You know? I'll never get this tactic that is, in my opinion, overused by black conservatives to get their fellow Negroes to cross over to the GOP side. I call it the "All black people are stupid but me" tactic. Which is, by far, the worst tactic to use. Herman Cain, presidential wannabe and Godfather's pizza man, recently went on CNN and said the Democrats have "brainwashed" black people into not seeing conservatism and the Republican Party as viable political options.
Which ... OMG? Really? That old lie that pretends like the 1960s and 70s never happened? But then, maybe Cain wasn't trying to win over any black people to the GOP with that statement. Maybe that was really about making white conservatives feel better since the GOP is routinely accused of harboring, defending and protecting bigots within their own party, rather than running them out of town.
From The Root:
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said during an interview that aired on CNN's The Situation Room on Wednesday evening that some members of the African-American community "have been brainwashed into not being open-minded, not even considering a conservative point of view."The reason why Cain has to deal with the vitriol is because of all the bigoted things certain members of the GOP have said and done. The fact that he refuses to acknowledge that the GOP welcomed the racist Democrats who refused to reform their racial views with open arms as part of their "Southern Strategy" is insulting. That he believes we should pretend Democrat and former President Lyndon Johnson didn't say the Democrats would lose the South for decades if they backed things like integration, Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. That the majority of members of the Congressional Black Caucus are Democrats and the first party to put up a viable, black presidential candidate in the modern era was the heavily flawed but at least able to acknowledge racism is real, Democratic Party.
He went on to say: “I have received some of that same vitriol simply because I am running for the Republican nomination as a conservative." He added, "So it's just brainwashing and people not being open-minded, pure and simple."
Yes. Folks were "brainwashed." With access and input and jobs and favorable legislation. I have this CRAZY theory that if the GOP gave more black people access, input, jobs and favorable legislation they'd be nicer to Herman Cain and maybe even consider voting for him. But all I ever here is how black people are "brainwashed" into disliking someone who runs with a party that makes excuses for their bigots and routinely sets up what few black candidates they have to fail. I'm sure Cain remembers that NOT-TO-LONG-AGO the GOP burned Michael Steele not once, but twice. First with their lack of funding, organization and support when he ran for Senate in Maryland. Then a second time when they tried to bully him out of running for RNC chairman again AFTER stripping him of some of his powers. Never mind all the times he had to walk back statements about Rush Limbaugh because, heaven-forbid someone say a critical thing about that bag of wind while also being a Republican.
So, I'm supposed to pretend like Tom Delay blocking former Rep. J.C. Watts from heading up any committees in Congress, then backing a pro-abortion Republican against Watts in his primary to force Watts out of his seat didn't happen. And I'm supposed to pretend like all the times Gen. Colin Powell was shoved into a wood chipper by former Vice President Dick Cheney didn't happen? I'm supposed to pretend like NONE OF THESE THINGS HAPPENED?!
The GOP barely supports their own, home-grown black conservatives, but you expect black voters to make a huge shift out of "open-mindedness?" Maybe Cain should get into a time machine and talk to himself from back in 2008.
From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
It doesn't look like some black people are brainwashed, but that maybe Herman Cain has been brainwashed, or just maybe, he's being disingenuous and trying to appeal to a segment of white voters who think black people are just making this whole "institutionalized and systematic racism" thing up.
Pandering is as pandering does.
Question: Are black folks "brainwashed" because they vote for Democrats year in and year out? Wouldn't that mean that Southern whites who vote for the GOP every year are equally lobotomized? Is Cain's recent surge in the polls a reflection of his fitness to run the country, or merely a case of racial pandering to wake up Romney and Perry?!?
