# More racist hatred courtesy of the GOP **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 17, 2008, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270 "2008-06-17T22:42:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/81 "2008-06-18T15:33:03Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] Your assertion the party as a whole provides “aid and comfort” to racism is complete and utter bullshit. [/quote] I will not agree that Republican = racist. I assume that the majority of the Republican leadership and Republican elected officials are not racist. I will not agree that any significant proportion of Republican policies are based on racism. However, I do believe that from about 1964 (until, perhaps, some relatively recent date?), the majority of Republican victories in any election has depended on the courting of and electoral support from racist voters and that those voters, _voting on the basis of racist views_, constituted the winning margin in Republican victories. For that reason, the party has actively courted racist voters, or, at the very least, sent coded signals that whatever else it might say openly about race, it did not dislike them or their views. That’s what “aid and comfort” means, I believe. Prior to 1964, the southern wing of the Democratic party did this too, but not in a coded way, because it didn’t have to. During that period openly racist rhetoric was acceptable. From 1964 on, the Republican strategy was successful in capturing the racist bloc from the Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/82 "2008-06-18T15:34:43Z")
[QUOTE=matt\_mcl] I’ve attended a number of conventions in my time, and all I can say is that if a vendor at one of _my_ party’s conventions were offering racist paraphernalia, regardless of whether or not the party brass had approved of it (hint: not) we would get torn to _shreds._ Probably literally. [/QUOTE] Well, since literally shredding is not an option here in the States, the Texas Republican party settled for expressing regret for the incident as soon as they learned of it and banning the exhibitor from ever participating in any other state event again. [Cite.](http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/061708dnpolobamapin.11d96bfd.html) ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/83 "2008-06-18T15:35:07Z")
I will not attempt to validate my feelings here. I’m offended. I can’t explain it better than others here have attempted to explain it ( **hotflungwok** did a great job) and I will not debate this with anyone. Some may nitpick this situation or wording to show that this is just a joke or how it’s inoffensive compared to other situations or that perhaps I’m just too sensitive. It offends me. The end. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/84 "2008-06-18T15:44:13Z")
The headline in \*\*Jodi’s \*\* cite: “Texas Republicans cut off vendor that sold \*\*racist \*\* campaign pin”. (my bolding in quotes). Despite what I just said about not debating - the headline uses the word 'racist" so to those explaining how this is is just a joke: Is the newspaper sensationalizing the issue? Is the Republican Party sensationalizing this? ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/85 "2008-06-18T15:45:41Z")
And the beat goes on. [Muslims barred from appearing in pictures at Obama rally by Obama campaign volunteers.](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/11168.html) Just more proof of how racist the Democratic Party is, right? Or not. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/86 "2008-06-18T15:47:56Z")
My apologies if I seemed combative, **jali** , I’m just trying to understand. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/87 "2008-06-18T15:50:47Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach] And the beat goes on. [Muslims barred from appearing in pictures at Obama rally by Obama campaign volunteers.](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/11168.html) Just more proof of how racist the Democratic Party is, right? Or not. [/QUOTE] OMG - did you read the comments posted? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/88 "2008-06-18T15:51:12Z")
[QUOTE=jali] The headline in \*\*Jodi’s \*\* cite: “Texas Republicans cut off vendor that sold \*\*racist \*\* campaign pin”. (my bolding in quotes). Despite what I just said about not debating - the headline uses the word 'racist" so to those explaining how this is is just a joke: Is the newspaper sensationalizing the issue? Is the Republican Party sensationalizing this? [/QUOTE] The newspaper, yes. The Republican Party, no. I don’t know where you’d get the idea that the Republican Party gets to tell the Dallas Morning News what to put in its headline - and the only quote from a party official in that story called the pin “distasteful”, not “racist”. > [@](#): > > Just more proof of how racist the Democratic Party is, right? That’s cultural bigotry, not racial - for all you know both women may be blonde haired and blue eyed - but IMHO that story is twice as bad as the one we’re talking about. It doesn’t make the Democratic Party racist - but then, I wasn’t one of the people calling Republicans racist either.