Conservatives' Race-Baiting Miscalculation

Back in the days of Willie Horton and the Jesse Helms "hands" ad, a healthy garnish of racial fear would almost guarantee an election victory for the offending party. Flash some dark flesh in an ad, allude to white girls put in jeopardy by the colored menace, and you could pretty much start measuring curtains for the executive mansion.

However, the demographics have clearly shifted around, though the Republican Party seems nearly blind -- and tone deaf -- to the fact.

Conservatives got too complacent playing bait-your-way-to-victory and failed to notice that in 2008 it's minority voters who may very well decide the outcome of this presidential election. The same minorities that conservatives have been handing a slap to the back of the head at nearly every opportunity. From not-so-subtle euphemisms to open slurring, how much is conservative race-baiting going to cost the Republicans?

Probably the presidency.

President Bush won 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004. In contrast Barack Obama currently has a more than 2-to-1 edge with Hispanic voters over John McCain. That may have something to do with conservative "satirist" Rush Limbaugh encouraging Hispanic voters to either "shut your mouth, or get out." The Latino vote could shift the election in Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Nevada and North Carolina. All states that in recent years the Republicans could nearly bank on. North Carolina especially is turning into a dicey proposition for Republicans. In addition to Hispanic voters, there's expected to be an increased turnout among black voters who should top the 85 percent support they gave to John Kerry in 2006. That combo has given Team McCain enough worry that they've had to feverishly dispatch running mate Sarah Palin to North Carolina in an effort to shore up the state.

While the historic candidacy of Barack Obama has an obvious emotional pull for people of color, Republicans had been making inroads among black voters. In 2004, President Bush took 11 percent of the black vote nationally, an increase from about 7 percent in 2000. But in the swing states of Pennsylvania and Ohio, Bush was able to claim as much as 16 percent of the black vote to help solidify his victories. John McCain is not expected to poll above the single digits with black voters in either state.

The Republicans are losing Asian voters as well. Forty-one percent of Asian-Americans support Obama and 24 percent McCain (though with a large 34 percent undecided, Asians could tip for McCain). And file this under Kinda Ironic: broken down by country of origin, the only group of Asians in which McCain out polls Obama are Vietnamese, 51 percent to 24.

From the beginning of the GOP primary season, as compared to the Democrats, the Republican candidates looked less like a representation of modern America than a Founding Father's reenactment. By the time their national convention rolled around, the Republicans had managed to put together the whitest political jamboree in recent history. Just 13 percent of their delegates were minorities.

To be fair, Republicans have in the past tried to reach out to minority voters. Most recently there was an RNC minority outreach program spearheaded by former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman and Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida. The effort should be acknowledged. And President Bush has obviously done a commendable job of appointing minorities to high profile positions.

But conservatives have to understand that outreach cannot be an empty buzzword highlighted by making a speech at the Edmund Pettis Bridge 43 years after the fact. Outreach means taking a stand when your members use slurs like "uppity" and your operatives call Hispanics "stupid and unskilled." True outreach means not skipping events such as the All American Presidential Forum organized by Tavis Smiley at Morgan State University and the Univision debate. And if you want to attract some voters of color you certainly can't allow Sarah Palin to get away with making the racially charged comment that Obama "is not a man who sees America like you and I see America."

Based on Republican demographics, certainly Palin is far more correct than she knows.

For more perspective and information visit THATMINORITYTHING.com

Comments

[Cardinale18]

John is of course right that "outreach" has been an empty buzzword too often for Republicans, whereas "inreach"--reaching in to stir the base with inflammatory rhetoric, has been a tradition.

