In late October, the Houston-based group Raging Elephants put up the billboard above in Houston, TX and Dayton, OH. Raging Elephants is the same organization behind the grossly misleading (if not flat out dishonest) "MLK Was A Republican" billboards put up in summer 2009 and earlier this year.
The first clip below is from a discussion between community activist Quanell X and Republican Judge Michael Fields that took place on a late October newscast of a Fox affiliate out of Houston. You can read the accompanying story by clicking here.
Meanwhile, in parts of Houston with a mostly Black population, fliers were recently handed out to voters claiming that voting a straight Democratic ticket is actually a vote for the Republicans. The flier states that the group responsible for the flier is the Black Democratic Trust of Texas. However, it appears that no such group even exists! The following clip is from a news story on the Fake flier controversy by ABC's Houston affiliate.
If the GOP is serious about reaching out to the black community, I'm all for it. However, it's going to take more than superficial billboards. I often hear conservatives/Republicans say that the GOP is a big tent open to everyone. Sure it is. From what I've seen, recent history indicates the GOP intends to use one of those tent poles to stab blacks, Latinos, the GLBT community, etc. in the back. Or are they aiming lower? Ouch!!
15 comments:
Not personally reaching out to minorities = dumb Republicans.
Reaching out to minorities = dumb Republicans.
I don't have any love for the Republicans either. They're a crooked bunch of SOBs. However, I realize the other schmucks are schmucks too.
Quick question: how much Republican influence is there in towns and cities and states where things are the most horrific for people in general?
Uberbeaurocracy, business and growth-eating zoning, taxpayer supermassive black holes, fleeing commerce, shady government-induced lending - these aren't "Republican."
(I'm not trying to be cute. I'm honestly wondering. The liberal to conservative numbers are probably overwhelmingly one-sided.)
Minorities have been giving their votes to Democrats in batches and bunches for decades. HEAVY government is what's found in a lot of places now as a result.
Slim progress made after term after term of Democrats in control = dumb Republicans.
What are politicians in general doing for ANY people besides using them for votes and making great careers out of being politicians?
People - do for yourselves.
I am literally ROTFLMAO!!!(about the billboard). That is too funny! Quanell X was just about to make a point about the incarceration rate when he was abruptly interrupted. On a more somber note, the fliers are trickery, plain and simple. Unfortunately some voters who are ill-informed might actually believe such nonsense. I have often thought that minorities and the gay community should ban together because their agendas are really not that far apart. Josh is right in this regard. Politicians are the new "rock stars".
When your party has no other plan or priority except, as Mitch McConnell explained: “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president”, then the only way you can attract voters is through lies and trickery. If people are fooled by these methods, they themselves are to blame for not bothing to keep themselves informed. Probably one of the most dangerous elements this country faces today is the uniformed voter. BJ P.S. If you have not read “The Grand Old Plot against the Tea Party” by Frank Rich of The New York Times, I urge you to do so. There is a link at the top of DemWit’s sidebar.
Sue: Yes, I did notice how the types of blacks they used in the billboard. I wouldn't put it past the GOP to claim that 2Pac was a Republican if they thought it would sway blacks over to their side. They are desperate and pathetic.
Josh: I'm all for Republicans reaching out to minorities. I just wonder if they know how to do it without shooting themselves in the foot.
I have no idea how much Republican influence is in those areas that have been hit the hardest by poverty, crime, etc. I will say that both parties can share in the blame for these conditions.
Question: what are your thoughts on the fake flier incident that occurred in the Houston area.
Pjazzy: That billboard is funny. I wonder if any black saw that and said, "Hey, that's the political party for me!"
I agree with you that the black and gay communities should join forces. Unfortunately, I doubt if that will happen. One reason I feel this way is because of the homophobia I've seen in the black community.
BJ: As you alluded to, it is up to the voter not to be fooled by this type of trickery. To me, a common misconception is that we live in the information age. Because of the distortions and outright lies that are accepted by many as fact in today's political world, I think we live in the misinformation age.
