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Neera Tanden slammed for 'vampire' and 'Voldemort' remarks, Internet says GOP leaders 'never see Trump's tweets'

Tanden reportedly deleted more than 1,000 tweets in November because she 'regretted' her tone

Neera Tanden, President Joe Biden's nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was called out by top Republicans on Tuesday, February 9, for her past tweets criticizing Republican lawmakers. Tanden apologized on February 9 itself, during her first confirmation hearing.

Tanden reportedly deleted more than 1,000 tweets in November because "I regretted my tone," and said that "nobody advised me at all" to do so ahead of her nomination. She said before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, "I deeply regret and apologize for my language and some of my past language. I know I have to earn the trust of senators across the board.“

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However, Tanden, who is a political consultant and the president of the Center for American Progress, where she has served in different capacities since 2003, was criticized by Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) who read out some of her tweets, saying, "I’m concerned that your personal attacks about specific senators will make it more difficult for you to work with them. Just to mention a few of the thousands of negative public statements, you wrote that Susan Collins is the worst, that Tom Cotton is a fraud, that vampires have more heart than Ted Cruz. You called leader McConnell: Moscow Mitch and Voldemort, and on and on.”

Portman, who served as the OMB director under President George W Bush, said that the tweets “added to the troubling trend of more incivility and division in our public life,” and asked Tanden how she had plans to "mend fences" with Republicans. Tanden responded, "I would just say again, to the extent that people are hurt by my language, I deeply apologize."

However, many have called out Republican sentiments and have taken to social media to ask why they did not respond similarly to social media posts of former President Donald Trump and freshman House GOP Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Vox journalist Aaron Rupar tweeted, "Republicans when POTUS posts tweets calling women ugly, threatening martial law, smearing media as enemy of the people, lying about election fraud: I didn't read them. What are tweets? Republicans when Neera Tanden deletes a post: When did you delete them? Why? What client did y[.]" Actor George Takei wrote, "The party that whines constantly about cancel culture is literally trying to cancel @neeratanden over some 'mean' tweets. Have some consistency other than wobbly jello, sirs. By the way, she was spot on with them, and they know it."

One user wrote, "I’m really enjoying the hypocrisy of watching Senators who claimed to never see any of Trump’s — the then President of the United States — tweets hammering Neera Tanden — never the President of the United States — over her old tweets." Another tweeted, with a screenshot of Greene's tweets, "The Republicans, who refused to hold Donald Trump accountable even at the point of insurrection, have now refused to hold a woman who threatened death to her colleagues accountable. The story is about them, not about her."

However, Portman had, in fact, spoken out against Greene's rhetoric, saying last month that Republicans "ought to stand up" against Greene and that there should be a "strong response" to her controversial actions. He had said at the time, "There is no place for violence in our political dialogue. By the way, there is no place for violence in our country. I mean, this is something we got to get away from. So yeah. I think people ought to speak out clearly." Portman also said that Greene being stripped of her committee assignments could "send a message."