Now that that's done, let's take a moment to fisk Kathleen Parker. It's a good thing I'm sitting in a hospital because I'm sputtering and hyperventilating as I'm reading her column.
Let's take a look, shall we? Her thesis seems to be that the Republican convention was too white. She opens with the mind boggling question: "What if Barack Obama had been a Republican?" Have I been hospital-bound too long? Can anyone even fathom that concept? I can't. She contends that if he'd been Republican, i.e., if Republicans had a black nominee, then the delegates on the floor would have been black. And she gets paid the big bucks for this.
To Parker, it's all about race. She writes:
Obama was elected not only because of his attractive eloquence but because we are fundamentally a good people who value fairness and equality. Electing Obama was part of our reward to ourselves. It allowed us to feel that we were this good and this big.
Choke, sputter, gag. "part of our reward to ourselves"? Is she kidding? Is this satire?
More:
He was also a tantalizing candidate with a message of hope that felt like honey after eight bitter years of terrorism and war. He courted our better angels and articulated our best instincts. We were going to become a purple, post-racial nation, never again to be divided. Who wouldn’t fall in love with that?His "message of hope that felt like honey" never came across to me. His message from day one was of big government and socialist style programs. Anyone who fell for his "purple, post-racial nation" bullshit was not listening past the scripted prose to examine the real man.
And by the way: Republicans are racist:
Republicans were certain that Obama was all style over substance, but their criticisms quickly were interpreted in some quarters as racial animus. Certainly some who call themselves Republicans also can be called racist. Anyone who spends time on the Internet is aware of the racist content of some political dialogue. It’s out there, and it’s ugly.
Then Parker asks "Where are the blacks?" Kathleen Parker, meet just some of the blacks in the Republican party:
Let's start with Rev. C. L. Bryant:
Rev. Bryant gave a brilliant speech at FreePAC in July following on the heels of his brilliant documentary Runaway Slave. Did you see Runaway Slave, Miss Parker?
Meet Mia B. Love. Did you see her at the RNC convention? Wonderful speech!
Meet Mason Weaver, author of It's Okay to Leave the Plantation.
Meet Marvin D. Rogers, author of Silence Makes the Loudest Sound, a revealing look at the racist history of the Democratic party.
Marvin appeared in C. L. Bryant's Runaway Slave documentary and was one of the more powerful segments in the film.
Meet Star Parker, author, activist, and founder of CURE. She speaks out on a regular circut of conservative appearances:
Meet Deneen Borelli, author and activist. She spoke on Fox and Friends recently about her new book Blacklash.
Meet K. Carl Smith, a Frederick Douglass Republican:
Mrs. Parker, I'm sure you're familiar with Condoleezza Rice, Herman Cain, Allen West, Alveda King, David Webb, and others.
What about Stephen Broden, Sonja, Schmidt, Kevin Daniels, Jesse Lee Peterson, and Erik Rush. You ever heard of them?
In Kathleen Parker's article, she does note that there are some minorities in the Republican party, she writes:
Appearances matter, and the GOP simply doesn’t look that friendly. Regardless of what is true, when an arena full of white people cheers jabs aimed at the first African American president, it feels wrong. This may not be a conscious recognition, but the subliminal is powerful. It was with a deep, inner sigh of relief that white Republicans heard Romney say that he had wanted Obama to succeed because he wanted America to succeed. Bless the speechwriters.
I would suggest that Miss Parker and others get past the appearances and quit worrying so much about surface issues. Nobody boo'd or jabbed Obama at the RNC because he was black. It's because his policies are failures. It's not "subliminal" racist code. His policies are failures. They'd be failures if he was a white man. It's not about race here. Get over it
In all her search for racial code and dog whistles, she concludes with this, which I'm not even going to touch:
There they’ll learn that ecosystems thrive and are most productive when there is biodiversity. The same can be said of political parties. An all-white party will not long survive in a diverse environment.
The strongest and fittest are those who adapt, and that species for now goes by the name Democrat.
Take a look around you, Miss Parker. The black conservatives are rising.
I read this article. It is sickening. I didn't get caught up in all the Obama hype four years ago because unlike Parker I do not feel guilty one bit about treating minorities badly. I have never done that. I have always treated them fairly. When I was a teacher my black students were treated fairly and with respect. I did not feel that I had to vote for Obama simply because it was the right thing to do. I looked at his record and knew right away that I disagreed with him on most things. That decided my vote even before Rev Wright was exposed. I would vote for a lot of the black republicans you named along with J C Watts. I like his views.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in the 50's in Mississippi and did see some segregation. In the 2000's I see segregation, but not state run and all of it is black on white. Yet the majority of whites have not done a thing to blacks and all blacks that I know have never felt a sense of prejudice because of skin color. Many are my age.
ReplyDeleteWe need a color blind society as the evils of the 30's and 40's will return otherwise. Pitting people against themselves works in time of war. It does not work to build a society and get use out of difficulty.
Obama is a communist. That is why I don't care for him. Cain was a businessman, that is why I liked him. Romney is a liberal businessman, but I will back him over Obama as the man has managed similar issues to what we have currently and getting out of the depression is the single most important thing we can do. Then the next most important thing is getting the government out of our lives.
"Nobody boo'd or jabbed Obama at the RNC because he was black."
ReplyDeleteIf you believe that, you have not been talking to some of the white people I encounter in the SB area. They do not mince words about why they dislike him. An it ain't because of his healthcare bill. Sad but true.