Republican Party Isn't Serious About Outreach to Women or Minorities

Following the 2012 election cycle, Republicans released an autopsy report chronicling their numerous failings. They promised to change their ways and reach out to groups who have been alienated by the GOP's extreme policies and rhetoric. Here's a look at what they've done instead.



It captures in dramatic fashion how Republicans have made no effort to change their ways to reach out to and be more tolerant towards women, African Americans, Latinos, young people and the LGBT community despite an autopsy report released 100 days ago today which said it must do so to be a viable national party. If anything, Republicans have gone the other way – using more extreme rhetoric and taking more extreme positions than ever. Truth is, the Grand Old Party is just the Same Old Party it has been.

Perhaps it's time for GOP chair Reince Priebus to give a call to Aaron Laramore. He's got some tips on how the Republican Party can better reach out to Black folks.

GOP Gone Wild: Allen West Says that Obama Wants Americans 'To Be His Slave'

I am trying to remember if I've ever heard a Jewish leader accuse another Jewish leader of wanting to be a Nazi sympathizer. I can't recall that ever happening. That would be insulting and disrespectful and a sign of a person with a true lack of character. Rep. Allen West (R-FL) showed himself to be a disrespectful Black man without any true character a few days ago when he made the following statement:

“He does not want you to have the self-esteem of getting up and earning, and having that title of American. He’d rather you be his slave,”

Is Allen West so desperate for the approval of white folks in the Republican Party and in his congressional district that he will stoop to any level of nonsense in his effort of a government title?

Georgia Company Sign: 'No Hiring Until Obama is Gone'

Did you see the story about a Georgia company, U.S. Crane, with signs on the front of the business and the sides of its trucks that say:

'New Company Policy: We Are Not Hiring Until Obama is Gone'

The business is owned by Bill Looman III, who is making it clear that he doesn't have much love for President Barack Obama. Looman says,

"Can’t afford it. I’ve got people that I want to hire now, but I just can’t afford it. And I don’t foresee that I’ll be able to afford it unless some things change in D.C."

The decision to place these signs on his business hasn't helped his business. The negative blowback to Looman caused him to disconnect his phone and take down his website. In addition, he has been visited by the Secret Service because his message could be perceived as an assassination threat on the president. [SOURCE]

I guess that Looman doesn't remember that America was losing over 700,000 jobs per month at the end of the Bush presidency. But, then again, I've noticed that right-wing wackos very rarely allow facts to get in the way of a good argument.

Republican Joe Walsh Plays Race Card: "Obama Was Elected Because He Was Black"

Joe Walsh

It is nice to be reminded that racist politicians don't all reside below the Mason-Dixon line. In fact, not all racist politicians were raised back in the Jim Crow era. If you don't believe me ... just listen to what freshman Republican congressman Joe Walsh (R-IL) had to say about President Barack Obama:

"Why was he elected? Again, it comes back to who he was. He was Black, he was historic. And there's nothing racist about this. It is what it is. If he had been a dynamic, white, state senator elected to Congress he wouldn't have gotten in the game this fast. This is what made him different. That, combined with the fact that your profession, not you, but your profession, was just absolutely compliant. They made up their minds early that they were in love with him. They were in love with him because they thought he was a good liberal guy and they were in love with him because he pushed that magical button: a Black man who was articulate, liberal, the whole white guilt, all of that." [SOURCE]

Yeah, this GOP wing-nut pulled out the race card in this recent interview. I guess it is part of his strategy to get re-elected to Congress. When the Medicare gambit failed ... this guy went to the tried-and-true -- racism.

I imagine that most villagers join with me in hoping that Rep. Walsh is a one-time wonder in Congress. His type of ignorance is not needed in Washington DC.

Tea Party Activist Circulates Racist Email About President Obama and His Parents

The so-called 'birther' movement has taken another step into the abyss. It seems that Marilyn Davenport, a Southern California Tea Party activist and member of the Orange County Republican Party leadership, sent out a racist email to her Republican Party cronies. [SOURCE]

Written under the words, “Now you know why — No birth certificate!”, is an Obama family portrait depicting his parents as chimpanzees.

When asked if she thought the email was appropriate, Davenport is quoted as saying,

“Oh, come on! Everybody who knows me knows that I am not a racist. It was a joke. I have friends who are black. Besides, I only sent it to a few people–mostly people I didn’t think would be upset by it.”

'I Have Friends Who Are Black'


Anytime you utter those words ... you've proven yourself to be a racist!

