Romney and the ritual Republican candidate’s speech to the NAACP

Karl D. writes:

According to this story from the Daily Mail, MSNBC talking heads as well as the Democratic party think that Romney deliberately sought to be booed by the NAACP to earn points with racist whites and racist white districts.

I don’t know why Romney or Republican candidate goes to the NAACP to begin with. It is like some required public whipping at the hands of blacks every four years.

LA replies:

Of course you know. The function of Republicans in the universe is to be called racist, a function they serve gladly and devotedly, and with all the self-awareness of a drugged bull being led to slaughter.

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Dale F. writes:

Though I agree that Republicans often are too passive on racial issues, political candidates rarely have the luxury of turning down invitations to speak before significant organizations such as the NAACP or the NRA. It’s a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. I believe it’s better to speak honestly about one’s views and one’s program to a potentially hostile crowd (as Romney apparently did) than to refuse the invitation and be accused of cowardice.

LA replies:

You’re making a reasonable point. But if I were a Republican candidate, I would take a completely different tack. I would say that the NAACP is an organization that stands for all kinds of bad things (which I would catalogue), that it deserves no moral legitimacy, and that there was no point in my appearing before an organization that regards me (and all conservatives) as a racist.

The best single thing Rudolph Giuliani ever did as mayor was when, at the beginning of his term, he refused to meet with NYC’s black “leaders.” He said, “If they want to meet with me, they have to change the way they speak.”

That’s what Republicans would say about the NAACP, if they had any conservative principles and any guts.

July 13

Paul K. writes:

I agree with Dale F.—I think Romney did himself good by attending the NAACP meeting and declining to pander. He won’t shake Obama’s support among blacks, but he may have solidified his support among conservatives and won over some of those mush-brained independents who decide elections.

I’d like to think that many of us regard this episode in a different light than does the MSM. To the latter, the story is that the Republican candidate spoke before an audience of black leaders, those supreme arbiters of what is moral and just in our society, and he was booed. To many of us, the story is that the Republican candidate spoke before an audience of black leaders, those spoiled brats who endlessly demand more government benefits and cannot tolerate anyone who doesn’t kowtow to them, and he was booed. So good for him and let them go pound sand.

Now if only Romney could resist pandering to Hispanics, he’d roll over Obama in a landslide.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 12, 2012 05:16 PM | Send