Nope. No Racism In The GOP
Rush Limbaugh reacts to Powell's endorsement of Obama in an email to Politico:
In fact, for those who didn't watch the clip, Powell said that he had heard senior figures in the GOP expressing anti-Muslim bigotry. But of course there is no bigotry in the GOP.
For the record, I think the percentage of racists in the GOP is very small. I think the same of the Democratic party. The difference is that the GOP profits -- knowingly, deliberately -- from its bigots. They hold political power because of the bigot vote in some areas, in some states. It was a choice they made with Nixon's southern strategy. They use the dog whistle racism of people like Limbaugh to wink and nod to the kind of people that decent Republicans would not have at their dinner table.
I look forward to watching the GOP take a beating in a couple of weeks. They need to be destroyed. But they need to be destroyed only so that they can be rebuilt.
We need a healthy Republican party. We need a Republican party that is about free people, free markets, skepticism about government, caution in foreign policy and a strong defense. What we don't need is a Republican party of religious intolerance, dog-whistle racism, homophobia and fiscal and foreign policy recklessness.
The job of the Republican party is to say, "Hey, hold up there a minute, Sparky, and let's think about this for a while." That doesn't make for entertaining talk radio, but one of the political parties has to play the stuffy grown up role, and God knows it won't be the Democrats.
Rush Limbaugh said Colin Powell's decision to get behind Barack Obama appeared to be very much tied to Obama's status as the first African-American with a chance to become president.The only possible reason Colin Powell could have for endorsing Barack Obama is that they share a skin tone. Thanks, Rush. Thanks for being so wonderfully overt.
"Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race," Limbaugh wrote in an email. "OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I'll let you know what I come up with."
In fact, for those who didn't watch the clip, Powell said that he had heard senior figures in the GOP expressing anti-Muslim bigotry. But of course there is no bigotry in the GOP.
For the record, I think the percentage of racists in the GOP is very small. I think the same of the Democratic party. The difference is that the GOP profits -- knowingly, deliberately -- from its bigots. They hold political power because of the bigot vote in some areas, in some states. It was a choice they made with Nixon's southern strategy. They use the dog whistle racism of people like Limbaugh to wink and nod to the kind of people that decent Republicans would not have at their dinner table.
I look forward to watching the GOP take a beating in a couple of weeks. They need to be destroyed. But they need to be destroyed only so that they can be rebuilt.
We need a healthy Republican party. We need a Republican party that is about free people, free markets, skepticism about government, caution in foreign policy and a strong defense. What we don't need is a Republican party of religious intolerance, dog-whistle racism, homophobia and fiscal and foreign policy recklessness.
The job of the Republican party is to say, "Hey, hold up there a minute, Sparky, and let's think about this for a while." That doesn't make for entertaining talk radio, but one of the political parties has to play the stuffy grown up role, and God knows it won't be the Democrats.
This entry was posted by Michael Reynolds, on
Sunday, October 19, 2008.
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7:45 PM
You have made my "Quote of the Moment" listing for this post. It rings true and highlights the need for a reboot of the Republican party that has been so apparent to me (and many other moderate Republicans) for so very, very long.
9:06 AM
Good points on the state of the Republican Party. I've felt for some time the social conservative agenda has been dragging the party down.
As for talk radio, two of the most dangerous men in America are Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. They are greatly responsible for dividing the country with their name calling and rhetoric of "You are either with me, or you're Un-American".