Bob Herbert on the evil Republicans

In their hour of triumph, feeling they have at last exposed the evil Republicans for what they really are, the liberals don’t seem to realize that the only thing they are exposing is their own hatred and bigotry. It is the very bigotry they falsely claim to see in others, consisting in the desire to expel an entire group from consideration as fellow human beings, combined with a total absence of regard for truth.

Exemplifying this liberal mindset is Bob Herbert’s op-ed, “The Other Trent Lotts,” in the December 23, 2002 issue of The Most Prestigious Newspaper in America. As you read the following selection from Herbert’s torrent of anti-racist epithets, remember that the only actual behaviors on which Herbert bases his scorching indictment of the GOP are as follows: (1) moderate Republican George Allen, now a U.S. Senator from Virginia, once hung a Confederate flag on his living room wall; (2) when he was Governor of Virginia, Allen declared April “Confederate History and Heritage Month”; (3) Republicans have appointed conservative federal judges. That’s it. Now observe the portrait of unmitigated evil Herbert constructs from those unexceptionable facts (though calling them unexceptionable probably makes me a racist):

Having thrown Trent Lott overboard, Republican leaders seem to think they are now absolved of any further responsibility for the racism and ethnic insensitivity that have tainted their party.

Republican leaders haven’t rid themselves of the habit of playing to the closet racists and the Confederate flag-waving yahoos who mean so much to the G.O.P. For 40 years the party has gone out of its way to court the enemies of black people.

But those gains were made in spite of the ugly, backward, divisive and destructive behavior of many, many politicians in the Republican Party, including those at the very top.

Succeeding [Bill Frist] as chairman of the senatorial committee [is] none other than Senator George Allen of Virginia, a Neanderthal on matters of race who, like Trent Lott, all but worships at the altar of the Confederacy.

[W]hen he was governor of Virginia, Mr. Allen issued a proclamation declaring April “Confederate History and Heritage Month.”

I’d like to know if Senator Allen feels we’d all have been better off if the South had won the Civil War.

Mr. Allen loved the old Confederacy so much he displayed the Confederate flag in his living room.

Gee, I wonder why there are so few blacks in the Republican Party.

The Trent Lott fiasco lifted the fig leaf and exposed the shameful behavior of the G.O.P. for all Americans to see.

Mr. Lott had to go not because of any hurt to black people that his remarks and his leadership might have caused, but because of the potential harm to his party, which has made race-baiting a cornerstone of its electoral philosophy.

The G.O.P. could cleanse itself of the taint of racism, but it’s not so inclined.

This is a party that will smile in the face of a Colin Powell while waving Confederate flags behind his back.

The G.O.P. has spent more than 30 years demonizing Democrats for trying to help racial and ethnic minorities. It has spent more than 30 years stomping on the voting rights of blacks. And it has gone out of its way to pack the federal courts with judges who are hostile to the interests and the rights of minorities.

Mr. Lott may be gone as Senate Republican leader, but the G.O.P. is still hot for the racist vote. It’s a vile addiction that’s guaranteed to bring a great deal of additional grief?for the party, and for the rest of us.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 24, 2002 01:36 AM | Send