BCT Editorial – 10/28/08

This page was last updated on October 28, 2008.

A long way to go; Editorial; Beaver County Times; October 28, 2008.

The editorial subtitle is “Powell addresses prejudice against American Muslims.”

If you believe this editorial had anything to do with “prejudice against American Muslims,” congratulations; you’ve been fooled. Though done subtly, the whole point of the editorial is to smear the Republican Party as a bunch of bigots.

There are three key excerpts. The first is “the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is a Republican, said he was disturbed by what some members of his party were saying about Obama. ‘‘And it is permitted to be said such things as, ‘Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.’’’”

The second is, “‘‘I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, ‘He’s a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists.’’’”

The third is “‘And John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know. But I’m troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions.’”

In three separate places, the editorial and Mr. Powell refer specifically to the Republican Party. The only name mentioned was John McCain, and Mr. Powell said, “John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know.” As for his charges of bigotry, Mr. Powell mentioned no names so no one can refute his assertions. That’s convenient.

If this editorial really was about “prejudice against American Muslims,” there would have been no mention of political parties or the editorial would also have referred to how often the issues of Mr. Obama’s faith and skin color came up during the Democrat primaries.

Does anyone care about Mr. Obama’s religion and/or skin color? Of course. Some people are superficial like that though I’m not one of them. To promote the idea Republicans are the major offenders requires us to ignore history and current events. For a historical perspective on civil rights, please read Democrats and Republicans.

Now let’s look at “current” events. Then-President George H.W. Bush appointed Mr. Powell as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and nominated Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court. Democrats smeared now-Justice Thomas. President George W. Bush appointed Mr. Powell as Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice as National Security Advisor, and Rod Paige as Secretary of Education. When Mr. Powell resigned, President Bush appointed Dr. Rice as Secretary of State. During this time, Democrats routinely referred to blacks in the Bush administration as Uncle Toms, house niggers, Aunt Jemimas, et cetera.

Outside of Washington, DC, we racist Republicans nominated Michael Steele for both lt. governor of Maryland (He won.) and U.S. Senator from Maryland (He lost the general.), Lynn Swann for governor of Pennsylvania (He lost the general.), Ken Blackwell for both Secretary of State of Ohio (He won.) and governor of Ohio (He lost the general.), and Bobby Jindal for governor of Louisiana (He won.).

Finally, I’m still waiting for an editorial discussing the remarks of Gov. Ed Rendell (D) and U.S. Rep. John Murtha (D-12). As a reminder, in February Mr. Rendell said, “You’ve got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate.” At the time, Mr. Rendell was supporting Hillary Clinton and he clearly was saying, “vote for the white woman because the black guy can’t win.”

In October, Mr. Murtha explained how Mr. Obama would have difficulty in Western Pennsylvania because we’re “racists.” Within a couple of days Mr. Murtha explained how he should have referred to Western Pennsylvanians as “rednecks” instead of “racists.”