Republican Racism Review: Morally Bankrupt, Tar Babies, and Birthers

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:

• On Fox News, Tucker Carlson decided to talk about "an absurd fringe" organization that is "bankrupt literally and morally."  Amazingly, he was not referring to the Gingrich campaign.  Instead he was referring to the NAACP.

• In an extra special article titled "Negroes with Guns" the totally not racist Ann Coulter argues that if only we gave children guns, Trayvon Martin would still be alive.  She then goes onto ignore the whole "Republican Southern Strategy" thing to obsess about the fact that a hundred and fifty years ago the Democrats were the ones on the wrong side of slavery.  Topical!

• Now despite that whole 40+ years of intentional dog whistle racism thing, RNC Co-Chair Sharon Day wants people to know that, "We highlight our elected officials so people understand that we do have Republicans that are elected that are black. I don't care if they are a mosquito sprayer or a dog catcher in Arizona, or Jennifer Carroll or Allen West. We have black conservative leaders who stand for their principles."  Now if you're wondering who Jennifer Carroll is, she's the Lieutenant Governor of Florida, the reason a Lieutenant Governor is cited is because there are no Black Republican Governors.  For that matter Rep. Tim Scott should be annoyed he didn't get a mention because him and Allen West are the only Republican African Americans in Congress.  Which might explain why when listing Black elected leaders the Republican NATIONAL Committee was forced to list "a mosquito sprayer or a dog catcher in Arizona."  They don't exactly have a deep bench.

• Luckily Republicans do have elected leaders like Michele Bachmann who says that Obama's proposed crackdown on oil speculation is "just about waving a tar baby in the air and saying that something else is a problem."  Now sure "tar baby" is a term with undeniable racist connotations, but it also has a specific meaning that surely applies in this situation and will surely exonerate Bachmann: "a situation, problem, or the like, that is almost impossible tosolve or to break away from."  Huh, that definition makes absolutely no sense in this context.  I wonder why she used tar baby when talking about President Obama then.

• Mitt Romney is having a hard time pivoting back to the center and winning over Latinos what with his past statements and advisors still pushing Arizona's racist SB 1070.  Or the fact that Republicans only acknowledge Global Warming exists when they're trying to blame it on illegal immigrants.  But really I'll leave it to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to describe Romney and the Republicans problem: "As a Republican, I am saying that the way Republicans have talked about this issue has been harmful to the party. The dialogue has been mean, and we find our party facing an uphill battle because of the way we talk about this issue, immigration."

• CNN's Dana Loesch is pissed that Martin Bashir has a job at MSNBC: "I don't want to hear a foreigner talking about media in this country, or politics in this country."  It's the rage in her voice as she says it that really sells her as a crazy person though.

• Finally, Arizona Republican Senate candidate Wil Cardon refuses to answer whether he thinks President Obama is a US Citizen.  Which amazingly manages to be less horrible than North Carolina Republican Congressional candidate Richard Hudson: “There’s no question President Obama is hiding something on his citizenship. And if you elect me to Congress to represent you, I’ll introduce legislation that requires any candidate for president or vice president to be certified by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as being a citizen.”