Welfare was never the issue, though. That’s the point. “welfare queen” had nothing to do with welfare. It was code.
Then why are you referring to him as a Republican? :dubious:
You really, really need to learn about the party shift in the South. Start with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which, you will learn, was opposed by the Republicans) and continue with the GOP Southern Strategy of embracing the repudiated racist faction.
I was. He was formally repudiated by the party leadership but look at all the people who voted for him anyway.
So he was a corporal instead of a private. So?
Did you read the part about how he changed? Just like Strom Thurmond and Trent Lott didn’t?
Then what the hell did you mean by
Their Republican vote is far lower than the national average, How much lower do you think is appropriate?
How courageous of them. He was still the Republican candidate for Governor of Louisiana in 1991, and won 55% of the white vote there.
My point is that there is a double standard. I could pick on more Democratics with a bad voting record. You don’t see threads started about how racist The Democratic party is. The whole meme of Republican racism is nothing but political swill catering to a minority vote that is nothing short of the pot calling the kettle black. It gets old.
The Democratic Party USED to be racist when it was the party of the right. That dynamic has flip-flopped. The Dems recently nominated and elected a black President, in case you didn’t notice. Protesting that the Dems used to be racist 50 years ago is not an argument to vote Republican in 2010.
Cite?
I didn’t compare illegal immigration to 9/11
Even though you don’t believe it, there are plenty of people who are against illegal immigration who aren’t racists.
Even though I think it goes to far, you do realize that there are plenty of brown skin people who support what Arizona did, right? And as for Arizonan’s being a bunch of red necks who hate brown skin people, do you know a large amount of people from there, or are you just painting them with a broad brush based on your opinions of them rather than facts?
Illegal immigration is neither here nor there. I’m not talking about the issue per se, but the exploitation of the issue by the Republican Party as a coded way to gin up racial resntment and fear.
Percentage-wise, no. No there aren’t.
I didn’t say that. I said the REPUBLICAN BASE was a bunch of rednecks.
Not voting in a black candidate in a primary <> racism and there is nothing stopping that from happening in the Republican party. The meme of GOP racism has created a situation where any black conservative gets labeled an uncle tom for not promoting every social spend fest that comes down the pike. That’s a complete load of bullshit.
The dynamic is that the Republican party is not racist and when that is used as political fodder by a party with a blemished past it is doubly insulting.
The question at hand, I believe, is why black people do not vote in great number for the GOP.
David Duke is a Republican. Robert Byrd is not widely known, IME, in the black community, and beyond that has repented his former conduct. Black Americans are Americans–we love a good repenting!
Meanwhile, who are the prominent faces the Republican Party today? Rush Limbaugh. He of the ‘Barack the Magic Negro’ Republicans. Bill O’Reilly. He of the ‘Wow, they don’t scream where’s my iced tea muthafucka in Harlem restaurants’ Republicans. Glenn Beck, who dares to compare himself to Martin Luther King in one of the most disingenuous comparisons since… the last time he opened his mouth. The Tea Party–implicitly threatening to SHOOT THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT!!! Tea Partiers. And don’t even TRY to hand out a line of bullshit about what that sign meant. We came unarmed… this time. Sure. Right.
How about your governors not threatening to secede upon the accession of the first black president to the Oval Office?
You want black votes, Republicans? Call out this despicable conduct whenever and wherever you see it. Make it clear–and not with easily deciphered lip service–that you are committed to an America where all are treated equally and anyone in need is considered someone to be helped, and not a problem to be solved.
I won’t hold my breath.
If I were to go to a tea party and see a sign like that you would know what I look like because I would in the news standing over a body.
Duke was treated by derision by the GOP. That is in marked contrast to a Democratic presidential candidate who once called New York city Himeytown and was heard off mike saying he wanted to cut President Obama’s balls off.
Apologies are great but shouldn’t be necessary in the first place.
I don’t hold any great love for Jesse Jackson. And it’s better to have an apology for bad behavior than not.
Derision for Duke? Only since the 90s. If even then.
Meanwhile, you seem like a good egg. What you should understand is that going into a defensive crouch when your party is criticized for existing perception rarely helps. It won’t help Democrats to try to throw eggs at Republicans to make inroads in the Deep South. The only thing that will help is to own up to the perception, do deep thinking as to what might be fair about the criticism, and sincerely try to do better in future.
I was referring to GOP derision.
It’s not like I think either party deserves a gold star for 200 years of politics but I don’t see any justification for Democrats to throw stones from their house of glass.
Oh, I know you were. I just didn’t see it, given the vote count.
No one should throw stones… including black people or hispanic people or whomever. We’re all just a bunch of hypocrites striving for social dominance, in the aggregate… but over the last forty years or so there is a clear demarcation between the public perception and policies between more liberal types and more conservative types as regards race. From my point of view, and, not to speak for anyone (though I will), from the point of many black Americans, the demarcation is so clear as to be almost laughable on its face. It takes a clear commitment and repudiation of more egregious, and more current, social issues to gain trust in a community. Tu quoque just won’t fly… that just maintains the status quo.
In spite of all the GOP members who voted for him? :dubious: Please.
You don’t recall any derision for that? Really?
But sometimes they are. And the facts are that the GOP has much to apologize for, before they can even begin to overcome their history. Dropping their racial politics of today is a necessary, though inadequate, start.
Possibly because obesity doesn’t impact the taxpayer as directly as welfare (and street crime) does.
It isn’t. Accusations of racism are often used by the Left to avoid discussions of uncomfortable truths about core Democratic constituencies. As we’ve seen in this thread, and others.
Regards,
Shodan
Tell us honestly, Shodan: When Reagan mentioned his “welfare queen”, or when you hear or read the term today, what mental image comes to mind for you? And why?
That of a dishonest parasite. Because that is what she was.
Regards,
Shodan
Welfare doesn’t affect the taxpayer. Illegal invasions and occupations of other countries affect the taxpayers. Gigantic, industry destroying undersea oil explosions affect the taxpayers. Global warming, collusion over gas prices, predatory lending, corporate welfare, irresponsible tax giveaways to the richest Americans – those things affect taxpayers. Welfare is virtually gone now, and was a negligable part of the budget even when it was at full force.
“Welfare” is a code word. Politicians are not really talking about welfare when they talk about welfare, just like they’re not really talking about illegal immigration whn they talk about illegal immigration.
Is that really all? No physical image came to mind then or now? Not at all?