IOW, in the face of facts at odds with your prejudice (Republicans who know Cain like him very much, and he’s especially popular with the grassroots, the conservative base, and southerners ) … you doggedly hold on to the prejudice.
Keep fucking that chicken, I guess.
The GOP base has not been happy with the GOP leadership for a long time. Cain is not a politician, he is not beholden to the party establishment, and he carries the image of a guy who says what he thinks.
They want someone with economic credentials. Cain’s a former CEO.
They’re tired of asshats who like to cast Republicans as perforce racists. Cain gives them a chance to vote for a right-wing black guy.
And it’s still early enough that the whole thing is hazily theoretical, and his ignorance of foreign policy issues and inability to articulate policy specifics are overlookable. That will change.
And of course we must consider possible Republican strategy to siphon off some of the black vote. Every little bit helps, especially when Obama’s loss is Cain’s gain.
I think if Cain somehow gets the Republican nomination (IMO the possibility of that is between zero and five percent), he will in fact get a lot of black votes.
Not because he is black, but because there are a lot of conservative blacks out there who vote for Democrats because they believe Republicans are racist. Cain being nominated might reduce their aversion to voting for a conservative who is probably also a racist.
For anyone who has seen/heard him, he projects a very “strong” presence, very male and authoritarian. Frankly, many of the other male GOP candidates are kinda’ milk-toasty. They don’t have that “leader” vibe. Cain carries that off.
He orates like a preacher. That appeals to many.
The Repubs have a crowded field of midgets. They have no towering statesman who can rally the masses. They are picking among a field of small timey pols and Gingrich and Romney, who are has beens. They have an enormous amount of money and news power to throw in back of the pick, but will they do it if they recognize the pick is a loser? Will the Repubs put up a token defense this cycle while trying to groom a good candidate for the next one?
Wait, you think that there’s even a shadow of a doubt that many Republicans are racists? Do I also need to cite that the sky is blue or that water is wet?
Many Democrats/liberals are bigots as well. Know a few of 'em myself. Sure, they talk a good game, but then let them get mad at a black person or have a family member start to date a black person, and the n-word starts to fly.
I thought this board was opposed to stereotypes. Oddly enough, this philosophy doesn’t seem to apply when directed at the right.
Bigots are bigots, no matter the party label. I don’t think it was controversial to point out that this hurt Obama in some areas, nor to point out that it will hurt Cain in some places.
Either way, as far as I can tell he’s just the latest empty vessel in which to pour Tea Party favor (for those that have written off Palin) - Trump, Gingrich, now Cain. Eventually they’ll end up with Romney or Pawlenty.
Trouble is, relative proportions never seem to get mentioned. It’s always Republicans=racist; Democrats=non-racist.
In my opinion, the true proportions aren’t that far off. My own belief is that there are far fewer racist Republicans than people would have you believe, and far more Democrat racists than people would have you believe.
Perhaps, but there are so many more overt racists in positions of power within the Republican Party. If nothing else, the party has to do a whole lot more than it has to stop the public manifestations of it.
Well, I think first of all you’d have to define those in positions of “power”, and then you’d have to define “racist”. For forty years or more I’ve heard people called racist for things that have nothing to do with their feelings or beliefs regarding race.
How about we simply define every word in the dictionary to suit you, and when we’ve done that (or when the sun burns out, whichever comes first) then we may be permitted to discuss the essential nature of the Republican Party?
Or just “never”? Would “Never” be too soon for you?
When a significantly large percentage of southern Republicans are still against racially mixed marriages, I am not even slighly pre-disposed to believe that there are “fewer racist Republicans than you would believe”.
Really? “Overt racists,” as in “not concealed or secret” meaning they openly admit that they are racists? Or just as in “they say things that I dislike, and I choose to ascribe racism to them.” Please, name some of these “many” people in “positions of power.”
OK, Starving, how many folks show up to Democratic rallies carrying signs with racial slurs on them? How many Democrats are so convinced that the President of the United States isn’t a “real American” that they have to invent an insane conspiracy theory that he was born in Kenya? Feel free to give examples.