Republican Party

In Latest Verbal Disaster Romney Turns Sikhs into Sheiks

Last updated on August 10th, 2012 at 09:29 pm

It’s all Greek to Romney. Sikh, sheik. What’s the diff, right?

In case you were wondering how the far right wing white supremacist might have confused Sikhs with Muslims, as apparently happens all too often in this country, Mitt Romney reminded us all yesterday when he used the Arab term “sheik temple” instead of the proper term “Sikh temple” when referencing the tragic Wisconsin shooting:

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“We obviously have challenges around the country. I was in Chicago earlier today. We had a moment of silence in honor of the people who lost their lives at that sheik temple,” said Romney, speaking to a group of donors gathered at a fundraiser at a West Des Moines country club.
“I noted that it was a tragedy for many, many reasons. Among them are the fact that people, the sheik people are among the most peaceable and loving individuals you can imagine, as is their faith. And of course, the person who carried out this heinous act was a person motivated by racial hatred and religious intolerance. It’s really, really a tragedy,” he said.
Rick Gorka, a spokesman for Romney, later clarified that the candidate “misspoke” adding that it was the “end of the day.

So, at the end of the day, your President Romney just might stereotype a group of people in the same way that other Right wing groups do, which has led to them being the target of hate crimes – but see, it’s the end of the day.

In the beginning of the day, Romney insults our biggest allies on international TV, and at the end of the day, he puts a bull’s-eye on a religious group while trying to express condolences.

You people need to stop playing the race card though, ‘cuz see, Romney retroactively took that back, or he will if pressed on it. It was the end of the day! What do you want from him?

Accuracy? Care? Diplomacy? Sensitivity? Hello, have you met Mitt Romney?

He’s not playing any bigotry cards here, I mean, heck, just because he released an ad the very same day that the KKK would have been proud to put their name on doesn’t mean that he’s a racist. It’s not his fault that he believes that black American = welfare, even though statistically, the majority of welfare recipients are white.

And since corporations are people, technically speaking, we bail out and give a lot more financial assistance to oil companies than we do to welfare recipients. But we have to remember this is Mitt World, and so ‘corporations are people’ only applies to their freedom to spend money on Mitt’s campaign, not their entitlements, since hello, they are with Mitt and therefor entitled.

Does Mitt look Sikh, Muslim, or black to you? Apparently, they’re all the same at the end of the day and none of them are entitled to make mistakes like Mitt makes.

Mistakes are for the wealthy, entitled, and privileged elite. And it’s even better if you can reinforce a negative stereotype while making your end of the day mistake, cuz nothing says WINNER like a 2012 Southern Strategy going full blast ahead within hours of a mass shooting being called a hate crime by the targeted group.

Sheik, Sikh. Meh. What are you people so upset about?

Mitt the Twit strikes again, only this time, it really hurts. This is no shiny public relations debacle; this hits the bitter spot of one of the most shameful aspects of America right now – the incessant “otherism” that isn’t being called out by the ivory tower beltway media. Sadly, those on the ground in “real America” know all too well the ugly, heart-wrenching result of the deliberate targeting of others for the benefit of the Republican party’s electoral success.

A verbal mistake of ‘Sheik, Sikh’ might not have mattered so much, if only Republicans hadn’t made American Muslims enemy #1 by calling Obama a Muslim, constantly fear-mongering about Sharia law, screaming bloody murder about mosques being built, and Mitt Romney himself saying Glenn Beck’s Muslim caliphate against America is real.

Republicans have been targeting Muslims — not bothering to distinguish between the majority of peaceful Muslims and extremists, just as they seem to find it so difficult to distinguish among all brown skinned folks wearing any kind of head wrapping. Hence, Sikhs have reported being targeted post 9/11 by stunningly ignorant Americans who buy into the Right wing notion that all Muslims are terrorists and then don’t bother to distinguish between Sikh and Sheik.

The ignorance is stunning, the glib way it’s disregarded is disturbing, and the ramifications of it are all too heart-breaking. Mitt Romney needs to issue a personal apology, and he needs to use this build some moral fiber into his campaign. He could use his apology to call for an end to the ethnocentricity behind his party. Mitt Romney could man up, admit his mistake, and be an actual leader by inspiring us to be better Americans.

But Romney would have to end his welfare for work dog whistle then, and that lie is all he has. Romney lacks the moral character to risk anything for the sake of a better, more unified America.

Anyone can make a verbal slip up like Romney did, but not anyone could or would run a campaign that made that mistake appear like a Freudian slip by the Grand Imperial Poohbah of Southern Strategy on the very day he released an ad screaming “Don’t vote for Obama because he’s black and he’s giving lazy black people all your money!” In that context, Romney’s verbal faux pas is part of a pattern of utter disregard for nuance and for the results of his careless, cynical use otherisms.

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