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The GOP's Vote for Hate—and Suicide
In electing Audra Shay to head the Young Republicans, despite a slew of hate-tinged actions, even the GOP’s future leaders chose to bury the Party of Lincoln.
The election of Audra Shay as chairman of the Young Republicans on Saturday—despite The Daily Beast disclosing a half-dozen examples of incidents that fall somewhere on a spectrum between hate and racism —is larger than the elevation of a callous, polarizing candidate to a symbolic office. Seen against a recent trend of racist emails sent by grassroots Republican politicos and the historic trend of Southern conservatives’ realignment into the GOP, it is evidence that the GOP is becoming the Party of Lincoln in name only, a role reversal that has placed the right wing on the wrong side of history.
Evidently, some Young Republicans at this weekend’s convention in Indianapolis did not see their vote’s significance. Kentucky delegate Katherine Miller told the Indianapolis Star, “this controversy really is not the decisive factor for the majority of people voting here… It really has been played up a little bigger than it really is."
Shay’s election reflects a reactionary impulse within the GOP that seeks to dismiss any criticism or inconvenient facts as the work of the liberal mainstream media.
To understand why this really is a big deal, you have to have a sense of history. Then you’ll see where and why the Party of Lincoln went off the rails—and what needs to be done to address its now-gaping diversity deficit and rebuild a big tent that lies in tatters today.
The Party of Lincoln was founded on the principles of individual freedom and national unity. But it has become the party of the Southern conservatives it was founded to confront. Social conservatives are engaged in a domestic culture war against modern individual freedom movements, ranging from gay rights to reproductive rights.The racial diversity that was the Party of Lincoln’s historic hallmark has been surrendered almost entirely to the Democratic Party. And most ironically, talk of secession—to the extent it exists—has become the purview of Republican governors and conservative commentators.
All this can be traced to a Faustian bargain Republicans made precisely 100 years after President Lincoln was re-elected. Between 1860 and 1960—the Civil War and the civil-rights era—contemporary red and blue state maps were entirely reversed, with the South voting solidly Democratic. Its conservative senators and congressmen broke with their party when Lyndon Johnson signed civil-rights legislation that Republican conservatives like Barry Goldwater opposed. In return, Goldwater won an unprecedented five Southern states in 1964 as the conservative Republican nominee, including 87 percent of the vote in Mississippi. With the realignment of Southern conservatives, Republicans’ belief in individual freedom morphed into support for states’ rights, the longtime banner of secessionists and segregationists. African Americans got the message: Of the 23 blacks who served in Congress before 1900, every single one was a Republican. Since the civil-rights era, there have been only three African-American Republicans elected to Congress but 93 Democrats.
As our biblically minded fellow Americans know, you reap what you sow. And while this shift helped Republicans achieve seven out of 10 presidential victories between 1968 and 2004, the country is now decidedly more diverse and it ain’t going back. If the GOP had stayed true to its roots, it would be perfectly positioned to benefit from this demographic evolution. Instead, it is facing not only a diversity deficit, but a demographic nightmare.
In 2008, the McCain-Palin ticket decisively won only towns with populations under 50,000 and voters over age 60. This definition of “real America” is dying—a white, rural traditionalist base is shrinking almost by definition, as the country becomes more diverse and urban. After eight years of Bush-Rove play-to-the-base politics, Republican ranks have been decimated in entire regions. In 1999, Republican governors dominated the Northeast; now there is not a single GOP congressman left in New England. In 1999, there were 13 Republican congressmen from Teddy Roosevelt’s home state of New York, now there are only two. Independent voters are 39 percent of the electorate, while Republicans are 21 percent—their lowest number since Watergate. If you look toward the rising generation, it looks even worse for Republicans—only 19 percent of Americans born after 1977 identify with the GOP.
Shay’s election compounds these problems by cementing stereotypes that have only begun to hold Republicans back. In recent months, Republicans have made significant attempts to address the diversity deficit with the election of Michael Steele and Joseph Cao. But that momentum has been derailed by the election of Audra Shay. And with her pattern of racial callousness and cluelessness out on the table before the vote, it may take a while for young black conservatives to feel welcome in a party that already turned its back on their grandfathers.
Shay’s election also reflects a reactionary impulse within the GOP that seeks to dismiss any criticism or inconvenient facts as the work of the liberal mainstream media. This self-segregates the GOP into ideological isolation. Even the term "big tent"—a banner advanced by Ronald Reagan—is dismissed as code for “squishes” or closet liberals. The hunt for heretics increasingly seems like a hobby for the far right, with special venom reserved for centrists like Colin Powell and even John McCain. Shay’s immediate decision to “de-friend” those who called out the racist comments on her Facebook page reflects this impulse to purge any disagreement or departure from conservative orthodoxy. There is a reluctance to confront extremists for fear of angering the base. And in this, partisan conformity and cowardice is confused with personal courage.
