Ignorance is Bliss at Babalu
Leonard Pitts's column in the Herald this morning is fairly uncontroversial to anyone who watches the American political scene. Here's his basic thesis: Republicans have lost power, but they'll be back, and hopefully, without the race- and gay- and feminist- and religion-baiting that has led them to power since Nixon.
This isn't a particularly controversial position to take. Yes, the pendulum of power will swing back right again (sad to say) and barring some unexpected occurrence, the Republican party will be the party that represents the right. The one thing that Republicans and Democrats have consistently worked together on in this country is making sure that no matter who's in charge, all the political power is being shared by those two groups.
But facts are irrelevant to Babalu:
What can be said in response to this hateful diatribe? It shows that Leonard Pitts, behind all the flowery talk about unity and hope and equality, is a hypocrite who doesn't have a clue what the vast majority of Republicans and conservatives really stand for. That's because he probably doesn't know more than a handful of Republicans/conservatives.No real counter-argument, no counter-claims, not even an acknowledgment that the Republican party lost every demographic group except white men and even saw their margins shrink in that group during this last election. Nope, their response is that Pitts is ignorant because, ummm, because shut up! is why.
Pitts's point that Republican electoral strategy has been based on othering certain groups of people is also pretty uncontroversial. Nixon's Southern Strategy and Reagan's Cadillac-driving welfare queen set the stage for it, and King George the Lesser scapegoated gays and Muslims like nobody's business, especially in his second "win."
I mean, there's a reason African-Americans voted more than 90% of the time for Democratic Presidential candidates before we nominated Barack Obama and it has a lot to do with the lack of welcome they feel inside the Republican party. Democrats usually win women--the margin changes depending on the circumstances--because we give more than lip service to their issues. The same goes for Latino/as and gays and union members. We're a diverse coalition, and it shows in our caucuses in Congress and in state legislatures and Governor's mansions. And the Republican party, now more than ever before, is pretty much the party of white men.
But not if you're Robert M at Babalu. No, the problem isn't that Republicans have othered so many groups that they're having trouble finding voters who'll hang out with them. No, the problem is that Pitts is uninformed. Keep on with that logic, Robert M. I'm sure it will serve you well in the future.
Update: if Robert M. felt this way toward Leonard Pitts's column, I can't wait to see how he barfs all over Kathleen Parker's. After all, she's a conservative, and she's even more pointed about it than Pitts.
Please, Brian. Robert doesnt list Pitt's inaccuracies and inanities because there isnt enough bandwidth to do so. I suppose the argument could be made, since we're time traveling to make dumb points, that the Democratic campaign mantra has been ala Wallace from the sixties. Remember him? The pro-segretationist?
if anything, in this last presidential race, it was the democratic party that ran on the "fear" thing. Fear of fear. "You should be afraid that the repubicans will get in office and yadayadayada"
But I suppose, true and in keeping with your party's MO, why bother with reality. lets get al hopey and changy!
Boy, I cant wait to see the change - the sobering change - you all are gonna go thorugh once you realize that being in power both in the Wh and Congress, your leaders will actually have to , yo know, lead. Theyll actually have to make good on all those promises that you all are convinced arent just platitudes.
Parumpah! We'll be here four years, folks. Dont forget to tip your bartenders and waitresses!
Val Prieto said...
12:33 PM
See what you did there, Val? You had to go all the way back to the sixties to find a race-baiting presidential candidate from the Democratic party. Why? Because you couldn't find a more recent one.
But you sure can find them in the Republican party of the last forty years. Even Poppy Bush did in in 1988, with the whole Willie Horton ad. "Black people are scary--vote Republican." During the McCain campaign, it was more like "Obama's going to raise your taxes and buy his homies a bunch of Cadillacs with the money," but the idea was the same--point to white people as "real America" and everyone else as the other.
And that's been your party's M.O. for decades now. Maybe it will change--I hope it will, because our country is becoming too diverse for that kind of rhetoric. But you all are going to have to be the ones to do it, and denying that it's a problem is no way to begin.
Brian said...
12:45 PM
You can find them in the Republican party in the last 40 minutes.
That will change, though, out of necessity: they have to change to stay a viable major party in the 21st century. But then where will people like this val go?
Amy said...
12:50 PM
Val,
Your credibility to predict anything pretty much went out the door with, "McCain wins by a landslide. You heard it here first," so stop with the prognostications already.
I'm wondering when someone in the audience of a McCain/Palin rally yells "Nig*ger" when Obama is referenced and thousands of Republicans and the party nominees say nothing and do nothing, what that says about the party and the people who belong to it.
There's too many examples to go around. Just like there's too many examples of fear-mongering by the right. Actually, tons of examples by the Babalu Drama Queen himself, George Moneo, right there at that beloved blog that you founded and have let slowly degenerate into a hate fest where today you yourself urged everyone to go out and buy hollow points.
Here's a tip, Prieto. Stick to posting your middle school pictures and shots of you before you became a bigoted, hate-filled and pompous handicap to Miami's Cuban-American community.
.
Rick said...
7:40 PM
Damn. That says it all right there.
Amy said...
1:07 PM