Last Friday, we commended Colorado Republican Party chairman Ryan Call, who in the aftermath of a rambling racist monologue from Sen. Vicki Marble last Wednesday in a poverty reduction hearing was apparently making no attempt to defend her. Call told reporters in a statement Thuesday that "Sen. Marble's careless comments do not reflect the views of Republicans."
Today, as the Colorado Statesman's Peter Marcus reports, we take back our commendation.
GOP Chairman Call believes that the racist angle is being played up. He’s not sure that the conversation would have even turned to race had Fields not raised the issue.
“They’re always looking for whatever excuse they can to jump on any perceived offense or slight,” Call said of Fields and the Democratic Party. [Pols emphasis]
“Careless is not racist. So, for Rhonda Fields and Democrats to be so critical and to respond in such an over-the-top way is actually, I think, in many ways worse because by taking something that is inartful comments and allege racism as a result in an attempt to score some cheap political points doesn’t do anything to further the dialogue,” added Call.
Just so everybody's clear, let's compare Call's remarks today with what he was saying last Thursday:
"Sen. Marble's careless comments do not reflect the views of Republicans," GOP chairman Ryan Call said in a statement issued Thursday. "Since the time of Abraham Lincoln, the GOP has a proud history of standing up for minorities, [Pols emphasis] and we are committed to fighting for policies that ensure every American has the opportunity to succeed."
Evidently, when Chairman Call felt it necessary to remind people last week that "the GOP has a proud history of standing up for minorities," he wasn't trying to "turn" the conversation "to race!" It seems Call was just veering into some totally unrelated tangent about the GOP's "proud history of standing up for minorities" when he spontaneously made that statement, which came immediately following Sen. Marble's monologue about "the black race," barbeque, and chicken. It's all just an amazing coincidence.
Our best guess is that Ryan Call took some very irate phone calls after his statement last week was made public–and even though he was most assuredly right the first time, Call is very well paid to not speak ill of fellow Republicans. So today, Colorado GOP chairman Ryan Call is back on script.
Folks, if there was any way to make a bad situation even worse, this might be it.
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Tsk tsk, Ryan, you didn't remember the 11th Commandment. To the woodshed with you.
Nice mugshot! When was that anyway?
So Ryan Call's new quote is simply: "Sen. Marble's careless comments do reflect the views of Republicans."
The truth is, Call was foolish the first time and right the second time. Marble's comments were inartful but not racist and Ryan had nothing to defend. Fields blew what Marble said totally out of proportion. And the fact that Fields won't meet with Marble now shows this is all just about scoring political points.
Call should have waited until he had all the facts before issuing his own careless statement. He'll be more careful next time.
Show me where in her words Fields blew anything out of proportion. Never mind. You can't. Fladen hasn't come up with a single actual word to criticize or a single reason why saying anything in public was wrong and he's been making the silly argument for days.
Guess Call has someone reading ColPols for him and probably got the brilliant idea for the ridiculous unfounded argument from our own Elliot. Call knew his hate spewing base would eat it up. Blame the uppity black woman. High fives all around.
Bluecat, listen to the audio. Fields' tone was not appropriate, and she in fact foresook the opportunity to handle it privately. You may not like these things but you can't change them.
I mean this with all sincerity. Were you alive in the 1950's and during the Civil Rights Movement of the late 50's and 1960's? I was. The stereotypes that Sen. Marble expressed about African Americans were public and widespread, including in the movies. Our culture portrayed African Americans as lazy, ignorant and undeserving of the opportunity and rights the rest of us enjoyed. That's why Rep. Fields responded in the way she did. And she had every right to do so. Apparently Sen. Marble didn't receive the memo, American society began dealing the death blow to such ignorance over fifty years ago so why is Sen. Marble trying to resurrect it. The kind of ignorance expressed by Sen. Marble needs to be taken on immediately, identified for what it is and it should be done publicly. Rep. Fields was simply not going to endure intolerance and ignorance. Good for her. None of us should.
Tone? Not worth a response. You're a perfect tool, Elliot. And considering how this never seemed to occur to Call before the weekend, bet you are his inspiration. Hey, he must have said to himself, great excuse to walk it back and be sure my racist base forgives me. Don't hold your breath for a thank you note, though. He wouldn't want to be associated too closely with someone who doesn't take the proper party line toward Mexicans.
I heart you too Bluecat. Let me know where I can send a holiday card to.
Why do you insist that it is inappropiate to respond to a public statement with a public response?
That's one of the questions EF will not answer. Because he knows its correct once he alanlyzes it without any messy context in its pure objective form.
Because although it was in public it was in what I understand to be a sparsely attended hearing and involved inadvertent offense given to Fields. In such a setting, handling the rebuke privately is most appropriate. Fields' reaction however was calculated to make sure that her comments would be reported statewide and nationally which is what occurred.
You're wrong. They were BOTH in the same sparsely-attended committee hearing (if you say so), and they both knew their comments would be reported statewide. The content of Marble's statement guaranteed it would receive wide attention. As others here have said – it was 100 percent appropriate for Rep Fields to respond in the same setting in which the original comments were made.
I rarely respond to you EF, so don't hold your breath that it will happen again.
Realist, responding in that context would have been the same as yelling out (or testifying on the record if so inclined) "XYZ [male] Senator, your fly is down." Was the Senator in public? Yes. Was his fly down in public in this hypo? Yes. Was the statement also in public? Yes.
Doesn't matter – the best way of handling that situation is PRIVATELY through passing a note or something similar. The Fields/Marble situation is analogous in so much as the fact that Marble's remarks being public in nature does not control the analysis.
