POUGHKEEPSIE – Hours after a social media post by the Dutchess County Democrats falsely claiming County Executive Marc Molinaro had tested positive for COVID, they have recanted their story. The Dems say the post was the result of a radio report, but have not said what radio station broadcast the falsehood. The story describing the controversial post can be found HERE.
Molinaro told Mid-Hudson News that he did not test positive for COVID, contrary to the original Democrat Party post.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Democrats returned to Facebook to explain why they spread the fake news about Molinaro. “We received phone calls from several people reporting what they supposedly heard on the radio this morning. We believed them. They were wrong and we can only hope they misunderstood what they heard. But we were wrong to post. The post has been taken down. Our apologies and we will proceed with greater caution in the future.”
The second post was met with harsh criticism such as the comment from Robb Bloom. “Your posts today were beneath us. I’m rarely embarrassed by my party affiliation — today was an exception. Whoever is making decisions about posting on your Facebook page needs to get their head on straight.” Bloom followed by adding, “And then to turn around and make this about Republicans and Covid ‘fake news’??? — wow. You seriously need to fire the person in charge of your Facebook page. There’s no excuse for this behavior. We’re SUPPOSED to be better than this.”
The follow-up post by the Democrats was not absent of a partisan jab, saying “We hope that those Republicans who frequently and knowingly spread COVID fiction – be they miracle cures, falsehoods about severity, or lies about lockdowns, as fact, have learned a lesson from this as well.”