[apeman637]

WE'VE EITHER ALL EVOLVED FROM APES OR WE HAVEN'T? DON'T KNOW DON'T CARE.! iT'S NOT IMPORTANT ANYMORE. IF WE DON'T SURVIVE WHAT'S COMING OUR WAY! IF WE SELECT LEADERS OF EARTH BASED ON PIGMENT WE'VE MISSED THE WHOLE POINT REALLY. THEN MAYBE THIS JUST PROVES WHAT I'M SAYING. IF THAT'S THE TEST FOR OUR SELECTION THEN WE PROBABLY DON'T REALLY HAVE MUCH A CHANCE FURTHER DOWN THE GLACIAL MELTING FUTURE ANYHOW. SINCE WE CAN'T SEEM TO KEEP OUR EYE ON THE IMPORTANT THINGS LIKE THE SURVIVAL OF A SPECIES BENT ON IT'S OWN DESTRUCTION. WHY DON'T WE VOTE FOR SCIENTISTS OR TECHNOLIGISTS INSTEAD OF THE SAME BRAND OF BULL WE ALWAYS CHOOSE FROM. COULD IT BE THEY SEE THE NIMBLE MINDED CHARACTERS INVOLVED?.THE DECEITFUL WAYS OF AMASSING USELESSNESS IN THEIR VERY OWN SELF AND SIMPLY SAY- HELL NO.!!!

[Cm0766]

At this point you can begin to see the feeling of regret in McCain's face. McCain was force to use this tactic after seeing his third run for the office go down in flames. How painful must it be to realize the truth. Too many secret deals, too many scandals, too many blunders in public, and too many out of control staff members with independent agendas to properly promote the campaign. Will someone pull John's coat-tail and explain the basics of reality. Alienation in today's sociality where 90% of voters under the age of 35 have either dated or have friends or color, is completely dangerous. The MTV generations of 35 and under voters look at racism as backwards thinking. The same voter in that catagory will be voting for the next 10 elections(40 years). In that same time frame the ethnic balance on America will continue to change. My Point.....­....McCain might desire to reflect change but adding a female to a ticket and using Giddism politics is not new but old, tired, and ineffective. Being a member of the klan is no longer acceptable but laughable, the NRA membership is at it's lowest. Racism is not dead becuase the generation that support is still on life-support. The problem is the fact that the next generation forgot to adopt that mentality.
In an econmic crisis, proverty has no color and if you disagree - think of tthis.......soup lines have no color line just a single file line......­..........

[alkamm]

Please give McCain the benefit of the doubt and realize he was not forced to use this tactic. He chose to use the tactic of scorn and vituperation. It happens to fit his supporters and his advisors is all.

[chf2go]

George Bush once said ' Fool me once.. Fool me twice... well um you know I can't be fooled again'

People were fooled twice, or voter machines were worked twice. This time the margin will be so big there will be no question and no matter what the efforts of disenfranchisement, the people will prevail and Obama will be our next President. He is the change that we need. Period.

[handyrandy]

Well, the Vietnamese support McCain because they know what it's like to be screwed by Hanoi...

I keep thinking of Blazing Saddles... "The President is a [clang, clang... clang, clang]. Lines like that would never make it into a movie these days.

[Jahme88]

Call me a crazy dreamer and a fool but the entire race and color thing is way off. Hardly anyone speaks in a way that reflects reality. Most of us identify with some form of semantics born of misperception.

White and Black? How overly simplified and untrue.
I am no more the color of White than I am a person from the Caucus Mountain region.

We all have a tone to our skin. Mine is kinda peachy. What's yours? More over, what does it matter?

There is only one race on this planet and that's the Human Race.

Pulling the "race-card" is as silly as people who claim to be monotheists saying "your God" or "my God".....there's only ONE....right?

Name the Absolute what ever word you understand it best by, and feel free to identify with whatever hue of flesh you feel most comforted by. Join in on the side of the political philosophy in which you feel a sense of belonging.

Just please don't fall for anymore of the lines that serve to divide us from one another. When we look away from religion, politics and perceptions of color, we are all human, just the same.

