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Notes -
To add more detail, Sayed responded to the ad with:
Stevens did not consider this sufficient and demanded he condemn it. I could personally see this either way, as either sounding like you're disavowing it but not really, or maybe Sayed figured he already did and felt like Stevens was making him jump through hoops.
What, do you think the man might be new to the party? Democrats have been phrase-lawyering Republicans for decades. That quote there is what every single educated Democrat should recognize as a dog whistle.
He apparently was asked a follow up yesterday and gave a clearer "I do not agree with the contents of that ad."
Exact same thing. Deflect, rephrase into something more palatable, don't actually condemn. He can say he "does not agree" because it wasn't extreme and anti-semetic enough. No Republican has ever been allowed to get away with that kind of mealy-mouthed crap. The headlines would be "El Sayed Again Refuses to Condemn Anti-Semitism".
Oh come now. I agree that his first response was not sufficient, but "I do not agree with the ad" is clear. "It could mean that it wasn't antisemitic enough" feels more like trying way to keep a dead play alive than a serious argument. His outrage at having to answer what he considers dumb questions annoyed me - he's smart enough to know how running for office works - but he did use clearer language.
Not by the standards his party has enforced for decades. The line immediately before that is "You people love to play the condemn game". It's just a game, he's not playing it, and here's a lesser statement that will allow allies a fig leaf. "I do not agree with the ad" does not mean the ad was incorrect or morally wrong. It's fey wording, and in the language of his people, it's a blatant dog whistle for being a raging Nazi.
That's exactly what it means. Short of feeding another person the exact line you expect them to say, "I disagree with this" is simple and straightforward language.
For the record; you are making appeals to "simple and straightforward language" in a space where talk is cheap.
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Pretty much. One large difference between the left and right is the left is allowed to run dogwhistles without pushback while the right is not.
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The thing is that the ambiguity is definitely on purpose, it's how he's responded to basically all of the calls to condemn anything. It's the exact same response he had to Hasan Piker. Anyone following along can tell that he is strategically trying to get people off his back without actually condemning the thing he's being asked to condemn.
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