# The racist Tea Party is in love with Herman Cain **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 26, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876 "2011-10-26T16:57:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/81 "2011-10-26T20:29:35Z")
These debates make no sense. First of all, the Tea Party isn’t running for anything, Herman Cain is. So if racism is your concern, you should be concerned with whether Herman Cain is a racist, not with whether some or most people in the Tea Party are. If you think Cain is racist, and that’s the most important issue to you, then don’t vote for him. If you think I shouldn’t vote for him, persuade me not to. But arguing that he or some of his supporters satisfy some definition of racism that I probably don’t agree with isn’t going to be very persuasive. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/82 "2011-10-26T20:34:30Z")
Any claim that the Republican Party fosters racism was settled long ago when Clarence Thomas was nominated for the Supreme Court. And since “Impeach Clarence Thomas” is not a rallying cry of the Tea Party, that proves it isn’t racist. C’mon people, let’s move on here. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/83 "2011-10-26T20:35:46Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I try to avoid such claims because they are facile and _unsupportable_. (emphasis added) You cannot mean this literally, so I take you to mean that such claims are impossible to definitively prove or disprove. But impossibility of definitive proof would rule out most of the claims people make in GD, yourself included. Are these kinds of claims really qualitatively different? The motivations of individuals or groups are not unknowable or somehow not amenable to evidence. They just rightly fall into the category in which we should maintain some humility about our beliefs since they are formed with less-than-scientific rigor. I don’t think you can find fault in people for claiming the Tea Party is racist and being unwilling to set out how you could falsify their claim. In a complex world, in order to not be paralyzed by inaction and non-judgment, we have to form beliefs about all kinds of issues on which our only guide is experience, anecdote, and circumstantial evidence. We all do it. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/84 "2011-10-26T20:50:14Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > OK, you’ve said how I can’t do it. > > How CAN I do it? I apologize, I worded that inversely. Remove one of the 'not’s. It isn’t that difficult. Yes, I agree there is no shortage of people making the statement, “The Tea Party is racist”. Those people either don’t mean that, or are stupid enough to attribute human characteristics to politcal party-ish organizations. But disproving them simply requires an explanation of the logical inconsistency of their statement. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/85 "2011-10-26T20:53:14Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > … > > How would we falsify the claim that the Tea Party is racist, at least “racist” as that accusation has been made here on the SDMB? With reference to \*its first choice, or preferred \*candidate. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/86 "2011-10-26T21:17:03Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > Is not hating most Mexicans but hating the border jumpers and the Anglo haters racist in your opinion? I asked essentially the same thing of him upthread. I’m not expecting an answer. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/87 "2011-10-26T21:23:20Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > Is not hating most Mexicans but hating the border jumpers and the Anglo haters racist in your opinion? > [@magellan01](#): > > I asked essentially the same thing of him upthread. I’m not expecting an answer. It’s not possible to answer the question with a reasonable opinion based on the information supplied. Do you consider ‘Mexicans’ to belong to a race? How do you identify ‘Anglo haters’? And are you assuming that ‘hate’ is a necessary component of racism? ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/88 "2011-10-26T21:33:19Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > It’s not possible to answer the question with a reasonable opinion based on the information supplied. Do you consider ‘Mexicans’ to belong to a race? How do you identify ‘Anglo haters’? And are you assuming that ‘hate’ is a necessary component of racism? Here’s the original exchange: [QUOTE=magellan01] [QUOTE=Lobohan] Is hating Mexicans racist in your opinion? [/QUOTE] Is hating anti-American groups that happen to be Mexican racist in your opinion? [/QUOTE] His question was answerable, proven by the fact that **Bricker** answered it. Mine is even easier to answer. Perhaps _you_ have an opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/89 "2011-10-26T22:34:50Z")
> [@](#): > > **Magellan01** > Is hating anti-American groups that happen to be Mexican racist in your opinion? Perhaps you can list some major groups that are “anti-American” and Mexican. I’m not really familiar with any though obviously many whites are terrified that the evil brown Latinos are out to get them. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/90 "2011-10-26T22:36:42Z")
I’d wager it’s more likely the Tea Partiers are Islamo-phobes, not racists. ---
**Author:** ![PigArcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@PigArcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigArcher)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/91 "2011-10-26T22:40:50Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Perhaps you can list some major groups that are “anti-American” and Mexican. > > I’m not really familiar with any though obviously many whites are terrified that the evil brown Latinos are out to get them. Eh, I suppose some of the rebel groups in Chiapas or Oaxaca might be anti-American, but they aren’t any sort of realistic threat to the US, nor are many Americans even aware they exist. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/92 "2011-10-26T23:02:08Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Any claim that the Republican Party fosters racism was settled long ago when Clarence Thomas was nominated for the Supreme Court. > > And since “Impeach Clarence Thomas” is not a rallying cry of the Tea Party, that proves it isn’t racist. > > C’mon people, let’s move on here. Even racists recognize the usefulness of an Uncle Tom when they see one. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/93 "2011-10-26T23:11:39Z")
It is also racist to assume a black man cannot hold heterodox beliefs without it being an effort at servility. