Color Coded 3
Michael Tomasky meditates on race and American political party identification in the light of recent Republican primary results in which a Sikh and an African American both won over white guys. A nugget:
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June 24, 2010 at 10:19 pm
I’m not sure where you’re going with this?
Conservatives have be painted with the racism brush for so long, we don’t care anymore if you think we are racists or not. Like the Tea Party sign said, “It doesn’t matter what’s on the sign, you’ll say its racist anyway.”
His assumption that Obama’s race “becomes one more thing not to like” is bigoted and idiotic, if he’s applying it to only one party. Racism is in every party. Heck, Obama’s political philosophies and our dislike of them so trump his supposed “blackness” that its laughable. He may self identify as African American, which, considering his father, is kind of accurate, but he is as much white as black. Race does not matter. And it does not matter to most Conservatives. It is the left that classifies and separates according to race. It is the left that identifies citizens according to apparent group. It was the African American community that overwhelming voted for Obama because of race. It was many Republicans, white and black, that voted for Obama BECAUSE he was “black,” so are those “right wingers” also included in that article. Does that make them racists also?
June 24, 2010 at 10:45 pm
Did you read Tomasky’s article?
Here’s where I am going.
Two words. Southern strategy.
It was a real thing. It tied the Republican Party to racism as a conscious vote-getting strategy. It also brought racists into the Republican Party.
Now, even Republicans who are not racists find themselves shoulder-to-shoulder with the recruits of the Southern strategy.
I do not know anyone who voted for Obama solely because he was black, though I am certain some persons did. If someone could not see a reason to vote one way or another and made race the deciding point, that’s one thing. Persons have made voting choices for stupider reasons, such as “he’s a good guy to have a beer with.”
Liking someone because of his or her race is far different from hating someone because of his or her race.
The key here is the hate.
It’s not that all Republicans are racists. It’s that the Republican Party knowingly and intentionally courted–and still courts–the racist vote. It has sold its soul to the Devil (as did the Democratic Party of the Solid South).
Remember, I’m a Southern Boy. I grew up under Jim Crow. I know the code.
June 25, 2010 at 10:43 am
I’m a southern boy too. I did not grow up under Jim Crow. I grew up in New Orleans, that is run by African Americans. Racism thrives there on both sides and by light skinned blacks against darker skinned blacks. But the overriding interest is money. Who’s got it and how do I get to control it or get more. David Duke got a 15% black vote because he promised more money to poor people and “honesty” in government.
“Liking someone because of his or her race is far different from hating someone because of his or her race.” Oh, so if an non-qualified white is chosen over a qualified minority because the employer or voter was a white separatist or supremacist is ok? Of course not. Its still racism! Choosing Obama just because he is black is racism. I can understand it, especially by the blacks in this country. I don’t blame them. Voting is an emotional issue, unless one is a political junky. Its a sales job and all sales are emotional, and rationalized later. Race was the overwhelming main reason. It was “historic.” Would you feel the same if everyone had voted for a white man just because he was white?
The GOP, at the time of the “Southern Strategy” is a different one than today. Heck, most voters today would not even understand the terms “southern strategy.” Today, the South supports the GOP more because of conservative, national security reasons instead ofrace. The Left is seen as weak on family values as defined by conservatives, weak on defense, etc. That is why they have a dominant bloc in the South.
The GOP’s insistence that affirmative action resulted in quotas and that companies and schools should be color blind is what drove the black vote into the Democrat camp. The Democrats pandered to the blacks though it has not helped them. They are doing the same to the Latino vote, with amnesty for illegals. Some GOP do the same.
Neither party is empty of racism, but, I feel that the GOP as an institution has dealt more fairly with it and removed it from the party. Of course, any statements not supporting the left’s idea of non-racism is designated as racist. If the GOP was a racist organization that drew its strength from a “racist southern strategy” vs a “conservative southern strategy”, the GOP would lose voters every time a minority gained a position of power. The modern GOP and especially the Tea Party does not care what race someone is. According to the media and left (but I repeat myself) that is the problem. Trying to ignore race is racism.
Only one party bases its political decisions on race. That is the Democratic party.