June 20, 2013

The GOP and Black Voters: Tell Me I'm Wrong

We have yet again another illustration of the GOP's fundamental problem in attracting the votes or support of African Americans. 

From the National Confidential website
A Republican party chairman in Montgomery County, Illinois, has been accused of sending a racist email.
In the email Jim Allen reportedly attacked Erika Harold, a former Miss America challenging Rep. Rodney Davis (R) in the party’s primary election. The email described Harold, who is biracial, as “the love child of the DNC” and that after the primary she’ll be “working for some law firm that needs to meet their quota for minority hires.”


It continues: “miss queen is being used like a street walker and her pimps are the DEMOCRAT PARTY and RINO REPUBLICANSThese pimps want something they can’t get,,, the seat held by a conservative REPUBLICAN Rodney Davis and Nancy Pelosi can’t stand it.”

Update: RNC Chairman Reince Priebus issued the following statement this afternoon calling for Allen's resignation:

“The astonishingly offensive views expressed by Chairman Allen have absolutely no place among the leaders of our party at any level. His behavior is inexcusable and must not be tolerated. He should apologize to Erika Harold and resign immediately.”

I applaud the chairman's action.  A standard must be set.

Update 2: Allen has resigned his leadership post as county chairman.

This type of rhetoric is another among many examples of my basic conclusion about the GOP and black voters, which I challenge ANYBODY to definitively refute. To wit;

The Republican party does not believe it needs black voters to win national elections and it conducts its political practice and messaging accordingly.

The Republican Party is fundamentally disinterested in black voters as a political constituency. The GOP does not believe that the black voter bloc is necessary or essential to its aspirations for governance. This is a sentiment widely held by both its national and state leadership and by the vast majority of its rank and file membership and supporters. 

I believe the above statement to be true and supported by ample behavioral evidence.  If you disagree, if you think that in fact the GOP is seriously interested in black voters as a political constituency and does believe them to be necessary and essential to their aspirations for governance, give me your argument for why the above statement isn't correct. 

Words of advice before you answer my challenge. CAREFULLY READ THE STATEMENT FIRST.  The above statement DOES NOT SAY the GOP is racist, so don't waste your time responding to it as though it does.  I've written it clearly and succinctly.  Address what it says.  That said, go ahead and make my day.  Tell me I'm wrong. 

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