You’ve read about it ad nauseam in mainstream media outlets like the Washington Post: “What social science tells us about racism in the Republican party,” “How racism explains Republicans’ rise in the South,” “Data suggest Republicans have a race problem,” etc.
Political profiteers like Harry Reid enjoy pandering to their base with statements that denigrate everyone, like, “Racism has long been prevalent in Republican politics.”
When they can’t find any actual examples of racism to explain why a Republican would not be in favor of expanding government control over their lives (as liberal Democrats demand), then the reason must be some sort of “racist code” that only the erudite liberals can decode for the masses to understand.
The New York Times plays the game, publishing opinion pieces that don’t merely expose a suspected racist statement by a Republican, they use it to define the entire party as racist.
It was suggested by left-wingers that Condoleeza Rice was somehow an inferior person due to her Republican Party bonafides, despite her extraordinary intellect. Unfortunately, racist attacks on minority Republicans are far too common.
It’s also suggested Republicans only tolerate African-American politicians for reasons of aesthetics, which is a terribly racist presumption of the Black Republicans’ purpose and intelligence.
When Republican Tim Scott became the first black senator in the south since reconstruction, politically liberal African-Americans decided they had to do everything they could to demean him while putting every conservative minority on notice that they, too, will find themselves publicly humiliated.
North Carolina NAACP leader William Barber made national news denigrating Scott, spewing, “A ventriloquist can always find a good dummy. The extreme right wing [in South Carolina] finds a black guy to be senator and claims he’s the first black senator since reconstruction and then he goes to Washington, D.C., and articulates the agenda of the tea party.”
It is presumed that if you favor a smaller, more effective government you are a racist or, if you’re not white, you’re not very bright.
When asked by a reporter to respond to Barber’s “ventriloquist’s dummy” insult on Martin Luther King day, Scott replied, “To reflect seriously on the comments a person, a pastor, that is filled with baseless and meaningless rhetoric would be to do a disservice to the very people who have sacrificed so much and paved a way. Instead, I will honor the memory of Dr. King by being proactive in holding the door for others and serving my fellow man. Â And Rev. Barber will remind me and others of what not to do.”
That articulate smack-down is not exactly the monosyllabic response one would expect from a “dummy.”
The attacks are so common that Republicans seem to mostly ignore them, which is a shame because there are racists in both parties that should certainly be shamed.
The problem is the attacks have become so expectedly ad hominem that the effects are more likely self-satisfying liberal affirmation buffets than considered serious critiques outside those circles.
Liberals cry about crowds of Tea Party “racists” hurling insults at black lawmakers, yet there is no audio or video in this world of omnipresent cell phone apps.
There is actual video of left-wing Common Cause protesters making racist slurs against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, saying he should be “sent back to the fields,” have his toes cut off and fed to him, and “string him up,” yet I don’t recall that being a story on broadcast TV or CNN.
Here’s a report that you should but won’t read in those newspapers or experience on broadcast TV news:
“A majority of white Iowa republicans vote for two Hispanic and one black presidential candidate. 100 percent of Iowa caucus democrats vote for two old white people.”
Rick Jensen is Delaware’s award-winning conservative talk show host on WDEL, streaming live on WDEL.com from 1pm - 4pm EST. Contact Rick at rick@wdel.com, or follow him on Twitter @Jensen1150WDEL