The end of the "great white nation"?

"Soul-searching would be markedly easier... if you, well, had a soul..."

~Tweet from Goldie Taylor~

There has been a lot of "soul searching" in the republican party these days. They still can't figure out why the man who was supposed to save America from the Kenyan Socialist lost the election. It's as if they woke up on November 7th and found themselves living in a different country. (Sorry white America, this is not your grandfather's USA.)It got so bad that white folks took to the streets and rioted. (Hey, I thought the Negroes were supposed to do that if they lost.)

Elspeth Reeve wrote about the "GOP meltdown" in the Atlantic, and she touched on an interesting subject that I have been trying to tell my one (1) republican friend for years.

"If we want to know which way the Republican Party is headed after its big losses on Tuesday, it helps to look at how conservatives are explaining Mitt Romney's loss to themselves. "This should have been a slam dunk," Rush Limbaugh said on Wednesday. "But it wasn't. There are reasons why. We're gonna have to dig deep to find them and we're gonna have to be honest with ourselves when we find the answers to this." From Republican pollsters to talking heads to activists, the reactions are on a continuum from analytical to thoughtful to insane. Here's a guide to the diggingm deep and not-so-deep:

How can we make minorities like us?

Because most of the pre-Election Day poll denialism was focused on demographics -- that there was no way the portion of the 2012 electorate that was black and Latino would be as high as in 2008, much less higher -- much of the post-Election Day soul-searching was focused on why the Republican Party is so unpopular with those groups.

At The Daily Beast, David Frum, who was outsed from the conservative movement for saying Republicans should have negotiated with President Obama on Obamacare, says that just being pro-immigration won't help the party. "It's necessary of course to refrain from insulting Latinos, or, for that matter, anybody," Frum writes. "But the crying need in the GOP is for a more middle-class orientation to politics, one that addresses concerns like healthcare as well as debts and deficits."

However, many prominent conservatives still in good standing failed to meet Frum's first requirement -- the no insults part -- even as they were talking about their unpopularity among those groups. On election night, Fox News' Bill O'Reilly said if Romney loses, it's because non-whites want free stuff.

"The demographics are changing. It's not a traditional America anymore. And 50 percent of the voting public who want stuff. They want things. And who is going to give them things? President Obama. Whereby 20 years ago, President Obama would have been roundly defeated by an establishment candidate like Mitt Romney. The white establishment is now the minority."

Rush Limbaugh, too, was at a loss to explain why minorities don't like the GOP. After all, he can name some black and Latino Republicans:

Let me take you back to the Republican convention. We had Suzanne Martinez, female Hispanic governor, New Mexico. We had Condoleezza Rice, African-American, former secretary of state. Both of those people imminently qualified, terrifically achieved... We had Marco Rubio. We had a parade of minorities who have become successful Americans... Now, why didn't that work, folks?

He continued with this theme later in the show:

It doesn't count with Obama voters about whom it is said that stuff matters most. It doesn't count. Why not? Why, putting it somewhat coarsely, why doesn't the Republican Party get credit for Condoleezza Rice?

 

 The whole country has gone to seed, Ann Coulter says. "If Mitt Romney cannot be elected, we've reached the tipping point. We have more takers than makers," a forlorn Coulter told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday. America "no longer is interested in conservative ideas. It is interested in handouts." The Israeli paper owned by Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire who blew so much money on the election, ran the headline, "America Chose Socialism."

Limbaugh hit on this theme too. "It's just very difficult to beat Santa Claus," he said. "People are not going to vote against Santa Claus, especially if the alternative is being your own Santa Claus." He continued that Obama supporters "think the Democrat Party's gonna punish the people who have unfairly gotten stuff that they shouldn't have. They got more stuff than other people have stuff and that stuff's gotta be redistributed."

It's not entirely about free stuff, says John Hayward at Human Events. "It’s really a battle of irresponsibility vs. freedom." He writes that conservatives must explain the true cost of free stuff, "A good portion of the middle-class 'free stuff' crowd, including quite a few of the working poor, would be much less receptive to Big Government if they appreciated that its financing is not a painless skimming of loot from bulging treasure vaults." [Source]

I suspect that republicans don't see the irony in all of this. They assume that blacks and other minorities just want "free stuff", yet they wonder why blacks and other minorities cannot embrace their party.

Republicans like to accuse liberals of being race conscious but it is the republican party and people on the right who have been obsessed with matters of race, lately. This notion that the election of Barack Obama means the end of white America is laughable and absurd. Trust me, white America will be just fine. Besides, the last time I checked Barack Obama had a white mama.
But some white folks just can't shake the browning of their country.  

"White America died last night. Obama's reelection killed it. Our 200 plus year history as a Western nation is over. We're a Socialist Latin American country now. Venezuela without the oil.