The Republican Party must return to its roots as the Party of Lincoln to revive over the long run. It must reach out to different regions and not just play to the Southern conservative base. It must actively recruit candidates who reflect the full diversity of our country—by articulating an alternative entrepreneurial philosophy of how best to rise out of poverty and achieve the American Dream. It can find common cause with independents and centrists on the issues of fiscal responsibility and national security. But to connect with a new generation, it must resolve the core contradiction at the heart of modern conservatism—the rhetoric of expanding individual freedom is at odds with strident social-conservative policies that alienate anyone with libertarian impulses. The reality is that all young voters are less conservative on social issues ranging from gay rights to the role of religion in politics. Applying narrow social litmus tests to the active exclusion of all others will only further isolate the party.
The damage of Audra Shay’s election has been done—it will be seen as an endorsement of intolerance by the very young leaders who are supposed to help lead their party out of the wilderness. But sometimes you have to hit bottom to bounce back.
The Republican Party must modernize, or risk becoming little more than a collection of common grievances. Rediscovering its founding values of individual freedom and national unity—and applying them with renewed consistency—can, in time, re-establish Republicans as the Party of Lincoln. Failure will lead the GOP to isolation, irrelevance, and the ash heap of history.
John P. Avlon is the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics. He writes a weekly column for The Daily Beast. Previously, he served as chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Amateur Hour at the White House
Leslie H. Gelb, a former New York Times columnist and senior government official, is author of Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy (HarperCollins 2009), a book that shows how to think about and use power in the 21st century. He is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Going Rogue: The Index
Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
Wingnuts of the Week
John P. Avlon writes a column for The Daily Beast and is author of the forthcoming Attack of the Wingnuts, to be published in January by Beast Books. He is also the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics. Previously, he served as chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
The Next Wingnut Attack
John P. Avlon writes a column for The Daily Beast and is author of the forthcoming Attack of the Wingnuts, to be published in January by Beast Books. He is also the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics. Previously, he served as chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
Glenn Beck's Mob Rule
John P. Avlon writes a column for The Daily Beast and is author of the forthcoming Attack of the Wingnuts, to be published in January by Beast Books. He is also the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics. Previously, he served as chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
How old can you be and still be considered a "young" republican. Isn't about time for this woman to grow up.
You write: The Republican Party must return to its roots as the Party of Lincoln to revive over the long run. It must reach out to different regions and not just play to the southern conservative base. It must actively recruit candidates who reflect the full diversity of our country - by articulating an alternative entrepreneurial philosophy of how best to rise out of poverty and achieve the American Dream.
That will NEVER happen. It's too late. The Republican party is more or less dead (or will be in 10-years-time). This election just proves once again how utterly out of touch the party's become. This will be written about as one of the biggest reversals of fortune in American political history - on top in 2004. Practically gone by 2010.
As an Independent, who has voted individuals from both parties, I can no longer see myself supporting anyone from the GOP. The party seems to only be "fiscally conservative" when it suits them, like when there is a democrat for President. They certainly were not when President Bush was in charge. They say they believe in "less government" in peoples lives, yet the Republican congress did it's best to get involved with the Terry Schiavo case. And this is just a few examples of how the GOP exemplifies "do as I say, but not as I do".
I really want a strong Republican party. I think it is important for our democracy. I just don't recognize what they have morphed into....President Eisenhower, if he were alive, would not recognize his party.
Well said. I knew that the Republican party had gone around the bend with the Terry Schiavo case. What happened to State's rights? It will be interesting to see if they can sort themselves out.
Praise the Lord! Right on the money!
Like you I'm an independent, and like you, I feel the same. I'm not that much more excited with many Democrats either, but I can't see myself supporting anyone from the Republican Party in its current state. John McCain was actually someone I could, but he turned around and picked someone I couldn't as his running mate.
The inmates have taken over the asylum. Rational thinking Republicans are being drowned out by the noise being made by the bigots and tinfoil hat wearers... people who are scared -- scared of government, scared of terror, scared of whites not being in a position of dominance, scared of non-Christians, scared of ethnicities, scared of gays, scared of everything Fox News and talk radio tell them they should be scared of. To paraphrase Yoda, their fear has turned into anger, and that anger has turned into hate. They claim to love America, but what they really love is themselves and people just like them. I'm not sure many of them are ready or willing to embrace a multi-cultural, multi-racial or multi-religious America or world.
