In a recent Huffington Post column, co-host of the Al Sharpton show and “frequent MSNBC contributor,” Earl Ofari Hutchinson (pictured above) had some choice words for members of the Republican party.
It appears, according to Hutchinson, that regardless of whether Republicans like Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Rick Perry denounce rocker Ted Nugent’s comment calling President Obama a “subhuman mongrel,” those Republicans are still racist.
To Hutchinson, Republicans can never not be racist because there are racist people in America who vote Republican. Moreover, it’s the Republican appeal to voters residing in the south and in “flyover” country that makes the party perpetually racist.
A blast here and there against a nutty rocker is not even the proverbial finger in the dike against the steady torrent of racial baiting that has routinely poured from the lips and actions of legions of GOP rank and filers, especially against Obama…The hard reality is that there are still millions of GOP backers in the South and Heartland, and the gaggle of right-wing webs, blogs, and talk radio jocks that think the GOP’s only flub is that it’s not truly conservative enough. They have hammered the GOP that any retreat from its core beliefs and message will perpetually doom it to political extinction in national politics. They warn that if the GOP suddenly started pandering to minorities and gays it could kiss millions of their fervent supporters goodbye.
To say nothing of the improper — and arguably bigoted — stereotyping of the South and Heartland as inherently racist, the above quoted excerpt is ironic for a number of reasons. First, it wrongfully presupposes that those who believe the GOP isn’t “truly conservative enough,” (i.e. the Tea Party movement) are also somehow automatically racist. This assertion is wrong for so many reasons that it no longer merits serious consideration.
Second, Hutchinson neglects to account for – or perhaps actively avoids recognizing — the racism lodged firmly within his own party. To illustrate my point, I’ve cataloged a few notable recent examples of Democrat bigotry for Mr. Hutchinson to peruse at his pleasure.
The list goes on and on.
Truth be told, regardless of what region of the country you hail from or what political party you call your own, racism still exists. However, it appears only to be Republicans – particularly in the south – that are stigmatized as “racist.”
This is because the standard, both in the media and in popular culture – is applied differently to Republicans than it is Democrats. In a recent exchange with Wolf Blitzer, Newt Gingrich aptly described this as “selective media outrage.” It’s not that outrage over comments like those made by Nugent is necessarily misplaced, it’s that many are rightly curious as to where the outrage is when substantially similar comments are made from the other side of the political spectrum.
So, Mr. Hutchinson, would you apply the same standard of perpetual racism you accuse Republicans of to your fellow Democrats?
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