# Pledge to America **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 24, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879 "2010-09-24T14:47:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![brix11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@brix11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brix11)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/1 "2010-09-24T14:47:55Z")
What say you on the GOP’s Pledge to America ([PDF link](http://pledge.gop.gov/resources/library/documents/pledge/a-pledge-to-america.pdf))? [This article](http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/09/gop-pledge-whats-not-it) highlights what’s not in it. To that list I would add the word diplomacy, which doesn’t even rate a mention under the section that begins, “National security is more than just war fighting…” And I am strangely fascinated by the image selection, which seems to equate patriotism with angry white people. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/2 "2010-09-24T15:14:51Z")
Boring, rehashed populist bullshit. A pundit referred to it as the “plague on America”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/3 "2010-09-24T15:23:20Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Boring, rehashed populist bullshit. A pundit referred to it as the “plague on America”. That was not a pundit. It was the senior Congressman from South Carolina. Can’t remember his name. Looks like a lot of fluff. I guess they now have something they can point to and say, hey, we have a plan! Funny how they went “outside the beltway” to announce this. They drove a whole 20 miles or so outside 495, and took their ties off, too. Regular common folk, these guys!! ---
**Author:** ![howye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9adbd/32.png) [@howye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/howye)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/4 "2010-09-24T15:38:23Z")
> [@brix11](#): > > And I am strangely fascinated by the image selection, which seems to equate patriotism with angry white people. Without looking I knew this would be the case. Then I went and counted the non-white people I could find in the pictures. I found two black people, one asian - I think, and one orange-American. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/5 "2010-09-24T15:44:27Z")
Remember back in high school or college, when you had an assignment to write (say) a ten-page paper, and you only had enough material for 3? That’s what this reads like. Two and a half title pages, then three pages of meaningless fluff, _then_ a foreword (complete with a full page of nothing but the announcement that a foreword is coming), plus similar heading pages for all of the other sections, plus all of those pictures (which contain no content other than re-affirming the Republican party’s commitment to pretending brown people don’t exist), plus even a completely blank page at the end where they apparently ran out of ideas for filler. All told, I count 15 pages with any content on them at all, out of a 48-page document. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/6 "2010-09-24T15:47:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Without looking I knew this would be the case. Then I went and counted the non-white people I could find in the pictures. I found two black people, one asian - I think, and one orange-American. Really? Where? I saw one or two who might be Hispanic or Asian, but the only brown I saw was on horses. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/7 "2010-09-24T15:58:28Z")
> [@howye](#): > > Without looking I knew this would be the case. Then I went and counted the non-white people I could find in the pictures. I found two black people, one asian - I think, and one orange-American. Unfair. There was a Verdigris-American at the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/8 "2010-09-24T16:26:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Unfair. There was a Verdigris-American at the beginning. Nah, she’s in favor of immigration, so she’s obviously not a _real_ American. Probably one of them evil socialist French, or something. ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/9 "2010-09-24T16:48:43Z")
The first section before the forward sounds pretty aspirational. Is there anything policy oriented - like an actual goal that they are trying to achieve? Someway to measure accountability? ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/10 "2010-09-24T16:55:05Z")
Jon Stewart, as usual, did a brilliant evisceration of this last night. [http://tv.gawker.com/5646612/jon-stewart-on-republicans-same-sht-different-day](http://tv.gawker.com/5646612/jon-stewart-on-republicans-same-sht-different-day) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/11 "2010-09-24T17:06:21Z")
An excellent sign for [Jon Stewart’s “Restore Sanity Rally”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=578559) would be, “America Is Not More Than A Country.” ---
**Author:** ![howye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9adbd/32.png) [@howye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/howye)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/12 "2010-09-24T17:15:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Without looking I knew this would be the case. Then I went and counted the non-white people I could find in the pictures. I found two black people, one asian - I think, and one orange-American. > > Really? Where? I saw one or two who might be Hispanic or Asian, but the only brown I saw was on horses. Pages 12 and 44, if I remember correctly. I went through it three times, I am not doing that again, not after lunch. Both instances though were in crowds listening to a melanin challenged speaker. The asian lady I was able to pick out was dancing, red dress. Still, it is pretty damm telling when you have to scrutinize the document to find non-whites. Despite what Repubs/Tea Partiers are saying, they are very lily white bunch. Also, did anybody else notice the cowboy hats and the one back-lit shot of a cowboy twirling his rope? > [@descamisado](#): > > > [@howye](#): > > > > Without looking I knew this would be the case. Then I went and counted the non-white people I could find in the pictures. I found two black people, one asian - I think, and one orange-American. > > Unfair. There was a Verdigris-American at the beginning. Yeah, but as already noted she is French, and she has lived her entire life on government property, supported by the government. Welfare Queen! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/13 "2010-09-24T17:37:04Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Jon Stewart, as usual, did a brilliant evisceration of this last night. > > [http://tv.gawker.com/5646612/jon-stewart-on-republicans-same-sht-different-day](http://tv.gawker.com/5646612/jon-stewart-on-republicans-same-sht-different-day) that was devastating ---
**Author:** ![Sinaptics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Sinaptics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaptics)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/14 "2010-09-24T18:09:20Z")
> [@howye](#): > > > [@Chronos](#): > > > > Really? Where? I saw one or two who might be Hispanic or Asian, but the only brown I saw was on horses. > > Pages 12 and 44, if I remember correctly. Close 14 and 46. Both are part of a panel behind a conference table. None in the audience. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/15 "2010-09-24T19:12:00Z")
There’s still more horses than black folks, though. (I’m sure there’s a Paladino joke in there somewhere, but I can’t quite find it). ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/16 "2010-09-24T19:13:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There’s still more horses than black folks, though. > > (I’m sure there’s a Paladino joke in there somewhere, but I can’t quite find it). What, about Paladino fucking some Palamino horses? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/17 "2010-09-24T19:21:18Z")
A mare, not a stallion. Important distinction, nothing queer about Paladino. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/18 "2010-09-24T19:50:55Z")
Honest question, why are people so fascinated with the number of black people they can find? Is there a quota? Is having more in your photos better? According to the US Census, black people make up 12.9% of the US population. And they don’t typically vote publican. ---
**Author:** ![howye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9adbd/32.png) [@howye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/howye)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/19 "2010-09-24T20:12:40Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Honest question, why are people so fascinated with the number of black people they can find? Is there a quota? Is having more in your photos better? According to the US Census, black people make up 12.9% of the US population. And they don’t typically vote publican. Because its a “Pledge to America”, but the photos reflect the reality that is a “Pledge to White America.” Because non-whites make up more than 12.9% of this nation, but the pictures of Pubbie events show clearly that non-whites make up a much smaller percentage. Because its easier than going through the document text itself and refuting each specific point, not because it can’t be done but because it makes me feel dirty for having waded in the Boehner/DeMint cesspool. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879/20 "2010-09-24T21:40:58Z")
Some of those pictures have hundreds of people in them. If the pictures were of a cross-section of “Real America”, as they’d like us to think, there would be dozens of blacks in in them. You can’t even excuse this by pointing out that most blacks are not Republicans, since this is supposed to be a pledge to America, not just a pledge to the Republican party. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pledge-to-america/554879.md?page=2)