SUNDAY IS THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY of
the attempted assassination of Gabby Giffords that ultimately killed six and
wounded 13 others in the worst act of political violence in this country since
the bombing of the 1995 Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. I
remember that moment of shock first seeing the news but at the same time not
being surprised to find out that Gabby was thetarget.
I knew that she regularly
received death threats; that the Tea Party demonstrated outside her office
carrying weapons every week and that her office had been shot at following her
2010 vote in favor of health care. After the 2010 incident, I wrote that
it was "not enough for [Republican Leader] Boehner to say these actions
are wrong, if he leaves unchecked the hatred his party so diligently
pollinated." Yet the Republicans
only added fuel to the fire, as months later Giffords' Republican opponent had
a fundraiser to "target" victory and "remove" her from
office where donors could shoot an M16 rifle.
Republicans are trying to
have it both ways when it comes to its extremist fringe, expressing displeasure
over their most outrageous conduct but stoking the mania that fuels it.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the Republican presidential
sweepstakes where the candidates are willing to condemn the racist rants in Ron
Paul's newsletters, only to then engage in race-baiting themselves as Newt
Gingrich did in equating African-Americans and food stamps.
Chuck Baldwin Quote by Bennet Kelley
The worst thing about Paul,
however, is not the dated newsletters but his more recent actions such as
endorsing Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin (a white supremacist with
ties to the militia movement) for President in 2008 and not Republican nominee
McCain; inviting neo-confederates to testify before his subcommittee or his
ongoing ties with white supremacist groups.
This has not come up,
however, both because the media has been shamefully lazy in reporting on Paul's
more recent activities and because you will not hear Gingrich or other
Republicans criticize Paul's embrace of the neo-confederate fringe since that
has become part of the Republican base. This is especially true as we
head into the critical South Carolina primary; home of prominent
neo-confederate Representative Joe Wilson who gained national infamy for
yelling "you lie" during President Obama's address to Congress on
health care.
The reality that no
Republican will challenge Paul's white supremacist ties does not alter the fact
that they should. In 1992, Bill Clinton angered Jesse Jackson but gained
credibility when he repudiated racist remarks by Sister Souljah that called for
the killing of white people. John McCain attempted a similar feat before
the 2000 South Carolina primary, calling the confederate battle flag a
"symbol of racism and slavery," but recanted three days later.
With Paul pursuing a
strategy that focuses on the caucus states where organization is key, as long
as Republican treat him with kid gloves and refuse to repudiate his David
Duke-lite candidacy (Paul is endorsed by Duke), he will come to the GOP
convention in Tampa with a sizeable slate of delegates. The Republican
nominee would need to placate him to ensure a successful convention, which
could undermine his attempt to move to the center as the fall campaign begins.
Once again the tail would be wagging the dog, just as in Congress where
Republicans have suffered political defeats due to the Tea Party Caucus'
insistence on extreme and politically unpopular positions.
When Barack Obama was sworn
in, I naively thought that the nation 
Militia Groups by Southern Poverty Law Center
was finally entering into a post-racial
era. The bitter cold of that day should have served as a warning, as
there has been a 553 percent increase in patriot and militia groups since that
time returning to peak pre-Oklahoma City levels. Yet when the Department
of Homeland Security issued a report warning about the rise of right wing hate
groups, Republicans cried foul and demanded an apology.
I am not saying that
Republicans as a whole condone the tragedy in Tucson or right wing hate groups,
in fact the Republicans I know are appalled by both. Yet when Republicans
say things like "reload", encourage people to bring guns to public
events or embrace white supremacist groups without condemnation by the party
leadership, their "silence utters very loud".
The upcoming anniversary and the rise of Ron Paul give the party a chance for a "Sister Souljah moment" that would allow it to break free from a fringe that is hurting it politically. More importantly, it would allow this upcoming election to be based on competing visions of our future and not the ugly scars of our past.
References
More Info on Ron Paul: http://ronpaultruthsquad.yolasite.com/
Related Columns
Year
of Living Dangerously Part II: Responding to Tucson's Day of Terror
America's Year of Living Dangerously
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