Our nation is definitely having a difficult time pulling itself to a post-racial perspective in politics. The examples of politicians going public with their racist thoughts is growing:

• John Boehner
• Pat Buchanan
• Jack Davis 
• Gary Frago
• Newt Gingrich
• Dean Grose
• David Krikorian
• Lee Landor 
• Corey Poitier
• Republican Party
• Todd Tiahrt
• Donald Trump

I imagine that this list could go on for days.  Anyhow, it's my belief that people like Marilyn Davenport should not be in positions of political leadership.   I hope that her colleagues in the Orange County Republican Party agree ... I hope that they call for her immediate resignation!

GOP Congressman Cantor Supports Foreign Leader Against President Obama

I guess it is inevitable that the Republican Party leadership will begin to get a swollen sense of ego. They will begin to demonstrate a feeling of entitlement. They will start to think that they are "all that and a bag of chips".

That is all I can conclude as I heard about the promise that Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) made to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu last week. Cantor wanted Netanyahu to know that the GOP had his back. Cantor met with Netanyahu -- the same day when the actual U.S. Secretary of State met with Netanyahu -- and vowed that he and his GOP colleagues would protect and defend Israeli interests against his own Government. According to a statement proudly issued by Cantor's own office:

"Eric stressed that the new Republican majority will serve as a check on the Administration and what has been, up until this point, one party rule in Washington," the readout continued. "He made clear that the Republican majority understands the special relationship between Israel and the United States, and that the security of each nation is reliant upon the other."

Even Jewish power brokers were shocked at Cantor's statement of loyalty to Netanyahu. Jewish Telegraphic Agency's bureau chief in Washington, Ron Kampeas, declared that Cantor's statement was "extraordinary." He wrote that he could not "remember an opposition leader telling a foreign leader, in a personal meeting, that he would side, as a policy, with that leader against the President."


I suspect that we will hear Cantor backtrack on his pledge to Netanyahu soon. It is one thing to be ego-driven in private. It's another thing when you ego-driven statements go public.

More GOP Racism: Why Would Any African American Join the Republican Party?

Politics is rather boring this year in Ohio. We don't have the same excitement that is occurring in other parts of the nation.

• In Delaware it appears that a GOP civil war is about to break out now that Christine O'Donnell is their candidate for senator.
• The GOP candidate for New York governor, Carl Paladino, is a guy who sends out racist and pornographic emails to his GOP buddies. He's also made controversial statements such as teaching welfare recipients job training and "personal hygiene" while housing them in converted prisons and calling outgoing Gov. David Paterson a drug addict.
• South Carolina heavy-hitters in the Republican Party hosted 'The Southern Experience' at the Country Club of Charleston a few days ago. SC Gov. Mark Sanford and SC Senate President Glenn McConnell (shown in the above photo) hosted this event in which the only Black people present were dressed up as slaves.

I have never voted for a Republican candidate on a state or national ballot.  The policies, actions and culture of the Republican party never appealed to me. I don't feel any different about the Tea Party. They seem like a bunch of folks who strongly believe in white privilege and who've never interacted on a professional or personal basis with a Black person in America.

I don't like the way that the GOP and Tea Party have taken such a personal and pre-meditated hatred of our nation's first Black president and turned it into a 'Just Say No' or 'birther' or 'socialist' mantra over the past year. The GOP leadership is now calling our president a 'con' and a man with a 'Kenyan, anti-colonial world view'. What kinda shyt is that?

I try to stay open-minded. I include A Political Season and Booker Rising on my RSS-feed so that I don't miss any blog postings that either Aaron or Shay put on their blog.  However, I still don't have a clue why any person of African descent would become a member of the Republican Party.  It must be lonely to be a Black Republican. If the African Americans in Alaska weren't fooled by Sarah Palin ... why should those of us in the lower 48 be fooled?

Can any of y'all explain it to me?

How can a Black Republican have so much self-hate in them that they would want to be associated with these racist wackos who have no love for people of African descent living in America?

GOP Wacko Ben Quayle: The Potatoe Doesn't Fall Far From the Dan Quayle Tree

Did you see where congressional candidate Ben Quayle called Barack Obama "the worst president in the history of the United States"?







I guess that the accomplishments of the Obama administration don't carry much water with young Ben. He appears to poo-poo things like:

• health care reform
• financial reform
• stimulus
• jobs bills
• pulling combat troops out of Iraq war

I guess that I shouldn't be surprised by young Ben's idiotic campaign video. After all, he is the son of Dan Quayle ... who probably is the dumbest person to ever serve our nation as vice president. I share the following video evidence for those that don't remember the stupidty of Dan Quayle:






I suspect that the potatoe doesn't fall far from the tree!

Birthers: Fear of a Black President

President Barack Obama celebrated his 49th birthday yesterday. Of course, this was simply another reason for the wacko "birther" movement folks to go crazy.

