Friday, April 25, 2014

Cliven Bundy and the end of racism



A welfare rancher complaining about welfare? This just gets better and better worse and worse, doesn't it? I mean, at first I had to laugh, but then I realized just how bad it really is. (Note that this is a follow-up to earlier videos this week - here and here.)

This, too, is the result of the Republican Party's notorious 'Southern strategy' of deliberately wooing white racists. Is it so surprising that racists have other loony ideas, too?

Note that the five Republicans on the Supreme Court have completely gutted the Voting Rights Act because, like other white Republicans, they've decided that racism is over. Yeah, surprise, surprise - the political party built on the strategy of deliberately wooing white racists has decided that racism is over.

Affirmative action? Not necessary, say right-wing white people, because racism is over. No matter what that Kenyan in the White House thinks, huh?

(Note that this latest Supreme Court decision doesn't actually ban affirmative action, since the question was whether or not a state could ban race as a factor in college admissions. Legally, that's a different question, and one of the Democrats on the Court, Stephen Breyer, actually sided with the Republicans this time, though he wrote a separate opinion about why.)

Is racism over? Heh, heh. You have to laugh out loud at even hearing the question, don't you? How could anyone be dumb enough to think otherwise? But for a lily-white Republican Party, especially one built from the remains of the segregationist Dixiecrats,... well, they're faith-based, so there's nothing too crazy for them to believe when they really, really want to believe it.

Oddly enough, Republican politicians are backing off on their fervent support of Bundy after these latest remarks. But why? I'm serious. Why? Is racism more problematic than domestic terrorism? Wouldn't you think that both would be problematic?

Of course, these guys were carrying guns, so they must be the good guys, huh? After all, you don't dare piss off the NRA.

Is that it? Don't ask me. I struggle to understand the mindset of these people, anyway.

...

Oh, OK. Here's the reason:
The controversy marks another major headache for establishment Republicans working to build better relationships with blacks and Hispanics — crucial voting blocs that have increasingly supported Democrats in recent elections. The GOP is in the midst of a messaging tour aimed at reintroducing the party to minority voters, including lawmaker visits to minority neighborhoods and to historically black colleges. ...

The rancher is the latest in a series of figures — including rock singer Ted Nugent and “Duck Dynasty” reality show star Phil Robertson — who made controversial racial remarks after being championed by conservatives. Republican operatives acknowledge that those associations have damaged the party’s attempts to rebrand itself.

Republican politicians and right-wing political pundits want votes, that's all. If they could woo racists to get those votes, that's what they'd do - and did. If they could keep their base happy by championing domestic terrorists like Bundy and his supporters, they'd eagerly do so.

But they've been losing younger voters and, especially, minority voters, and they're desperate to get a least a few of those votes, too. If blatant racism weren't a problem with those demographics, they'd be fine with blatant racism. But as it is, they'd prefer to keep the dog whistle less obvious.

I suppose that makes sense, yet... how in the world could you even imagine voting for a politician who supported Cliven Bundy in the first place? If you were that gullible and that loony, would racism really be the final straw? Really?

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