"White America died last night. Obama's reelection killed it. Our 200 plus year history as a Western nation is over. We're a Socialist Latin American country now. Venezuela without the oil."

Stunned by his clear racism, Liddy tried to walk his guest back from the ledge:
"With what you just said right there...You seem to imply that white people are better than other people. That's not really what you're saying is it?"

"Of course that's what I'm saying," Buchanan replied "Isn't it obvious? Anything worth doing on this Earth was done first by white people."

"Who landed on the moon? White people. Who climbed Mount Everest? White people. Who invented the transistor? White people. Who invented paper? White people. Who discovered algebra? White people."

"And don't give me all this nonsense about Martin Luther King and civil rights and all that. Who do you think freed the slaves? Abraham Lincoln. A white guy!"
...."But we're not led by Lincoln anymore, we're led by an affirmative-action mulatto who can't physically understand how great America once was."
"I cried last night G. I cried for hours. It's over for all of us. The great White nation will never survive another 4 years of Obama's leadership"

Liddy tried to reason with Buchanan, reminding him that he shares similar positions with the President on Afghanistan, Iraq, and relations with Russia:
"Of course I agree with half of what he does," Buchanan answered, "He's half white! That's not the half I'm worried about." [Source] 

I have to give it to old Pat, at least he is honest.




 


 

The Wingnuts Are Coming!!

Congrats to the tan-man; it looks like he will be taking over from Lady Pelosi as the speaker of the house. That sound you hear is country and western music while red state A-merry-ca dances on the O man's metaphoric grave.

We are an impatient lot we A-merry-cans; his O ness wasn't moving fast enough to undo eight years of W, so his party had to pay. And pay they did. As of the field writing this post, the repubs already have a fifty seat pick up in the house, and they are three up in the senate. (Congrats to Tim Scott. Being the first black repub elected from the south since reconstruction is a big deal.) Here in Pistolvania it's still too close to call in all the major races. --It looks like some of you Negroes in Philly actually came out and voted, so it's not a runaway for the R's just yet.

Rand Paul is a projected winner. And so is the hottest thing out of Cuba since cigars; Macro Rubio. -He is the new darling of the wingnut crowd.- They are both already planning to change Washington as we know it. Good luck with that. (Thank god the voting rights act was already renewed) And, as was to be expected, the Wicked Witch of Delaware went down. Apparently she wasn't like enough of us. Former Iggle, John Runyan, might win across the river in Jersey (I swear you people in Jersey need to have your heads examined. John Runyan couldn't memorize Andy Reid's playbook, and you are sending him to Washington to represent your interests?)

Still, flashback two years ago and I bet a scene like this was far removed from the mind of his O ness. He could not have seen this coming. It seems like only yesterday that we were all crying and "kumbayaing" each other while we chanted "yes we can". No more. Politics is all about passion, and the majority of A-merry-cans aren't passionate about their politics. They are too busy trying to keep up with each other to worry about something as insignificant as a political philosophy or ideology. Their vote depends on their pocket books and what they see on commercials. And the guy with the most money controls the message. Hell, the guy with the most money can start a phony grass roots movement and watch it grow.

In the next few weeks you will be hearing a lot about this election. You will hear about A-merry-ca being a center to right country. You will hear that this was a referendum on Obama's policies, and that A-merry-cans got tired of the spending in Washington, blah blah blah. Don't believe a word of it. This was about a party out of power passionately trying to get it back, and succeeding by tricking ordinary A-merry-cans into thinking that they all had the same goals. It was about a few (not all) people in the majority population who suddenly became passionate about politics because of the complexion of the occupants in the people's house. It was about an orchestrated campaign from day one by certain media outlets to drive up ratings with phony and slanted stories, and creating a rabid foam at the mouth opposition to an administration that was led by the perfect boogey man.

So congrats tan-man, I look forward to your reign. But just remember; as long as we are still free to speak our minds in A-merry-ca, I will be here speaking mine. The next two years should be fun.

FORTY FOUR?

*

Most of you can tell I like sports analogies and sports in general, and from what I see and hear, so does the O man. Well, if the polls hold (IF), it looks like his O ness might become the 44th president of these divided states. This is in spite of ignorance like this, being pushed by Drudge, and the people like the clown on the *bike captioned here.