And like you touch upon, there's a lot of hypocrisy. I'm not sure what the Republicans stand for anymore.
This is all too bad, because there are ideas and beliefs that the party is founded on that are things I think the majority of Americans believe in -- things that need to be kept prevalent right now -- but those things are being buried underneath the all the noise. And all it's doing is pushing more people away.
I still had hope John McCain would come to his senses and thought he had the possibility of stepping forth as a wise leader and forming a new repub party and putting it back on track. But, after seeing him on Meet the Press this sunday, I was very disappointed and have completely lost all confidence in him because he firmly stood behind Sarah Palin and said he would pick her again for Vp if he had the chance. He now sounds like a demented and deluded old man who has lost his grip on who and what his party should be. I doubt if even his daughter Megan could talk any sense into him at this point. McCain could have aspired to becoming the leader who saved his party, but in my opinion, he will now just be another politician on the scrap heap of history, all because of his infatuation with a loony broad from Alaska.
I think there are many people who feel as we do. I am just growing increasingly concerned with all the "hate speak" being shown by both sides. It just seems as though you can't have a dialogue with someone whom you might disagree with before too long the "insults" start flying. But it does seem that since the election of our first African American President, the "hate mongers" have come out like locust.
As I once heard, and is worth repeating:
"How can you say you love America, but hate Americans".
Great post! Add fear of intelligence and knowledge to the list! The Republican Party seem anti-Science and anti-intellectual/educated. They want to deny climate change/global warming while promoting creationism in schools and bogus claims about the earth being only 6000 years old, etc. They completely avoid facts! By catering to religious extremists, they have become a party of knuckleheads. The party seems enthralled with the likes of "Joe the Plummer," George W. Bush, and Sarah Palin, while they're suspicious of people who have some intelligence or higher levels of education.
"Rational thinking Republicans are being drowned out by the noise being made by the..."
You're half right. Rational thinking repubs were driven away from the party by the incessant screaming for bigger government, and more social programs emanating from the center of the repugnant party...which has been shifting ever leftward.
Republicans are now Democrat-lite: Big government, welfare statists who seek a command-and-control economy. Yet, are too stupid and arrogant to understand that you cannot control an economy.
Decentralization is our last and only hope. It's time to rethink the antiquated notions of "one nation" and "indivisible."
leetz1 says it perfectly:
scared of government, ..... scared of ethnicities, scared of gays, scared of everything Fox News and talk radio tell them they should be scared of....
scared of education/intelligence....
and I can add some more:
Scared of change, scared of advancement, scared or aspiration and progress, scared of anything that points towards a 21st century way of lifestyle or way of thinking......and believe this or not, scared of the internet.
Gone are the days for them to dominate the TV media and newspapers....when they could spin any story and shove anything down the throat of their citizen. Now they are out of power, scared, frustrated, angry and hateful. Its stressful these days to be a Republican. Their hate and anger bring stress on them, no doubt. Their anger makes them reject any idea that may come out of the Democratic party, but yet when asked for an alternative idea or plan, they either have none, or hate you more....It's a pity.
This party will never grow, believe me, not for a looong time to come if ever.. Their members are brick-headed stubborn who will not listen to alternative views, show tolerance or adapt to the 21st century way of thinking.
JonesRE wrote: "Rational thinking repubs were driven away from the party by the incessant screaming ... from the center of the repugnant party...which has been shifting ever leftward."
Yeah, that's what it is. Republicans simply need to move FARTHER to the right...because obviously they aren't nutty-fringy enough. (though the adoration of Sarah Palin and Carrie Prejean seems to directly contradict that...)
Oh, and you ALSO need to drum out anyone and everyone that doesn't support every jot and tittle in the Republican platform. That's what the party REALLY needs. An ideological purge. After all, as one of the greatest Republican presidents in th history of Republican presidents says, "I ya ain't fer us, yer agin us". Time for you people to start pulling out the torches and pitchforks, isn't it?
(/snark)
You seem close minded. Lets see whos running before you can no longer support the GOP. Then again, you are probably not an independent either.
Actually, I am an independent and have been for decades. And I don't see myself voting for for a republican candidate, as things stand with the GOP at this time. And I don't see why expressing my concerns for the state of the GOP makes me "close minded". As I expressed, I want a strong GOP, because that is good for our democracy. Finally, I wish we had "more" than two major political parties in this country.
This was a manufactured scandal, that really does not hold up under scrutiny. If the words of another person in the comment section of Facebook make you a racist, then Sonya Sotomayer is a double Racist and shouldn't be allowed to serve on any bench in this country.
I personally believe neither is true, and that the media will never let racism die, as it sells too many ads and pageviews.