I intended to read the Frank Rich article, but forgot. Thanks for reminding me. I just finished it and thought it was pretty good.
Josh:
"I don't have any love for the Republicans either. They're a crooked bunch of SOBs."
Props for calling out the GOP. Since none of your conservative blog buddies are likely to read this blog, I think you should be safe with that moment of candor. :-)
The most under reported story of the election season was the sheer amount of minorities running for first time office. They were republicans.
You can disagree with the GOP all you want, that is fine. But to say that the people are not wanted based on color is a simply false meme of the left.
I met some interesting folks last night. Die hard dems from Detroit. They are now conservatives once they opened their minds enough to just listen. Far too many people are made to fear in this country instead of doing the research on thier own.
If someone comes about thier belief system honestly, than have at it. I am fine with it, even if I don't agree. But at least research.
I am not commenting on your post as I don't know anything about it. As for the MLK being a republican, my understanding is that he was a republican until the Kennedy's helped him get out of jail. I don't know how true that story is, but I did hear he was a republican earlier in his life.
My thoughts on fake fliers and sham politicis in general: they're all schmucks.
Every statistic shows African-Americans, out of every "group" of Americans (and how I find that in itself to be insulting can wait for another debate), vote one way in astronomical numbers - by percentage, of course.
Obviously, the few Republicans out there that do give a common sense message of fiscal and personal responsibility, a united America and economic growth through everyday people in small business, are lumped in and shut out by a gargantuan leftist political machine.
Beyond becoming liberals and embracing those types of policies, Republicans probably see absolutely nothing they can do to sway such a loyal bloc to their side of the fence. So the schmuck tactics come out.
I don't approve of sham politics. But I approve of dirty politics even less. And while both sides play them to the point I literally cursed my television at every single election result save Rubio in Florida, it seems to me there's a lot of "Republicans are your enemy" crap coming from every major liberal organization and even from the President of the United States of America.
How anyone can fight that is beyond me. One battle at a time, perhaps.
And about my calling out the GOP.
Everyone who knows me knows that I'm not a "political" person.
I'm a right-leaning Republicanesque guy in the way I live my life and view the world (economically and through an angle of small, noninstrusive government), but I'm 100% independent and have no love for politicians.
Blogs I frequent like TCL's accept my "schmucks" and "chadrools" even though I don't pull for a return-to-religion conservative government. A few other liberal blogs I've tried to comment on, however, won't even post my comments if there's anything negative about the libs.
JACG: It's sort of comical to watch the GOP fumble and bumble in their attempts to attract minorities. Instead of stating their platform, they try silly gimmicks like the billboards.
Your comment about not commenting on this post because you don't know much about it is puzzling. Are you saying you don't know much about the billboard, the fake flier incident or both?
As for MLK being a Republican, I've heard that he was and he wasn't. Even if he was, it's irrelevant. The people who cling to the belief that MLK was a Republican seem unable to grasp the concept that there is no guarantee that he would be one today if he was alive.
Josh: The so-called leftist political machine is an easy scapegoat to me. If it's only a few Republicans extolling the virtues you stated, that doesn't speak well of the GOP as a whole.
Right.
So cable media sources aren't at least 80% left-leaning.
Once proud publications, like the newspaper of record, no less, the New York Times, isn't now a partisan puff piece, just to name one of the biggest.
NPR, funded in part by taxpayers, isn't dominated by left-leaning employees.
Huge lobbying organizations masked as heroes like the NAACP actually push an impartial political point of view.
The President himself isn't calling the other side "enemy." And prominent liberals in Congress never likened the TPers to political assassins and extremists.
The DHS didn't issue a report warning that protesters with right-wing ideology are potentially dangerous.
The majority of the entertainment culture doesn't push a leftist point of view.
These things are in my head, I guess. There is no leftist machine!
Or are you trying to say that the machine isn't the reason Republicans aren't getting elected?
If so, I don't really disagree.
