I LOL when I read this column by J.C. Watts (Hat tip: Karen Tumulty).
Once in the general election, and safely out of the cloistered world of Republican primary politics, our nominee will want to trot out black faces -- usually black Republicans -- to try to win the black vote. This is insulting when you consider he likely didn't show up at events that were established to reach out to the black community. Trust me, these candidates will pay a price in the general election.
In 2000, then-Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson and Co-Chairman Pat Harrison called on Al Gore to fire Donna Brazile, his campaign manager, for saying the obvious:
Al Gore and Bill Clinton have worked hard for the last seven years to improve the lives of African Americans and Hispanics. . . . The Republicans bring out Colin Powell and J.C. Watts because they have no program, no policy. . . . They'd rather take pictures with black children than feed them.
Republicans claimed that Donna was "race-baiting." So, naturally, I called them out. Washington Post columnist Donna Britt wrote:
What Brazile should have said, Anderson wrote in her column, was that presidential front-runner George W. Bush's Louisiana state campaign chairman was fined for failing to disclose a $150,000 payment to genuine racist David Duke. Brazile should have cited Bush's refusal to urge South Carolina to remove the Confederate battle flag--a symbol of forces that sought to keep millions enslaved--from its statehouse because it's "a local issue." Never mind that he has weighed in on numerous local issues across the nation, including an art exhibit in Anderson's native Brooklyn.
Brazile, she wrote, should have mentioned the GOP's "rank hypocrisy" in impeaching President Clinton for lying about sex with a subordinate when their leader, Newt Gingrich, also was involved in such hanky-panky. Then there was House Republicans' refusal to support a resolution condemning the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens--a group that GOP heavyweights Trent Lott and Bob Barr have addressed.
Whew. What's a woman with insights like Anderson's doing in a party like that?
Actually, I left the party shortly after that incident. Now that J.C. has finally seen the light, will he follow suit?
