Tread Carefully Indeed

Check out this blog entry from The Politico.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8659.html

It seems that Republicans are actually becoming sensitive to the fact that they're perceived as racist and sexist. For the record, I can't imagine how they came by that charge . . . was it painting the face of welfare recipients that of Black women? Was it Willie Horton? Was it the GLBTQ intolerance-fest that we saw at their convention some years back?

However, now that the Democratic nominee is going to either be Black or a woman, they understand that they'd best mind their ps and qs . . . or at least the "pc police" as they call them. But let's get real . . . some may call them the pc police, but does it make sense to campaign by making sure you insult as many people as you can get away with? What of basic courtesy? Let's take Allen's "macaca" comment, for example: what would have been the courteous thing to say to this man who had been following his campaign? Plain courtesy would keep them out of trouble.

But wait, there's more to think about. If they were going to really shift perceptions, what would they do with the immigration issue? What would the party's position be about people living across our border working in the U.S. For those who are stunningly hostile to anymore Latinos working in the U.S. and whose jurisdictions got rid of the immigrant menace, those communities are in economic meltdown because the economy required those workers. Further, if we're so concerned about Americans doing jobs Mexicans are taking, then why don't we allow more people to organize into Unions so they can negotiate better wages? Why not raise the minimum wage to over $10.00 per hour so people are not in poverty when they're working? What are Republican proposals for affordable healthcare aside from charging that the Democrats are socialist and the market can take care of it (which it hasn't).

How would we responsibly talk about terrorism without implicating everyone who has a last name from the Middle East? How would we build relationships in that part of the world so that we develop peer relationships that work? How would we really help Iraq develop political solutions to problems that can't be fixed by our military? What might we really say to Musharraf in Pakistan? I think this all smacks of racism!

So I can't wait . . . a season of Republicans trying to hold their racist and sexist tongues! What they really need to worry about is Obama's ability to out-organize them because if the far right doesn't provide foot soldiers for McCain, I don't see how he can win.

But while they're at it, I'd appreciate it if they didn't insult the Black man or the woman, and not only for the duration of this campaign, but never again!