MUTH’S TRUTHS

There was a Republican presidential candidate “debate” in Baltimore last night at a black college focusing on minority issues. Odds are you didn’t watch it. Almost no one is watching any of these so-called “debates,” in which candidates are given all of 90 seconds to explain how they will deal with the most pressing and complicated issues of the day if elected. I only caught it while channel surfing looking for something to help me fall asleep. Instead, it made my blood boil.

First, it should be noted that the four leading GOP candidates - Romney, Thompson, Giuliani and McCain - didn’t attend. This was called a “disgrace” and an “embarrassment” by the second (or third) tier candidates who did participate but who have little to no chance of scoring the nomination, providing wonderful soundbites for Democrats to use against the actual GOP nominee a year from now. Thanks, guys.

But was it really a disgrace and an embarrassment for the major Republican candidates to skip out on a debate focusing on the issues important to a segment of the electorate which consistently hands 90 percent of its vote to the other party? Hardly. That’s just plain, ol’ political reality. Republicans in the primary need to win their base of support. Like it or not, that base is decidedly NOT in the African-American community. Sorry, Charlie, but it’s true.

In addition, the top-tier campaigns understandably may have been leery of getting sandbagged with hostile anti-white and anti-Republican questions. And when you consider some of the things so many so-called black “leaders” such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have said over the years - not to mention radio and TV ads that liken Republican candidates to church burnings and dragging black men behind pick-up trucks - that skepticism is certainly understandable.

And seemingly affirming just such concerns, moderator Tavis Smiley opened his remarks by slamming the missing four with the following: “Some of the campaigns who declined our invitation to join us tonight have suggested publicly that this audience would be hostile and unreceptive. Since we’re live on PBS right now, I can’t tell you what I really think of these kinds of comments.”

Oh, yeah. Off to a rollicking start here, baby.

After the candidates were introduced, Tavis wasted no time creating a hostile anti-Republican environment with this opening question: “Please tell me and this audience, in your own words, why you chose to be here tonight and what you say to those who chose not to be here tonight.”

Ah, nothing like a little divide and conquer. Get Republicans to turn on each other. Nice. Can’t imagine why the main GOP candidates wouldn’t want to be a part of that!

Mike Huckabee: “Frankly, I’m embarrassed. I’m embarrassed for our party and I’m embarrassed for those who did not come…”

Thanks, Mike.

Sam Brownback: “I want to say just at the outset, I apologize for the candidates that aren’t here. I think this is a disgrace that they’re not here. I think it’s a disgrace for our country, I think it’s bad for our party, and I don’t think it’s good for our future.”

Lovely.

And if that wasn’t enough to get the anti-Republican juices flowing, get a load of this loaded question by the person who won a radio show contest for the right to ask it:

“Even though a majority of individuals who have served as president since Abraham Lincoln have been Republican, I believe that most Black Americans who will vote in the year 2008 are not able to name even one Republican president in the 142 years since Lincoln’s death who have left a positive and significant legacy for Black Americans. If you are elected president in 2008, what positive and significant legacy, if any, will you leave for Black Americans?”

I was speechless. Well, other than the epithets I hurled at the TV in response to the absurdity and anti-Republican hostility of the question. Again, I can’t imagine WHY the top four GOP candidates wouldn’t want to subject themselves to such an biased and hostile inquisition. Duh.

And then the GOP-andering began. It was sickening.

What would a President Brownback do to leave Black Americans a positive and significant legacy? Why, he “would open the National African American Museum of History and Culture on the Mall in Washington, D.C.” Yeah, that’s the ticket!

Oh, and this: “I think we need to have — and we need to pass in the Congress, and the president sign it and say it, an official apology from the U.S. government for the institutions of slavery and segregation in this country.”

Lovely.

Does everybody in the black community feel better about Republicans now?

The first media question came from Cynthia Tucker:

“In 2006, the unemployment rate of Black high school graduates — that’s high school graduates — was 33 percent higher than the unemployment rate for white high school drop outs. What do you think accounts for that inequity?”