\* \*That said, I fully agree with **ascenray** ’s earlier post. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/89 "2008-06-18T15:52:54Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] For that reason, the party has actively courted racist voters, or, at the very least, sent coded signals that whatever else it might say openly about race, it did not dislike them or their views. [/quote] I’d like to see examples of these “coded messages,” please. IME, people see “code” where they want to. Republicanism has a big component of MYOB, so if what you’re looking for is some Republican-wide rejection of voters who may hold racist views, you’re not going to find them. But I see precious little evidence that efforts by the Republicans to reach out to a large bloc of disaffected Southern voters means the party tolerated, much less encouraged, racism in any institutional way. And even if they did, how is that relevant to this discussion? I find it very telling that we are _still_ talking about a regional issue from 20 to 40 years ago in the context of what the national party as a whole does or does not do today, or supports or does not support today. And we’re also talking about a “strategy” that never had uniform support even within the party, and that was actively despised by many, including Nelson Rockefeller and the so-called “liberal” Republicans (including myself) who agreed and agree with him. So tell me: Where exactly is the requirement that a party must affirmatively proclaim its unified dislike of any voter or his or her views? Would that no be effectively done by, say, platform planks supporting civil rights and racial equality, as the Republican Party has had for pretty much ever? It’s not like “racism” is a mantle that one party or the other has to wear: It was the Democrats’ until the Civil Rights Act and then it got passed to the Republicans’. Lord knows there are myriad issues on which the parties disagree, but fundamental racial equality is not one of them; it is an American ideal that is embraced by both. _Neither_ is a racist party. Now, I’m certainly willing to buy that more racists identify as Republicans than as Democrats, seeing as how they like to justify or defend their personal racism under the banner of personal responsibility and general MYOB. But that doesn’t make their views the party’s views. ETA: And make no mistake: I find the button racist, too. I have a hard time seeing how it could not be considered so. I just object strongly to the idea that one dipshit exhibitor at one state convention is evidence of, much less “more” evidence of, some institutional racism in the party as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/90 "2008-06-18T15:54:59Z")
[QUOTE=Revtim] My apologies if I seemed combative, **jali** , I’m just trying to understand. [/QUOTE] I apologize for getting so pissed off earlier and thank you for your apology. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/91 "2008-06-18T15:58:59Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] Republicanism has a big component of MYOB, so if what you’re looking for is some Republican-wide rejection of voters who may hold racist views, you’re not going to find them. [/QUOTE] Oh, bollocks. MYOB is only a Republican ideal inasmuch as it applies to money and guns. Claiming to be the “hands-off” party is just empty rhetoric (from both sides, really). ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/92 "2008-06-18T16:00:49Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] The newspaper, yes. The Republican Party, no. I don’t know where you’d get the idea that the Republican Party gets to tell the Dallas Morning News what to put in its headline - and the only quote from a party official in that story called the pin “distasteful”, not “racist”. [/QUOTE] I don’t know why you would believe that I’d ever had “the idea” that _any_ subject determines a headline. I asked if the Republican party was sensationalizing the incident. If it was considered just a simple joke, then barring the vendor from any future conventions seems a bit strong. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/93 "2008-06-18T16:01:51Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach] And the beat goes on. [Muslims barred from appearing in pictures at Obama rally by Obama campaign volunteers.](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/11168.html) [/QUOTE] The anger stems from the perception, true or false, that the Democratic party is a haven for, or at least abides, religious discrimination, and will use religious discrimination to fulfill its ends, so when something like this comes out, once again linked to Democrats, it not only forms a disturbing pattern, but confirms what many already feel about the party. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/94 "2008-06-18T16:03:14Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Oh, bollocks. MYOB is only a Republican ideal inasmuch as it applies to money and guns. Claiming to be the “hands-off” party is just empty rhetoric (from both sides, really). [/QUOTE] Bollocks back at ya. Your opinion is not mine, is no more valuable than mine, and does not invalidate mine. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/95 "2008-06-18T16:04:02Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] and that was actively despised by many, including Nelson Rockefeller and the so-called “liberal” Republicans (including myself) who agreed and agree with him. [/QUOTE] Do you not find it significant that these “liberal” Republicans are almost all Democrats now? ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/96 "2008-06-18T16:07:29Z")
