Michael Steele Talking Too Much About Race

After recent revelations about his big spending, Michael Steele has started to come clean about the role race plays in the GOP. It's funny how he seems to have discovered that he is Black over the last few weeks. He recently admitted that the GOP had in fact used the Southern Strategy, as pointed out by Rachel Maddow.

Steele also stated, during a speech this week at DePaul University:

“Why should an African-American vote Republican?

“You really don’t have a reason to, to be honest — we haven’t done a very good job of really giving you one. True? True,” Republican National Chairman Michael Steele told 200 DePaul University students Tuesday night….

Steele seemed to hold the diverse student audience’s attention most when he talked about his own experience suffering racial discrimination — in his first law firm interview for example — and when he confessed his party’s failure to reach out to African-Americans:

“We have lost sight of the historic, integral link between the party and African-Americans,” Steele said. “This party was co-founded by blacks, among them Frederick Douglass. The Republican Party had a hand in forming the NAACP, and yet we have mistreated that relationship. People don’t walk away from parties, Their parties walk away from them.

“For the last 40-plus years we had a ‘Southern Strategy’ that alienated many minority voters by focusing on the white male vote in the South. Well, guess what happened in 1992, folks, ‘Bubba’ went back home to the Democratic Party and voted for Bill Clinton.”

It appears that the Republican Party may be losing control of its racial stooge. The Republican leadership put Steele in the Chairman's seat to be a prop to counter claims that the Party wasn't a reflection of America's diversity. He was put there to look pretty. I don't think his GOP handlers are too happy about him making comments that basically confirm what critics have been saying for some time about the Republican Party. First he made the comment that Black leaders may not have as much room for error....in response to criticism from within his own Party. Now he is talking about how his Party has used the Southern Strategy.

I think he'll be gone if the Republicans don't win big in November. They will have to win big by gaining enough seats to take over the House of Representatives.

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell Forgot About Slavery in Proclamation of Confederate History Month

I don't think he actually forgot. There is a tradition by some on the Right to leave slavery out as a core reason for the Civil War simply because they don't hold the view that Slavery was very important.

Nikki Giovanni gets to the point....


McDonnell knew exactly what he was doing. It wasn't an innocent mistake. It was classic Southern Strategy stuff. But when he started to notice a backlash... he tried to make amends.
Unfortunately, I don't see this as having much of an impact nationally. Stupid voters will still vote overwhelmingly Republican in the next two major election cycles, no matter what. If anything, this dust up makes McDonnell look like a more appealing candidate for White Conservatives if he has any national political ambitions. But stories like this do serve to show the mindset of those on the Right who are in leadership.

Like I mentioned on my Republican media page a year ago (see sidebar) there is this desire by some on the Right to re-establish some sort of new Confederacy in this Country... if not a physical one... definitely an ideological one.

Nice Huffpost commentary

More Race Nonsense from the Christian Values Folks

The Republican Party’s Latest Attempt at Restoring Their Relevance - Play Up the Racial Divide - also known as... The Southern Strategy

It turns out that the good people at the RNC have been caught peddling racial nonsense targeting President- elect Barack Obama. Not the KKK, not the Skinheads, not the Nazi’s or any other hate group. Nope… this is the official governing body of the Republican Party.

Chip Saltsman, former head of the Republican Party in Tennessee and leader of Mike Huckabee’s Presidential Campaign, apparently distributed a Christmas CD to RNC members featuring the song “Barack the Magic Negro”. Rush Limbaugh must be proud.

At a time when the Country faces a perilous economic situation, with another wave of home foreclosures on the horizon and more layoffs coming, with a health system that only works for a privileged few, and with their Party in shambles, this is how they have been spending their time? Where is their plan for the Country? And Saltsman is someone who is running for the RNC chairmanship.

They can’t lie and say that it wasn’t meant to be an attack on non-Whites, because that was the whole theme of the CD, which also contained material mocking Mexican immigrants. (see the New Yorker Article below). Apparently Mexican immigrants are fine for the wealthy GOP corporate elites and business owners who need cheap labor… but once they are of no use to them, they become evil aliens who have to leave.

Saltsman’s response was typical…. He didn’t have any regret for sending out the CD… and he didn’t admit that it was boneheaded… instead he reacted to the backlash by releasing a statement saying:

"our party leaders should...refuse to pander to the media's desire for scandal."

What? He distributes a racially targeted song to commemorate “Christmas” and that’s supposed to be ok?