Wow, you've got your talking points down solid. Of course, that's easier than understanding the facts.
You do realize that upon getting criticized for the Facebook posting, Shay defriended the person who criticized the racist and not the racist himself? So if she isn't a racist, she's certainly a moron. Obviously a role model to you.
If you knew a thing about face book, and asynchronous communications you might also have something factual to talk about.
There were up to 20 minute time lags between comments on this Post. You act as if it were a chat session. Edin, you go create a group, and moderate it in facebook. If you make a post, I could put such a comment 8 or 9 comments deep on your post, and then start my friends complaining that you are a racist by not repudiating this quickly.
Does that make you a racist? How come the crack team of reporters on this haven't surfaced the guy who made the comment? Maybe he's a dummy account? could be, but he could be one of the many nuts on Facebook as well. So far the reporting of this has been entirely too slanted.
I personally would have defriended them all, but when you look at the players in this controversy, it looks like internal Republican smear jobs (centrist against right), especially when you consider the author's affiliation with Giulianni.
On the other comment
Hawnzz, you are full of the Kool-aid on this one. Her comments are consistent with policy writings she made in the 90's. Nice try at sweeping this under the rug, but it is a consistent pattern of behavior for her to make these statements.
akcita
the racist commentor is irrelevant. Shay is a political national figure who has condoned racism. It kills me how quick you are to defend her actions but I bet you'd put Sotomayor on the rack in a second.
I do agree with your comments about FB not being a chat session. All the posts are listed in order for everyone to see. Shay also would have recieved notification of every comment. IMO that blows her "I was commenting on an earlier post" out of the water. She's a racist and so are republicans.
Not even close... Sotomayer's comments were said with a wink and a smile at a dinner. Anyone with a sense of humor and a brain could easily put it in context.
The things on Ms. Shay's Facebook/encounters were straight out of a 1950s KKK rally. ACK They were utterly vulgar and wrong for this day and age. I pity the woman.
I doubt the Republican Party is dead. But it has cancer at the moment and is on it's way out if it doesn't go in for treatment.
See above.
Oh and the timing of this little stunt wasn't convenient was it now? Please folks consider a little thought on things, technical and political before you do your knee-jerk every republican is a racist diatribe.
This appears to be a moderate v conservative republican hit job.
reply to akcita
For your and other claims here that this was a "hit job" - a forensic audit of the facebook timeline will easily reveal the truth.
We have all read the DB's reported timeline and from the account, it is very difficult to find support or respect for Ms Shay's judgement and internet savy. I think any aged Republican deserves a clear account here. This little reported scandal in the making could define the party.
If it isn't outed now, it certainly will be researched, documented and analyzed completely until let's say - just before the next election.
For the current GOP membership crisis, I would think the role of the Young Republican and leadership of the group is epic. Where are the Old Republican's in this affair, get out the wallet and investigate this!
The very term "Racism" is a dispicable canard. Each of us belongs to multiple "sets." Whether family, culture, community, tribe, ethnicity, or other...if you do not prefer those of your own 'set' over members of another, you are engaged in the willful destruction of your group.
Also referred to as cultural suicide.
What an asinine view. So by your idea, I should "prefer" a white person over an asian person or a black person ?!? My wife is Taiwanese, so I guess you would say I'm engaged in the "destruction of my group"? Never mind that she is a wonderful, intelligent person and we love each other. Maybe you'd call it "miscegenation" like a 50's KKK member. Or maybe you're into the racial purity ideas of the nazi's. I don't know, but either way your comments are racist and xenophobic.
The evil "Liberal Mainstream Media" eh?
Seems to me that with Palin self-destructing, the Republicans needed to groom another moronic, racist bimbo. Seems like Shay fits the bill.
In the words of George Orwell, ' He who controls the past, controls the present, he who controls the present controls the future.'
We now have the most orthodox and misguided people running the show in the Grand Orgy Party. I call it this because there is no longer any doubt that the party itself cannot communicate or relate to the common person.
The logic and history of the Republicans has gone out the window, for a future of disenfranchisement and disgruntlement. Soon the GOP will be nothing more than a collection of rich, white southerners, who are playing at politics for the simple reason that if elected they can stop the process of the people's wishes becoming legislation and then law.
If the practice of disenfranchising the soon to be majority Hispanic voters continues, and by all accounts it will, then the party of Lincoln, a party founded on the principles of individual freedom and responsibility, inclusion of all races and creeds, will become a thing of the distant past, long forgotten but to the very few who remember Dwight Eisenhower and Barry Goldwater, but among these will be those who distinctly remember the logic and reality of William F. Buckley, Jr.