[Aesthete]

You're absolutely right. There is only the human race, homo sapiens. The variations in appearance, coloring, etc. of peoples from different parts of the planet are actually nothing more than adaptive mutations dictated by one's immediate environment. The terms "black" and "white" are not really descriptive of anyone. "Race" is largely a social construct.

[alkamm]

It's true that race is a discredited 19th century notion, but we're surrounded by people who have been led to believe people of color are lesser people. Politicians from the right are the best at using race to advance their political races. They push all the buttons without labelling the buttons for what they are.
Due to centuries of abuse, some racial or ethnic groups push back against attacks on their character, their humanity, their needs. It's like joining a union, you either join an imperfect union or you will have to submit to the ruling class notions of their own superiority, their need to be untaxed and overcompensated in direct proportion to those they'd overtax and undercompensate.

[TommyMcCarthy]

Could it be that Obama had it right in his early primary rhetoric after all?

I was not originally an Obama supporter and do not usually go in for oversimplifications or "bumper sticker philosophy".

Re-reading John Ridley's excellent synopsis of Republican race-baiting and fear-mongering in this and previous campaigns, a question comes to mind: why isn't it working this time? What's different?

Obama himself? ....Well, sure, on one level......

But if the discussion concerns Republican efforts to SCARE the electorate by painting the nominee as the "Other"....then why hasn't this worked against Obama? ....(who is, after all the LEAST like an "off-the-rack" Democratic nominee in history).....What's different this time?

Answer: WE are....

Could it be that we ARE, in fact, the change WE've been waiting for??

Now wouldn't that be something?
tm

[Awakenedcitizen]

Nice post, tm.

[MossyOak]

Very good, TM, you're spot on.

I attended a George Wallace rally many, many years ago while I was an idealistic college student and sat on the sidelines watching all the un-robed KKK folks brandishing ax handles. I was totally horrified by the intensity of their hate and fear. Years of watching sorry groups like the KKK have shown us that hate accomplishes nothing.

[Cm0766]

The best post I have ever read........thank you

[Hopeington]

Whole heartedly agree. I think the media doesn't give this country the credit it deserves for having lifted our awareness to a level that no longer accepts the racial divide that was so apparent in the past. This isn't about race, this is about human decency. No one wants a president who, since he can't win because he is the better man, would be just as satisfied to win this election with the message of fear, hate and misinformation.

[MissingAmerica]

I've never understood racism any more than I've understood the concept of a vengeful, hateful God. If you were to disect one man and one woman from every race on earth, you would find we all have our organs in the same place, including our hearts, and we all have red blood. As for the vengeful God, the God that the GOP is trying to sell is the same type of God the radical Muslims are trying to sell their people. It's simply geography and theology; those are the only differences. The hate and the fearmongering are the same.

[JGilbert]

And there is another reason the Republicans will end up eating the "be scared of the candidate who is 'different' than you" strategy. At long last in this country, white people are coming to the realization that racism defeats whites as well as blacks. If, in this election, we refuse to "hire" a presidential candidate because he happens to be black, we wil lose the talents of a black person who is clearly very talented in favor of a white man who clearly is not. Fewer and fewer white people remain willing to take a lesser talent because of the irrational fear of race. Something profoundly good will happen to this country when it wakes up on Nov. 5 and realizes that it has elected a person who is, by far, the better candidate and who, it so happens, is black.

[ITSDEE]

Well stated JGilbert! Well Stated! I have often wondered just what a person's skin color has to do with his/her ability to do a job and do it well. It is my hope that all people have now started, or will begin to look at the content of one's character (and ability) rather than the color of one's skin.

