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Analysis: GOP relevancy trap
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The Republican Party suffered major losses in the House, Senate and White House during the past two election cycles. Some political experts say these losses were all somehow due to an ambiguous identity problem, but I find the losses to be just the opposite: they are an actual, clear indicator of the GOP’s real identity! The Republican Party has aligned itself with the worst qualities of what it actually is, and the public now knows this.
Michael Steele: The 1 Percent Doctrine
It is lonely at the top, and for Michael Steele being a leader is not a given. A recent USA Today Gallup Poll revealed that only 1 percent of Republicans think the Republican National Committee Chairman actually speaks for the GOP. And Rush Limbaugh garnered the most votes at 13 percent as the “main person who speaks for Republicans today.”
Steele, who came from Maryland where he served as Lt. Governor, was gleeful about receiving the chairmanship and soaked up the spotlight. While his victory was no slam dunk, the GOP indeed had its first black chairman. But it was less than a month before Steele was in trouble with the FBI over questionable payments he made to his sister Monica Turner. This is the same woman who courted imprisoned boxer (and convicted rapist) Iron Mike Tyson! (Turner would later clean up in divorce proceedings from Tyson.) When I wrote that story (see previous link), I wondered loudly: “Why would a conservative and Catholic like Steele allow his very own sister to marry Mike Tyson?”
I asked more questions when the GOP dismantled the Republican Hispanic Caucus, when Steele was Lt. Governor. In my piece, “The GOP Needs a Long Hard Look in the Rear-View Mirror”, I examine how the nation’s first Republican Hispanic Caucus requested only one Latino among 120 top positions in the Ehrlich Administration. Then Maryland GOP Chairman John Kane tore the caucus apart, creating another group based on their request. That is correct, the Maryland Hispanic Caucus lost its entire operation over a single job! Steele stood by Kaine who went to great lengths to publicly castigate Hispanics, in both The Baltimore Sun and The Washington Post. (Now, the Washington Post reports that a federal complaint targets Kaine's moving company for not fairly paying workers.)
Republican Racism
Kaine’s behavior was bad, but other Republicans also carry the stigma of “Republican racial hatred.” Then candidate Senator George Allen attacked his opponent, an Indian American staffer, when he called him a “macaca”, a racist pejorative for monkey. Ed Gillespie vehemently defended Allen, as part of Allen’s campaign. A leadership mistake was clearly made, and Republicans everywhere were made to think it is O.K. to racially attack minorities!
Not surprisingly, this has not improved the Republicans’ nonexistent minority base. Mr. Gillespie said, “minority inclusion was a top, top priority” within the GOP. His estimate of increasing the party’s black representation by 25 percent actually ended up, after last November’s election, closer to 3 percent. The fair skies truth has a way of catching up with Ed, and the GOP’s stormy past and present (and predictable future) all prove this. The attacks still continue in a party where open racism is commonplace and not disciplined by anyone in GOP leadership positions!
Two weeks ago, Rusty DePass, a South Carolina Republican, posted a racist message about First Lady Michelle Obama on his Facebook page. According to the Huffington Post, DePass responded on his Facebook page to a report about a gorilla that escaped from the Riverbanks Zoo in Colombia, South Carolina, with these words: “I'm sure it’s just one of Michelle's ancestors - probably harmless.” A former Republican county chairman and vote commissioner, DePass eventually apologized, telling WIS-TV in Columbia, “I am as sorry as I can be if I offended anyone.”
DePass did not see that by his comment someone could have been offended? He did take down his Facebook page following the incident. Meanwhile, Steele did not generate a new website for the GOP, thus nothing was posted and, of course no comment from Steele or other Republicans condemning DePass’ actions could have been provided. In politics, when you do not respond to a charge or insult, voters assume you agree with the position. This is an ongoing political failure for Republicans to speak out about racial injustice within the party.
Former Senator Tom Tancredo also recently made some racially insensitive remarks on CNN, in reference to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. When asked if Sotomayor is a racist, Tancredo replied, “certainly her words would indicate that that is the truth.” He compared the National Council of La Raza to the KKK by saying “it’s a Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses.” The comparison was factually incorrect and insulting. Once again, no Republican stood up to point out that the statement was inappropriate. When two members of La Raza go on various cable networks to respond to Republican racist comments, the GOP is clearly out of control.
The Good…The Bad… and the (Really) Ugly
Michael Steele struggles to be relevant or effective. There are, however other African American Republicans who could repair the Republican brand, such as J.C. Watts, the only former Republican and African American in Congress.
I met Nic Lott around this time. He worked with Watts’ House Republican Conference. J.C. writes, “Nic and I have always exchanged ideas about faith, family, and what we felt were our obligations to others when you are in public service.” Watts adds that Lott “has a passionate voice in any debate on the issues, and he always backs up his opinions with logic and reason – items sometimes missing in the political conversations of today.” I found this to also be true of Nic.