Needless to say, Obama supporters (and even a few non-supporters) don’t find this to be very amusing. Is there any wonder why Republican events are almost exclusively White….with the exception of a few symbolic token minorities? And they always try to say that they are genuinely interested in reaching out to other groups…that they want their Party to be diverse. Nonsense. They have never been genuinely interested in diversity. It’s been a White Party for the last 30-40 years…. as Blacks really began switching their support during the late 1960's. This is why Republican events look nothing like the actual ethnic and cultural make-up of America.

Here is the reaction from MSNBC news host Tamron Hall, as Republican minion Kate Obenshain attempts to rationalize & sanitize the song as a legitimate parody.



See more from ThinkProgress

As expected, the GOP trotted out one of their Black representatives for damage control… Ken Blackwell quickly defended Chip Saltsman:

"When looked at in the proper context, these concerns are minimal," he said. "All of my competitors for this leadership post are fine people."

But Jim Greer, the Chairman of the Florida Republican Party, had a different response according to CBS News:

"As the GOP Chairman in one of our nation's most ethnically and culturally diverse states, I am especially disappointed by the inappropriate words and actions we've seen over the past few days," he said. "I am proud of those party leaders who have stood up in firm opposition to this type of behavior."
"Actions such as the distribution of this CD, regardless of intent, only serves to promote divisiveness and distracts us from our common goal of building our party," added Greer.

This just shows how far out in the wilderness the Republican leadership is… they remain tone deaf. It particularly shows how out of touch Ken Blackwell is, when many of his White Republican colleagues saw Saltsman’s comments as inappropriate, racially insensitive, and not in the best interests of the Party.

____________________________

Also See Article from the New Yorker Magazine

Westmoreland calls Obama ‘uppity'

From The Hill.com:

Westmoreland calls Obama ‘uppity'
By Mike Soraghan
Posted: 09/04/08 03:07 PM [ET]

Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland used the racially-tinged term "uppity" to describe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Thursday.

Westmoreland was discussing vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's speech with reporters outside the House chamber and was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama.

"Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they're a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they're uppity," Westmoreland said.

Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.”

Other Democrats have charged that the Republican campaign to paint the Illinois senator as an “elitist” is racially charged, and accused them of using code words for “uppity” without using the word itself.

In August, Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) told reporters, “When I hear the word ‘elitist’ linked with Barack Obama, to me, that is a code word for 'uppity.' I find it extremely offensive and John McCain should know better.”

Political consultant David Gergen, who has worked in both Republican and Democratic White Houses, said on ABC’s "This Week" that “As a native of the south, I can tell you, when you see this Charlton Heston ad, 'The One,' that's code for, 'He's uppity, he ought to stay in his place.' Everybody gets that who is from a Southern background.”

The Obama campaign, asked about the quote, did not note any racial context.

“Sounds like Rep. Westmoreland should be careful throwing stones from his candidate's eight glass houses,” said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor.

Well, we all know what's coming next. I'll keep a lookout.

Bill's 'Mea Culpa' Church Tour

hat tip: poster gregory at Jack and Jill Politics

From the WashingtonPost.com

Bill Clinton Prepares Mea Culpa
UPDATE, 4:30 p.m. ET: It looks like former president Bill Clinton will not have to make an apology to the congregations of black churches in South Central Los Angeles after all. At least not in writing.

Our posting on Bill Clinton's "mea culpa" tour (as we worded it) to African American in L.A. this weekend (ahead of Tuesday's hotly contested California primary) apparently caused much consternation inside the Clinton campaign. Campaign officials scrambled Saturday to dispel the notion that the former president will be making any form of an apology.

The Clinton camp asked Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.) to clarify remarks she made in an interview with The Sleuth on Friday evening in which she said Clinton needed to "renew his relationship with the South Central community" after turning off voters in her district with his racially tinged comments during the South Carolina primary campaign.

To achieve that, Watson said she had asked the former president to write a letter "explaining his commitment to civil rights and equal rights."

"He knows what needs to be in it: He needs to renew his relationship with the South Central community," Watson said Friday evening.

But on Saturday, things changed after the Clinton campaign called Watson who then told The Sleuth there will be no letter after all. She had mistakenly thought, she said, that Clinton would not be able to speak inside the churches on Sunday and, therefore, had asked him to put his thoughts in writing.

"I just learned he will be able to speak," Watson said. "So there will be no need for any kind of letter."

