These are just some observations from my little hole in the wall. I just want to see how closely folks out there have been paying attention to the political discourse of recent months. Take away from these notes scribbled on the chalk board whatever you want; just know they are what they are. They, (the embedded links) speak for themselves.
Just the facts ma'am... just the facts. (And yes, a tiny bit of editorial.) Now, let's see if you noticed the same things I noticed.
Did you notice when Herman Cain suggested loyalty tests for Muslims, accused Black voters of being "brainwashed" or that he "left the Democratic plantation long ago" there was not one accusation from conservatives of Herman Cain supposedly "playing the race card." And let's not forget when Cain argued that President Obama "wasn't a strong Black man." We surely can't forget THAT"non-race card" statement either.
Despite all of the aforementioned, did you notice that when Herman Cain later indicated the obvious, a rock painted with "N*****head" was "insensitive"...he was immediately accused of playing the race card and race baiting? One of his harshest critics for "playing the race card" was Rush Limbaugh, who just days earlier argued Cain was more "authentic" in his Blackness than President Obama. Yes, the White man was lecturing America on who is more "authentically" Black.
How Limbaugh became an authority on all things "really" African-American, I'm not exactly sure. Nevertheless, nobody (on the Right) accused Limbaugh of playing the race card on this occasion.
But days later... Limbaugh chastised Cain for that same supposed "authenticity." Maybe Limbaugh didn't get the note, but the epithet of N***** has been "insensitive" for many centuries now.
Notice that? Hopefully you did.
Did you notice when Herman Cain said that racism doesn't hold people back in a big way... this statement came after previously expressing that Mitt Romney can't win the South because of his Mormonism and that he is wary of Muslims building mosques in America.
Strange, but I don't remember any Mormons getting lynched in the South... like... ever. Since when was there a "Mormon Strategy" regarding religion? The "Southern Strategy" regarding race is well-documented and led to a formal apology from then-RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman for its historical implementation and impact.
Mormonism matters more than color? Really Herman? Maybe if Black people simply "forgot" the 20th century really did happen, this would be true.
I haven't forgotten it yet.
Did you notice that the "non-race card-playing, Muslim loyalty test-administering" Herman Cain is for electrified fences on the U.S. southern border? (Yeah, he said he was only kidding, wink wink.)
Did you notice that George H.W. Bush cabinet member Bill Bennett, who in a recent CNN editorial said "don't judge candidates by their faith" is the same Bill Bennett who chastised Barack Obama for sitting in Jeremiah Wright's pew?
And speaking of Bennett's aforementioned CNN editorial, did you notice his advice to Pastor Robert Jeffress?
I said to Jeffress, along with everyone else, 'Do not give voice to bigotry. Remember George Washington, his manly advice to us, to despise all forms of racial and religious bigotry.'
That would be the same Bill Bennett, who said, "if that were your sole purpose -- you could abort every Black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Yes, Bill Bennett was quoting George Washington, who owned some 316 African slaves, to use him as the yardstick to "despising" all forms of racial and religious bigotry. Doesn't racialized human trafficking qualify one to check-mark "bigot" on a questionnaire?
Just asking the question...
Did you notice that Speaker Newt Gingrich, who had multiple, documented adulterous affairs had this to say about President Obama's father, (who he never met.)
This philandering, inebriated African socialist, who raged against the world for denying him the realization of his anti-colonial ambitions, is now setting the nation's agenda through the reincarnation of his dreams in his son.
Then, Newt really got warmed up and offered...
I have two grandchildren: Maggie is 11; Robert is 9. I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they're my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American.
And... three months later weighed in on Mitt Romney's Mormonism...
I think that none of us should sit in judgment of somebody else's religion. And I thought it was very unwise and very inappropriate. [...] Mormons define themselves as a branch of Christianity.
Sit in judgment of someone else's religion?" Philandering? Really Newt?
They call that "Do as I hate... not as I do."
Noticed and noted Newt.
The GOP must assume African-Americans have the memory span of a gold-fish and no internet access. That's the only way such doublespeak might make sense.
Pay attention folks. The links don't lie. (But GOP surely does.) "Do as I hate... not as I do."
Morris W. O'Kelly (Mo'Kelly) is a political correspondent for the BBC Radio and Television networks and author of the syndicated column The Mo'Kelly Report. For more Mo'Kelly, go to his site. Mo'Kelly can be reached at mrmokelly@gmail.com and welcomes all commentary.