The Left Plays the Race Card

I am always a little nervous when a reporter or some similar public figure is fired for an impromptu remark. Everyone makes mistakes. On the other hand, if you are going to fire someone for an unpremeditated statement, it should probably be something like this. From The Politico:

TAMPA, Fla. -- Yahoo News has fired Washington bureau chief David Chalian after he was caught on a hot-mic during an online video broadcast saying that Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, had no problem with African Americans suffering as a result of Hurricane Isaac, a source familiar with the situation tells POLITICO.

"They're not concerned at all. They're happy to have a party with black people drowning," Chalian said over a break during the ABC News/Yahoo News webcast, in reference to the fact that the GOP convention in Tampa is taking place as Hurricane Isaac makes landfall on the north Gulf coast.

That is hate speech. On the basis of no evidence whatsoever, Chalian attributed the vilest of sentiments to Mr. and Mrs. Romney. Both Chalian and Yahoo apologized to the Romneys. Yahoo's apology, given their action, is acceptable. Chalian revealed himself to be one of those people who have trouble disagreeing with people without hating them. At the very least, this makes him a dubious choice for a bureau chief.

It is no surprise that MSNBC is less scrupulous. Chris Matthews hates Republicans as much as Chalian does. Again from The Politico:

On today's edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, Matthews told Priebus that Republican attacks on President Obama's welfare stance, as well as Mitt Romney's remark about his birth certificate, were evidence that the Republican party was playing "that little ethnic card... the race card," and called it an embarrassment to the party.

Romney's remark was quite stupid but calling it racist is just as stupid. As for Obama's welfare stance, if that isn't a legitimate policy issue, what is? The Administration clearly contemplated weakening the work first requirement of the 1996 welfare reform. See Mickey Kaus for a clear parsing of the issue. Matthews is saying in effect that it amounts to racism to criticize Mr. Obama, at least on select issues. That is playing the race card.

I haven't watched all of the speeches at the Republican Convention, but I have watched Mia Love, Artur Davis, and Secretary Condoleezza Rice. All three were very fine. I can't help noting that Condi dropped a hint about an African American girl becoming President. The crowd roared.

This much is undeniable: all three were welcomed with enormous enthusiasm by the conventioneers. That is dispositive. Republicans are about as uncompetitive among African Americans as it is possible for a party to be among any demographic. By contrast, African Americans are welcomed into the Republican Party with prominent places on the convention agenda and wild applause. If Republicans are in love with Love and Davis and Rice, but Obama not so much, that's because the former are Republicans and share their principles whereas the latter is not and does not. Only a fool or a knave or both can interpret that as racism.

MSNBC agrees with me, in their fashion. From the Daily Caller:

One of the left's favorite attacks on the Republican Party is that it is the party of old white people, devoid of diversity and probably racist.

If you were watching MSNBC's coverage of the Republican National Convention in Tampa on Tuesday night, you might believe those assertions, since missing from the coverage was nearly every ethnic minority that spoke during Tuesday's festivities.

In lieu of airing speeches from former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis, a black American; Mia Love, a black candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Utah; and Texas senatorial hopeful Ted Cruz, a Latino American, MSNBC opted to show commentary anchored by Rachel Maddow from Rev. Al Sharpton, Ed Schultz, Chris Matthews, Chris Hayes and Steve Schmidt.

What would be the use of selectively ignoring three black and one Latino speaker except that their presence obviously confirms my point? To put it mildly, the Party that presents such faces to represent it has less to apologize for than journalists who try to keep such faces invisible.

Comments

[Donald Pay]

Meanwhile my daughter's generation has made up a drinking game to play during the Republican convention. You have a drink every time you see a black person at the convention. She says it's a way to stay sober all through the night.

Really, KB, the Republican position on voting rights is to the right of Bull Connor. They haven't brought out the snarling dogs, yet, but I have a feeling that's coming. Who cares if you cheer on a few black speakers, as long as you assure that the wrong flavor can't vote.

[Jon S]

Yet, Donald, the Supreme Court has decreed, in an opinion written by Justice Stevens, that Voter I.D. laws do not violate the Constitutional guarentee to vote or the guarentee of equal protection.

[Donald Pay]

There is no right to vote in the US Constitution. Voting has always been controlled by state constitutions and state laws. There are certain prohibitions against denial of voting rights, but voting itself is not protected. And what do we have: a concerted effort by state-level Republicans to deny voting rights to certain groups through bureaucratic and costly measures that amount to poll taxes. In Wisconsin it is minorities, students and the elderly who are the clear target. Our state constitution, however, has fairly strong provisions guaranteeing the right to vote, and the Republican plan has been halted.

[larry kurtz]

It's difficult to remember a time when I was so embarrassed to be a South Dakota native let alone an American: Sen. Thune ignored the extirpation of First Peoples while touting the European conquest of a continent.

The displays of coded racism were so offensive from each speaker in Tampa I didn't know whether to cringe or laugh.

Best speech of the pathetic pickings came from New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez: amazing what immersion in cultural diversity can do for an Texas oil-greased Republican.

[joe arrigo]

The real issue here is that Romney has become a serial liar. Him lying about Obama and welfare is only the latest, following his lifting words out of context from Obama's statement about businesses not creating infrastructure. I've even heard him about his previous lie. How can anyone trust this man as their leader?

