The closer we get to the November elections, the bigger the stakes become among delegates, politicians and the media. To no one's surprise, race is back at the center of American politics, but has it ever left? Minorities have again become a punching bag on one end of the spectrum and replaceable pawns on the other. And the individuals claiming to care about minorities in this election are the same ones willing to throw them under the bus in order to reach out to the racist factions or take advantage of their loyalty as means to an end.
Tuesday, the first night of the RNC, peanuts were thrown at a black CNN camerwoman by two attendees at the RNC. As they were throwing peanuts, witnesses heard the individuals say "this is how we feed animals." The two attendees were hastily removed by police.
CNN released a statement saying: "CNN can confirm there was an incident directed at an employee inside the Tampa Bay Times Forum earlier this afternoon. CNN worked with convention officials to address this matter and will have no further comment."
The convention also released a statement saying: "Two attendees tonight exhibited deplorable behavior. Their conduct was inexcusable and unacceptable. This kind of behavior will not be tolerated."
A tweet from David Shuster corroborated earlier reports of this incident. The tweet currently has over 8,000 retweets and 400 favorites.
Mediate.com released audio of Yahoo! News
Washington Bureau Chief David Chalian today. According to the site, he was caught on audio speaking candidly with other Yahoo! News personnel about his feelings toward Mitt and Ann Romney.
Chalian was met with a firestorm over Twitter when he made an incendiary comment about how Ann and Mitt Romney viewed the black people of New Orleans as they prepared for Hurricane Isaac. "They are happy to have a party with black people drowning," Chalian said of the Romneys.
According to an article by New York Times writer Brian Stelter, it seems as though Chalian was unaware he was being recorded while he made the remarks, which occurred Monday night during one of Yahoo!'s live webcasts.
According to Politico Yahoo! News fired Chalian around 1:30 p.m. EDT today. Yahoo! News released this statement:
David Chalian's statement was inappropriate and does not represent the views of Yahoo!. He has been terminated effective immediately. We have already reached out to the Romney campaign, and we apologize to Mitt Romney, his staff, their supporters and anyone who was offended.
Buzzfeed reported Chalian's apology at 4:57 p.m. EDT today. Chalian said,
I am profoundly sorry for making an inappropriate and thoughtless joke. I was commenting on the challenge of staging a convention during a hurricane and about campaign optics. I have apologized to the Romney campaign, and I want to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to Gov. and Mrs. Romney. I also regret causing any distraction from the exceptional coverage of the Republican convention by Yahoo News and ABC News.
The racial tension doesn't stop there. According to the Examiner.com, MSNBC and other media outlets had commentators discussing the speeches of Senate candidate Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Congressional candidate Mia Love (R-Utah), Rep. Artur Davis (R-Ala.), Governor Brian Sandoval (R-Nev.) and Puerto Rican First Lady Vela Fortuno. The criticism is that these are minority candidates and some media outlets want to continue the narrative that the Republican Party isn't diverse.
Politics will always be a dirty game and these candidly off-color remarks and racist actions only reinforce the rotting walls of the political mansion. Already the Romney camp is not polling well among Latinos and blacks. With the implications of this election on women's rights, health care, the national debt and illegal immigration, this election could be seen as a fork in the road with each street leading to two drastically different Americas.