But what about mending fences with voters who felt Clinton had unfairly injected race into the campaign? "He can do that now in person in true Bill Clinton fashion -- personally and verbally," Watson said.

So, he doesn't even respect folks enough to put it in writing. Why am I not surprised.

But...but...but....

I thought the Clinton campaign didn't do anything wrong?

That those of us pointing out the Dogwhistle Politics...well, we were just ' Obama agitators that were IMAGINING things.'

Uh huh.


Here's something from Diane Watson in an earlier article:

Watson predicts Clinton's visit to churches in her district and his letter of apology will be enough to mend fences with those who once considered him one of their own. "I think it will be a good day," she says.

One of their own? Her handkerchief's on too tight.

So, rikyrah, why is Bill doing this phony tour?

Well, loyal reader, putting on my tinfoil hat, here's what comes across my skeptical mind:

1. Hillary's Handkerchief Heads are indeed beginning to seriously look like Handkerchief Heads.

You don't think that Waters, Watson, Rangel, et al, have been getting ' that look' from their constituents? We know Black Code. We know that there was a way to support Hillary Clinton without denigrating and disrespecting Barack Obama, which is what more than a few of the HHH Brigade have done. And, in staying MUTE, while Clinton has been pulling this Dogwhistle Racial Politics on Obama...well, it makes Black folk, even those that weren't warm towards Obama, raise their eyebrows towards the HHH. Even if they don't say anything in the presence of the HHH, and they nod politely as the HHH make their case for Hillary, the HHH know the Black Code too.

2. The Southern Strategy all out in the open.

When it could be blamed on Obama Agitators and Their Imagination...when it could be left to Black Radio, Black Talk Radio, and Black Newspapers....basically, when it was only Black folk discussing it amongst themselves, then the Clintons and their defenders were so dismissive of the Black Blogosphere when we sounded the alarm. The damn began to break when Donna Brazile and then Rep. Clyburn spoke up. Then, all of a sudden, it wasn't in our IMAGINATIONS anymore.

3. The Kennedy blowback. The Kennedys standing with Obama, declaring HE was the future - there was no more authoritative voice.

4. The Black/Latino divide.

Now, everyone knows that I'm no ' Kumbaya' person when it comes to Latinos. But, the obviousness of it -from that quote by the Hillary pollster to stoke the fires of Black/Brown dissention, to her ' The Shit Aint Subtle, and You Aint Slick' response in the last debate about illegal immigration, when she deliberately tried to pit Black vs. Brown.....Black folk are fast being hip to it, and surprise, so are some Latinos.

Bottom line: I think the CA polling is telling her that she's losing some of the White vote, and, gasp, she's losing some of the Latino FIREWALL, and thus, you mean, that those NEGROES, are back to being important again?Actually, I don't think that's the case- at all. For now, this church tour is about White voters, to convince them that the South Carolina narrative wasn't REALLY all that bad. That the Clintons were just ' misunderstood'.

UPDATE: Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll in California has OBAMA LEADING!

OBAMA LEADING?

Well, well, well.......guess those Black votes aren't so insignificant after all...

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

UPDATE#2- There is someting called the Field Poll.. Seems to be the gold standard in California.

Latest Field Poll:

Clinton 36, Obama 34, Undecided 18.

For comparison, Field's 1/22 numbers were Clinton 39, Obama 27, Undecided 20

Here's another one for the ' Isolated Incidents' File

You know...the ones that are ' in our imagination'.

Hat tip: dnA

From The Guardian:

In the words of that Clinton adviser: "If you have a social need, you're with Hillary. If you want Obama to be your imaginary hip black friend and you're young and you have no social needs, then he's cool."

But, of course, we're just making this stuff up.

Uh huh.

My ears are still ringing from yesterday's blow of the whistle.

Another 'Isolated' Racial Insult of Obama

Hat tip: Politico.com

Dept. of word choice


A prominent New York Clinton supporter, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, on how Hillary beat Obama in New Hampshire by beating him at retail politics:

”It’s not a TV-crazed race. Frankly you can’t buy your way into it,” Cuomo said. “You can’t shuck and jive at a press conference,” he added. “All those moves you can make with the press don’t work when you’re in someone’s living room.”

Are you going to tell me THAT isn't racial?

SHUCK AND JIVE?

How come it seems as if, we repeatedly get these statements coming from the Clintons, and/or their surrogates, and then we're either given a phony apology, or we're told we 'misinterpreted' it.

English is the PRIMARY language of the Black community. We understand it when we hear it, and don't need anyone else to interpret it for us.

