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You Gotta Love That GOP Big Tent
Another election cycle, another NAACP Presidential Candidate Forum. The civil rights group invited all nine Republican wannabes, but only Tom Tancredo showed up. Meanwhile, all of the Democratic presidential hopefuls appeared and, not surprisingly, Barack Obama brought down the house.
The excuses given by the Republican candidates’ campaign staffs mostly had to do with scheduling conflicts. They were just too busy to make it.
Ahem.
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31 Responses to “You Gotta Love That GOP Big Tent”
Yes, since we all know it would have been a welcoming and fair forum for Republicans.
Ahem, indeed.
Yes, since we all know that the GOP continues to go out of its way to alienate people of color.
Ahem. Ahem.
I had to laugh when I saw this. Do Republicans still wonder why 90% of the African-American population votes Democrat? Here lies the answer.
And please no tired canards about Democrats and big government programs- we saw how the Republican majority shrunk the bureaucracy and cut federal spending in 109th Congress, lol.
To be fair and play DA(Austin Roth), the Clenis forgot that he was supposed to appear. I loved the fact that Trancedo appeared to pander to the Latino-haters at NAACP.
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It is just plain impossible to put lipstick on this pig, and even thoughtful conservatives like Iconic Midwest don’t get it.
About the only national conference of people of color at which Republican candidates would be welcomed is the National Association of Lawn Jockeys.
Like the Bush administration, the GOP has gone out of its way to marginalize a large and growing part of the electorate with thinly veiled racist policies and rhetoric.
It is inexcuseable. It is an abomination. It is the essence of being un-American, and I am unaware of any Republican of consequence who recognizes the problem, let alone is speaking out about it.
Shaun – The “lawn jockeys” have lost their jobs to illegal aliens from Mexico. They don’t play nice with Hispanics either. I wonder when the slur against Italians (WithOutPapers – WOP) will be resurrected for todays situation.
Remember all the Republican outrage when Howard Dean labelled the GOP the white Christian party? He wasn’t that far off the mark.
Well, were I republican candidate, I would have gone, but I understand why most did not. Despite it’s billing as a non-partisan group, the NAACP supports the views of the democratic party on almost every issue. I don’t think Republicans would have won any minds or votes by attending, but they should have tried nonetheless.
Why would the Republicans attend the NAACP convention who are probably 100% Democrat when none of the Democratic candidates will even bother to appear on Fox News or would never appear at the NRA convention.
Any Republican who shows up at an NAACP convention is just begging to have to be turned into an embarassing video moment.
I doubt that if all of the Republicans had shown up that it would have changed all votes.
It also is funny that a group that support race based reparations has any credibility when they call anyone else racist.
People can make excuses until hummingbirds fly out of their of their asses, but the fact of the matter is the Republican Party is proudly pro-Christian and pro-white and there seems to be no incentive to make it pro-inclusive.
As if it didn’t always have enough problems.
Shaun,
Now I think you’re engaging in hyperbole. It’s one thing to criticize republicans for not attending an NAACP function, it’s quite another to extrapolate from that to suggest they are all somehow anti-black/minority because they are supposedly “pro-white.” I also don’t see what the problem with being “pro-Christian” is since blacks are just as devout as anyone else – maybe even more.
Both parties focus on ideology, not race. The simple fact is that a majority of African-Americans are closer ideologically to the Democrats. This basic demographic fact does not mean Republicans hate black people – they like people who share their ideology, just like the Democrats do. Of course, Democrats talk the talk with the black community, but do they walk the walk any better than republicans?
SD – I believe that Webb, Schuler and Tester are NRA types. I’d even go as far to say they REALLY hunt critters, what about the Mitter and his $1000 suits?
Isn’t this a bit similar to the outrage on the right when the Democratic candidates decided to boycott a scheduled debate that would have been held on FNC?
The arguments were almost identical- with lefties (myself included) claiming that Fox was too dissimilar ideologically and too biased to be fair, while conservatives argued that the Democrats missed an opportunity to reach out to their viewers.
The Dems were labelled cowards for the boycott, but that’s what I think of the Republicans who had other engagements on the day of the NAACP debate. Our partisanship deepens by the day.
I think there is a difference between the Democratic boycott of Fox News and the Republican no shows at the NAACP. Fox News claims to be a news organization, but it consistently distorts news and lies to paint Democrats and liberals as bad while consistently defending Republicans no matter what. The NAACP on the other hand represents the interests of a rather large group of regular people. Democrats have nothing to gain from going on Fox, Republicans have nothing to lose by appearing before the NAACP.
And one should not dismiss the ability of Republicans to gain the African American vote. All they have to do is support some issues that are important to that community. The reason the Democrats consistently get the vast majority of the votes from them is because the Republicans have consistently not only refused to represent not one of their interests, but have worked against those interests.
Rudi,
The NRA had its national convention in May. How many Democratic candidates for President spoke at the meeting? I believe the number is zero.
Why would a Republican want to go to a convention where a racist thug like Maxine Waters is going to point her fingre and call you a racist? For a Republican to attend an NAACP meeting has much more downside than a Democratic candidate appearing on Fox News. At least the rest of the media will criticize Fox News. Whereas the unwritten rule is that the MSM will never, ever say anyting bad about a black politician no matter how many bastards baby he has father (Mume), or how many years of none tax payment (Marion Barry) or how much corruption (Kwame Kilpatrick).