[SeriousLee]

Donald, I'm sorry to hear that you are raising someone to be as bigoted and useless as yourself. Typically that kind of thing skips a generation. Perhaps there is something to be said for inferior genetic makeup.

[Donald Pay]

SeriousLee,

Yeah, I don't see a problem with her being a bigot. She and her group of friends are hilariously snarky about the Republican Party's bigotry, though.

[duggersd]

Donald, you do not see a problem with her being a bigot? Wow!
Joe, there was nothing out of context in the statement about business. That particular remark has been played over and over again in its complete context and reveals a President who either does not know how to speak, or has a very dismal view of people in this country who build a business. BTW, can you help with pointing out a lie by Romney? Most of what I have heard can be backed up with fact. Gutting of welfare is one. Even one of Clinton's advisers admit this. Just throwing out a statement without being able to back it does not make it so.

[Donald Pay]

I realize you Republicans have a real problem acting the victim in everything. A bunch of snarky young adults calling attention to your bigotry is the least of your problems. Why is it that Romney was getting 0.0 percent of the black vote? When you act like Bull Connor, you can expect blacks are going to run away from the snarling dogs.

[duggersd]

Donald, it is interesting your portrayal of who is the victim. I don't see Republicans claiming to be victims. I see them as seeing a problem and finding solutions. The only victims I see, come from your side. Women, Blacks, Hispanics, and anybody else that Democrats pretend to want to help. You have one point. Republicans get about 10% of the Black vote. Yet interestingly enough, it is the policies of Republicans that offer people of color the ability to achieve. If you are a Republican and Black, you are called an Oreo. Democrats give the poor just enough to get by and then come to the White Daddy to get more of the same. BTW, just who is the bigot when one group allows you to be who you are, while the other group sees you as nothing more than a voting block. BTW, you must be really proud to have a bigot for a daughter. I wonder where she gets that from?

[Stan Gibilisco]

I have not watched a single second of the Republican convention. In fact, with the exception of a few quick checks of The Weather Channel, I have not switched on my television set since February.

And I'm damn glad I haven't. Umpty-nine channels and nothin' on.

With the increasing vicious polarization of the populace, I find it harder and harder to resist the temptation to bug out to Alaska or Montana or Wyoming ... leave this failed world system behind while I still have the resources to do it ...

... and write a best-selling book about the whole thing, of course, and start a Web site, and then maybe get on NPR ... you know, except for the fame, I'd like to isolate completely ;-)

Seriously, I find all this sniping back and forth quite troubling.

I will not vote for Romney, by the way, not so much because I think he lies to me, but because he will not come out with the truth about himself, and particularly, about his tax returns. (Yes, there is a difference. Sometimes silence can be worse than a lie.)

The snippets that I have heard on NPR from the convention have me convinced that the Republican ticket is dilute, almost inspid, this time around. I'll probably vote Libertarian instead.

[Ivan]

Stan, they do make drugs for your problem. If Romneys taxes are what you think is wrong with this country, maybe its a good thing you are not voting. Thinking NPR is going to give the Republican convention a fair shake makes the drugs essential.

[Stan Gibilisco]

Ivan, I've tried all the drugs, and none of them work. My problem is too severe.

[Donald Pay]

Have you been watching the convention, duggersd? It's one whiny complaint about victimhood after the next. There's a mythologized "war on Christianity." There's constant bleating about "punishing success." There's the ridiculous whimpering about businesses being the victim of regulations. You guys are crying like Speaker Boehner all the time about how put upon you are. You gin up this fake victimhood in order to justify kicking the people who have been the victims of Republican policies--the poor and the middle class.

[Ken Blanchard]

Donald: obviously your daughter was watching the MSNBC coverage.

[Donald Pay]

Mitt went to Louisiana to see the hurricane/flooding damage. I have an hypothesis that old Mittens will be visiting the white neighborhoods, and ignoring the black ones. Now for the data (see picture)

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-romney-hurricane-20120831,0,2951507.story

Anyone have any images of Romney talking to the black folk who got flooded out, or is his concern limited to white people.

[Donald Pay]

http://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1370&bih=720&q=romney+and+flood&oq=romney+and+flood&gs_l=img.3...2715.11964.0.12843.18.16.0.1.0.0.344.592.4j3-1.5.0...0.0...1ac.d7tDeRWH8fU

I don't see any black people in a google search of images, either.

I guess when it comes to the heartbreak of natural disasters the Republicans would take us back to the Mississippi flood years of 1927, when blacks were forced at gun point to unload relief supplies for whites while they were denied any of the supplies.

[duggersd]

Actually, Donald, I did watch much of the coverage. I actually saw people like Rice, Martinez, Rubio and others give their addresses. I do not know what convention you watched, but I saw people who talked about their personal stories and how their families worked hard to get where they were and to get them to the point they were. I missed Mia Love's address, but I heard her talking on the radio and telling how her parents told her they did what they could and now it was up to her to not be a burden to society and to pull her own weight. I heard people of color talking of hope and opportunities available to them that would not be available in other countries. It must be really sad to be you and see things through such myopic eyes that cannot see the good these people see. BTW, I almost wish I lived in Utah so I could vote for Love. She and many of the others speaking are examples of the up and coming people who will hopefully lead the Republican party.

[Ursula]

i believe playing this card is the last thing you should do.
And if you do play it, first of all you should think what YOU say