wonder how the man has time to practice law and wonder who would hire his firm.

  3. Jack Kuenzie

    What’s really mystifying about this behavior is that Todd can’t see or doesn’t care about the damage he continues to do to his profession, his party and his state. It’s beyond ridiculous and kind of pathetic to try to pass this juvenile stupidity off as satire.

  4. Technowrite

    Todd Kincannon seeks one thing: attention. In the echo chamber that is social media, he is offered a constant supply of what he needs for sustenance.

    The only problem with that is he’ll tweet back at the wrong person one day, and he’ll pay for it.

  5. Kathryn Fenner

    I think he’s only capitalizing on what a lot of his ilk think….note the absence of your usual commenting suspects here….

  6. Brad Warthen Post author

    If I recall, Todd has sponsored “Pub Politics” on at least one occasion, possibly more. Anyway, I think he was the sponsor once when I was on.

  7. Doug Ross

    And yet you think we need more of those types of businesses in Columbia… I just don’t get it. The chasm between promoting democracy and this garbage is quite wide.

  8. Steve Gordy

    One benefit of living in an age when anything that goes on Facebook or Twitter can be expected to live forever is that someday, somehow Mr. Kincannon may be in a position where he strongly wishes he could take back those two offensive tweets.

    1. Mab

      But he won’t be able to according to the church sign I read yesterday along Platt Springs Road somewhere:

      “Time and words can never be recalled.”

      I think it’s a crappy slogan for a church, almost a threat, but maybe the locals dig it.

  9. Lynn

    Can’t we just “unfollow” an be done with it. He isn’t clever or funny or witty. He’s just mean spirited.

  10. Kay Packett

    I’m not sure you featured his best effort. Here’s my nomination:

    It hasn’t been this dark in the Superdome since all those poors occupied it after Hurricane Katrina.

    — Todd Kincannon (@ToddKincannon) February 4, 2013
    If he ran for the state legislature tomorrow, I’m betting he’d be elected.

  11. Barry

    He’s a sad individual.

    He will convince no one to agree with him with that logic.

    It’s the equal to someone walking up to you and slapping your wife across the face – and saying their goal is to have more of a mutal respect.

  12. J

    I’m stunned by his use of women-hating words like “c__t.” He refers to one woman has having a sand-filled vagina. I have stopped reading his stuff because it is so vulgar and demeaning to women. This from a man who says he loves his mother….

  13. AmyB

    I don’t care for his vulgarity, nor his “adult” activities, but I think you are focusing on the wrong thing. Todd himself has said this is a tactic that he uses intentionally. Actually, it’s a liberal tactic, brought on by Saul Alinsky. Read “Rules for Radicals” and you’ll see it right there. Complaining doesn’t do anything to promote our conservative message. Instead of complaining about his vulgarity, learn from his Alinsky tactic.

  14. thepoliticalcat

    First off, thank you very much for a civil, thoughtful, and ultimately sensible piece on a man I’ve come to despise. Thank you for lifting me above my anger and making me see this person as a person. Flawed, just like the rest of us, if to a different degree.

    Second, and this is to Amy: You might think that such tactics will help you “win” something, but I would advise that you think clearly about your goals here. You might win something temporarily — power, office, money — but these tactics will not endear anyone to you. There is a reason the number of people willing to call themselves “Republicans” or “TeaParty members” has declined so precipitously. Over half your fellow citizens showed clearly in the most recent elections that they do not care for your party’s *platform.* Perhaps instead of devising *tactics,* you ought to consider what it is your fellow citizens want, and attempt to give it to them, or persuade — not bully — them to accept your vision instead.

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