OBAMA/BIDEN '08

[noamjunior]

GOP PROVES
when you run a campaign based on fear and misinformation
your supporters will be ignorant haters

[judesedit]

As usual, the republicans try any under handed, sleazy trick they can muster. The personal attacks are all that is left when you have nothing substantial to run on. McCain and Palin are Bush and Cheney on steroids, drunk with the thought of having the power to control people's lives and money. Although, this is majorly unbecoming of presidential and vice presidential candidates, the more important issue is voter fraud. The RNC's operatives have already been caught purging voting roles by the hundreds of thousands in numerous states this campaign and are in the process of been sued . Fortunately, they have backed off when caught. It has been proven that the election was stolen in 2004, by the testimony of Clint Curtis in FL for one. There are videos of others I doubt knew they were being recorded while boasting of their crimes at the time. Now, Blackwell, of rigged voting machine fame, is laughingly investigating ACORN. It was probably Blackwell who paid infiltrators to fill out the phony registrations. Funny how they just showed up in one big bunch. I hope the whole truth is televised on Murdoch's cable television, not just the slanderous propaganda we are seeing now. Do not buy into what you are seeing on any CNN channel. Thankfully, there are many groups of people interested in having free and fair elections and they will be watching closely. We have to take our country back and make election reform the most important issue on the

[urnumbersix]

With the "he's not an Arab - he's a decent family man" McCain just LOST the outer suburbs of Detroit -- filled with Christian & Muslim Persians (their preferred term).

But I guess when you're caught scapegoating - you also get busted by the "new" goat! Who will be next?

Bwaah HA Ha ha!

[urnumbersix]

And Chaldeans!

[EbonBear]

Yeah, I noticed that as well. McCain's unconscious smearing of Arabic-Americans probably lost him thousands of votes.

[raresilk]

yes, what an utter smear. he even smears when he seems to be sort of limply trying to unsmear.

talk about hopelessly incompetent. like if obama were an arab he could not possibly be a decent family man, and no decent family men are arabs.

and actually, in truth, obama does have some arab ethnicity, doesnt he? so it is not about whether he is arab of descent, but the notion that people calling him an arab means that he is a bad person.

what mccain said reinforced that.

[nickmagoo]

As an Obama supporter, I'm gonna give Johnny Mac a slight pass on this - I honestly don't think he was saying or even implying that Arabs aren't 'decent' or citizens - I think he was saying to the woman A) Obama is not an Arab, and B) Obama is a decent individual. I really don't think he was trying to say that Arabs are inherently indecent. It's easy to jump on anyone for grammatical slights.

In the context of the moment I'm just glad he FINALLY said something to the scarily rabid crowds.

[HyperInfluential]

I think the implication was clear: with only split seconds to think of a way to say "not Arab," the first thing that came to his mind was "decent family man." This shows a clear pattern of unconscious racism in the man's thinking, and it is more than a mere grammatical slip-up. What kind of other unconsciously racist gaffes would he make if he were president? Whatever they would be, we can't afford them.

[Awakenedcitizen]

nick, McCain is totally ignorant and a xenophobe. A SMART man would have said, actually Senator Obama is an American, he is also a decent man, husband and father. But he does not get it.

[UCSD101]

McCain and Palin throw buzzwords like “values”, “freedom”, “patriotism”, “American” and “maverick” as if they bought them on sale. Palin’s scripted RNC performance lacked merit and failed to distinguish her and McCain from the administration that has been in office for the last 7 + years.

She comes from the same group of people, (namely the “fear” and “hate” mongers) who have squandered the true American values of “progressiveness”, “innovation”, “entrepreneurism” and “liberty.”

Those of you who are undecided and or still thinking that she and McCain will put country first, look again Palin is Ahmedinajad, (and I’m beginning to like him over her) with lipstick.

This woman after calling Senator Obama a terrorist; in essence incited violence against a member of the United State Senate, an American.

The “idiots” that her speech reached are the ones who are too ignorant to realize that if Obama were a terrorist; would be in prison. So , they believed her. These people are ignorant pretty much like the woman who at a McCain speech on 10-10-08, said she had read all about Obama and did not like him because he is Arab. If she had read about him she would know that he is not an Arab.

She is against the Constitution of America.

One must be a mad man or woman to support McCain and Palin.

