2009.10.13
What up? Oh, please ...
So, the GOP launched its much-anticipated new Web site today. Aside from a few hiccups, such as a page listing the GOP's future leaders that was completely blank (who knows, maybe that wasn't a glitch; maybe it was truth in advertising), the launch seemed to go OK. But, once more, the GOP is really struggling in its hackneyed outreach to African-Americans. For example, the site lists Jackie Robinson as a GOP hero, even though Jackson was a registered independent, who became disillusioned with the race-baiting turn the party took after 1964. But the worst has got to be the blog by Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele title, I kid you not: "What up." I wonder if there's a little pop-up of Rep. Michelle Bachman telling Steele, "You be da man"?
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It still doesn't change the fact that the Democrat party was the party of slavery, the party of the KKK and the party of segregation.
Isn't there still a Democrat (barely) in the Senate who was a Grand Kleagle in the KKK?
Hmmm? Makes you wonder.
Comment by T Witten — October 13, 2009 @ 2:41 pm
The key word, there, T Witten, is was. The GOP happily took over that role after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. All the "what-up" in the world won't change that.
Comment by Dan Radmacher — October 13, 2009 @ 2:42 pm
Keep in mind there is a reason the GOP lost the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Republican Party is adrift not know whether to go to the extreme right or go back to the center.
New and improved? It is a duck that is walking just like a duck.
Comment by Bill Hudson — October 13, 2009 @ 2:56 pm
You guys (D, Anywhere USA) )sure didn't have a problem with the democratic playbook using Paris Hilton, P- Diddy, Kanye West and Rock the Vote to garner votes for the Democrat Party. Come to think of it you didn't seem to have a problem with ACORN lending a hand either. The GOP has to do something to get the under 25's in line for 2012. Again it's brilliance when your side does it and ridiculous when the other tries the same strategy.
Comment by Walker — October 13, 2009 @ 3:09 pm
@2 - yet Michael Steele. Huh. I must be missing something in that argument.
Comment by Uptheriver — October 13, 2009 @ 3:10 pm
The problem with the Republicans is that they are intellectually bankrupt. They had 8 years at the helm and ruined just about everything they touched. Now, they spew invectives at anyone who is trying to make the situation better. If they just acted like they want to somehow make things better, they might be a bit tolerable. As it stands now, they are simply white noise.
Comment by Just Saying... — October 13, 2009 @ 3:21 pm
@ Bill Hudson #3
"Keep in mind there is a reason the GOP lost the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Republican Party is adrift not know whether to go to the extreme right or go back to the center."
Is that the same reason the Dems lost the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives in 2004?
It's always great to hear election advice from members of a party who finally won a popular majority in a presidential race (the last time was 1976), but it just seems out of place considering the track record.
Comment by Mike — October 13, 2009 @ 4:00 pm
Which party attacks minority conservatives as being insufficiently black?
Which party practices racism, but gives it the benevolent sounding name of "affirmative action"?
Which is the party of quotas?
Which is the party that has run America's urban areas into the ground, while at the same time hurting minorities?
Which is the party that puts into place government programs under the guise of helping folks, but that actually keeps them enslaved to government largesse?
Which is the party that has actually put KKK members into high office?
Which is the party that cut off funding to scholarships that allowed inner city minority children to escape the failing public schools [while at the same time sending its own children to private schools]?
ANSWER:
The Democrat Party
Comment by Glen Franklin Koontz — October 13, 2009 @ 4:04 pm
1,,yes it was robert kkk byrd west va that was a klan member and a senator...democratic senator..see wikipedia
Participation in the Ku Klux Klan
Byrd joined the Ku Klux Klan when he was 24 in 1942. His local chapter unanimously elected him Exalted Cyclops.[6]
According to Byrd, a Klan official told him, "You have a talent for leadership, Bob... The country needs young men like you in the leadership of the nation." Byrd later recalled, "suddenly lights flashed in my mind! Someone important had recognized my abilities! I was only 23 or 24 years old, and the thought of a political career had never really hit me. But strike me that night, it did."[6] Byrd held the titles Kleagle (recruiter) and Exalted Cyclops.[6]
Comment by pammala — October 13, 2009 @ 4:17 pm
9..."exalted cyclops"
you've got to be kidding me, they actually used stupid titles like that? omg
Comment by pammala — October 13, 2009 @ 4:18 pm
In no way Mike am I giving any kind of advise here. But one has to be blind in not seeing the failures of what Bush did in those 8 years, there is a very long list. So it is no surprise the GOP lost.
Comment by Bill Hudson — October 13, 2009 @ 4:19 pm
2 GOP happily took over that role
so dan who is the senator that is/was in the klan like democratic senator robert byrd wva? who dan?
Comment by pammala — October 13, 2009 @ 4:20 pm
Republican'ts are going to need more than a website. Can you say, "Whig?"