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/94 "2011-10-26T23:12:55Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Perhaps you can list some major groups that are “anti-American” and Mexican. > > I’m not really familiar with any though obviously many whites are terrified that the evil brown Latinos are out to get them. Sure, most notoriously there’s MEChA. They call the southwestern US “Aztlan” and consider the term Mexican-American to be degrading because it implies they are part American. “We are Chicanas and Chicanos of Aztlán reclaiming the land of our birth (Chicana/Chicano Nation); 2) Aztlán belongs to indigenous people, who are sovereign and not subject to a foreign culture; 3) We are a union of free pueblos forming a bronze (Chicana/Chicano) Nation; 4) Chicano nationalism, as the key to mobilization and organization, is the common denominator to bring consensus to the Chicana/Chicano Movement; 5) Cultural values strengthen our identity as La Familia de La Raza; and 6) EPA, as a basic plan of Chicana/Chicano liberation, sought the formation of an independent national political party that would represent the…” blah, blah blah, this stuff writes itself. They have chapters at high schools and colleges all over; lots of Latino politicians were/are members. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/95 "2011-10-27T00:08:32Z")
Here’s an interesting article on the subject from the Christian Science Monitor" : [Link](http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/Tea-Party-Tally/2011/1013/Tea-party-fuels-rise-of-Herman-Cain.-So-how-can-it-be-racist) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Operative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@The\_Operative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Operative)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/96 "2011-10-27T00:36:23Z")
**Bricker** , your thesis neglects a dynamic that’s inherent to Herman Cain’s characteristics: his ability to act as a cover and a podium for racist and racially insensitive thoughts without tarring the rest of the (largely white) Republican party. Given that he’s gone on record in saying that [“racism doesn’t hold anyone back in a big way”](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/09/cain-racism-not-holding-anyone-back/) and that [“racism is an excuse for them not being able to achieve what they want to achieve”](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/09/herman-cain-racism_n_1002375.html) and that he’s indicated that [“2/3’s of blacks” that vote Democratic are “brainwashed”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbFA3pBXAhI) and that voting otherwise is proof that they’re finally “thinking for themselves”, and that he’s made light of slavery and its effects by [comparing social security to it](http://economicfreedomcoalition.com/news/press-opinion-040805.asp) and [laughing](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=U63UBXcQzYo#t=43s) at the prospect of [a racist’s](http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200802010015) great, great grandparents owning his great, great grandparents and that he’s openly stated that [Obama is not a strong/real black man](http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/06/herman-cain-barack-obama-black-man-/1?csp=34news) and that[Obama’s “never been apart of the black experience”](http://www.mediaite.com/online/herman-cain-obamas-never-been-a-part-of-the-black-experience-in-america/), I’m finding it difficult to conclude that supporting Herman Cain is evidence of a lack of racism. Unless, of course, you think that a black person expressing these thoughts makes them effectively non-racist. In which case, I’ll direct you toward the views of another black person and see how strongly that assumption holds: > [@](#): > > I am firmly rooted in the conviction that negroism, as exemplified in the American type, is an attitude of mental density, a kind of spiritual sensuousness… > > The negro not only lacks a fair degree of intuitive knowledge, but so dense is his understanding that he blindly follows weird fantasies and hideous phantoms. So great is his predilection in this direction, that he appears incapable of understanding the difference between evidence and assertion, proof and surmise. These facts warrant the conclusion that negro intelligence is both superficial and delusive, because, though such people excel in recollections of a concrete object, their retentive memories do not enable them to make any valuable deductions, either from the object itself, or from their familiar experience with it. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/97 "2011-10-27T01:15:48Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > They may be crackers, but they like an occasional Oreo. A great many Teahadists are racist, I dare say a majority. But even the racists will tolerate a few “good ones” out there. Cain is their Rochester, a black guy they’ll consider hiring knowing he’ll just say “Yowsuh” and do the bidding of the party elite. I have no worries about the Republicans actually nominating a black guy, they’ll go through this false show of affection and then show him to the back of the bus. So all conservative blacks are Uncle Toms? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: How about this: the majority of the Tea Party is not racist, shocking isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/98 "2011-10-27T01:20:57Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > So all conservative blacks are Uncle Toms? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: > > How about this: the majority of the Tea Party is not racist, shocking isn’t it? Yep, they are. Sure is shocking. Also not true. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/99 "2011-10-27T01:21:09Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > How about this: the majority of the Tea Party is not racist, shocking isn’t it? We have no objective evidence that suggests that. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876/100 "2011-10-27T01:32:57Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Here’s the original exchange: > > His question was answerable, proven by the fact that **Bricker** answered it. Mine is even easier to answer. Perhaps _you_ have an opinion. > [@](#): > > Is hating anti-American groups that happen to be Mexican racist in your opinion? That one is easy. Hate is not a necessary attribute of racism. So no, that is not racist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-racist-tea-party-is-in-love-with-herman-cain/600876.md?page=6)