CNN released a poll that shows many Republicans (and others) in America are still buying into the nonsense that Manchurian Muslim who has infiltrated the White House:

• Forty-two percent of those questioned say they have absolutely no doubts that the president was born in the U.S., while 29-percent say he "probably" was.

"Not surprisingly, there are big partisan differences, although a majority of Republicans thinks Obama was definitely or probably born here," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

"Eighty-five percent of Democrats say that Obama was definitely or probably born in the U.S., compared to 68 percent of independents and 57 percent of Republicans. Twenty-seven percent of Republicans say he was probably not born here, and another 14 percent of Republicans say he was definitely not born in the U.S."

That means some 41 percent of Republicans say Obama was probably or definitely not born in the United States.

The only reason that 41% of Republicans think such a thought is FEAR. Republicans ... primarily old white men ... simply have a insatiable fear of a Black president. They rather believe that he was born in Africa then believe that a majority of Americans voted on November 4, 2008 to make an African American the most powerful person on the planet.

When will Republicans ... and other white Americans ... get over their fear of a Black president. For that matter, when will they stop letting racial prejudice inform their every behavior and emotion?

Jody Hice is Wannabe GOP Wingnut Who Buys Into the 'Obama is a Socialist' Crap

More Tea Party nonsense ... this time it's the 7th congressional district in Georgia. John Lindner (R-GA) is retiring after about 18 years in office.

An empty congressional seat is like a magnet for nuts in the 2010 election year. There are eight candidates in the July 20th Republican primary election. U.S. Rep. John Linder’s chief of staff is running for the seat. So is a state legislator. A syndicated talk show host is also among the group along with a prosecutor, a flight attendant, a state government retiree, a CPA and a human resources executive.

The state legislator -- Clay Cox is considered the favorite. Cox has been endorsed by the Atlanta Tea Party Patriots.

I'm surprised that the Tea Party didn't go for Jody Hice, the syndicated talk show host. Jody is spending money to put up several billboards around Atlanta calling out President Barack Obama's so-called "socialist" policies.

Is there never any end to the nonsense from the GOP wingnuts?

GOP Wingnuts Applaud a Guy for Calling President Obama a 'Domestic Enemy'

Eric Cantor (R-VA) gave a speech earlier this week to a group at the Heritage Foundation. He got the audience so foamed at the mouth that one unidentified attendee stood up at the event to ask Cantor why Obama should not be considered a “domestic enemy”:

QUESTION: My question is – and this is something I personally don’t understand – if it’s a naïve question then I apologize: in light of what Obama has done to leave us vulnerable, to cut defense spending, to make us vulnerable to outside enemies, and to slight our allies, how (pause) – what would he have to do differently to be defined as a domestic enemy? (applause and laughter)


CANTOR: Listen, let me respond very forthright to that: you know, no one thinks the President is a domestic enemy. (boos)

I wanted to give Cantor credit for his clear answer ... however, I noticed that Cantor smiled before responding to the question. And I suspect that the content from Cantor's speech gave the courage to this person to ask the question in the first place.

What kind of country are we living in that our nation's leader can be called a 'domestic enemy' by our own citizens?

(Th)ink by Keith Knight: Dim, Mock, Crazy. In Action.

(Th)ink is an editorial cartoon written and drawnby cartoonist Keith Knight (the K Chronicles).

The Van Jones that Glenn Beck Doesn't Know

I haven't talked much about Van Jones. He's the young guy that resigned earlier this month from his position as an advisor to the President. His resignation was a direct result of videotapes and petitions from a number of years ago being brought to public attention by Fox News. Some call it nothing more than right-wing smears.

Jones was forced to leave the White House quietly and without any fanfare. There are many who feel that his career as a voice for the poor is legendary. In fact, the folks at the Brave New Foundation featured him as part of their Brave Nation series. Check it out:




What are your thoughts on Van Jones? Or on the circumstances surrounding his resignation?

(Th)ink by Keith Knight: Crazy Like (a) Fox

(Th)ink is an editorial cartoon written and drawnby cartoonist Keith Knight (the K Chronicles).

Apology from Rep. Joe Wilson ... Latest South Carolina Republican Unable to Control Himself

It stunned me to hear someone heckling the president during his speech before the joint session of congress. However, once I learned that the heckler was Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) ... I was less surprised. After all, it is evident that Republicans in South Carolina have a difficult time controlling themselves. Self-restraint isn't high for governors or congressional representatives from South Carolina.

Here is the video for those that missed the moment...



I guess that Rep. Wilson thought that he was at a Republican town hall meeting. A number of his colleagues, including Sen. John McCain, disowned him for his actions. As a result, he issued the following apology tonight:

"This evening, I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president's remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill," the statement said. "While I disagree with the president's statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility."

I hope that Rep. Wilson pays a political price for his disrespect of the President. What say u?