Nic and I attended a White House concert in 2002. We saw dozens of young white staffers in the OMB [Office of Management and Budget] hallways after the show. Lott and I just stared at each other. Despite our invitation and active participation in politics, neither of us worked at the White House or anywhere else in the administration. Later, a Newsday study of presidential personnel revealed the truth. Despite a number of prominent blacks in the cabinet, the study shows that “blacks held 7 percent of administration jobs under Bush, less than half of the 16 percent they held under Clinton.” Inclusion was a facade of sorts, an “optical delusion” that revealed that the GOP really had no interest in diversity.
In 2004, I asked the White House Office of Presidential Personnel about this lack of imagination. My answer came in an emphatic call from Deputy Presidential Personnel Director Katja Bullock. “Are you crazy?” she exclaimed. “The only African Americans that matter in the Bush Administration are Condi Rice and Colin Powell.” So the former White House intern and first black president of Ole Miss was at a crossroads. Lott would have personified genuine diversity in Washington’s most powerful circles, lifting his profile on the national stage, but instead he packed up and returned to Mississippi.
There came a time when Nic would run for office as a Republican. Despite the help of Haley Barbour, the state and national Republican machine did not truly back and guarantee a Lott victory. Nic ran for Mississippi’s 34th District Senate seat in 2007, losing the Republican runoff by just 68 votes. If the GOP diversity plan were bona fide, Lott would now be in office.
“Until we show by our deeds instead of empty words alone that we are the true party of hope and opportunity, those last-ditch efforts in the final 90 days of each campaign's ‘outreach’ will continue to be a wasted effort in garnering the support of minorities in electing conservatives into office,” Lott reflects.
“It is O.K. to not agree with our fellow Republicans 100 percent of the time. As the saying goes, just because we disagree on 20 percent of the issues doesn't mean we are 20 percent enemies,” Nic suggests. “It simply means we should work together on common interests and waste little time fighting amongst ourselves on areas we aren't going to agree on anyway.”
But as Nic and I purveyed the landscape, the GOP was actively recruiting and promoting “the bad.” The words of Armstrong Williams flooded the airwaves and he was anointed the GOP's diversity director. It was another sham as Williams, a homosexual, pushed the far right agenda against gays at the same time the Bush administration awarded him $241,000 in taxpayer money for promoting "No Child Left Behind."
Don King went on a six-city tour with the GOP. As noted in one of my pieces, the boxing promoter was trotted out during the 2004 Republican Convention. Hardly a conservative, King, like Williams is not viewed as a role model by black Americans. Don King is also a convicted felon.
Other Republican attack pundits like Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham were canonized. Coulter said President Bill Clinton "was a very good rapist" and that she was tired of "hearing of civilian casualties in Iraq." Ingraham wore a cast on Fox News after breaking her arm fighting a stranger at a D.C. restaurant. There is something about Ingraham that is cold, crude and, yes, just plain ugly. Ugliness, in this case, is a state of mind and not the traditional physical condition. Her ugliness comes from the inside out.
One year turned into eight as Republican pundits poisoned America’s conscience with their ideologies and insults. This became the GOP’s mantra, dirty attacks. Republicans like Tom Delay, who drove Watts from Congress, led the way. When the ride was over, the Republican emblem had been burned beyond recognition. Those who benefited from the wreckless behavior, excessive spending and no-bid contracts had no vested interest in cleaning up the mess. With the pulpit empty, Steele, an African American, was the best altar sacrifice. Republicans, not Democrats, rushed to criticize his every move at the RNC.
"We have to have a broader appeal, but there's time for us to make that change,” Gillespie told USA Today. Seven years have passed since Gillespie made pledges to build diversity in the party. Such double-talk creates a deep “relevancy trap.”
Boasting diversity efforts and tolerating racist statements? Until the GOP embraces a best practices platform that rewards good deeds while severely punishing reckless behavior, their clear identity crisis will continue.
For more info:
Poll: Most don't know who speaks for GOP - USATODAY.com
Sophia Nelson: The GOP’s Last Chance
S.C. GOP Activist Calls Gorilla "Ancestor" of First Lady | Pamela on Politics | BET.com
Why Steele just doesn't get it - Roger Simon - POLITICO.com
GOP Needs a Long Hard Look in the Rear-View Mirror | Politics In Color
GOP Chair Michael Steele's Judgment in Question Over FBI Probe | Politics In Color
GOP BATTLE ROYALE | Politics In Color
Minority Inclusion is Diversity Diversion at the GOP - The Black Commentator
The Black Commentator - Cover Story: Armstrong Williams - The Biggest Whore of All
At the GOP, More Divide Than 'Drift' (washingtonpost.com)
Fade to White: The Only African American in Congress is Heading Home
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