Opinion: Republicans Stoke Racial Resentment And Divide The Country
W. Mitt Romney seems to be drinking the same Kool-Aid as some of his nuttiest supporters.
A couple of weeks ago he made a joke about President Obama's birth certificate that was criticized for what it was: a blatant nod to birthers – those individuals that believe the president's birth certificate is fraudulent and that he was born in Kenya or any other spot on the planet that is not part of the United States.
Now Romney has gone over the deep end inferring the president will try to take the word God off of U.S. currency.
It is one of the most insane statements he could have possibly made.
Perhaps Mr. Romney should take a longer vacation than the one he took during the Democratic Convention.
Or perhaps Romney has spent too much time talking to Chuck Norris, Ted Nuggent and the rest of his base.
Chuck Norris is scared and seemingly coming unhinged. Perhaps he is advising Mitt Romney about Obama's currency policy.
The cowering former tough guy posted a video to his Web site claiming that the re-election of Barack Obama will lead to 1000 years of darkness.
It is the statement of someone who is very, very afraid and seriously losing touch with reality.
But not as scared as the judge in Texas who is preparing for a Civil War if the President is reelected.
According to the CBS Dallas Fort Worth: "Lubbock County Judge Tom Head is convinced that Mr. Obama winning a second term would lead to a revolt by the American people and he’s is pushing a tax increase for the district attorney’s office and the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office. He says the money is needed to “beef up” its resources in case President Obama wins the November election."
Judge Head is convinced that the president will launch an invasion of troops from the United Nations. It should be noted that the United Nations is an entity that has no standing military but rather uses troops from other countries to provide peacekeeping forces to troubled regions.
The Republican Texas judge believes that our president, who has overseen the killing of Osama bin Laden and numerous al Qaeda leaders, will invade the United States with other countries' troops.
The Republican Committee in Greene County, Virginia, sent out a newsletter stating that the only solution is an “armed revolution should we fail with the power of the vote in November.”
Some Republicans believe that there will not be an election.
Republican Tennessee state representative Kelly Keisling believes the Internet paranoia that Obama and the Department of Homeland Security will not wait till he is reelected but rather fake an assassination plot to cancel the election and declare martial law.
Then there are Romney's celebrity endorsers.
Ted Nugent, who Romney courted and bragged about the endorsement, has made statements so strong about the President that the Secret Service paid him a visit. The washed up musician said earlier this year that he would be "dead or in jail by this time next year" if President Barack Obama is re-elected.
Republican Hank Williams, Jr. who has been a traveler with presidential campaigns as recently as for the McCain/Palin ticket recently said "we’ve got a Muslim for a President who hates cowboys, hates cowgirls, hates fishing, hates farming, loves gays, and we hate him."
Rush Limbaugh continues to be the same Rush Limbaugh that has made a career recently out of making racist comments about the president.
Through it all Mitt Romney is careful to never criticize all these right wing conspiratorial fantasies.
Why?
A recent Nation Journal story reported that Romney's path to victory involves getting 61 percent of white votes. That would equal the highest percentage for a Republican Presidential candidate: Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, Ronald Reagan in 1980 and George H. W. Bush in 1988 each picked up between 56 and 61 percent of white voters.
This is how Mitt Romney intends to win. Stoke racial resentment and divide the country on racial lines.
That is why Mitt Romney is silent when such statements are made...and occasionally joins in.
About Bill Buck
Bill Buck is a Democratic strategist, President of the Buck Communications Group, a media relations and new media strategies consulting business based in Washington, DC, and Managing Director of the online ad firm Influence DSP. He has over twenty years of international and national communications experience. The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CBS Local.
