The strength of Tim Scott and Mia Love
Profiles in courage
Amidst all the good news from election 2014, the victories of Tim Scott, South Carolina’s Senator, and Mia Love, new Representative from Utah’s 4th District, are especially noteworthy.
There’s no way to deny that their race becomes important, if only because Democrats have emphasized race so very much. Sadly, these usually-baseless accusations of Republican racism have become more frequent, not less, since the administration of Barack Obama. Scott and Love are living, breathing refutations of that rhetorical approach, and proof that conservative black candidates can win even in a place like Utah, which is one of the whitest areas in the US.
Here’s an example of Scott’s approach to answering questions about his race and his conservative politics:
The Democratic Party must be shaking in its shoes worrying that the black community might actually start listening to someone like Scott or Love.
There is another reason to have special respect for black Republicans such as Scott and Love. By definition, they must be courageous and hyper-adept at defending and explaining themselves. If they are left-to-right political changers (and some are), they would also tend to be people who have thought long and hard about political principles and made independent and tough decisions based on that. But even if they are not political changers, they are quite obviously people who are not afraid to be different, and who have the courage of their convictions. They have been forged into steel in the crucible of the calumny that’s been heaped on them, not by Republicans but by liberals and the left.
They are both to be congratulated on their well-earned victories. They will need every ounce of their considerable strength on the road ahead.
[Neo-neocon is a writer with degrees in law and family therapy, who blogs at neo-neocon.]
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
You need to include someone else in your story. Republican Will Hurd, another African American, won his race in the sprawling 23rd Congressional District of Texas, which is Hispanic. I once drove across this district on back roads. That’s a career in itself. It stretches 500 miles from outside San Antonia to El Paso and includes 800 miles of border with Mexico. When you leave a hamlet there will be a warning sign that the next food, water and gas is 80 miles away.
Hurd worked overseas for the CIA and was endorsed by Robert Gates. John Bolton’s PAC maxed out on contributions to his campaign. Allen West’s PAC also poured money into Hurd’s race.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/392314/undercover-no-more-andrew-johnson
Another Aggie. He’ll be interesting to watch. That victory was no mean feat, as the border districts tend to be very “durable” in terms of incumbency and fraud.
Not recently. After it was created there were some two long tenured Democrats. Then a Republican held it for 14 years. But in the 2006 election the Democrats won it back. It has changed hands three more times since then. That would make it one of the most competitive districts in the nation.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-johnson/2014/11/08/jonathan-chait-right-wingers-have-deep-seated-anxiety-and-deep
Jonathan (who’s full of) Chait makes a couple of observations and comes to all the wrong conclusions.
Big surprise there…
Rags, words are like a sword of fine steel in your hands. So sharp that the dripping blood is the first indication they get that you’ve struck them.
You need not bother reading any Chait piece to predict he will come to the wrong conclusions. It’s his trademark.
Tim Scott is the most genuine man in politics.
Over the years, since he first gained attention as a young black conservative on Charleston County Council, he has impressed constituents and onlookers alike. At the urging of former Governor Mark Sanford, he ran for the state legislature and then for Congress when his district seat came open via retirement.
He’s a bit older, but he was always measured in his statements, relying on common sense and actual facts rather than the accepted wisdoms that never pan out.
–
With him – and other budding political stars in our party, like Love, Stefanik, and Ernst – the best approach is to let him get grounded, see how DC works, and take on more responsibility at his own pace.
These are sharp folks, it won’t be so very long. But the GOP has a history of rushing our young stars forward too fast, before they’re ready, Dan Quayle and Sarah Palin leap to mind.
Disagree about Palin. If she had a support team that wanted her to succeed, things would have been very different. But she was stuck with establishment sycophants who wanted to impress the elites. So they sleepwalked her through the paces and she had no idea where the quicksand was.
I agree. And I think she has done remarkably well for a neophyte who was facing big guns from both her enemies and her supposed friends. She is a strong, smart woman who has taken the guff heaped on her and emerged intact. My hat is off to her.
The way minority/women conservatives are attacked reminds me of union thugs attacking scabs. Solidarity must be maintained!
I found it interesting that John R. Wood,Jr., the young bi-racial man who ran against Maxine Waters, identified himself as a Republican. California elections now feature a non partisan jungle primary with the top two vote getters facing off in the general, so he could have run as an independent.
I’ve long argued that Republicans need to stop looking at the black vote as a monolith. Analyze the sub groups, find the fault lines and work to peel off 15 to 20 of the total vote and the Democrat party stops winning statewide election in even deep blue states.
The biggest fault line I see is young blacks, particularly young black men. Misandry abounds among urban public school teachers and social welfare workers.
Logic and self-interest apparently have nothing to do with the black vote.
Ike won a good share of the black vote, especially in his ’56 reelection. Nixon won 37% in 1960. Then came the Civil Rights Act, and Democrats were able to portray Goldwater’s opposition as evidence of Republican racism, even though more Republicans voted for it than Democrats.
No Republican has won more than 10% since, except Reagan’s 13% in his 1984 landslide.
Imagine if the Republicans ran these two as their President and Vice President nominees? The only thing that could make these two even more unbeatable would be if one of them was gay 🙂
Think of how many heads on the left would explode if the Republicans ran an essentially untouchable pair like this eh? 🙂
Regards
Mailman
Trial Run:
I am deeply offended by the way Love and Scott have been segregated here from all other election winners by virtue of their race. I demand the article be taken down and this blog shut down for good. That is drastic, but the end of equality justifies the means of tyranny.*
*(I’m inventing Conservative Political Correctness in anticipation of a government sweep by the GOP in 2016. Sure, it’s as wrong as Liberal Political Correctness, but this PC shit is dynamite!)
‘Enry, you’ve made me laugh again!