Courtesy of Mediaite:
On Sunday’s episode of Up, host Richard Lui asked Republican strategist and Irish Name Generator O’Brien Murray what Carson’s appeal was to a group of Republican voters, and Murray explained that Carson was a “black man attacking a black president.” Democratic strategist L. Joy Williams agreed, but put it in slightly different terms:Murray: It was his attack of Obama, and frankly a black man attacking a black president, which is something people get away… Williams: And that’s where we are.
Murray: When you talk about it years ago, remember he stood in front of the president and he made his bona fides originally attacking the president face to face, at a prayer breakfast, mind you.
…Williams: The really important thing of people supporting him because it’s, oh, there’s another black man commenting or — negatively against the president, and I don’t feel comfortable in doing so because of the race factor. So here’s someone who can do it that’s kind of —
Murray: Not at all. The question was what was he doing. He was attacking the president, and he was going after him in such a way that was very well pointed out, where the issues were with the president with Obamacare and other things. Given his narrative and history and his bio, which is fantastic —
Williams: Which is one n terms of having the, I was going to say, having the “safe negro” comment on someone that you’re against.
Murray: No, not at all!
I actually watched this exchange this morning and I was nodding my head the entire time.
I think a lot of us have known for quite awhile that Carson's appeal was almost exclusively connected to the fact that he criticized the President to his face during that prayer breakfast back in February.
Before that he was a relative unknown, and after that he was a conservative star.
And this did two things for the conservatives and the Republican party. It provided cover for their own racism, and it gave them their own, sorry but this is true, Uncle Tom to use as a surrogate for attacking the President and his policies.
Salon knows what I'm talking about:
White conservatives love Ben Carson, the black face in a high place, in a sea of white candidates, because his symbolic presence provides cover for the white supremacist politics endorsed by the post-civil rights era Republican Party.
And by the way, that is essentially almost the exact same reason that Carly Fiorina has the support she has as well. Only instead of President Obama, her target is Hillary Clinton. And instead of covering for the Republican party's racism, she is covering for its sexism.
So yes the Republicans use these tokens in their party as pawns to deflect criticism.
But if you think that Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, or even Ted Cruz are going to win this nomination, then you my friend have simply NOT been paying attention.
It is going to be a white guy. And you can take that to the back.
Ben Carson's racist appeal revealed in all it's disgusting detail on MSNBC's "Up" this morning.
5:36 PM
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