Shorter Delaware Liberal Commenter
Apr 24th, 2009 by RSmitty
…as commented by a contributor…
Yes, I am labeling The Republican Party as racists. You can keep on pretending otherwise, but that doesn’t change their modus operandi.
One…I just don’t get the moral-OK with passing the highly-charged word “racist” around like it were candy on Halloween night. It runs the risk of diminishing the imapact and importance of the charge and possibly becoming more cliche than substantive.
Two…Republicans: while he’s not totally correct, he’s also not totally wrong. All parties have problems with members that fit this charge. We do, they do, all do. That’s a fact. My question is, what will you (we) do about it? It’s a very real image. Being pre-emptive, if one person dare try to defend by stating Michael Steele’s race, you will get cyber-slapped, because you don’t get it. This is indeed a very real image and we need to wrestle it to the ground and beyond. Where do we start, though? Fighting the opposition is not it, though. Build us UP, don’t tear them down.
Oh, since this is an open question (posed by me) on Delaware Liberal and the Cinco De Mayo Party inspired this recent round of racism charges, it appears to me that almost no one knows what Cinco De Mayo truly signifies, although there is a very common misconception. What’s funny is the cultural insensitivity charges launched at this idea of the party, but yet, so many think Cinco De Mayo is the Mexican Independence Day. Talk about cultural insensitivity! Mexican Independence Day is Dieciséis de Septiembre (September 16)!
I will admit that I didn’t know the whole story behind Cinco De Mayo, outside of a historical battle win for Mexico and it marks a Mexican-Cultural Appreciation Day, oh, I also knew it is not the Mexican Independence Day. Here is a Wikipedia link that explains it well.
LOL. What else is freakin’ new over at DL?
I think you hit the nail on the head — perception is reality. And before people start saying, “no, no, no”, think about one’s work place: if the perception is that you do a lousy job, but you actually do a good one, what do people think? How many people do you know at the work place who actually do a lousy job, but are perceived as doing a good job.
Perception is reality.
As McCain Campaign’s chief strategist Steve Schmidt said, “We [the Republican Party] have to be comfortable recruiting candidates who do not fit the profile of an Alabama conservative.”
Perception problems, once they take hold, are difficult to shake off. How many times have we heard that State employees are lazy, or that teachers don’t work an eight hour day and only work for nine months? Those perceptions are bogus, and yet they persist to varying degrees - just check the comment section of any blog when the subject comes up.
This Republican perception problem is actually quite amazing, given the fact that nobody had better, more consistent message (perception) delivery than the GOP. For years they were the party “perceived” as supporting the troops, as being fiscally responsible - as compared to those tax and spend Dems, tough on crime, fighting terrorists, etc.
So what happened? A series of things, the economy and the War in Iraq most obviously, wrecked a huge chunk of the GOP’s perception.
Republicans have lost their footing on the economy and the war, and while they struggle to find their way, social conservatives, who haven’t missed a beat, took center stage. Right now the only consistent message (perception) coming from the Republican party is on issues like abortion, gay marriage, and, the ever popular, Obama is a… (fill in the blank).
And while their may be room in the Republican platform for such issues, they can’t be the only issues. And even though they weren’t the majority, some of the tea party signs didn’t help the perception - any more than some of the anti-war signs helped the Dems.
Perception can also change by doing something unexpected. The unexpected can change the dialogue. Right now the loyal opposition is perceived as the party of no - for good reason, imo. Now, I’m not getting into a policy debate, and frankly neither should Republicans… since it isn’t serving them well. My advice would be to find something you can do, rather than stop. Think “for” instead of “against.”
Just thoughts from a liberal. Do with them as you will.
Cinco de Mayo was the day the first illegal Mexican recieved a U.S. welfare check in Los Angeles. Viva la Estados Unidos!
Cinco de Mayo was the day the first illegal Mexican recieved a U.S. welfare check in Los Angeles. Viva la Estados Unidos!
RSmitty keep on defending people like this, please.
It’s comments like Rick’s that turn perception into reality.
Rick gets a pass on that one because it was funny.
You guys have this so wrong. It’s all about beer and the marketing. Big deal–it finally came to Delaware. Having lived in California, and seeing the “poor showing”, of bar celebrations on St. Patrick’s Day, and then the phenomenal showings for Cinco de Mayo, the liquor industry was onto to something. The influx and popularity of the whole “new” Mexican beer market brought to the US in the last decade, has only added to the popularity and prevalence of this new “themed” day of adult beverage attraction. Now who wants to argue with me?
The University of Delaware Office of Residence Life was (maybe still is) teaching RAs that ALL whites are racists. For evidence see this video about their re-education program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EbQfmVoOfM
Adam: Well, according to the left-wing loons (DL obviously included), all conservative whites are racists.
…and yet we still do have a problem of perception and no one here dared even touch that. If anything, inflamed it.
Nemski, I would never dare defend the spirit of the comment laid at us by Rick, so don’t even try to stir that pot at me.
To what Joanne said, unfortunately, she’s pretty accurate. I do truly wonder how much any American (more specifically, non-Mexican-American) would be aware of the significance of the Cinco De Mayo holiday if it weren’t for the liquor industry. Sadly enough, most people think it’s about Mexican independence. Buzz…(as in wrong answer).
So, while I won’t argue against Adam’s comment, as this point was taken up a while back, and had enough evidence to it, that the program was at least temporarily halted, the Republican Party does continue to have an image problem of racism. Granted, it’s not in-your-face, but we have a tolerance of blatant ignorance when it comes to issues such as these. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about what “they” do (as in DL, etc), but am more concerned about what we need to do.
“You guys have this so wrong. It’s all about beer and the marketing….”
True. And, parenthetically, why would anyone drink Corona, when the first thing they tell you when visiting Mexico is ‘don’t drink the water?’