“Romney wants to, he said in the first 100 days, he's going to let the big banks once again write their own rules. Unchain Wall Street. They're going to put y’all back in chains.”That was the bat-signal for the Romney campaign to go full "drama queen", implying that Biden's comments were somehow racially offensive and accusing the Obama campaign of pandering to Black voters. Romney called the comment "another outrageous charge", adding: "The White House sinks a little bit lower. This is what an angry and desperate presidency looks like."
So let me get this straight. The same GOP which has spent the latter half of the 20th century denying that racism even exists are now actually trying to play the Race Card. And they should know, shouldn't they, given that they're pretty much the undisputed masters of "dog-whistle" politics, from Newt Gingrich's "food-stamp president", to Reagan's imagery of "welfare queens". And of course one cannot forget those "Willie Horton" ads. Anyone who's observed the Republican party over, oh, say the past 50 years or so, can see their hypocrisy from orbit. Especially when they bow and kotow to the likes of Beck and Hannity, and worship the ground Rush Limbaugh walks on. But seriously, I have to ask the nut-jobs running today's GOP. Is this an argument you REALLY want to have? Do you people want to travel down this Hershey-Highway? Fine. I'll drive.
First off, let's take a look at the crowd Biden was speaking to. Yes, to be sure, it was racially mixed. It was also about 52% White. We're not exactly talking about the NAACP or the BET Awards. Yet, the GOP want to imply that Biden tossed out the race card by insinuating that only Blacks would be "chained" by a Romney/Ryan presidency. What they miss is their tacit admission that Biden is right. Their resentment at this "separation" of Blacks from the predominately White crowd pretty much says, "What about White people? Our policies will chain them too," along with Hispanics, Women, Gays, Seniors, Students, and anyone else who isn't a wealthy heterosexual White male. That includes the trailer park rabble know as the Tea Party, hopelessly bainwashed by FOX News into acting against their own best interest solely out of their hatred for Obama.
Of course there is also the larger narrative, the one that the Right-Wing has spent the past four years trying to make and, thankfully, has been rejected by sane America . It's the narrative that Obama only cares about Black people, that everything that he's done, from Health Care Reform to killing Osama Bin Laden, has been solely for the Black community. In trying to make the case that Biden was somehow pandering to the Blacks in the audience, they insinuate that the Obama presidency has always been of, by, and for Black people. That in and of itself is a clear indication of the racism that runs rampant in their party.
And ultimately, that is what this whole thing comes down to, and why the GOP is really so resentful of Biden's remarks. Because if there is one thing that racists NEVER want to talk about, it's the subject of race. And the only way they know how to shut down the conversation is to accuse their accusers of being racist simply for pointing out their racism. No wonder the Romney/Ryan camp has gone totally bat-crap over remarks that most people saw as little more than hyperbole from a guy who, let's be real, is prone to hyperbole. The GOP simply refuses to own the racism that flourishes within their party (which is pretty much why it flourishes in the first place), so they have to do the whole deflection, projection, denial thing to muddy the waters.
The Romney/Ryan campaign will keep this thing going for another week or so, and the mainstream media will follow along like the lapdogs they are. Meanwhile, they'll get a reprieve from the real questions about the Ryan plan, Mitt's taxes, and the general absurdity of their ticket. Unfortunately for them, trying to cover all of that up for any length of time is an exercise in futility. See, we are a 30 second generation. And although we are easily distracted, we always come back to the main bone that we like to chew on. Said bone, in this case being the hot mess that has become the Romney/Ryan campaign. Hope you all enjoy the ride.
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