Republican Racism Review: Denied Transplant, Uppity Nature, and Voting on Rights

Real button handed out at the 2008
Texas Republican State Convention

If you start keeping your eyes open for them, there are a terrifying number of news stories about Republicans being racist:

• An Oakland father is being denied a life saving kidney transplant even though he has a willing donor and private insurance willing to pay for the procedure, simply because he's undocumented.  And so once again, the punishment for illegal immigration in this country is turning out to be the death penalty.

• An Arizona cop is being investigated by the Secret Service after he posted photos of him using a picture of President Obama as target practice. He feels that "I don’t think that the shooting of that T-shirt is that big of a deal. It was more of a political statement."

• Much like the divide and conquer technique Republicans are currently trying to use on unions and environmentalists with the Keystone Pipeline, they're now trying to turn undocumented military personnel and undocumented students against each other by creating a new "Dream Act" in which Service Guarantees Citizenship.

• Nothing says "Fair and Balanced" like Newt Gingrich and Sean Hannity laughing about Obama's "uppity nature."

• I can't fully describe the crazy to be found at www.ObamaBallotChallenge.com but it's worth checking out.

• In case you were wondering, according to anti-immigration activists, it's a "Religious Crusade."

• Rush Limbaugh wants everyone to know that Juan Williams "wouldn't have a job right now if it weren't for the white guy conservative who runs Fox News."  So why the hell is he complaining about Gingrich being a racist?

• Responding to critics comparing the battle for gay marriage to the battle to end segregation, “I think people would have been happy to have a referendum on civil rights, rather than fighting and dying in the streets in the South.”  In response, Cory Booker, the African American Mayor of Newark, responded: “Frankly, I wouldn’t be where I am today. This is not about a choice, it’s about a fundamental right and the 14th Amendment is very clear. It says, ‘equal protections under the law’ and right now in America we have second-class citizenship set-up where certain Americans can have privileges that certain Americans do not enjoy and that is just wrong.”  And just in case you think he's exaggerating, remember that in a poll taken last year, a majority of Mississippi Republicans said that interracial marriage should be illegal.