Goodbye cruel world, for the fate of the GOP is sealed and they have been committed to their own death since 'the Great
Communicator.'
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Hey John, thanks for the high school civics lecture, you idiot. This country has two parties. One fails and the other surges. Then it swings back. Can't wait for your analysis after the 2010 mid-terms when you try to deduce the resurgence of Republican power in the House.
Glad to see the Statue of LIberty bonking you on the head. Saves me the trouble.
True, but demographics will not be kind if the Republicans don't change. They will close their own coffin if they don't dump the ultra conservative theocrats which want to rule as only they see fit. (There is an irony there...)
You won't see the pendulum of power swinging back anytime soon, I guarantee that. As much as Obama's policies may inspire discomfort, and as sluggishly as the economy may recover (probably not in time for the mid-terms), the American public knows that the GOP is no alternative. It is a Party completely bereft of decent leaders and no ideas, hostage to an intolerant, myopic, fanatical base. People know this--they are not dumb. The polls bear this out--even with the increasing unease about Obama's policies, there is even more unease with the Republicans. I'm sorry, my friend, but it is way too soon for the pendulum to swing back--your Party has to earn that, and it is not at all clear that they understand this at this point. We will no in the next decade whether the Republicans have a chance at coming back or whether the fanaticism will take over and bury the Party for good.
The Blue Dog Dems that I know already acknowledge their mistake in voting for him. He better start taking PERSONAL care of the economy rather than delegating it to Congress.
He has focused on Liberal Agenda Items rather than core economic issues that affect Americans (and don't tell me Health Care is an economic issue, as it is being treated as an entitlement in his policy, and will have to paid for by someone which will be another economic drag).
He better get on the Economic/Prosperity issues fast, as that is why he was voted in.
You presume, Melissa, that I am PRO-Republican. I am not. I am ANTI-Politician, 99 percent of whom are self-serving, self-aggrandizing, poorly informed fundraisers. Thank god they don't control elections. The whimsy of voters reigns supreme!!!!! People's "discomfort" with our kid-in-a-candy-store President will weigh more heavily than any specific perception of the opposing party. Politics is not party, it's perception.
I am inclined to agree with you. The shame is there are things about the GOP that most Americans can agree with, but the shrill, caterwauling, theocratic, arrogant, racist, elitist group of fascists that have hijacked the Republican Party have sent it into an entropic downward spiral. But, the GOP has a lot of money. They just may be able to literally BUY their way out of this.
@ akcita
you are completely ridiculous!!! Blue dogs who regret voting for Obama? Really?!!! So they are pinning away that the world would be a better place with McCain and Palin in office?!!!!!! Are you serious!!!?
I'm a blue dog and I can tell you that you are full of it. You are a typical lying delusional republican. ROTFLMAO!!!!! Good luck to you.
Here's another "blue dog" Democrat that doesn't regret his vote for BHO. ou're exaggerating, akcita, and you know it.
With the likes of McCain's kid voting for racist as head of Young GOPers, as if a 40 year old is young, the Dems have no problems.
I don't understand your comment. Are you saying that Meghan McCain supported Audra Shay? Quite the opposite. In fact, Meghan McCain wrote a column here at TDB imploring young Republicans not to vote for her.
It's just too bad that the young Republicans did not listen to Meghan McCain. They have really hurt their reputation by electing Ms. Shay.
No one is ever going to listen to Meghan McCain. From the right, she is the daughter of RINO John McCain, who embarassed himself and his party in the '08 election. From the left, she is the daughter of John McCain, who foisted Sarah Palin on the electorate, which directly led to the out-in-the-open racism that now permeates the Republican Party.
Making matters worse is that McCain was roundly rejected last year, yet all I ever see is him on my TV and his daughter on my internet. When will the Washington media realize no one respects either of them?
EdinNJ,
Your first point is correct, that is how most people from the two sides of the political spectrum view McCain; I have a problem with your second point.
I'm not sure where you get off saying "no one respects either of them". I don't know how you just connected Meghan to the Palin VP pick and the failure of the GOP in 08; to say that no one respects her is completely wrong. I find her quite intelligent, respectable, articulate and most importantly: SHE'S NOT SHRILL.
The GOP's problem is just like the author of this blog has said, they're a contradiction of their own "principles" (if they have any anymore).
Please speak for yourself when you say "no one respects either of them", Edin.
"...the GOP is becoming the Party of Lincoln in name only..."
Yes, this name: George LINCOLN Rockwell.
Shay should ask herself WWLD? What would Lincoln do?