Per its definition, I'm not assigning scapegoat status to this obvious tilted mainstream culture.
I was stating a hypothetical when asked a direct question - that Republicans resort to shams because they probably feel there's nothing else they can do.
That is obviously not true, however, as evidenced by the recent elections.
They can get elected without using a bloc of people like pawns as corrupt liberals have been doing for decades.
And I'm not sure what the GOP shouts from the roof as their mission statement. They lose me at religion. I don't want a "return to Christ" America.
There really are only a few politicians I see in general not falling on religion--faith--as a crutch, so I pay the most attention to ones not crossing their hypocritical hearts.
The accusation that the media has an overwhelmingly left-leaning agenda is a myth. For years, conservative pundits have been pushing this talking point and their core audience has swallowed it whole. According to Eric Alterman’s book “What Liberal Media?: The Truth About Bias and the News“, conservative pundit Bill Kristol admitted the “liberal media” claim is a myth in a New Yorker interview. In the eyes/ears of many conservatives, if you are a member of the media who isn't propping the right-wing agenda, you're in the tank for Democrats. Although the claim that the media mostly leans left is a myth, it's an old and effective tactic. Not only does it provide conservatives with a built-in excuse when they make a misstep (Sarah Palin has turned this into an art form), it's also akin to the coach of a sports team "working the refs" in order to get favorable calls.
Now, on to the actual topic of this post. It’s the fault of the GOP itself that it has failed to attract more blacks. Without question, winning over this key voting bloc is an uphill battle for the GOP. However, billboards that look like the cover box to a low budget straight-to-DVD romantic comedy or which claim that a revered civil rights leader who's been dead for over 40 years was a Republican are not the answer. One would think that the Raging Elephants would know better. The GOP’s efforts to attract more blacks isn’t helped either when one considers the numerous tactics conservatives/Republicans have used against America’s first black president. One can only guess how many blacks have turned their backs on the GOP (perhaps permanently) as a result of the lies (he’s a Muslim, he wasn’t born in the U.S., his trip to India is costing taxpayers $200 million a day!), the vicious verbal attacks, and the nitpicking that President Obama has endured.
Myth.
Perhaps you can make that stick with someone paying less attention in the world. I'm not the one, however.
And if the GOP starts to do what liberals do by separating black peole from the rest of America and catering specifically to one race differently than other races, then the GOP may as well be liberals.
If black voters want to turn away from a political party because a black president catches shit, then good luck ever finding true equality in America.
The more I talk to people about race, the more I see people assigning themselves separate but equal status.
I only wonder if white people felt Bush's skin color had anything to do with crap he caught like: election stealing, levee bombing, tower destroying, murdering for oil, and the other crap he caught that makes Obama's presidency look like a walk in the park.
And if I said media perpetuated that during Bush's two terms, I suspect you'd drop another "myth" line on me.
Save it for the fly-by illiterates.
If black voters don't side with the GOP, good for them. I don't blame anyone for straying away from that core ideology.
But the what-have-you-done-for-ME-lately stuff is soul selling.
Josh: Thanks for letting me know you don't think it's a myth. That just reinforces my feeling that the right wing media's pushing of the "liberal media" talking point is very effective.
Your pondering over whether or not whites felt Bush's skin color had anything to do with the criticism he received would carry weight if he was the first white POTUS.
The bottom line is if the GOP is sincere in attracting blacks to their so-called "big tent", they need to figure out a way to effectively convey their message. That's just for starters. Until that happens, I'll sit back and watch as the GOP continues to stumble, fumble, and bumble in their efforts.
Malcolm: I completely agree that if the GOP is really serious about reaching out to blacks and other minorities then it is a good thing. However, call me a skeptic for questioning the sincerity of such efforts from the right and the far right. These billboards prove to me that they are not truly serious about doing the grassroots work it is going to take.
Sandy: Good to see you again! I'd like to ask the members of the Raging Elephants if they have any plans to reach out to minorities outside of these superficial billboards. I suspect that they don't.
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