In the last few days we've seen the GOP and its supporters basically come out of the closet. The party that built itself on the Dixiecrat rejects of a progressive Democratic party, rejects who were the basis for the Republicans' "solid south" strategy, is finally going public.
They have discarded Reagan's racist code-words.
They're the White Power Party, proud and public.
Are they doing this because they have to, or because they see an opportunity? Why are the Republicans suddenly pulling the sheet off of themselves?
As I began collecting information for this piece, I found that I'm not the only one who's come to the same conclusion. Take it away, TRex:
since Ned Lamont won the Connecticut Senate primary, the intervening six days have seen the Republican party going out of its way to show its true colors with regards to its (very) thinly veiled racist agenda and its intolerance toward people of color and white people who support them.
Via Texas KAOS
Our own annatopia gives an example of fond remembrance of White Power days from right here in Texas.
But anyway, we're now down to 20 minutes to go and I haven't gotten a question in. I honestly couldn't think of anything to ask him, and didn't want to at that point because all he was doing was talking in circles. But what transpired in the last twenty minutes chilled me to my bones. A lady stood up and claimed to be a social worker who'd lived in Arlington for her entire life. Then she proceeded to go on a rant about how she was tired of serving Mexican criminals, and whined about how "Arlington's changed". Her entire point was that she hates Mexicans and wants Arlington to go back to being a bastion of working class and upper middle class white folks. Cause you know, those Mexicans, they're just dragging us all down to their level, and they're using up all our social services.
And, to those who think "well that's Texas, what do you expect?" I offer annatopia's own shock as evidence that this kind of stuff doesn't represent Texas and, until recently, wasn't seen in public.
James Wolcott provides a summary of recent examples:
Conservative New York radio talkshow hothead Bob Grant once said on the air that then-New York mayor David Dinkins (a far more elegant dresser than Grant, by the way) reminded him of a "men's room attendant".
On Imus in the Morning, Imus or one of his crew once joked about the pre-Washington Week in Review Gwen Ifill: "Speaking of reporter Gwen Ifill, he's said, 'Isn't the [New York] Times wonderful? It lets the cleaning lady cover the White House.'"
A week ago, Mickey Kaus's arm candy wrote, "Congresswoman Maxine Waters had parachuted into Connecticut earlier in the week to campaign against [Sen. Joseph I.] Lieberman because he once expressed reservations about affirmative action, without which she would not have a job that didn't involve wearing a paper hat."
And now the cover of the latest Weekly Standard brings us Al Sharpton as a Driving Miss Daisy faithful retainer "who dares not look his master in the eye."
There it is, folks. Take a good look at it. Making fun of Lieberman's race-baiting by showing him in blackface: bad. Actual race-baiting: good.
It is, after all, one of the conservatives' cherished "traditional values." As Oliver Willis points out, "conservatives cannot help themselves."
It wasn't enough for the Weekly Standard to speak about their disagreement with Ned Lamont, his supporters or even the controversial politics practiced by Al Sharpton (who I happen to disagree with). No, the Weekly Standard, said by some to be the favored political journal of the White House and a major player in conservative politics via editor-in-chief William Kristol (former Dan Quayle chief of staff) - chose to depict the African-American Sharpton as just another white gloved chaueffeur, subserviently ferrying around his white "massa" Ned Lamont.
It's been a fast-paced week, folks. The bizarre attempt by California Confederatti George Allen (otherwise known as "the Only Virginian in Cowboy Boots") to turn an all-white audience on an Indian-American college student by introducing Real America to The M-Word is already a pop-culture hit.
Is the Republican Collapse so certain, their defeat in November such a foregone conclusion that the GOP is having to court its racist base in public for a change?
As TRex (linked above) points out:
today's Republican party is merely a JC Penney White Sale away from its cross-burning, lynching, Jim Crow roots. A mere 40 years separate us from the forced integration of the southern states, when segregationist Democrats in the south crossed party lines to become Republicans and moderate Republicans opposed to American apartheid left the GOP to become Democrats.
Well, let's not ignore the fact that today's American society is almost as segregated as it was 40 years ago, and not just in the South (hello, Chicago?). The California model of building cities for cars instead of people, combined with trading cheap energy for expensive real-estate has resulted in often segregated suburbs (or just suburb/urban splits) that generate segregated schools.
It's no wonder this message works for the Republicans. We've managed to undo the successes of the second half of the 20th century!
So perhaps this isn't a weakness. Perhaps Lott was just ahead of his time. Maybe the Republican party sees an opportunity in the demographic changes going on in this country and has decided that publically becoming the White Power party is a winning idea.
Considering the GOP's planned assault on the African-American vote, I don't think anyone can argue that this is a coincidence.
This is their strategy.
In Arizona, legislation that requires proof of citizenship to vote is taking a toll beyond the illegal immigrants it seeks to keep out of polling places.
In Indiana, difficulties in securing state identification have complicated the ability of many to register to vote.
In California, problems have been identified with electronic voting machines, and the consolidation of statewide voter registration lists is being used to bar voters from the rolls.
In Missouri, rigid ID laws for voters are seen to be targeting minority voters likely to vote against Republicans.
1. Attack the Voting Rights Act that protects the vote in traditionally racist states.
2. Attack the African-American vote in those states (and others).
3. Prepare public opinion by mainstreaming racist rhetoric.
4. Openly embrace racist whites on the campaign trail.
The GOP: a 90% white party with 10% "exotic pets", apparently, some of them proud to be "macaca.'
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