Comment by Art Hill — October 13, 2009 @ 4:23 pm
@Pammala #12: Byrd apologized for and repudiated his time in the Klan. Did Strom Thurmond ever apologize for his strident arguments against desegregation?
Comment by Dan Radmacher — October 13, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
13. I seriously doubt that Art. We won't need much marketing dollars once Obama is done with his term. Can you say "Failure?"
Comment by Walker — October 13, 2009 @ 4:27 pm
I do not understand bring up all the klan thing up except if they are in fact now klan or think like they do. Much damage and lives were lost back then. But this is now and as one of the GOP,Sen. Olympia Snowe has shown it is time to step into the present.
#13 that's funny and so true
Comment by Bill Hudson — October 13, 2009 @ 4:33 pm
Dan - Strom Thurmond ran a segregationist campaign in 1948, he ran then as a Dixie-CRAT, not a Dixie-CAN. After he lost, he went back to being a Democrat. He only repudiated his segregationist views when he later became a Republican. So it took him becoming a Republican to apologize. Hmmm. I can show you all day long that the Democrats are the Party of racism in this country. Maybe that's why you guys scream "Racist" at the drop of a hat. You guys are still trying to shed the guilt attached to your affiliations.
P.S. - Your Party also created the Jim Crow Laws after defeating Reconstruction after the Civil War. Can you say "Woodrow Wilson?"
Comment by Walker — October 13, 2009 @ 4:37 pm
Hmmm. This doesn't sound like much of an apology:
Contrast that with an interview Thurmond gave Joseph Stroud of the Charlotte Observer in July 1998 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his presidential bid on the segregationist Dixiecrat ticket. Asked if he wanted to apologize, Thurmond said, "I don't have anything to apologize for," and "I don't have any regrets." Asked if he thought the Dixiecrats were right, Thurmond said, "Yes, I do." Thurmond said this four years ago!
(Click on the link to read Byrd's apology, and judge for yourself who renounced their segregationist views.)
Comment by Dan Radmacher — October 13, 2009 @ 4:43 pm
Either way Dan - The Republican party has a much stronger record on racism than the Democrat Party and that my friend is a fact!
Comment by Walker — October 13, 2009 @ 4:48 pm
Walker, we or should I don't scream racist at the drop of a hat. But when you hear it my good man, then, I think one should speak up and not be silent. Because I am white I hear it all the time. It is very much in the present not in the past.
Comment by Bill Hudson — October 13, 2009 @ 4:51 pm
@19
I meant:
Either way Dan - The Republican party has a much stronger record on race issues than the Democrat Party and that my friend is a fact!
Comment by Walker — October 13, 2009 @ 4:54 pm
I'm a white conservative who uses "what up" all of the time. Actually, I use "whut up." Do I have to stop saying that now?
Comment by Danny — October 13, 2009 @ 4:58 pm
@20 - Not sure where you are going with that Bill or that I understand your comment?
Comment by Walker — October 13, 2009 @ 5:01 pm
@20 The words "rascist and racism" are losing there meaning because of the carelessness in which they are used. If and when I see TRUE racism or hear TRUE racism I speak up. But the dems seem intent on changing the definitions of both. Because you disagree with someone that is of a different color is NOT racism. If you disagree with him BECAUSE he is a different color, that is racism.
Comment by Walker — October 13, 2009 @ 5:07 pm
@Walker #21: I meant:
Either way Dan - The Republican party has a much stronger record on race issues than the Democrat Party and that my friend is a fact!
Freudian slip? I think you got it right the first time @19.
Comment by Dan Radmacher — October 13, 2009 @ 5:12 pm
@25 : Glad to see some humor there. But I will not be thinking the GOP is more progressive on civil rights, wow, that's just not right.
But maybe reality is just a liberal wild idea?
Comment by Bill Hudson — October 13, 2009 @ 5:24 pm
14, uh segregation while a very old stupid idea, is QUITE a it different than being member of the KKK
Comment by pammala — October 13, 2009 @ 6:00 pm
The GOP's shiny new website will certainly attract Republican African-Americans. All three of them.
Comment by Art Hill — October 13, 2009 @ 7:02 pm
Interesting sweeping generalization. Wonder how the hoards of conservative African-Americans would take that?
Comment by Betsy — October 13, 2009 @ 8:15 pm
@28 -"The GOP's shiny new website will certainly attract Republican African-Americans. All three of them."
I'll bet the enlightened Dems here don't see the inherent bigotry in this statement.
Comment by Another Chris — October 13, 2009 @ 8:26 pm
Michael Steele isn't allowed to say "What up" since he's not really black.
Comment by Suzie — October 13, 2009 @ 10:28 pm
Haha ... a GOP African American says 'What up' and the Dems have a little hissyfit.
Another African-American cavorts with cop killers, worships at the altar of a man that damns America, and has no real political experience, gives his own wife a $100,000 raise (even though they harp about being raised in poverty)... and you elect him president??