Gee, could it be that the high school diploma blacks in the government-run inner city schools aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on? That we hand out graduation certificates to students who haven’t earned them? That many black students who want to study and learn in school are discouraged from doing so and ridiculed by their peers as “acting white”? That parents of inner city black kids have NO CHOICE but to send their kids to dangerous and dysfunctional public schools because the government and the teachers unions block every and all attempts to offer vouchers to black students?

No, said Mike Huckabee, “part of that is that there is still racism in this country, and the opportunities aren’t the same.” Huck added, “It’s because those who try to lift themselves up find that they get most importantly the heel of someone’s boot (whitey’s?) on top of their head every time they try to raise their head.”

Sam Brownback seconded that emotion: “There is still racism that does exist in America.” But have no fear, Brownback added, he’s working with black Congressman John Lewis to build that African American museum. THEN all those poor, uneducated black kids won’t have anything to worry about. Good grief.

And by the way, John Lewis is the guy who cut a TV commercial a couple years back against a Republican county commission candidate, saying: “On Nov. 7, we face the most dangerous situation we ever have. You think fighting off dogs and water hoses in the 60s was bad. [Now we] sit idly by, and let the right-wing Republicans take control of the Fulton County Commission.” Lewis urged blacks to vote for the Democrat candidate, warning ominously, “Your very life may depend on it.”

For Sam Brownback to mention John Lewis in this setting and against this backdrop was the true embarrassment and disgrace of the evening. He should hang his head in shame.

The Hispanic panelist, Ray Suarez, got the next question and asked the Republicans if they wanted to deport 12 million Hispanic illegal aliens. Subtle. Nothing about security. Nothing about the rule of law. Only deportations. Nice. No anti-Republican hostility in that question, was there?

But the GOP answers weren’t much better. There was talk of building a wall and cracking down on Americans who create jobs in this country. But no one talked about requiring immigrants to become, well, Americans - including learning English.

Next up, Juan Williams: “Tonight, as young Black and Latino Americans are watching this debate, they often feel quite alienated from the Republican Party, a party that does not seem to respond to their issues. You realize about 50 percent of young Black and Latino people dropping out of high school, 35 percent poverty rate, nearly 60 percent of America’s prison population Black and brown.”

Nope, no anti-Republican hostility in that, is there?

Back to Cindy Tucker: “Recently a push to give the District of Columbia voting representation was defeated because of heavy Republican opposition.” No anti-Republican bias there, right?

You’ll be pleased to know that Huckabee and Brownback responded that they support DC statehood. Wonderful.

Next question from Mr. Suarez: “Federal Agency for Health Care Research and Quality recently reported that both Latinos and Blacks receive ‘significantly worse,’ in their words, medical care than whites in the United States.”

Again and again and again. Black vs. White. Black vs. White. Black vs. White. And it’s ALWAYS whitey’s fault. Isn’t anyone else, black or white, tired of this kind of race-baiting? And does anyone really not understand why the top four Republican presidential candidates chose not to subject themselves to this inquisition?

Fortunately for me I was finally able to fall asleep at this point and missed the remainder of the “debate.”

But for you, dear reader, I got up this morning and read the transcript of the rest. It was at around this time that the candidates were asked to shorten their answers to 30 seconds. Cynthia Tucker asked each candidate what they would do to address the genocide in Darfur. In 30 seconds. Yes, THIS is how we should be choosing our next president. 30 seconds. To end genocide. Wonderful.

Mr. Suarez then brought up a report showing that “a large minority of whites still support capital punishment, while Blacks and Latinos do not.” Black vs. White. Black vs. White. Black vs. White…

Mercifully, the inquisition finally came to an end with this Black-vs-White formulaic question from Juan Williams:

“The Supreme Court, gentlemen, recently ruled that even voluntary integration in America’s public schools is unconstitutional and illegal. That comes even as two-thirds of Black and Latino students go to schools that are so-called minority majority and disproportionately poor. We all know of a tremendous achievement gap between Black and white students in America. Is the Supreme Court right to say that school integration is no longer key to the promise of equal educational opportunity for all?”

Check, please.

Posted on September 28th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: National