“I will go to the NAACP convention, and explain to the African-American community why they should demand paychecks instead of food stamps.”
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Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich while campaigning in New Hampshire (January 5, 2012)
Remember this the next time one of the GOP candidates or pundits deride the “dangerous class warfare” of the Occupy protestors.
How I, as an off-and-on NAACP member, would love to be there when Newt Gingrich presumes to lecture the African-American community on his vast knowledge of the economic struggles of Black families. After all, he was so insightful in his contribution to the nation’s understanding of economic justice when he suggested that young inner-city kids have no understanding of hard work — perhaps because they rarely see their two- and three-job-juggling parents — and should, therefore, take the place of union janitors in cleaning their schools.
I’m always just thrilled to hear the perspectives of privileged-bloated white men on racial justice, sexual integrity, and class divisions. It’s nearly as enlightening as having a bank robber tutor me on the advantages of one checking account package over another. Or of my dog trying to communicate to me the virtues of a localvore, vegan diet.
That, combined with Rick Santorum’s “blacks and welfare” comment Tuesday, illustrates that the GOP is comfortable with the conservative status quo that clings to the tired, disproved notion that “welfare” is “a Black peoples’ thing” and corporate favors and tax cuts are quite appropriately the providence, if not Providence, of wealthy whites. For a party greatly inclined toward whoring, that’s a terribly convenient, comforting notion no less so in its demonstrated falsehood. But these folks regularly cuddle up to liars, cheats, and panderers, so you’ll forgive me if I continue to be not surprised.
The Republican Party is falling apart because of its insistence on rewarding piety, not virtue; privilege, not honest gain; stupidity, not scholarship; and judgmentalism, not judgment — and the free fall risks bringing us all down with them.
The big question in November and beyond is, will we continue to let them?
Keely
www.keely-prevailingwinds.com
> From: thansen@moscow.com
> Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2012 13:54:02 -0800
> To: vision2020@moscow.com
> Subject: [Vision2020] Say What?
>
> “I will go to the NAACP convention, and explain to the African-American community why they should demand paychecks instead of food stamps.”
>
> – Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich while campaigning in New Hampshire (January 5, 2012)
>