GOP: Ever Consider Courting Blacks?
Republicans need more than white men to win. Maybe they should look to African-American voters.
(The Root) -- If they could just get those pesky Hispanics! That's the overwhelming narrative in the aftermath of the defeat of Mitt Romney. Apparently the obvious logic is that Republicans just need Hispanics. If the party decides to work on immigration, perhaps it can sway them to join the dark side -- er, the Grand Old Party.
Oh, and perhaps Republicans should deal with women differently. Stop talking about rape and abortion so much. Then Republicans can gather their vagina army and destroy the Democrats. "Republicans used to carry Asian Americans," Newt Gingrich said. Yeah! Asians! Yeah! Who else can the Republicans get?
Apparently not Negroes.
The deafening silence about blacks joining the GOP in the postmortem of Election 2012 is amazing. It seems almost as if Republicans have no desire to reach out to blacks. "We" don't even seem to be on the minds of many conservatives. They can or should get Hispanics -- Cubans, specifically -- and others because they're pretty conservative, too! Not like blacks ... unless you look at the large swath of the community that has deeply conservative values. Have Republicans never heard of the black church? That place where they preach about marriage, children in wedlock, marriage between a man and a woman and various other conservative values?
In this past election cycle, the value of small businesses was constantly praised and elevated to near sainthood. Black folks start and own many small businesses. You don't think they'd like to see tax reform? You don't think these groups would be interested in growing and expanding? The black community is so primed to be spoken to by Republicans, it's scary!
Oh, but then the GOP would have to stop all the shenanigans.
For a party that should be able to reach a large portion of the black community, Republicans consistently alienate many who would otherwise be prime for the picking. My mom is a proud Christian who deeply believes in her faith. She's pro-life (although she still has a hard time with men trying to tell women what to do with their bodies). She's pro-traditional marriage, no matter how much I poke at her about it.
She'd also eat her beautiful church hat before she'd vote Republican. She looks at them as the party of old, rich white men who govern for the betterment of old,rich white men. She thinks they're largely made up of prejudiced folks who look down on black people. I often sigh when I talk to my mom because I think she's older and sometimes just out of touch. But could I make a reasonable argument that she's just crazy when it comes to the Republican Party?
Not really.
Now, I don't believe it consists only of old, rich white men. That's just not true. The party is made up of a bunch of types of white people. Eighty-eight percent of those who voted for Romney were white. Then, when you look at the type of nonsense that was spewed during the GOP primaries and then from Republicans during the general election, it makes perfect sense as to why my mom and many other minorities flee from the Grand Old Party.
But why are us Negroes not even in the thought processes of many of the Republican leaders? Women? Hispanics? Asians? Sure. Blacks? Eh ...
Could it be that the current leaders of the GOP have already conceded that they'll never actually speak to the needs of a majority -- hell, even a solid chunk -- of the black vote? Is the idea of dealing with affirmative action as something other than keeping white people down too much for them? Is the power of dog-whistle racism in elections too much to let go of in order to not completely piss off myriad black voters?
Would the idea of even pretending to understand the oppression that blacks have lived under for hundreds of years -- and that continues to permeate our lives even now in issues like the prison-industrial complex, stop and frisk and the failed drug war -- just be too much for conservatives?
With all the rethinking of the party but all the silence on the blacks, I'm going to assume that the answer is yes. Excuse me while I'm left with virtually no choice but to vote Democrat.
Just Accept It, Republicans: You Failed
It's been a week since the 2012 elections, and some GOP members are still looking for excuses.
(The Root) -- "We need to stop, take a deep breath and learn," said Newt Gingrich on Monday's Today show on NBC when discussing what the Republican Party should do next after suffering the shellacking it received in the 2012 election.
"I was wrong," Gingrich pointed out as he also pointed out that all major Republicans were wrong about the election. He said that the party needs to take six months to figure out what happened. Some pundits are blaming the conservative-media bubble for the beat-down conservatives received.
Apparently, everyone is to blame for the failure of the Republicans to take the White House and the Senate except Republicans themselves.
Conservative media aren't to blame for Republicans being completely out of touch with the rest of America. While Fox News, the Drudge Report and others absolutely do mislead, deceive and on occasion stick their fingers in their ears as they yell lies at the top of their lungs, you can't blame them for the Republican Party. I've watched the same conservative media (because I'm a masochist), and I've thought to myself, "Well, that doesn't make sense." But somehow the rest of the Republican Party doesn't have that ability?
Could we stop photoshopping history until at least six months to a year after the history occurred? Is "Obama" Kenyan for "instant amnesia"?
Conservatives just three to four weeks ago decided that polls across the country were all biased against them. They were so persecuted that they couldn't get any real data! Conservatives believed that the unemployment report that dropped to 7.8 percent was a deep Democratic conspiracy -- that the numbers were cooked because the country couldn't possibly be doing any better. Conservatives decided that America hates Obamacare, all while millions said that they did like it and wished it went further.
The Republican Party has no one to blame but itself. Stop trying to find out what went wrong. Conservatives went wrong. They preached a message of lies. I'm not even adding a rhetorical flourish to that -- it was an actual message of lies.
Mitt Romney and a bevy of high-profile Republicans yelled over and over that President Obama gutted the work from "work to welfare." When it was explained ad nauseam that this was a lie, Republicans and conservative media continued to say this nonsense because the facts had a liberal bias.
