Nothing ticks off right wing trolls more than evidence of the GOP’s racism and race problems. So one can only imagine their reaction when it comes from younger members of their party.
Some reactions by the head in the sand Republicans include:
- Claiming that Democrats are “playing the race card” cuz they got nothing else – (except policies that are popular with Americans, including but not limited to: job creation; universal background checks to keep guns away from dangerous people; Obamacare and Immigration Reform.)
- Cherry picking facts about Robert Byrd referring to his KKK days , but overlooking the fact that he subsequently renounced his racist past.
- Dismissing the fact that some Republicans support slavery. After all, when Scott Terry suggested that blacks should be grateful for slavery because they got food and shelter at CPAC, he was just one guy. Okay fair enough, what about the Republican Lawmaker who endorsed slavery in his book , well again it’s just one guy. Then there’s the Tea Party lawmaker who endorsed slavery on several occasions. Among other insights, he claims that Jesus supported slavery and Lincoln was a communist.
Granted, to suggest that all Republicans support these views, based on the aforementioned would be akin to suggesting that the Democratic Party is racist because Robert Byrd was racist before he renounced racism, suggesting that the Larouchites reflect mainstream Democratic Party views and policies or pointing to Democrats who opposed Lincoln’s efforts to pass the 13th amendment as “proof” of Democratic Party values today, and the views held by all Democrats.
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Though, bless their hearts, Republicans and Teabaggers will keep trotting these arguments out anyway while dismissing recent racist statements by Republican lawmakers, or recent by Republican Presidential candidates during the 2012 primaries. They’ll dismiss the fact that some prominent Republicans used race as a dogwhistle during the 2012 election.
John Sunnunu attributed Colin Powel’s endorsement of Barack Obama to race. Then there’s Sarah Palin’s shuck and jive comment. Let’s not forget the birthers and the toupee guy whose initials are DT.
Of Sununu’s comment, Retired Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkinson who is a Republican told Ed Schultz :
My party, unfortunately, is the bastion of those people — not all of them, but most of them — who are still basing their positions on race. Let me just be candid: My party is full of racists, and the real reason a considerable portion of my party wants President Obama out of the White House has nothing to do with the content of his character, nothing to do with his competence as commander-in-chief and president, and everything to do with the color of his skin, and that’s despicable.
According to a poll by AP conducted in October 2012, negative perceptions of people of color increased from 48% in 2008 to 51 % in 2012. Animus toward black people increased from 49% to 56%.
People who think they’re doing the Republican Party a favor by burying their heads in the sand are doing their Party a disservice. There may be some immediate emotional satisfaction in denying the problem or playing the “I’m not a racist, you are!” game on twitter, but that won’t change the facts nor will it change the party’s fortunes in future elections – especially by younger voters. One may opt to dismiss this is mere “libtard” spin, but Republicans would do that at their own peril. No need to listen to or believe me.
On Monday, young Republicans released an interesting report, about the Party’s lack of appeal among younger voters. According to the Report,
It is not that young voters are enamored of the Democratic Party. They simply dislike the Republican Party more. In the focus group research conducted in January 2013, the young “winnable” Obama voters were asked to say what words came to mind when they heard “Republican Party.” The responses were brutal: closed-minded, racist, rigid, old-fashioned.
The Report suggests that part of the problem is the Republican Party’s stance on immigration and rhetoric about immigrants. One young voter said: “I would vote for them, but I have family that wants to come here.’ So I think if [the Republicans] were more open and not to any extreme – nobody should be to one extreme or the other – but if it was moderate and came to a compromise, then things would change.”
A participant in a Hispanic focus group discussion said,
Better opportunities to make it easier for people that are working hard, hardworking individuals that come to the States to better themselves, better the future for their kids, for their family. And concentrate on, instead of just trying to deport or make it hard and complicated for someone that is just trying to be better, I think they should help everyone, all the immigrants, to actually, if they aren’t doing anything wrong, anything bad, give them more opportunities to stay here, and put their efforts on criminals. Fine, if you are here illegally and you are a criminal, let’s find them. Get out, get deported. But right now they are just treating all immigrants like the same.
Hispanic respondents also pointed to Arizona’s “papers please” law, as a factor diminishing their image of the Republican Party. ”Arizona comes to mind, all the laws that they’ve passed there regarding immigration and being allowed to pull somebody over just based on how they look.”
The report goes on to examine young voters perceptions of the Republican Party on other issues, including abortion and same sex marriage and it reveals a dislike for the extremist policies that the Republican Party stands for.
On abortion, the report states:
In the Columbus female voter focus group, even respondents who said they were strongly pro-life were uncomfortable hearing Republicans talk about wanting to defund Planned Parenthood. In the words of one female participant in our Hispanic voter focus group in Orlando, “I think Romney wanted to cut Planned Parenthood. And he supports policies where it would make it harder for a woman to get an abortion should she choose, even if it were medically necessary. That goes head in hand with redefining rape.” In the Columbus female voter focus group, even respondents who said they were strongly pro-life were uncomfortable hearing Republicans talk about wanting to defund Planned Parenthood. In the words of one pro-life respondent, “The Planned Parenthood thing for me is not so much about abortion; it’s about counseling before you can get to that point, and I feel that that’s a big part of what they do, is contraception counseling and about being safe.
On same sex marriage, the study’s results do not bode well for Republicans who equate same sex marriage with the end of the world as they know it. ”Among those respondents who said that same-sex marriage should be legal (a full 44% of young voters), half said that they would probably or definitely not vote for a candidate with whom they disagreed on same-sex marriage, even if they were in agreement on taxes,defense, immigration, and spending.”
The truth hurts, especially when it comes from other Republicans.
Image from conservataivenewjersey
Former contributor.