A political party is like a star. A star has two forces working on it, which during its lifetime remain in equilibrium. Gravity makes the star want to shrink and the heat from fusion makes it want to expand. As the hydrogen is used up the star begins to cool and then gravity begins to do its work and the star shrinks to a black hole or, counter-intuitively, explodes into a supernova. (Apologies to any astronomers--this is really over simplified.) Similarly, a political party has a need for ideological purity, which tends to make it shrink, and a need to get as many voters as possible, which makes it expand in size at the expense of ideology. In the Republican party, the former force has overwhelmed the latter. RINOs are not wanted. As more moderates are forced out, the remaining are even more ideologically pure and less willing to tolerate any deviance.
There is a real chance that the Republicans may fall into a black hole as the Whigs did in the 1840's. The Whigs were replaced by a new party, which had some Whig principles and some novel ideas. History may repeat itself.
Nice analogy.
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
Remember those racist billboards in Western Penn. during the election? Those were blue dog democrat signs and they were way more racist than anything this woman is associated with and those folks voted for Obama. When the left doesn't believe their own ideas can win the day they resort to the tried and true racial card. By doing so they're actually just a racist as the people they're attacking. The bigger issue with this idiotic woman is that she doesn't bring any new or fresh ideas or approaches to the party. In a party of old geezers she may be young, but her ideas are the same old stale bread.
"This definition of "real America" is dying"
And guess what, so is America.
Perhaps your definition of "real America" is dying. America is not dying rather it is emerging. What's dying are the hypocritical racist ideals that has pervaded this counrty for centuries.
Mr. Avlon:
While I agree with your concluding paragraph, your supporting arguments were primarily rubbish. For the record, I had a vote in the Shay vs. Hoff election and Ms. McCain did not. If she was so passionate about one ticket, she should have joined the Arizona delegation and cast her vote.
If the GOP is to rediscover the values of individual freedom, it must reject the liberal trap of identity politics that elects someone based on the color of their skin, gender, or sexual orientation (none of anyone's business!). We are all individuals, not "groups". Lumping people together by skin color is the ultimate racism! It is my hope that Michael Steele was elected Chairman of the RNC because he was viewed as the best man for the job, not merely the darkest skin we could find in a nice suit. How base is that notion!?!
We are poised on the brink of having one of the most idiotic, unAmerican Supreme Court justices of all time confirmed, despite a clear record of the majority of this judge's past decisions being both overturned and unConstitutional. Why will this judge most likely sail straight onto the highest court? Because SHE is a woman (hear me roar!) and because she was born with an attractive tan that screams, "I'm a misunderstood minority!" Nonsense! RACISM at its finest!
I conclude by challenging your journalistic integrity. I clicked on your blog post to find a quote from the Facebook exchange from whence you generated your sensational headline. Finding none, I ask that you withdraw your charge that Ms. Shay is a KKK-style racist. You have offered no proof, unless you also subscribe to the School of Thought Police. "We think she thinks X so it must be true. Hang her!"
For the record, I was not satified with either candidate at the top of the YRNF ticket, nor do I place as much importance on the position as you seem to do, so I abstained on that one vote this weekend.
In conclusion, Republicans must reject identity politics and affirmative action racism. Going forward, may the best, most qualified individual always win. That concept is at the heart of Goldwater Republicanism to which the GOP must return to save its neck. Any other interpretation is misinformed.
Truly,
K. Priscilla Jones
www.twitter.com/patriotwriter
For 200 years the country was run using "identity politics and affirmative action racism". The country was founded using "identity politics and affirmative action racism". Although Republicans like to use the term "identity politics and affirmative action racism" to imply quotas or selection of candidates with inferior qualifications, the reality is that with affirmative action the country would indeed look like it did 200 years ago. Affirmative action was created to ensure a level playing field.
The best and brightest would not be on a level playing field. Only the White best and brightest would be on that field at all.
The Republican party has chosen their fate. Don't blame the "Mainstream Media" as the Republican party continues to sink into a neo-KKK. The Fox "News" reality is not a true reality.
FOX sells empty skirts, to quote Michael Savage.Murdoch made his billions with trash news, look at the garbage FOX televison shows as exhibit A.
There are 4 FOX affilliated radio station in Las vegas, and that is just AM.
They paid the politicians, namely the FCC board, to allow them to saturate the airways and print media with their neo con agenda.
Republicans are trying to self fulfill their Christian hopes for the destruction of the world. Gotta give them credit for chutzpah, blow up the world, then blame God.