We really need to take Daft's advice on this, Realist. What on earth is the point of of trying to have a rational discussion with someone who claims to consider the spouting of ignorant racial stereotypes just an unfortunate accidental and blameless faux pas, akin to suffering a zipper malfunction? I know it's hard not to respond but shouldn't we give it a try?
Not a problem. He's without question a troll, or troll-wannabe. He has nothing useful to offer.
Bluecat's version of "rational" – a discussion where you agree with him/her.
Yep, El, you finally got one right. The vast majority of us do agree with BC.
Isn't that the name of a very old Connie Francis tune, "Who's Careless Now?" Okay, it's close . . . .
I remember it as "Who's Clueless Now?"
Ryan Call is dead on. Of course I have been saying the same thing since Wednesday night.
Yeah, El and Ryan finally took your call and followed your lead. You must be so proud.
I don't have contact with Ryan (beyond bumping into him at random events). I'm not that influential.
Don't be so modest. I'm sure he has unpaid volunteers reading the site and he knew your ridicilous argument was just right for the yahoos.
ridiculous that is.
Troll.
Why do you people egg this dickweed on?
Ignore him!
I've never been convinced ignoring them is the correct thing to do.Ignoring them, given the kind of mindset epitomized there, sort of conveys to them that they've been right all along and will probably continue to get away with that behavior. I'd say the better thing is be sure you have your stuff together and get all up in their faces.
Nah. I've got to agree with Daft here. I just can't seem to control myself but will try harder from now on.
It's not about making better arguments, it's about stirring shit up and pissing people off.
Fladen says many Republicans have recanted their original support of Personhood. Challenged to name one….crickets.
The way trolling works is you toss off some quick bullshit, respondent gets pissed off, spends a chunk of time writing up a well-sourced logical refutation, and the troll either ignores it or teases the thread of a barely related subject.
Fladen is the master. Fuck him and the cow he rode in on.
Bluecat, speaking of ridiculous I have this image of you reading my posts that you disagree with…of your face turning bright red and smoke blowing out of your ears like in a Disney cartoon or something.
You really should try to tone your comments down.
You should see the real picture. It involves smirking and eye-rolling, nothing more. You're too lame to inspire what you describe.
So Ryan Call was dead off when he was decrying Marble's racist comments last week. Now that it is clear the loons own Ryan Call, I'm starting to get a warm and fuzzy feeling about 2014 elections 😉
Nope, the two aren't mutually exclusive. The Marble comments were stupid, but that doesn't excuse how Fields handled the situation.
Why were Rep. Marble's comments stupid, Elliot?
You mean you want a direct answer? You're dreaming.
I am, too, Davie. At this rate, with all the "I'm sorry…unless the base doesn't want me to be…" 2014 could be a blow out for the blue side.
Soooo . . . two wrongs do make a right??!!??
Where did Ryan say that Field's conduct justified Marble's comment? I'm pretty sure he did NOT say that.
The Republican ideologues control the party and anyone, including elected Republicans and party officials, who deviate even one inch from their beliefs is immediately attacked as impure. Truth and reality are not allowed to get in the way. What Senator Marble said was and is based on racist attitudes. Last week Mr. Call had the courage to distance the party from such foolish and harmful attitudes but the ideologues wouldn't let it rest there.
What they have done is force the head of the Colorado Republcian Party to endorse and support Sen. Marble's remarks even though there is near universal condemnation of what she said. This is another sad day for a once responsible political party. By back tracking, Sen. Marble and her racist comments are now the face of the Colorado Republican Party and, to a degree, will become the face of the national Party too because in this age of internet and 24/7 news this kind of story carries with it national political implications. How can the Republican Party reach out to African Americans and Hispanics when they continue to support racist views? Bottom line: They can't.
Is this mess hurting Mike Coffman?
Having Sen. Marble as the face of the Colorado Republican Party certainly isn't going to help him.
Except for one big thing I learned during years of door to door and phone banking. Most people aren't particularly aware there's such a thing as a state legislature that's different from congress and they couldn't name a single state sen. or rep. including their own. I can remember door to door for Joe Rice running in HD38 and people asking me "Is he running against Coffman?" when I tried to explain that Joe was running for state rep. in the state legislature right here in Denver as opposed to running to be a rep in the US House in DC, I got a lot of blank looks.
So I wouldn't count on this creating much of anything for Coffman. In an off year most people know who the Governor is and who's running against the Governor. It gets progressively shakier as you move down ballot.
A little attention could be squeezed out of asking Coffman about the whole Marble/Fields thing and then making an ad featuring the dust up and whatever deer in the headlights stupid answer he gives about it. You can pretty much count on Coffman to say something stupid and look ridiculous while saying it. He's not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Even Colorado Peak Politics thinks Marble's statement was dumb:
IDIOCRACY: Vicki Marble Joins The Legislative Moron Caucus
Thanks for the link, Phoenix! I enjoyed reading that.
I normally leave linking to CPP to the right-leaning posters here, but…
I know, It was hard to resist.
Dateline Denver — circa 09/3013
"Republican Chairman, Ryan Call, today issued another strenuous demand that State Senator Rhonda Fields publicly apologize for her recent tirade against, and insensitivity towards, the rampant malnourishment and disease in Colorado's black community. Said Call, "it's time that we expect that our State Senators abandon, once and for all, all those tired racial stereotypes and cliches of the past — this is the 21st century for Pete sakes!!"
Nice mug shot. Didn't you cry foul when they used Rhonda Fields' mug shot?
There are two standards of judging behavior on Pols:
(a) One for when a dem is being attacked; and
(b) One for when a GOPer/Libertarian is being attacked
And who is the "you" to which you are referring? I can only speak for myself but I didn't say a word about any Fields mug shot. You do realize that when this kind of thing is the best you can come up with everyone knows you've got nothing? Another troll not worth encouraging.