Freshman Republican Congressman Allan West recently had to fire his chief of staff, right-wing radio host Joyce Kaufman, for ethics reasons and because she says things like Jews who vote for Obama don't like being Jewish (that would be almost 80 percent of us).
West's explanation for the controversy? Racism!
West went on to say: "I think the American people are sick of, and that despicable, disgusting action and the way that they went after Joyce Kaufman shows that not only this liberal left has some issues with racism. I guarantee you, if I was a black Democratic congressman-elect, they would not be doing these type of actions. And the fact that they're attacking a woman like this, that shows me something about sexism and misogynist behavior."
The thing I don't get about Republicans defining racism or sexism as "negative criticism of anyone who happens to be black or a woman," is that even by that childish definition, Republicans would still be more "racist" and "sexist" than Democrats. Then there's the idea that racism and sexism are these incredibly strong, pervasive forces that somehow manage to only affect Republicans, whereas everyone else just needs to tighten their bootstraps.
Anyway, as long as it's painfully obvious that the role of black Republicans is primarily to use race as a bludgeon against Democrats in the manner Republicans believe it is used against them, they're not going to attract many black voters to the party. Because at base, it's just another sign that Republicans see racism as a political invention rather than something that actually affects people's lives.
