Barbbtx
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What is being ingored in the discussion but is also manifestly being demonstrated by this discussion is that there exists in American politics a very intentional and deliberate strategy on the part of the right wing to remove the topic of RACISM and any subsequent discussion of RACISM from the table. This is being done as a tactic of self preservation for the right wing itself. The word has gone out for some time now to right wingers all across the land spread by conservative and libertarian think tanks, spokespersons and office holders. Here is but one example but a prominent one
Articles & Commentary
The idea on its face is that 'conservatism is not the same as racism". And indeed, that can be true in some instances. But what is also true is that American conservatives have historically lined up on the opposite side of the Civil Rights community - African Americans and other minorities - in opposition to policies that they advocate.
The word has gone out to conservatives, libertarians and others on the right side of these issues that you need to effectively neutralize the strong stigma of the charge of racism because it prevents those on the right from saying what they want to really say about many issues near and dear to them.
We see that right here where the usual suspects feel it necessary to attack Democrats from past history (FDR in the Thirties) when current Republican transgressions (the Obama chimp parent picture) are being discussed.
We see it when some here attempt to get off the defensive and go on the offensive changing the subject from the sins of the right (racism and discrimination) to the policies favored by the left (affirmative action).
It is important to see this for what it really is. This is merely a tactic in a war of ideology. Its goal is to remove the charge of racism from our society in order to provide a clear and unobstructed path for the right to pursue their more nefarious goals of repealing much of the progressive reform of the 20th century.
Articles & Commentary
Are you sure that's the link you meant to post? It makes Conservatives look good and liberals out to be race baiters if not racists.
There is power in the accusation of racism against conservatives, one that liberals understand well. In an April 2008 post on Journolist, a private online community for liberal journalists, academics and activists, one writer proposed a way to distract conservatives from the campaign controversy surrounding the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's pastor. "If the right forces us all to either defend Wright or tear him down, no matter what we choose, we lose the game they've put upon us," Spencer Ackerman wrote. "Instead, take one of them--Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares--and call them racists."
Joe Biden, a Delaware Democrat, after all, who described presidential candidate Obama as "the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." If a conservative politician had offered such an opinion, his or her career might have ended; Biden was rewarded with a spot on Obama's ticket
Liberal interpretations that portray modern conservatism as standing athwart the "rights revolution" of the 1960s are hard pressed to explain the growing number of minority and female candidates favored by the conservative rank and file. Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley, Susana Martinez, Brian Sandoval, Tim Scott, Ryan Frazier, Raul Labrador and Jaime Herrera are GOP nominees for the Senate, governorships and the House because Republican voters preferred them over their white opponents. Allen West in Florida and Jon Barela in New Mexico were the consensus GOP choices to run for competitive House seats. Many of these candidates are well-positioned to win their races and help change the public face of modern conservatism.in the 2008 campaign, conservatives were at least as roused by Obama's ties to the white former radical William Ayers as the black Jeremiah Wright, both of whom seemed to make a living out of damning America.
The old conservatism-as-racism story has outlived all usefulness and accuracy. November might be a good time to start a rethink.