On Offer From the GOP Today: Naked Rhetorical Contempt

The RNC/Ebony dustup and subsequent statements from RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer about it, can lead any rational observer to one of two conclusions, which are not mutually exclusive:

A. The Republican National Committee organization has nothing but naked rhetorical contempt for black voters and their intelligence,  or 

B.  Sean Spicer and the RNC's entire communications apparatus are utterly, irrevocably and irredeemably incompetent.  

My vote? All of the above. Let me explain myself.

 Back on March 27th, the lovely Jamilah Lemieux, a senior editor at African-American magazine Ebony, exchanged words with young Republican National Committee staffer Raffi Williams after she voiced her disdain for a new black conservative publication in the offing.  In the course of the exchange, not having examined Raffi's twitter photo very closely, she took the light skinned Raffi for a white guy and dismissed his comments on that basis. 

Jamilah Who?@JamilahLemieuxFollow

@Raffiwilliams @BETpolitichick @SistahScholar @orlandowatsonOh great, here comes a White dude telling me how to do this Black thing. Pass.

9:46 AM - 27 Mar 14 

Raffi Williams@RaffiwilliamsFollow

@JamilahLemieux You are questioning someones blackness.sorry I do not fit your stereotypes @BETpolitichick @SistahScholar@orlandowatson

9:50 AM - 27 Mar 14 

Jamilah Who?@JamilahLemieuxFollow

@Raffiwilliams I was looking at your avi without blowing it up. I apologize for that. However, I care about NOTHING you have to say.

9:51 AM - 27 Mar 14 

The RNC then made a calculated decision to escalate this rather typical of Twitter exchange into a full fledged liberal media bias attack opportunity. The next morning, party Chairman Reince Priebus let fly with a letter calling on Ebony to apologize for Jamilah's behavior and stated a hope that “we can use this unfortunate episode as a catalyst for greater engagement and understanding between the Republican Party and the black community.” Hours later, Ebony caved and the RNC trumpeted a liberal media takedown to the base and went home to dinner very pleased with itself. 

So that's the background.  After all this goes down,  RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer later tells Buzzfeed that the RNC's decision to escalate the flap with Ebony was meant to show black voters that Republicans took their votes seriously. “This was not meant to be provocative,” Spicer told BuzzFeed. “What this was really about was letting the readers of a very prominent African-American magazine know the Republican Party is fighting for their vote.” 

My one word reaction to Spicer's statement? Horseshit.  

My apologies readers, I generally avoid profanity on my blog, but somethings simply require it. 

This brings me back to conclusions A & B which I began with;

A. The Republican National Committee organization has nothing but naked rhetorical contempt for black voters and their intelligence,  

Truly, what else can it be?  Are we actually supposed to take Spicer's comment seriously? Are we actually supposed to believe that the RNC was trying to open a dialogue with African American voters by attacking a young black female editor and the highly regarded black magazine she works for, because she expressed the opinion that she didn't think black conservatives or a white male had anything to tell her about the expression of her blackness, political or otherwise? It was a nothing exchange, a million like it occur every day, but the RNC decided to make a point with it, so they could trumpet to the base about how they are taking it to liberals over their media bias.  So they leaned on Ebony about it and Ebony caved, which they promptly crowed over and in the process of all of this, simply ticked off the vast majority of black voters who were aware of it.  That's an entirely predictable communications result and not the right one if you are actually trying to tell the black voting constituency that you are fighting for their vote.  That being the case, its nothing but a demonstration of pure contempt for Sean Spicer to claim this was not about being provocative, it was about communicating with black voters.  Letting that ridiculous claim come out of his mouth is a complete insult to the intelligence of black voters and merely confirms the very low regard with which we are held by the RNC and frankly the party more broadly.  His statement is the equivalent of urinating in our faces and telling us its rain showers.  It's naked rhetorical contempt, but if you don't think that's accurate, then the explanation can only be;

B.  Sean Spicer and the RNC's entire communications apparatus are utterly, irrevocably and irredeemably incompetent.  

This is the conclusion I'm drawn to if I'm being charitable, and it's entirely fair.  I'm not being mean to suggest that the RNC's communications team that is dropping $10M large on minority outreach may just be seriously stupid.  What else can I think? Raffi picks a fight with Jamilah over her personal opinion, expressed on her personal account, then the RNC escalates this throwaway twitter exchange into a liberal media attack pressure campaign on a venerated black magazine and Jamilah herself.  And according to Sean Spicer, it did these things so that the the readers of a very prominent African-American magazine know the Republican Party is fighting for their vote.”. I'm sorry, that's just.....stupid.  It's among the stupidest tactical communications actions I've ever seen.  If Spicer truly believed that somehow this would engender a positive disposition of black voters towards the GOP, then he ISa complete incompetent.  My 12 year old son could have done a better job than that.  How black voters would respond to the episode was entirely predictable to anyone with an IQ of 1. 

Just for kicks, I'll throw in a bonus exit thought.  Jamilah, then Ebony, was attacked for expressing perfectly valid opinions.  She was attacked for expressing the opinion that she didn't think a white male had anything to tell her about the expression of her blackness, political or otherwise.  As a black female, that's a perfectly valid opinion and entirely reasonable point of view for her to have.  It's irrelevant that Raffi is actually black. Focusing on that ducks the issue. She's entitled to hold that opinion, and can do so with justification. When she realized her ethnic identification of Raffi was mistaken, she stopped dismissing him because he was white and then dismissed him as a black conservative, which she clearly also regarded as having nothing to tell her about the expression of blackness.  That's certainly a more debatable position than her first, but still a quite defensible point of view.

RNC, if you would like some help with your messaging tactics to black voters, I have a 12 year old you can borrow.