The Republican National Convention had an entire night when the theme was based on an out-of-context quote by the president. The Republicans' best and brightest all hit the stage parroting the "You didn't build this" narrative that they thought would be a winning meme. This was not the conservative media -- this was the Republican Party embracing the very caricature that you'd think its members would want to fight against: actively and maliciously misleading the American public to vote against its own interest.
And those on the right who didn't buy into the ridiculousness didn't make anywhere near enough noise. So now your entire belief system has been branded by Donald Trump, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh.
Man, I can't imagine why conservatives are so disconnected with reality.
The idea that Republicans stand here confused and still a bit in shock a week after President Obama's re-election is the best argument against American exceptionalism that I've ever seen.
Petition Urges Macy's to Drop Donald Trump
More than 400,000 people have shown support for a push to get the department store to sever ties to the mogul.
(The Root) -- The winners and losers of the 2012 election remain unresolved in some states across the country (there are still elections that are too close to call), but where does any of this leave the one known as Donald Trump?
Now, before you say, "Who cares about Donald Trump?" let me answer that for you. I do. I've seen the "just ignore Trump" comments, but I honestly can't. Donald Trump -- the supposed billionaire reality-TV star who has done everything besides call President Obama "boy" on national TV -- has gotten to me.
Trump's unrivaled push of Birtherism has been beyond horrendous. He was one of the loudest voices demanding that President Obama show his papers, and quickly took credit when Obama finally did release his long-form birth certificate. But it didn't stop there. AOLnews reported in 2011:
"I heard he was a terrible student, terrible. How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard?" Trump said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I'm thinking about it, I'm certainly looking into it. Let him show his records ...
"I have friends who have smart sons with great marks, great boards, great everything and they can't get into Harvard," Trump said. "We don't know a thing about this guy. There are a lot of questions that are unanswered about our president."
Recently, Trump attempted to guilt the president into releasing his transcripts by saying that all Obama had to do was show his grades and passport and he'd give $5 million to any charity Obama wanted, including inner-city charities in Chicago.
So why do I care about Donald Trump? The fact that he believes he can say whatever he wants, no matter how insulting -- and with zero repercussions -- sticks in my craw. The fact that he's not right makes it 10 times worse.
I'm not sure exactly how much Trump is worth, but if white privilege were currency, Mr. Trump would be swimming through it like Scrooge McDuck in his money bin. The man still has a cash cow of a TV show and lucrative deals with places like Macy's that carry his line of clothing.
Trump is a problem; his proud actions have caused anguish to many, many Americans. Don't believe me? Check out Baratunde Thurston's video response right after the birth certificate incident. Check out the episode of TWIB Radio (formerly known as Blacking It Up) the day of the release of the long-form certificate.
Trump's actions should have consequences.
Apparently I'm not the only person who believes that. A moveon.org petition has more than 400,000 signees asking Macy's to drop Trump. As we stand on the other side of the election, Trump's actions shouldn't fade into the darkness.
We are a country that forgets, and I'd argue it's to our detriment. How often do we read about problematic commentary from public figures, only to be reminded that this isn't the first time it's happened? Trump won't face bankruptcy by being dropped by Macy's. But maybe a shot across his wallet will make him reconsider opening his big yap. Maybe when enough rage about his actions spreads, others will reconsider creating partnerships with him.
Who knows -- maybe being an a--hole might be looked at as being a bad thing.
Postelection Meltdown: Mary Matalin vs. Van Jones
Republicans haven't taken the re-election of Barack Obama very well.
(The Root) -- The meltdowns by many Republicans after the re-election of President Barack Obama have been quite a sight. From Donald Trump demanding a revolution to Karl Rove explaining that Obama demonized his opposition by calling them un-American, the rewriting of history started as soon as the election's writing was on the wall.
One particularly magical meltdown happened on CNN when Republican strategist Mary Matalin and Rebuild the Dream President Van Jones were discussing what comes next after the election. Check out the clip here:
To say that this was simply a case of being a sore loser would be a tremendous understatement. Matalin lost her ever-loving mind and basically responded to Jones like a spoiled brat. The level of disrespect that radiates off of her is astounding and yet not surprising at all. Could you possibly imagine Van Jones speaking to her in the same manner and not having the right-wing media setting him on fire?
The Republican Party can't imagine a world in which they might be wrong. It's why they love to talk about America and taking it back. It's why they have no problem calling those who disagree with their ideology un-American. They believe the rest of us are twisted, idiotic moochers who seek only to destroy their society -- as if they own the very fabric that is America. They will cry, yell and place blame any and everywhere else they can.
However, America isn't being taken away or destroyed. America is doing what America is supposed to do: reflect the beliefs of its population. And America's population has a lot of pesky people of color, gays and women who all have a say in how things work.
Problematic, I know.
TWIB Radio: Obama Wins
This Week in Blackness reacts to the president's re-election.
(The Root) -- I admit it. I was terrified.
I cannot claim that I just knew President Barack Obama was going to win re-election. I had heard, as had many others, that his campaign team seemed completely relaxed and without worry, but that didn't make me feel better. I assumed that was the brave face you put forward before you go into battle.
We had prepared to broadcast on This Week in Blackness radio until at least 1 a.m., so when the news started to come down around 11:15 p.m., we didn't quite know how to take it. Check out our reaction with professor Anthea Butler, The Root contributor Lynette Holloway and #TeamBlackness (Aaron Rand Freeman and L. Joy Williams) as the news rolls in.