As Avlon points out, the Democrats have elected 93 African-American Senators since the civil-rights era, and the Republicans only 3. Given this disparity, do you REALLY think that the GOP supports candidates on their merit rather than the color of their skin? And that they appointed Steele as their first RNC Chairman EVER right after the election of the first African-American President just by coincidence? If your answer to these questions is Yes, then you are not only naive, but delusional.
p.s. Thanks for helping vote in the clearly racist Shay to head the "Young" Republicans: another nail in the GOP coffin.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Wow, I'm honestly speechless.
Lets start off here, shall we?
Where did you graduate college at, if you did at all?
Certainly not Summa Cum Laude from Princeton and I'm also assuming you don't have a J.D from Yale Law School.
Calling her an idiot invalidates whatever opinion you may spew out from your pathetic pie hole.
I sense jealousy in your rage filled reply, honestly.
What redneck state are you from, K. Priscilla? You just confirmed what everybody is saying about the Young Republicans.
You say that Sotomayor is being approved on SCOTUS because she is Puerto Rican. That's racism in and of itself! Your claim that she is unqualified is wrong. Compare her judicial experience to that of, say, Clarence Thomas and see which one had more courtroom experience as an attorney and as a judge. In fact, she has more experience than any nominee in the past ONE HUNDRED YEARS!
You people feed each other Republican talking points Pablum from the Geezers in golf pants that run your party, and it's really transparent and more than a bit hilarious.
I think you have some problems with basic math. I would enroll in a night class to help you out. Don't feel bad, apparently Rush Limbaugh also has trouble.
For the real facts - 1.3% of Sotomayor's decisions were overturned.
The Supreme Court reverses or overturns an average of 68% of the decisions presented to them, so Sotamayor's 60% rate is less than average and less than the 100% overturn rate of Alito. Why don't you guys start a campaign to get Alito off the bench!
Also, Summa Cum Laude, for those who didn't go to college or who don't read much, means the very highest honors, which from a University like Princeton mean a lot.
She has more experience than any nominee for a 100 years, graduated with top honors, has a very low overturn rate, has a clean record, etc.
Here is a link from Newsweek with a FACT CHECK that you might not enjoy reading as your ridiculous arguments and phony facts crumble into dust:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/199955
What absolute rotgut.
This is a manufactured, inside-the-beltway controversy. No one out in the country, among the rank and file, give a rat's fingernail who Audra Shay is or have a freaking clue about what she stands for or who wrote on her facebook page.
Most people know as much about this "crisis" as the news media know about Sarah Palin, which is;.....next to nothing.
I live in Mexico City. And everyone here is quite aware of this "election." And I assure you, given the history of the "Young Republicans," and the "leaders," who have come out of their ranks to serve in government - THIS IS BIG NEWS, having a halfwit who talks with her friends about that "coon," sitting in the Oval Office.
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Fox News is still refusing to report on the Young Republican's election.
If you visit any of the rightwing sites and read the comments they make not just about the President but about the family, it is beyond disgusting. I am appalled at the amount of racist hate, including toward the Obama children. So I'm not surprised they would elect someone with those attitudes to lead them.
This is an example of a posting on Free Republic about the swim club in the Philadelphia area and the day care kids:
"Perhaps if these urban youths were not feral in their behavior, and had some kind of adult supervision, this would not be an issue. Sadly, to be a heathen is the norm in the ghetto. No personal responsibility, no sense of proper behavior, no thought of others: that's the feral way, and it is near-universal in the 'hood. It is the norm."
Feral! What kind of people are these?
Here's a story about the comments made about Malia Obama:
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Conservative Free Republic blog free speech flap after racial slurs directed Obama children/1782375/story.html
This isn't all Republicans but it is a significant segment. There aren't enough Republicans speaking out against it so it appears to be condoned and if is acceptable it will continue and get worse.
The election of Shay speaks volumes about what the Republicans are becoming.
No, I didn't like what Letterman said about Palin's daughter. But he's a celebrity (I won't say comedian because I don't think he's that funny). However, the people saying things about African American children and the First Family are our neighbors, our co-workers, and maybe our relatives. If we don't speak up when we hear it or see it, we condone it.
As long as the Republicans chooses questionable personalities for positions of power within their party they will continue to wander in the wilderness. They have no new ideas but lots of obstruction. If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result, what does that make the Republicans?
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I am offended liberals like you people ever called yourselves Republicans. All you can only ever think of is race. It is pathetic and disgusting.
Words like "This definition of 'real America' is dying", "diversity deficit" and "the country is now decidedly more diverse and it ain't going back" are all veiled bigoted comments. Because afterall our teachers taught us it is so bad to be white now isn't it?
Its reverse racism. Rob from whitey and give to anyone a shade darker is what idiots like you people seem to think will fix some imagined problem that is really just YOUR own white guilt. Not a nations guilt, but YOUR guilt. Well I hope this generation reaps the mess it has sown. I only feel sorry you will drag the rest of us down with them.