[QUOTE=Revtim] Seems to me that with this argument, any joke in the English language whatsoever that mentions the black race is by definition racist, because of the connotations you mention. Is this a correct interpretation of your argument? [/QUOTE] No, it’s not. And I’m not sure how you read that into my comments. I don’t consider that button a “joke,” anyway. It’s about context. I mean, I suppose you could joke about how things would be “different” with a black first couple…I’ll bet Chris Rock could riff on it and it would be hilarious. But even if he used the same basic idea…well, there’s a big contextual difference between a black stand-up comedian known for poking fun at racial issues and a product being sold at a party-sponsored convention making race-related comments about the opposing party’s candidate. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/97 "2008-06-18T16:12:26Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] Do you not find it significant that these “liberal” Republicans are almost all Democrats now? [/QUOTE] You’ll have to be more specific as to which “liberal” Republicans turned Democrats you’re talking about, since AFAIK the idea that “almost all” of them are Democrats is simply inaccurate. Our biggest loss from the ranks was of course Jim Jeffords, but even he didn’t become a Democrat. The fact is, most Rockefeller Republicans are dead, including Nelson himself of course. Their heirs are the moderate wing of the Republican party, and, yes, they are still Republicans. I am hardly in a position to argue that the more conservative wing of the party has not been in clear ascendancy, but that doesn’t mean we moderates aren’t still here, and are not still Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/98 "2008-06-18T16:19:23Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] The anger stems from the perception, true or false, that the Democratic party is a haven for, or at least abides, religious discrimination, and will use religious discrimination to fulfill its ends, so when something like this comes out, once again linked to Democrats, it not only forms a disturbing pattern, but confirms what many already feel about the party. [/QUOTE] What did the Democratic party have to do with this? This was two volunteers acting on their own. Obama’s campaign has denounced their behavior and apologized profusely for it. A campaign can’t control everything a volunteer does. Extropolating it to an entire party is moronic. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/99 "2008-06-18T16:24:01Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] Bollocks back at ya. Your opinion is not mine, is no more valuable than mine, and does not invalidate mine. [/QUOTE] Well (this a response to the quoted post and your more recent one) I’ll clarify my statement and say that the Republican claim to be the MYOB party is empty rhetoric as long as the religious-right hijack of the party continues. I don’t think you’d argue with that statement. While many moderate Republicans seem to think they’re winning the party back, McCain’s seeking, and subsequent acceptance, of John Hagee’s endorsement ought to be a pretty clear indication that this is not (yet) the case. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270/100 "2008-06-18T16:25:19Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] What did the Democratic party have to do with this? This was two volunteers acting on their own. Obama’s campaign has denounced their behavior and apologized profusely for it. A campaign can’t control everything a volunteer does. Extropolating it to an entire party is moronic. [/QUOTE] Thank you, **Dio**. It is so rare that we agree so completely. 🆒 In case it went by you, the words I used were **Onomatopoeia’s** about the Republican party. (see Post #23.) The very phrase I objected to, in fact. To which I now would reply, with your permission: “What did the Republican party have to do with this? This was one vendor acting on its own. The Texas Republican party has denounced their behavior and banned them from further participation in state events. A state party can’t control everything a vendor might sell. Extrapolatibng it to an entire party is moronic.” That’s pretty much the only point I’ve been trying to make, but you made it better than I did. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-racist-hatred-courtesy-of-the-gop/453270.md?page=6)