There is a difference between not showing up at the NAACP and not attending an NRA meeting. The difference, of course, is that the NRA fights for a particular issue — gun rights, education, sporting, etc. This is a particular issue, and so it makes sense that if the group and the person do not wish to hear each other’s opinion, they will decline. The NAACP does not fight for a particular issue. They fight for a particular group of American citizens and everything related to that. It’s very different. Not showing at an NCAAP meeting is closer to, say, not bothering with Florida.
I would have preferred more of the Republican candidates to do like Obama did with the evangelical meeting he was invited to and spoke at. Namely, go there and say, “we agree on these points, but I respectfully disagree on this one. Thank you for giving me an opportunity.” I am sure it could have been very awkward, but then the men are vying to be leader of the nation; they can handle a little awkwardness.
There is probably much more diversity of political view point at an NRA convention than at a NAACP convention. At least a few NRA members are probably Democrats. I doubt that a single person at an NAACP meeting have ever vote for a Republican.
Why would a Republican speak in front of a group when not a single member will vote for them but they will hoot and jeer him and probably wag their fingers while calling him a racist.
If the black community wants to be a full player in the political arean they have to demonstrate at least a little diversity of political view.
Apparently Mr. Tancredo received a rousing welcome, and I’m not kidding. He got a huge ovation just for being the only Republican to show up.
Like they say, half of life is showing up.
So much for SD’s theory that Republicans would be greeted by racist thugs at the NAACP. I guess the black vote will remain safely in the Democrats camp for time immemoriam with attitudes like that.
superdestroyer,
actually, it is the other way around. If Republicans want to be a full player in the political arena, then they have to be willing to work with different groups on different issues. If they want votes from African Americans, they have to work for them to gain the votes. Not the other way around. The only reason African Americans vote heavily Democratic is because Republicans refuse to address any issue important to the African American community. By not showing up, they have only showed their contempt and that they do not deserve those votes.
African-Americans are disproportionately poor. Those who aren’t poor know that many of them are and most of them worry about it. While they recognize the self-destructive tendencies practiced by some members of their community they, unlike ideological conservatives, they do not think that it applies to everyone. They have learned the hard way that the Republican Party offers nothing but excuses for the system and blame for the poor for their situation. They do not offer nuanced views of this, noting that the system has its own problems. It is an article of faith for the Republican true believers that there are enough jobs for everyone to make a living. The poor and those who really know them know that this simplistic view has no relation to reality. So why should they vote Republican if they aren’t members of the religious community that thinks the Republicans will push their agenda or they don’t buy into the Republican scare tactics about national security? The Republicans just don’t address their issues with anything but meaningless and inaccurate platitudes.
Let’s be real here. This has everything to do with politics, and nothing to do with race.
No politician wants to exclude or alienate potential voter blocks (except those like the KKK or Communists).
They also quite reasonably to not want to put themselves into situations that are so politically hostile and slanted that the potential for upside is almost 0, and the potential for downside is almost 100.
Here we have all but one fringe Republican candidate, along with their advisors, coming to the exact same conclusion – attending the event, even with the known bad publicity that would arise because it was the NAACP, still didn’t make it worth the risk.
Really, we are not talking a couple of candidates that didn’t attend, but 8 of 9 that were willing to take the bad press.
I think that says more about the politicization and polarization of the NAACP than the Republican candidates.
AustinRoth,
You think it’s all about the NAACP and others, myself included, think it’s at least as much about the Republican Party and its core believers. You know, the ones who still approve of Bush.
To believe that there is a campagin strategy, an issue position, or a campaign speech that would ever get anyone at the NAACP convention to vote Republcian is laughably naive. The Republicans could come out for reaprations and a government job for every black in America and still, no one at the NAACP would vote for a Republican.
Voting Democraitc is just part of black culture the same as rap music and basketball. The idea of getting black america to vote Republican is as naive as the idea that you could get young black men to play lacrosse and golf instead of basketball.
Jim -
But i thought the Republican candidates were running away from Bush, because of his low numbers and negative baggage?
You, and others like you, want it both ways. Republicans are abandoning Bush when that meme suits you, and are all still loyal to him when that meme is needed.
Like I said in my first post, be real. Some of the candidates are sticking to Bush, some are against. Just like in the Democratic race, there is a real range of viewpoints among the 9 candidates.
But 8 out of 9 thought there was more negative than positive to attend a NAACP event, even though some are actively trying to expand the base into the black community.
If you are going to agree with the supposition that they didn’t attend simply because it was held bya Black organization, then I say that you (and those that feel that way) are the true racists.
[...] responses to a post yesterday on the news that only Tom Tancredo of the nine Republican president wannabes appeared at [...]
[...] responses to a post yesterday on the news that only Tom Tancredo of the nine Republican president wannabes appeared at [...]
[...] responses to a post yesterday on the news that only Tom Tancredo of the nine Republican president wannabes appeared at [...]
Shaun, “the Republican Party is proudly pro-Christian and pro-white”
Shaun, no the Republican Party is more pro-Rich than pro-White. They don’t care what the color of your skin is as long as you have money.
I don’t think the GOP is any more religious than the Dems, they just wear it on their sleeves more. I have my sets of values but I don’t try and force it onto others. But the GOP leadership currently, and the far-left Dems, are trying to do just that.
I have never said that the candidates are running away from Bush, at least not the Presidential candidates. The truth is that the people who are the hard core true believers who can make the difference in the primaries are still being pandered to by the candidates. Just look at the New McCain, lover of the religious right. So far as I can tell the strategy being followed by all of the main contenders is to tack as hard right as possible now and hope that once again it will all be forgotten as soon as the general campaign begins.