Congressional Republicans are Stunningly Tone-Deaf

10 Comments

by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Guess who Republicans ended up sending to Selma, Alabama after all? That’s right — Rep. Kevin McCarthy! We are totally psychic (see end of post).

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We mentioned this story earlier today in “Get More Smarter,” but the issue continues to draw attention (the bad kind) for Republicans: No GOP Congressional leader is attending events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the civil rights movement.

As our friends write at “The Fix” explain, this is a really, really, really dumb move by the GOP:

The eyes of the political world will be on Selma, Ala., tomorrow as President Obama will be in town to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the civil rights marches that began there — and drew the attention of the country to its racial divide. Know who won’t be in attendance? Anyone from the House Republican leadership…

…It’s hard to overstate what a dumb decision this is for a party desperate to show that it is comprised of and open to far more people than just old white men. [Pols emphasis] “We do dumb real well,” said former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. “It is astounding to me that whether it is supporting the continuation of the Voting Rights Act or commemorating a pivotal part of American Civil Rights history [Selma], Republican leadership prefers to sit on the sidelines.”

“Hey Republican leadership, get your ass down there,” former Florida Republican congressman Joe Scarborough said on “Morning Joe” Friday morning. “Get down there. This is not hard. Don’t golf. Don’t raise money.”

We agree wholeheartedly with Chris Cilizza on this one: “It’s hard to overstate what a dumb decision this is…” While many rank-and-file Republicans will be in Selma this weekend, there will be nobody — NOBODY — from Republican leadership in Alabame. They can’t even roll out Rep. Kevin McCarthy?

10 thoughts on “Congressional Republicans are Stunningly Tone-Deaf”

JeffcoBlue says:

March 6, 2015 at 2:44 pm

I'll say it again: the first black President has pushed the racist right into far more open racism. I'm not surprised by this.

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Zappatero says:

March 6, 2015 at 2:48 pm

Gerrymandering and suppressing the vote via various Voter ID laws seems sufficient to give R's enough seats to, if not completely dissolve all institutions they don't like, at least stifle legislative work to the point they cease to function.

50+ votes to kill Obamacare and the Supes barely even noticed. Pure Genius I tell you.

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Old Time Dem says:

March 6, 2015 at 3:07 pm

"It's hard to overstate what a dumb decision this is for a party desperate to show that it is comprised of and open to far more people than just old white men."

I think you made a mistake there. The GOP is not, in fact, interested in broadening its appeal.

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FrankUnderwood says:

March 6, 2015 at 4:00 pm

Sadly we Dems are about to lose another Senate seat. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) is about the be indicted so it will just be a matter of time before he vacates his seat and Fatso appoints a Repub as an interim. That will bring us down to 45.

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1. Gilpin Guy says:
  
  March 6, 2015 at 4:19 pm
  
  Well corrupt is corrupt even if it is your guy. Give him a fair trial and boot him if he really is that big a scum bag. Dems need to recruit and promote better candidates.
  
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  1. FrankUnderwood says:
    
    March 6, 2015 at 5:55 pm
    
    We also need to win back some governorships so that when deaths and indictments diminsh our ranks in the senate, the power-that-be doing the appointment be a Dem. (It will also help w/ redistricting in 2021.)
    
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Gilpin Guy says:

March 6, 2015 at 4:17 pm

This is a huge opportunity for Obama to talk about race and rights both historically and currently in towns like Ferguson. Like Lincoln at Gettysburg, he can define the struggle and the cause. People should be showing up for the 50th commemoration of the Selma march. It could be historic.

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1. ajb says:
  
  March 7, 2015 at 7:54 am
  
  Which is precisely why every Republican has other plans that day.
  
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  1. mamajama55 says:
    
    March 7, 2015 at 9:12 am
    
    +1965 ajb
    
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    1. BlueCat says:
      
      March 8, 2015 at 4:52 pm
      
      More proof that they really have no intention of appealing to minorities. They just say it and have a few on show to convince the low info middle that they aren’t racist while sticking with gerrymandering and voter suppression to beat back the growing numbers that will soon make the combined minorities the big majority. They must know that won’t work forever, which makes me really worried about what else they’ll try to do whenever they have legislative majorities and, God forbid, the WH with full power to put install their own Supreme Court. Meantime, they’d just as soon appeal to their racist base by doing things like ignoring historic Civil Rights remembrances and cleansing texts to pretend we’ve always been just one big happy family and weren’t those Africans lucky to be brought to this great country and weren’t they mainly treated really well by good, caring white owners looking out for their welfare? Anyone who refuses to stick to that version must want our young people to hate America. Right?
      
      Just wanted to test the emoticons.
      
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