RIP U.S.A., 1776-1976. May all Americans live equally miserably ever after in the 3rd world 2nd rate banana republic to come.
The reason we talk about race a lot is because YOU PEOPLE keep bringing it up! How many times has it happened in the past few months, and on a national level: Magic Negro, Spook photo composite, Michelle's ancestors as gorillas, Michelle being called Barack "baby mama" on Fox, I could list a dozen others.
Not to mention the racist viral emails I get down here in Louisiana and the constant racist humor during the 7 years I lived in Memphis. And your own semiliterate statement beginning, "Rob from whitey..." just shows you to be a dumb redneck Rethuglican, even if you don't live in the South.
I was a Republican for 30 years, until George W Bush, a stammering fratboy, was somehow nominated for the Presidency. And I have news for you. We are already a third world country, due in large part to Republican rule. Get yourself a passport and travel in a few other countries if you want to see how Americans are looked down upon.
Again, "redneck" "YOU PEOPLE" and "Rethuglican" are only more evidence of your bigoted weltanschauung... oh sorry weltanschauung is a Nazi word, right? Because, after all, you children were taught that all German words and white Republicans for that matter are Nazis. If this is what you were taught, why then it must be true!
"I was a Republican for 30 years" is exactly the white lie that makes me chuckle. People like yourself and Colin Powell and McCain's and his daughter were never ever Republican. Not even 'Republican In Name Only'. And people can see right through you and will call a spade a spade...oh wait, is a gardening tool a racist term?
You got it backwards, NY. A RINO is the current power structure of the party, and that's why I left it. The real Republicans were able to govern with collegiality in Congress, but Newt Gingrich changed all that. Along with the delayed reaction to the Southern Strategy. What took you people so long?
I believe the current power structure of the Republican party has little effect on core Republican principles. George W. Bush wearing the label (R) is as meaningless as Barrack Obama wearing a (D) instead of an (S). I don't hold the Republican party accountable for what Bush has done wrong or right.
I have voted for one Democrat only, John Kerry. I have voted only "for" one president, Ronald Reagan. And I have voted against "the other candidate" in every other presidential election of my lifetime.
When Powell said, "Americans do want to pay taxes for services" and "Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less." these thoughts are simply anathema to Republican ideals. Emotionally ruled thoughts like those make my skin crawl so much more than anything Newt Gingrich could have ever said or done that I cannot relate to your though processes. Powell's kind of wrong thinking is what empowers welfare and the entitlement mindedness we see today. Though, I can't say I worry too much about the future of liberalism and entitlement because both liberalism and entitlement state will vanish with the first signs of any serious economic depression...
Well good luck whatever party you choose. Hopefully someday we'll all have parties that speak for the people instead of to them.
"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember it or overthrow it." -- Abraham Lincoln, 4 April 1861
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I don't know about Audra Shay but I am quite proud of my young conservative peers who are trying to return the party of liberty back to the message of liberty. For too long Republicans have been tangled up in big spending, and have let "family values" dominate the political agenda.
You seem to suggest that Republicans are isolating themselves because we are southern racist conservatives. May I ask what is NOT racist about Obama getting 98 per cent of the black vote? What is NOT racist about affirmative action? What is NOT racist about Sotomayor ruling to throw out promotion test results because most of those who passed were white?
Conservatism isn't about serving minorities, or serving poor people, or gays, or the "working class"... Conservatism is about securing the liberties of ALL individuals under a common law - without favoritism - and insisting on a government that is limited and checked.
Affirmative action as reverse racism is a concept first proposed by David Duke in the 1980's. But then, I suppose you folks think Duke is a genius.
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I'd love to see the libertarian wing of the republican party step up; I think they could lead the republican party back to it's rightful place in our two-party system.
I'd rather have the hippies back, then deal with these gullible racist morons that are breeding and just waiting for the appropiate decade to roll out their white pointy hats so they can go on a witch hunt, like John Mccarthy or worse go on a mass lynching genocide like Hitler only more backward and ruthlessly stupid.
I must have mis-interpreted the republican message. The message is Ultimate tolerance. It is ok to be a racist. We must be tolerant of everyone. Except for the gays...republicans can't be openly tolerant for gays. And lets be tolerant of non-whites on the surface...but behind closed doors and sometimes on the internet lets call them names and remind them that they once were our slaves. And lets insinuate that they could be our slaves again. Or least remind them they don't have any of the power that the good o' white boys deserve.
Or speak in code. What is this Republican code they all seem to know so well? Do the Dems have a code they use? I've never heard of one if they do.
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