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 ObamaÂ…
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 GOPÂ’s only flub is that itÂ’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.