PALIN is more of a threat and insult to the dream and image of America than any terrorist can ever be.

[Momatad]

I am so glad someone nailed her with being a threat and insult to all she is espousing. Having grown up in the 60's in Jesse Helm's NC, I have seen and 'heard' racism bandied about without a care in the world who knows it. The buzz words like 'uppity' and 'knowing their place' have should not be tolerated in the 21st century, but Mz. Palin used 'uppity' to describe Obama. To me, that rankled memories of when the term 'uppity' was used as an adjective to an invective often heard at her rallies to describe Mr. Obama. Mostly it was used by the 'landed gentry' to describe those who were once 'owned' and returned showing themselves better human beings. It was used to discourage others farm workers and migrants from assuming 'too much of themselves' and 'not knowing their place'.........She needs to go back to the great WHITE north from whence, where her radical fundamentalist church can lay hands on her and embrace her for her shameful rhetoric. We don't need her in DC.
And this comes from a middle aged white woman.

[rbrown1158]

When did Sara Palin say Obama was uppity?

[rbrown1158]

When did Sara Palin use say Obama was "uppity"?

[Momatad]

In one of her earlier televised rallies, immediately after the RNC, she referred to him as 'uppity'.....which one, exactly, I cannot quote, but I distinctly remember that nasal voice and red dress spouting it.

[Infokronea]

Great blog and I hope you're right. This election is far more than just another race for the White House. It is a fight to define America. Is it a place for the one or the many? Do we see ourselves as an open society or a gated community. Or, to put it another way: How do you feel about the "Obama Waffle Mix"? (See:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080913/ap_on_el_pr/obama_waffles;_ylt=AvOPZA723Rmm5JTNHsHlNvis0NUE )
If the majority of this country looks at something like this, rejects it, and counters by going to the polls on 4 November and vote for Senator Obama, then America has a future. If, on the other hand, the majority of this country responds by either hiding beneath their beds or, worse, rallies to support the hate and fear that gave birth to this piece of garbage and all it represents, then we can expect at least four more years of a very long, hard winter.

[Manelvagorio]

John Ridley made effective use of the left's new racist code word -

"people of color" = everyone but whitey

I submit that only a racist would think the phrase "is not a man who sees America like you and I see America." was racially charged.

[BEHM777]

"People of color" isn't racist code for anything. I first heard the term used by Whites in the fashion industry as WOMEN of color when they were referring to models who were not White.

If you willingly refuse to see what the McCain/Palin campaign has been doing--and what Republicans have done since Goldwater---you are intentionally ignorant as well as intellectually dishonest.

Shame on you and your intentional ignorance and intellectual dishonesty.

BEHusseinM777

[optech007]

I've never understood why the term people of color is acceptable but the term colored people is not. I cannot see the difference between these two terms.(Example, Asian people or people of Asia)

Can somebody please explain why one is offensive and the other isn't?

[andee26]

Good question, but even me, a white woman in Indiana can figure that one out. People of Colour is a term that puts people first. A person. A real human being, who happens to have a skin tone of some sort.

When the term 'coloured' is used, it puts colour first. Not human, coloured. My husband is British, and dark, probably middle Asian decent, we don't know because he's adopted. It's come up once or twice, and it never fails to shock me.

[worldview47]

Think about it for a bit intellectually and you'll get it....read your history and you may find it is a derogutary way of addressing someone.

[Bongborg]

I submit your head would work better if you pulled it out of your a$$.

[Kaleban]

You might want to clean up the drool there...

Taken in the context of their overall campaign strategy, and the fact that their current supporters are overwhelmingly composed of uneducated caucasians, the phrase:

"...is not a man who sees America like you and I see America..."

is OBVIOUSLY intended to point out that Obama is somehow different from the norm. If the norm is white, as shown by their conventions, then what is not white is not normal.

Its somewhat subtle, but once you get some edumacation, you might reckon it. You betcha!