The number 44 is a pretty good number to have if you are into sports. It was Jerry West's number, it was Reggie Jackson's number, and it was Hank Aaron's number, as well. That's some pretty good company. And now, in 2008, A-merry-ca is about to put a black man in the house named after her majority population, and make him her 44th president. I have to give it to A-merry-ca, whether his O ness wins or loses, she has come a long way. I read some of the regular posters here who happen to be white, and I have to say that there might still be hope for this crazy country of ours yet. I say might, because for every well meaning person of good will I run into, there is a story of the opposite taking place here in the land of the [some are] free. Today I listened to a young college educated white colleague tell me that he was out with some of his friends (other young educated white people) and he got a rise out of them by telling them that he was voting for Obama. He told me they were racist, I asked him how he knew, and he gave me that look that said; come on field....and I knew exactly what he meant. Young, white, educated, living in a Northeastern city, and they would never vote for a black man. If they feel that way, what's a poor uneducated old white guy living in Appalachia supposed to do? This is why I still feel that my run might be safe. This is why, in spite of her great strides as a nation, I still get so discomposed when I think of some of the shit that goes on here.

Look, if you are not going to vote for the O man because you really believe that his policies are fucked up, well then more power to you. But if you aren't going to vote for him because you just can't stand the thought of that nappy headed family putting their nappy heads on your White House pillows, well then you represent the very worst that this country has to offer. And you make it possible for angry black men who are supposedly living the A-merry-can dream, to have a blog where they can express themselves in clear unambiguous terms how fucked up this country can be to people who really don't have a voice.

So what should we expect tomorrow? I suspect that we will see a huge turnout on both sides, and I suspect that we will be in for a long day. But at the end of the day, whatever happens, it will be historic. When I see stories like this, I damn near tear up just thinking about the significance of what is transpiring in our midst.

So O man, I gotta give it to you; you just might have put some egg on this field Negro's face (don't get any ideas Drudge), and proved me wrong about the qualities of the A-merry-can people and our ability to reach deep down inside and connect to to our better selves.

Good luck tomorrow, and please tell your Obamaholics to behave if you win; or, for that matter, if you lose.

*Now a quick note about the elections here in Philly:

*If you are a felon, you can vote. Here in Pa. that's true even if you are on probation or parole.

*If you lost your home to foreclosure you can still vote, but you must fill out a form at the polling station.

*Even if you didn't vote in the last election, you can still vote. (You have five years of inactivity before you can be removed from the rolls)

*Polls open here in Pa. at [*6:AM in New Jersey] 7:00AM and close at 8:PM. Thanks Ayana.

*If you have outstanding warrants or parking tickets etc. go and vote. Nothing will happen to you.

*If you are voting for the first time you will be asked to show a valid ID. If you don't happen to have one on you fill out a provisional ballot. (Valid ID is driver's license,passport, military ID,current utility bill, current bank statement, or a government check.

Now go out and VOTE!!!

Postscript

I have a few more things to say about last night's election here in "Pistolvania". And I have a few choice words for you Negroes here in Philly. Negroes like the clown who asked me if I voted, and when I told him yes, he had the nerve to brag to me that he didn't because he had to do something with his "old lady."

It's these kind of Negroes that make me wonder if it's really worth it to fight the good fight. I mean why bother? Some folks just enjoy living in ignorance. I will let you all in on a little secret; I happen to have some pretty good connects at our dumbocratic city committee here, and I looked at those Ward results from last night. And guess what, a lot of you Negroes didn't even vote. Not for Hillary not for Obama. Now for Hillary that might not have been a bad thing, because if your dumb asses did vote, it probably would have been for the "O" man. I thought I knew you Negroes but I don't. The other night I gave the "O" man's advisor some bad advise, because I told him to save his WAM (walking around money) and to use it for other shit. "It's a national election I told him, folks are going to come out for this one, they are passionate about their candidates." Well you Negroes here in Philly didn't come out. Thousands and thousands of you stayed home. I guess you will always need your committee person and ward leader to come around and kick your lazy assess in the butt. I bet if they were giving away free T.V's at Wal-Mart your asses would have skipped work to go. But not to go and vote, something that folks died to give you the right to do. Something that new immigrants to this country can't wait to do once they get their citizenship. You want a politician to ignore you? Just keep ignoring the ballot box. Want your neighborhoods to stay fucked up? Keep ignoring the voting booth. No wonder the "O" man is reaching out to white folks, he knows you sorry Negroes don't vote.

So the Negroes in Philly didn't come out in force, althoug the ones that did, came out for the "O" man by a nine to one margin. And I am going to give it to the "Ice Queen", she kept the Montgomery County and Bucks County suburbs close when everyone was expecting an "O" man blowout. A Jewish friend of mine saw this coming, and he tried to warn me. His Mom and his older relatives were strong for Hillary, and she sealed the deal for them when she made her comments about the Middle East the other day. That was "dog whistle" politics for all the Jews in this area; I will "obliterate" any country in the Middle East that fucks with Israel. And for most Jews that's all they needed to hear. Hey, that's smart politics Hillary, the "O" man could learn a thing or two from you. You knew the blue collar Catholics and the ethnic gun toting crowd wasn't going to vote for his black ass, so you went after his Northeastern suburban base.

