Race and the 2004 Election

You may not be aware of Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered, particularly since it airs on that paragon of political correctness, PBS. It's a pretty informative new series starring the bow-tied boy wonder (and Jon Stewart punching bag). This week featured, among others, Marjorie Fields Harris, a candidate for Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee...and it was a depressing interview indeed.

Folks, Bush increased his percentage of the black vote despite the scare tactics of the left for two reasons: (1) the shared conservative values of black churchgoers and Republicans, and (2) disgust with the Democratic Party's plantation mentality. You see, according to Ms. Harris, Bush is fundamentally a racist because, well...because Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice aren't really black. You may think I'm joking, so a good ol'-fashioned (partial) fisking is in order.

Carlson: Marjorie, thanks a lot.

Why didn't Kerry do better?

Harris: I think Kerry was a good candidate, to be honest. He was effective in what he was trying to say. I think that the organization around him just did not allow him to penetrate the community as he could have.

Since I am running for the Vice Chairman, I won't say anything bad about our nominee who just lost decisively, that's how effective he was. (Also, he wasn't in control of his own campaign).

Carlson: What about the notion that the Republican party actually has points of common interest with a lot of black voters? A lot of black voters aren't as enthusiastic about legal abortion as your average well-educated white voter is. More comfortable with faith, for school choice. Why don't more black voters vote Republican?

Harris: It's one of the myths of the black community, that we all believe in abortion and these kind of loose moral values. I think that's always been a myth.

I hold your bow-tie wearing opinions in such contempt that I am not even paying attention to you, as shown by my complete lack of understanding of your question.

...the Republicans haven't reached out. This is the first time I've even seen a small effort. Bush, come on, he didn't get the numbers they expected in the African-American community. I can't say that the Republicans were effective in reaching out to African-Americans, but they never tried to embrace us as a community. It's not so much we haven't gone to the party. I think the party hasn't come to us.

Clarence Thomas and J.C. Watts meant nothing to me, as they weren't Democrats and didn't share my views. The fact that Bush made inroads in the black community is just not relevant, despite the fact that he increased his share of the black vote by 37.5% from 2000, because, you see, it wasn't as high as some pre-election estimates.

Carlson: Isn't the real problem a lot of black voters think the Republican party, on some level, is racist, and once that perception goes away, if it does, a large number of black voters come to the party. Why not?

Harris: It's based on the fact that you have a president who's appointed people like Charles Pickering, Pryor, Janice Rogers-Brown, who is African-American herself, to the federal bench. These are people anti-, or for the most part our rights, anti-civil rights, anti-human rights in a large respect. So it's not based on a perception. It's reality. A lot of the --

Tucker, I'd like to take the opportunity here to slander some people without offering any proof. Here are three people who I would like to nonchalantly accuse of being racist and "anti-human rights". So you see, the fact that I can throw these names out at you means that the Republican party is racist in reality, not just perception (oh, and by the way, Janice Rogers Brown apparently hates herself).

Carlson: He's appointed two black secretary of states. That doesn't help at all?

Harris: What does that mean? Colin Powell, a military man, he's not necessarily an icon within the African-American community. He's not related to the African-American community. Condoleezza Rice, who is an outstanding woman, and it's great what she's going to be doing, but she's not connected to our base. She doesn't represent the interests of African-American women. She's never touted herself as being an African-American woman representing our interests. I think it's wonderful what they've done, great personal achievements, but it doesn't necessarily reflect the community overall.

Tucker, you make the common mistake here of assuming the African American community is composed of all African Americans. In truth, any African American who turns his or her back on the victim mentality and rises to the top of American society is no more than an Uncle Tom like Clarence Thomas by definition. In fact, if you rub their faces really hard, the blackface will probably start to come off. If Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice were serious about helping the black community, they would pander to us and encourage us to rely more on the government and less on our own brains and hard work.

I could go on, but you get the point...doesn't this crap get tiresome to you? As a Republican, let me say on my behalf to the black community, we welcome you, we don't have an ideology test, and we are truly interested in what you as an individual has to offer our party. If there's one thing this blog will make clear, it's that identity politics makes me sick. There is no "African-American" mentality, anymore than there is a "white male" mentality (if there were such a thing, wouldn't the Michael Moores of the world agree with the Rudy Giulianis(who we'll take a hard look at later as a spotlight candidate for '08)? The most important message of the Republican Party is that it is the individual that matters more than the group.