A couple weeks ago I noted a couple stories where left-wing authors made horribly racist comments about African-American Republicans. Today it gets worse. Look at this story about Michael Steele, an African-American Republican running for Senate in Maryland. Here is part of the story:
Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say that racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his bid for the U.S. Senate are fair because he is a conservative Republican.
Such attacks against the first black man to win a statewide election in Maryland include pelting him with Oreo cookies during a campaign appearance, calling him an "Uncle Tom" and depicting him as a black-faced minstrel on a liberal Web log.
Operatives for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) also obtained a copy of his credit report -- the only Republican candidate so targeted.
But black Democrats say there is nothing wrong with "pointing out the obvious."
"There is a difference between pointing out the obvious and calling someone names," said a campaign spokesman for Kweisi Mfume, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate and former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
State Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, a black Baltimore Democrat, said she does not expect her party to pull any punches, including racial jabs at Mr. Steele, in the race to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes.
"Party trumps race, especially on the national level," she said. "If you are bold enough to run, you have to take whatever the voters are going to give you. It's democracy, perhaps at its worse [sic], but it is democracy."
Delegate Salima Siler Marriott, a black Baltimore Democrat, said Mr. Steele invites comparisons to a slave who loves his cruel master or a cookie that is black on the outside and white inside because his conservative political philosophy is, in her view, anti-black.
Is this now the position of members of the Democratic Party? "Party trumps race"? Does that mean that it is OK to hurl the most vicious racist insults at a black man, if that black man is a Republican? You can throw hateful insults at African-Americans so long as it helps the Democratic Party? Do you see what Lisa Gladden is saying? She has no problem with "democracy at its worst" as long as it benefits her side. It's OK to engage in vicious racial demagoguery as long as you are working for the Democratic Party, which presumably means you are on the side of the angels and therefore anything you do to win is fine. When did the Democratic Party become the home of racial demagogues? This is language that would make Jesse Helms blush. Here is what an honorable party does:
This week, the News Blog -- a liberal Web log run by Steve Gilliard, a black New Yorker -- removed a doctored photo of Mr. Steele that depicted him as a black-faced minstrel.
However, the blog has kept its headline "Simple Sambo wants to move to the big house." A caption beneath a photo of the lieutenant governor reads: "I's Simple Sambo and I's running for the Big House."
A spokesman for the Maryland Democratic Party denounced the depiction as being "extremely offensive" and having "no place in politics or in any other aspect of public discourse,"
Good for the Maryland Democratic Party. Now if it will only denounce one of its candidates for Senate, Kweisi Mfume, for stoking the racial fires. Remember when the National Republican Party, including President George H.W. Bush, read David Duke out of the Republican Party when he ran for governor of Louisiana as a Republican? Remember when Trent Lott was forced to resign as Majority Leader when he said all too kind things about Strom Thurmond's run for President in 1948, not noting that Thurmond ran as a pro-segregationist candidate? Lott was trying to make nice comments to an old man on his 100th birthday, and look what happened to him. I don't think Lott is a racist, but I think his comments were dumb enough to warrant his removal as Majority Leader. Will the Democratic Party do the same? Will they denounce those members of their party who call African-American Republicans "Uncle Toms" and "oreos"? Will they strip Rep. Mel Watts of his leadership of the Black Caucus for supporting an undisputed racist? Will Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton be disgraced for doing the same?
Update: Peter Schramm makes some comments at No Left Turns.
Update II: Evidently Al Sharpton sat next to Louis Farakhan at the Rosa Parks funeral. Disgusting. Did Rosa Parks fight so that those who believe in racial supremecy are allowed in decent public company? And at her own funeral, no less.
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