adapted from a print at the Library of Congress
Having spoken in unmistakable code about takers and makers and lazy sponges and gifts to minorities, etcetera, the brain trust of the GOP seems to have hit on a novel new idea:
J.C. Watts for RNC chair?
John Bresnahan / PoliticoFormer GOP Rep. J.C. Watts says he is being “encouraged” by supporters to run for chairman of the Republican National Committee, a move he says could broaden the party’s appeal to minorities. — Watts is not formally entering the race, and he is not critical of current RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, who has already announced he will second term in the post. [sic]
But Watts, an African-American conservative who served in the House from 1994-2002, said the GOP defeat on Election Day demonstrates that Republicans need to broaden their appeal to minority voters, and cannot continue on their current path if the party is to be successful in presidential races.
“My concern right now, and I don’t say this necessarily as a candidate [for RNC chairman], my concern is that as a Republican, every single Republican in America ought to be concerned about what has happened in 2008 and 2012,” Watts said in an interview with POLITICO. “In this business, if you’re not growing, you’re dying.” […]
Ahh. The Minstrel Show Mentality so in evidence at the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia has not abated a bit.
And, in a sense, it’s the hallmark of a party deeply in denial about race and racism: the insulting notion that if you put a “minority” in the figurehead position as national Chair (and “minority” is probably not the term used in back rooms, but more probably a term that rhymes with the midwestern skin pest, the “chigger”) THAT WILL SOLVE THE GOP’S “minority” problem.
BRILLIANT!
The phony diversity shot
Let’s see what else the mainstream GOP chitchat is about today, shall we?
Narcissist in chief: President Obama honors Rosa Parks anniversary with picture of himself
Lori Ziganto / Twitchy
Update: Adam Baldwin with the win — Just when you think President Obama’s impossibly large ego can’t grow further, he makes it happen! — President Obama loves to insert himself in other people’s biographies….
Ah. (and check out the “mee too!” blogs ALSO attempting to turn the Rosa Parks anniversary into another racial attack at the link)
Well, that’s surely going to be remedied by NOT re-electing a white loser from Wisconsin whose name escapes me, but sounds like a Toyota hybrid vehicle, in the same way they STRENUOUSLY dumped Michael Steele, the FIRST BLACK CHAIR of the RNC, coincidentally elected not at all to cynically oppose new president Barack Obama, you know, black guy against black guy.
Because, Prius has a lock on the refueling, seemingly, even though he and his party just got their butts handed to them, virtually across the board, and not at all explicable by making The Rombot™ the Scapegoat®.
I’m tellin’ ya! The polls say we can’t lose!
What’s not to get that minorities don’t want anything to do with a racist, hateful, monochromatic GOP? (The only color allowed in is, seemingly, orange.)
The image is still seared in memory: at a Sarah Palin rally in the last of the shirtsleeve weather in 2008, the ONLY blacks seen in one NASCAR type outdoor venue were the SECRET SERVICE AGENTS guarding Palin. There was something unrelievedly hilarious about their obvious squirming, as the “undercover” agents were obvious to everyone present … because they were the only black men in the arena.
The in-your-face juxtaposition of the racial position couldn’t have been more blatant, and, therefore, less commented upon.
But when your only power base in the congress — the House of Representatives–ONLY appoints white men to committee chairMANships (and, late-breaking, a sudden replanting of a woman to head a committee on ‘ethics’ she’s never served on), what in hell do you think you’re saying that a black RNC chairman is going to negate?
Seriously: when the GOP was taken over by former Southern Dixiecrats doesn’t anybody notice that the national party agenda began to blatantly feature and institutionalize the suppression of black voters? Where do you suppose THAT came from? The Party of Lincoln or the Party of Strom Thurmond?
A great Christmas oven-stuffer!
But, hell, go ahead, GOP. Elect a black chairMAN to head the Republican National Committee. That’ll solve your minority perception problems.
No. Really it will.
Really.
Courage.
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A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, an honorary Texan, Clown (ditto) and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog His Vorpal Sword. This is cross-posted from his blog
A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog, His Vorpal Sword (no spaces) dot com.