Patterico's Pontifications

9/1/2018

Chair of California Democrat Party Calls for Boycott of In-N-Out; Hilarity Ensues

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 10:12 am



Some Democrats in California are trying to boycott In-N-Out for donating some money to Republicans. It’s … not going so well. Here’s the annoyingly amusing story of how it happened.

On Wednesday, a “journalist” did what “journalists” do: obtained a fact and immmediately misinterpreted and misrepresented it:

It’s not a “new item” for In-N-Out to donate to Republicans. And they also donate to Democrats. L.A. Magazine did a decent story that explained these facts:

It’s certainly not the first In-N-Out Republican contribution. The fast food chain has a long history of donating to political causes. In 2017 and 2016, the company donated $30,000 per year to the California GOP for general party expenses.

In some areas of California, Republicans seem to be playing defense in 2018, even in areas where they’ve comfortably held seats for long periods of time. If they can continue to out-fundraise and out-spend progressive challengers in those competitive districts, they may be able to hold on.

In-N-Out isn’t a one-party burger shop, though. The corporation has also given $50,000 this year to a PAC known as Californians for Jobs and a Strong Economy. That group is as pro-business as the name implies, but, as the Sacramento Bee reported in 2014, it was founded by David Townsend, a political operative who identifies as a centrist Democrat.

But, of course, being “journalists,” they slapped a misleading headline on their piece: Your Favorite Burger Chain Just Donated a Bunch of Money to the Republican Party. The headline suggested this was “news” rather than business as usual, and that the donations were one-sided when they weren’t.

Then a politician did what politicians do (and everybody else in the world does as well): read the headline but not the story, and reacted stupidly on Twitter:

This particular politician happened to be the Chair of the Democrat Party in California. So it kinda got some attention. It became a nationwide story, with #Resist types promising to join the boycott and many conservatives pledging to make a visit soon to show their support.

These sorts of controversies always annoy me. Why do we have to make every damned thing in the world about politics? I’m glad In-N-Out turns out to have donated money to Democrats too, just so we don’t have another company labeled as the “Republican fast food place.” Although if Republicans were going to claim one, In-N-Out would be a good one to claim: fresh ingredients served by friendly employees who are well taken care of. This is a place so popular that literally any time of day you try to go there, you’ll sit in the drive-through line three times as long as any other fast-food place.

This campaign is in trouble:

I don’t know anything about Jim Patterson, but I immediately like him from this tweet. I liked him even better when, in response to someone’s comment about the unequal distribution of straws, he said:

Strike a blow for sanity. Too few such blows are struck these days. We need to notice when they are.

17 Responses to “Chair of California Democrat Party Calls for Boycott of In-N-Out; Hilarity Ensues”

  1. Hooray for this guy and everyone who rejects silly boycotts like this.

    Patterico (115b1f) — 9/1/2018 @ 10:17 am

  2. For some reason I initially thought this guy Patterson was a Democrat and the post said so for about 60 seconds. Not really worth an update when it was up for so brief a time but I thought I’d mention it here.

    Patterico (115b1f) — 9/1/2018 @ 10:20 am

  3. Didn’t this jerk go after Ted Cruz about 5 years ago.

    Narciso (3baf2a) — 9/1/2018 @ 10:24 am

  4. Meh.

    There’s a wiser reason to ‘boycott’ this deliciously tasty crap: it’s death food.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 9/1/2018 @ 10:29 am

  5. ‘I gulp my milkshakes, I don’t sip them. – Jim Patterson’

    Brain freeze first; arteries clogs later, eh, Jimbo.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 9/1/2018 @ 10:32 am

  6. Props to whoever got with the chick in the red dress. Hopefully that’s not from too much burgers fries and milkshakes instead.

    urbanleftbehind (67d95e) — 9/1/2018 @ 10:43 am

  7. I wish we had In N Outs in Seattle. Dick’s is the closest thing (the burgers aren’t as good as In N Out but the fries are better).

    Paul Montagu (9dcfd2) — 9/1/2018 @ 11:02 am

  8. ‘death food’

    Arteries gonna “clogs”, boogie boogie boogie.

    harkin (0f0199) — 9/1/2018 @ 11:38 am

  9. Been eatin’ In-n-Out burgers for over 50 years now and I ain’t dead yet. I’m in my prime.

    When I was in college at UCSB (Hamburger Habit in Isla Vista still makes a good burger) when Jimmy Carter announced his amnesty program for Vietnam War draft dodgers.

    I met one returner who’d been in Ibiza for years and there was nothing he wanted more than a burger and fries fron the In-n-Out on East Foothill in Pasadena. I didn’t know if there were other locations then, plenty of ’em now.

    Anyway, as an veteran, I knew what it was like to be overseas and long for some special taste of home. So, since he had no car, I felt it was on me to take him there one evening.

    We happily ate our burgers sitting on a bus stop bench on Colorado Boulevard. Both of us glad to be in California, glad to have a new friend, glad the war was over for us, and glad to back in the good ol’ USA.

    ropelight (aa9dfe) — 9/1/2018 @ 12:20 pm

  10. In-n-out is OK if you don’t have access to a Whataburger I guess.

    Dustin (ba94b2) — 9/1/2018 @ 12:55 pm

  11. Was never more underwhelmed by a burger than Whatsburger, unless it was 5 Guys. If you’re in Plano go Country Burger.

    In n Out is a good burger but I still prefer Knollwood, Tommy’s and even Carl’s.

    harkin (0f0199) — 9/1/2018 @ 1:33 pm

  12. I never understood the allure of In-n-Out. I find the burgers to be greasy and a little too sweet, and the fries to be chalky and almost inedible. But my wife and children thought it was pure ambrosia.

    That said, I hope the In-n-Out boycott works as well as the Chik-Fil-A boycott of 2012.

    Chuck Bartowski (bc1c71) — 9/1/2018 @ 1:37 pm

  13. Culvers is Whataburger with stricter zoning requirements, but very similar in taste. Chicago tends not have a single iconic brands but several nonchain notables like Kumas Corner.

    urbanleftbehind (67d95e) — 9/1/2018 @ 1:39 pm

  14. 28.=yawn= Have another brain-freeze shake and a heapin-helpin’ of them deep fried onion rings, harkin.

    Not to worry; Obamacare has you covered.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 9/1/2018 @ 3:57 pm

  15. ^#14 for @8.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 9/1/2018 @ 3:58 pm

  16. That’s probably just the pumpkin spice frappe’ talking.

    harkin (0f0199) — 9/1/2018 @ 4:52 pm

  17. Haiku would think it’s the Sanka+SweetNLow

    urbanleftbehind (67d95e) — 9/1/2018 @ 5:19 pm


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