Comment by Marked Man (mark) — October 13, 2009 @ 11:31 pm
#28 - "The GOP's shiny new website will certainly attract Republican African-Americans. All three of them."
I get admonished for making a broad generalization about Liberals, but this slides.
Go figure.
Comment by Patrick — October 14, 2009 @ 2:21 am
I have a novel idea! The reason the Republican party lost so bad in 2008, outside of eight years of bad decisions by Mr. Bush, is they got away from true Conservative values. There are many Republicans, of which I'm one, want the Republican leaders in congress to stand up and say I'm a Conservative and this is what I believe. It seems very few have the political courage to do it. Believe me there are plenty true conservatives looking for someone to believe in. The Conservative movement will make a comeback.
Comment by Michael A, Howdyshell — October 14, 2009 @ 7:13 am
"It still doesn't change the fact that the Democrat party was the party of slavery, the party of the KKK and the party of segregation."
And you repeating Limbaugh talking points doesn't change the fact that these "Democrats" long ago switched allegiance to the Republican Party. Both parties are very different creatures than in the days of slavery, the KKK, segregation, etc.
Comment by gdad — October 14, 2009 @ 9:57 am
Here's a short-history lesson:
The parties don't define ideology; the ideology of the Republican party and the Democratic party have changed over time.
Lincoln was the first Republican president. He implemented the liberal progressive platform to end slavery. The Democratic party took on representing the South. Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican from New York, was a liberal-progressive (hence, running as a Progressive), who was one of the first presidents to push economic regulations. Calvin Coolidge was a liberal-progressive. Woodrow Wilson was the first progressive President of Democratic party, at least a progressive with regards to foreign policy. During the Republicans long reign, they got cozy with big business and, when the market collapsed in the late 20s and early 30s, they got ousted. FDR was a progressive with regards to economic policy (he was, however, a social conservative with regards to Civil Rights, and he was quite the racist). It wasn't until JFK and LBJ that the Democratic Party officially became the party of liberal-progressive ideology. The Republicans still dominated progressive foreign policy until George W. Bush. Now, I believe, we'll see some turning of the tides. I'm not sure the Republican party will survive...
Comment by WPGHSC — October 14, 2009 @ 10:36 am
"I'll bet the enlightened Dems here don't see the inherent bigotry in this statement."
You're right, because there IS NO inherent bigotry here. And as a liberal I also don't believe there's necessarily inherent bigotry every time Republicans criticize Obama. I know that Rush and his toadies like to claim liberals believe this, but most don't.
Comment by gdad — October 14, 2009 @ 10:38 am
I guess the Republican Party is now the party of Reaganomics, Christian Dominionism, and anti-intellectualism.
Comment by WPGHSC — October 14, 2009 @ 10:38 am
Dan is saying conservative blacks wouldn't say "What up?" Presumably that means he thinks conservative blacks wouldn't talk in an ungrammatical or uneducated manner, meaning liberals blacks presumably would.
It's always fun noticing what liberals really think by reading between the lines.
Comment by Suzie — October 14, 2009 @ 10:46 am
It seems to me that the Repubs on this site have forgotten Nixon's Southern Strategy that was used to win in 1968 and has been used ever since. The ability to use Southern racism and backlash from the Civil Rights Act has been and remains Republican National strategy. Looking at 1950 and earlier politicians dogma is silly, they were nearly all racist, and those that weren't, could do little about it in the South. (See Mississippi Burning). Nixon fed this hatred to get elected, the Southern wealthy turned to the Northern wealthy Republicans to join in a marketing strategy that has so many of you "gung ho" today. They convinced the blue collor white worker and the middle class white collar worker that Blacks would take their jobs and heritage; evern while, the power brokers did everything they could do to keep blue collar and middle class white collar workers' income low and out of power.
Comment by Richard — October 14, 2009 @ 10:47 am
As for why the Republicans lost after the last eight years, you need only look at the way they are voting today. Only one of their rank has a mind and a backbone. Like littel robots, they receive their orders from the boss and march merrily along, never looking up to see what is really happening. The boss also sends out his press releases, media hitmen, and emails to instruct each of you to demand that he is right and all other ideas are wrong. Where is the ability to think?
Democrats are an unruly bunch that can't agree on much of anything. It has certainly hurt them in taking political action. But the reason is they actually think for themselves. They have ideas and independent thought. That is what makes for good government, not the last eight years of marching in step. That is why the Republicans lost and will continue to do so untill they learn to think for themselves.
Comment by Richard — October 14, 2009 @ 10:54 am
The Republicans belatedly realized how ridiculous "What Up?" was as a blog title. They've changed it to "Change the Game." Something tells me, the game is not all they'll be changing.
Comment by Dan Radmacher — October 14, 2009 @ 11:48 am