Things that make my head hurt: Somos Republicans endorses Newt Gingrich

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

FAUX News Fraudcasting hosted a "Survivor – GOP Presidential Primary" debate last night from South Carolina, a state that still flies the Confederate battle jack flag, on the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday no less.

Juan Williams, an African-American reporter on FAUX, had the audacity to ask disgraced former House Speaker Newt Gingrich about his dog whistle coded racist comments about African-Americans last night, for which Gingrich and his Southern White Citizens Council debate audience got hostile towards Juan Willams. TRANSCRIPT: Fox News Channel & Wall Street Journal Debate in South Carolina:

WILLIAMS: Speaker Gingrich, you recently said black Americans should demand jobs, not food stamps. You also said poor kids lack a strong work ethic and proposed having them work as janitors in their schools. Can’t you see that this is viewed, at a minimum, as insulting to all Americans, but particularly to black Americans?
GINGRICH: No. I don’t see that.
(APPLAUSE)

* * *

WILLIAMS: The suggestion that he made was about a lack of work ethic. And I’ve got to tell you, my e-mail account, my Twitter account has been inundated with people of all races who are asking if your comments are not intended to belittle the poor and racial minorities. You saw some of this reaction during your visit…
(BOOING)
… to a black church in South Carolina. You saw some of this during your visit to a black church in South Carolina, where a woman asked you why you refer to President Obama as “the food stamp president.” It sounds as if you are seeking to belittle people.
(BOOING)
GINGRICH: Well, first of all, Juan, the fact is that more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, I know among the politically correct, you’re not supposed to use facts that are uncomfortable.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)

First of all, "the professor" is full of crap with his "food stamp president" dog whistle code. More than two-thirds of people receiving federal assistance are poor white people living in rural areas. Repug code words: Obama is the “Food Stamp President;” Reality: 70% of Welfare and Public Assistance. Newt would have you believe that our African-American president has greatly expanded federal assistance to African-Americans. Decoded: "This black president is taking away your money and giving it to lazy unemployed blacks." Naturally his lily-white FAUX News audience ate it up. This federal assistance stereotype is a tried and true racist dog whistle code in Republican politics. 

Remember Ronald Reagan's  "welfare queen"? "Over a period of about five years, Reagan told the story of the "Chicago welfare queen" who had 80 names, 30 addresses, 12 Social Security cards, and collected benefits for "four nonexisting deceased husbands," bilking the government out of "over $150,000." The real welfare recipient to whom Reagan referred was actually convicted for using two different aliases to collect $8,000. Reagan continued to use his version of the story even after the press pointed out the actual facts of the case to him." "The Mendacity Index" by Washington Monthly Staff.

Juan Williams also had a pointed question for Willard "Mittens" Romney, whose father was a refugee immigrant from Mexico, on the topic of immigration:

WILLIAMS: Governor Romney, your father was born in Mexico. You still have family there, yet you have taken the hardest line of anyone on this stage on immigration reform, including opposition to key parts of the DREAM Act, which is supported by 80 percent of Latinos in this country. Are you alienating Latino voters that Republicans will need to win the general election?

ROMNEY: You know, I think Latino voters, like all voters in this country, are interested in America being an opportunity nation. People come here because they believe they want to have a brighter future and that’s been the story of America. The president looks out across the country and says it could be worse. I can’t believe saying that. The American people recognize it’s got to be better. In my view, as long as we communicate to the people of all backgrounds in this country that it can be better, and that America is a land of opportunity, we will get those votes.
Now with regards to immigration policy, I absolutely believe that those who come here illegally should not be given favoritism or a special route to becoming permanent residents or citizens that’s not given to those people who have stayed in line legally. I just think we have to follow the law, I think that’s the right course.
(APPLAUSE)
ROMNEY: And I have indicated I would veto the DREAM Act if provisions included in that act to say that people who are here illegally, if they go to school here long enough, get a degree here that they can become permanent residents.I think that’s a mistake. I think we have to follow the law and insist those who come here illegally, ultimately return home, apply, and get in line with everyone else.
Look, I want people to know I love legal immigration. Almost all of us in this room are descendants of immigrants or are immigrants ourselves. Our nation is stronger and more vibrant by virtue of a strong legal immigration system.
But to protect our legal immigration system we have got to protect our borders and stop the flood of illegal immigration and I will not do anything that opens up another wave of illegal immigration.

Romney's hard-line stance on immigration did not sit well with the Republican Latino organization Somos Republicans. They have decided to endorse the dog whistle racist code candidate, Newt Gingrich. Seriously? Largest Latino Republican Group in the Nation Endorses Newt Gingrich | Somos Republicans:

Phoenix, AZ – The largest Hispanic Republican group in the Country is endorsing Newt Gingrich as the 2012 Republican Nominee. We believe Newt Gingrich knows the importance of the Latino community. 50 million Latinos comprise 16% of our country’s population today. Half of our country’s population growth in the next 20 years will be generated by the growth in the Latino population. Latinos have become a key driver of our nation’s future. While the other candidates seem oblivious to this fact, Newt Gingrich has been working hard for many years to include American Hispanics in the overall conversation for a better America.

So Newt hating on the blacks is OK so long as he is pandering to the Latino vote, is that it? Do you really believe in your heart of hearts that this dog whistle racist is going to treat Latinos with any less respect and lack of concern for your issues than he does for African-Americans? If Somos Republicans really believes this they are as delusional and irrelevant as the Log Cabin Republicans, gay Republicans who continue to support a party that has demonized them as the enemy of civilization, as Newt Gingrich would say.

The fact of the matter is that none of the crop of Republican candidates for president is good for minorities — the poor, women, gays, African-Americans, Latinos, Muslims, etc. The GOP is the party of wealthy white privilege. Everyone else who wants to believe that it is something more than this is just kidding themselves.