But, oh yeah, we're ' imagining' it.

UPDATE:

Here's the ' Update' from Politico.com

UPDATE: Though the report I link refers specifically to New Hampshire, Cuomo called to play the tape of the interview, in which he says nice things about Obama, and in which the quote above is describing both Iowa and New Hampshire -- meaning it's not a direct reference to Clinton's primary victory, or attempt to explain it.

"Barack Obama is a beautiful symbol. He's a powerful speaker. He's a charismatic figure. And what he has to say is important for the Democrats," Cuomo says in the interview, with the New York Post's Fred Dicker.

"It was never about Obama in the first place," Cuomo told me of the use of the phrase, which he said he was using "as a synonym for 'bob and weave.'"

Once again, the ' explanation'.....yes, I can see how ' bob and weave' can evolve into SHUCK AND JIVE.

As for the 'nice things'....am I imagining things, or did Bob Kerrey say ' nice things' as HE delivered the smear too?

'Beautiful Symbol'.

BEAUTIFUL SYMBOL?

Is that akin to FAIRY TALE?



I'll keep on repeating this:

When 'Isolated Incidents' cease being ISOLATED & INCIDENTAL

They form a PATTERN.

Accept what the PATTERN tells you.

Just in case you thought Kerrey's apology MEANT ANYTHING

Here is Bob Kerrey's insincere apology to Barack Obama:

Dear Barack,

I want to sincerely apologize for the remarks I made on Sunday in Council Bluffs, Iowa, after an event at which I endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton's Presidential candidacy. I answered a question about your qualifications to be President in a way that has been interpreted as a backhanded insult of you. I assure you I meant to do just the opposite.

After you and I met during your primary campaign for the Senate, I wrote a public letter in which I said that that you were among the two or three most talented people I have ever met in politics. Nothing in your performance in the Senate or your campaign for the Presidency has altered that view.

The question I was asked in Iowa on Sunday was something like this: "Senator Kerrey, you ran for President in your first term in the Senate. If you were qualified, why isn't Senator Obama?" With the benefit of my computer's capacity to make certain that my words reflect my belief let me answer that question in this letter which you are free to use anyway you choose.

You are exceptionally qualified by experience and judgment to be President of the United States. I do not doubt that you would use the power of the Presidency to bring peace and prosperity to as many people as possible on our fragile planet. You inspire my highest hopes for that office's potential: That it be used as a force for good in America and the world.

It is your capacity to inspire hope that is your greatest God given talent. Without spending a dime of tax payer's money or changing a single law your presence in the Oval Office will send a clear and compelling message to four groups of people who will be altered for good as a consequence. That was what I was trying to say on Sunday and what I hope I said more clearly in this letter.

Again, I am sorry for the insult and wish you the best on January 3 and beyond.

Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Respectfully yours,

Bob Kerrey

Here you go- proof that it's not worth spit:


Clinton Launches Obama Attack Web Sites

ABC News has learned that the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has registered the names of two Web sites with the express goal of attacking her chief rival, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

It's the first time this election cycle a presidential campaign has launched a Web site with the express purpose of of launching serious criticisms on a rival.

And, just to sum it all up for the readers, especially those who stand there, and go, ' you Obama folks are just ' too sensitive', a reader of Andrew Sullivan's summed it up quite well:

So far this month Mrs. Clinton has "apologized" for two Iowa county volunteer coordinators' forwarding Obama-is-a-Muslim emails; Bill Shaheen does the Obama-is-a-druggie routine; Howard Wolfson goes on national TV and repeats it; Bill Clinton says we're "rolling the dice" with Obama, and now Kerrey is "apologizing" for his Obama-went-to-a-Madrassa remarks. This many events in a three-week span indicate a coherent plan. If one accepts Mrs. Clinton's explanations that these events are not what they obviously are, then the only other explanation would seem to be that she cannot control her campaign staff. That seems fairly incompetent leadership for someone who claims to be ready to lead on day one.

Like I've said before....ISOLATED incidents can only be qualified as such, when they remain ISOLATED. When they stop being ISOLATED and begin to form a PATTERN, then accept the PATTERN and what it tells you.

The Southern Strategy, and its racist underbelly, is all the same, whether used in Mississippi & Georgia, or in this case, IOWA AND NEW HAMPSHIRE.



RELATED ARTICLES:
Clinton Acolytes' Racist Attacks
The Real Race Card




Cross-posted at BrownIowa.