Now as for the aforementioned blue collar crowd. This could be the most problematic thing for the "O" man in the general election. He needs states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Michigan to become President, but all of those states have a significant population of "Negro fearing" folks. And even if the "O" man went in to everyone of their homes and gave them a check for $1,000, they still wouldn't vote for his ass. I told you all that at the start of this nomination process and it's still true.

I love how all the pundits and pollsters like to beat around the bush on this issue of race, as if it's so hard to believe that everyone in these divided states don't share our Yankee doodle idealism. They will beat around the bush to find anything except the real reason these folks won't vote for the "O" man. "Well, he is too young. Well, there is that Pastor. Well, his wife just seems so angry. Well, his bowling game is weak. Well, he can't go to his right on the basketball court....."Come on now. Let's keep it 100% with each other. "He looks like one of the gangbangers I just saw on the evening news, and don't want the leader of my country to look like that." Sorry "O" man, only the best Tuna's get to be Starkist.

So that's my little postscript on the elections folks. Here in Pistolvania we hate to see the candidates go. I know the T.V. stations are sad that the "O" man is leaving, they made a killing on that guy. Now in retrospect, I am realizing that maybe he should have kept his T.V. money and used it for something else. WAM maybe?

Decisions decisions.

I was recently reading some comments from a fellow black blogger (Not sure who, it might have been AA pundit) about the need for black bloggers to organize and come together around one of the Presidential candidates. Now personally, I deplore most politicians. I view them in the same light that I do used car salesmen, IRS agents, and right wing radio talk show hosts. But I also value my right to vote, and I understand the hard work and struggle that many before me went through to give me that right. So I will be voting come this next Presidential election, but sadly, I just don't quite know who I will be voting for yet.

I do know who I won't be voting for. It won't be a third party candidate--wasted vote, and I sure as hell won't be voting for one of the "usual white male suspects" from the rethuglican party. That's an easy call for me. I like to consider myself an independent politically, but those damn rethuglicans make is so hard for me to stay that way. I mean even after being invited, those ass holes (except for one) didn't have the decency to attend and address the NAACP convention. I guess they figured they would have turned off their base if they did. God forbid they address a room full of black folks. The fear of it alone was probably what scared them all away. And I am not even a big fan of the NAACP, but they are the oldest civil rights organization in this country, and they have hundreds of thousands of members, so they certainly deserve more respect than these assholes gave them. I hope the next time one of those black Republicans comes around, you let them know how their party really feels about us, and tell them to kiss your black ass.

So anyway, that was a serious digression; back to my point. Since I won't be voting for a third party candidate and I sure as hell won't be voting for one of the angry white men on the red side; it looks like I might be stuck with one of the Democrats. Now I have heard them all, and unfortunately they all sound alike to me. It's honestly kind of scary. I suppose it's a D.C. thing to just keep promoting the status quo. That's why it would be great to have black bloggers and voters demanding accountability from these clowns. We need to demand that the politicians address the issues that matter to us. Issues such as black on black crime, the need for better funding for educational programs, and proper affordable health care for all Americans. We need to get their attention somehow, and it will take more than just punching away on our keyboards everyday to do it.

I see Obama is addressing shit that effects black folks like the Genarlow Wilson case, and that's a good thing. And John Edwards has been pretty consistent with his focus on anti poverty initiatives. So they both are on my radar, and I always listen a little more closely when one of them states a position or makes a public pronouncement these days. Sorry Francis, I am still not feeling Hillary just yet. I just can't get past her flip flop on the Iraq war, and her slick attempt to weasel out of her fickle convictions. Still, it would be nice to see America join the 21st Century and elect someone besides a white male as President.

So my fellow black bloggers I am with you on this one. We need to get behind one of these ponies and ride him (or her) all the way to Pennsylvania Avenue.

Finally, speaking of political organizing. I think the Yearly Kos convention is coming up in early August. I know, because the Kossacks have reached out to bloggers of color about attending; even offering assistance to get some of us to the convention. A condescending act in of itself. (We have to help the poor black folks) Maybe I shouldn't be so critical of Kos, I suppose that is an admirable thing to do, especially since the"Yearly Kos" convention is usually whiter than pit row at a NASCAR race. So hey, every little bit of color will help I guess. A little input from the dark side. Let's just see how serious they take us. Honestly, I don't have a problem with those black bloggers who will choose to hook up with the Kossack crowd. If they do it to help get someone in the White House who will better address our issues, that's cool. As long as they don't forget that at the end of the day; most of those Kossacks ain't any different and are just as clueless on matters of race as those on the other side of the political spectrum. They might be "progressive" but when it comes to progress on issues of race, they are still living in the dark ages.