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Memo Pad

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Welfare Stereotypes Come Creeping Back Into Play

September 1st, 2012 12:00 am Cynthia Tucker

The Republican Party is facing extinction, doomed by demographics to an ever-smaller slice of the electorate. It is increasingly a faction of aging whites, particularly those who tend to discomfort with racial diversity.

GOP leaders ought to be about the business of trying to expand their appeal beyond Joe the Plumber and Agnes the Retired Nurse. Indeed, a handful of well-known Republicans have said so pointedly, expressing dismay over the party’s suicidal tendencies. Jeb Bush and Mel Martinez, for example, have pleaded with party mandarins to stop bashing Latinos. Even former vice president Dan Quayle is pessimistic about the party’s prospects in the not-too-distant future.

“The Republican Party needs to re-establish its philosophy of the big tent with principles. The philosophy you hear from time to time, which is unfortunate, is one of exclusion rather than inclusion. You have to be expanding the base, expanding the party, because compared to the Democratic Party, the Republican Party is a minority party,” Quayle recently told The New York Times.

Instead, Mitt Romney has enthusiastically revived the discredited Southern strategy, which Republicans have relied on increasingly since Richard Nixon won a “law and order” campaign in 1972. The strategy is misnamed, however. The GOP has used it successfully to court racially resentful whites from Alabama to Arizona, from Mississippi to Michigan, from South Carolina to South Dakota.

In the latest iteration of that unfortunate strategy, Mitt Romney is running ads claiming President Obama is gutting welfare reform. The ads are vile and malevolent on many levels, starting with their premise: It’s a whopping lie. As numerous fact-checkers have pointed out, Obama has not made a single change that exempts welfare recipients from the requirement to work.

The president has said he would grant waivers from federal requirements to governors who want to pursue innovative ways to get more welfare recipients into jobs. Two of the governors who expressed interest in getting those waivers are Republicans, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval. (Romney requested a similar waiver when he was governor of Massachusetts.)

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  • bcarreiro

    if we want a reduction of people on the system then non custodial parents should pay their fairshare then court order minimums like $11.55 a week.

  • ChristoD

    Creeping back my ass, it is in full bloom in todays’ GOP (Greed Over People) party. Lies, lies, lies, misquotes, quotes taken out of context, bullying, dirty tricks, race baiting, faked indignation, lies, lies and more lies. THIS is todays GOP. Lincoln, Eisenhauer, His Eminance Ron R, et all have to be rolling over in their grave asking themselves if ‘THIS is the party of my youth ? NFW’, this is the party of right wing extremism, period, end subject.

    ‘The only way for EVIL to succeed is for good people to do nothing’…..time to step up good people…..NOW !

    • ExPAVIC

      The Truth

      The American Taliban Republicans tried to dig up Ronald Reagan but there was such a fuss they had to quit digging. Problem was it was Reagan making all the fuss.

  • howa4x

    The problem with the Republican party is that they courted and allowed the tea party to become the drivng force of the party. American is a centrest country that tacks a little to the right and left. Most reject extremes. Sara Palin was rejected by thinking people for her politics of race baiting, aside from appearing stupid on the issues. Now the republicans are going through a purity testing process to see who is further to the right, since the tea party is taking over the nomination process. In any primary the true believers control it and most mainstream sit it out. In the republican primary there were more votes against Romney split between all the others than for him, so he is a canidate without the total base fervently behind him. This is why he chose Ryan a lightning rod over Portman. It is also the reason that the election is so close. Normally the Republicans would coast with a moderate on social issues canidate against a president weak on the economy but the tea pary keeps popping up to pull the campaign to the right, making Romney defend an abortion position early.
    I see a future where the republican party will become a regional entity. Strong in the south and middle America. They are becomming cut off from the younger generation who grew up with gays, blacks, and Latinos. Who watch programs like Glee, and modern family were gay people are part of the fabric of the show and seem very normal to be there. They are also concerned about global warming, and Fracking, and want more of a green future.
    The power in the republican party is shifting to the south, and southwest. The last 2 presidential canidates were from Texas, GWB, and Arizona -McCain. These areas are extremely conservative. The tea party was started in Texas by one of the most conservative congressman, Dick Armey, and carries veiws from there. The tilt to the religious evangelicals isn’t helping to broaden the base. Talk about repeal of Roe/Wade scares many women who took that right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy for granted and to have access to contraceptives. This is why republicans like Akin and the VA legislature had such a backlash when they introduced anti abortion laws and voiced sentiments on rape. The protection of the super wealthy offends young peoples sense of social justice, and fairness. They went from being seen as a benevolent group that created jobs and were respected to a vile greedy group, unconcerned with the enviornment, and having a midas complex where the accumulation of wealth is the only game, and how you get it dosen’t matter. This is why Occupy started and actually a canidate from there won a primary in NYC.

    Like Bob Dylan sang: the times they are a changing..so if you can’t lend a hand, get out of the way or you’ll sink like a stone

  • desertdustoff

    I think the repugnican, rethuglican, obstructionist, koch whore, American taliban, talibangelical, fun dumb a mentalist, bigoted, tea baggin’(kkk), gop (greed over people), women hating, gay hating, lying, wasp, anti-science, anti-environment,anti-middle class, servant to their “lords’ (mega rich), big business loving, truth hating, party must already be dead…there has been nothing but stink emanating from any one even remotely connected to this pack of liars, stealers and cheaters. God, how embarrassing for this country. No wonder countries around the world are laughing about these buffoons. Their clown convention highlighted their ignorance and hate.

    • ExPAVIC

      Desert

      Nicely stated. Nothing to add.

  • sigrid28

    Browning? Perhaps, eventually. I like to think very soon we will be golden, thanks to the contributions of people who look more like Barack Obama and his family than Mitt Romney and his.

  • stsintl

    Once “Social Responsibility” has been discarded, the core values of Republican Party are the same as those of the drug lords and crime syndicates– Little or no taxes, Little or no government regulations, Carry the gun to settle business on the streets, and each on his own. No wonder, starting with the Watergate break ins of the Nixon era, the party is now under control of the criminal elements of the society. They keep repeating lies so the idiots in the party will support them. The party now comprises Paliniots- with IQs lower than Sarah Palins’; Newt-wits- with IQs between Sarah palins’ and Newt Gingrich’s; and Murdochites–they directly or indirectly work for Rupert Murdoch and his ilks.

    • mikecoatl

      If anything, the GOP are worse than the criminals. Crime organizations have a peculiar history of philanthropy. Pablo Escobar, for instance, showered his hometown of Medellin in charity. That Escobar also showered the place with bullets escaped the beneficiaries of his largesse. Given the choice between this and the endlessly greedy Koch Brothers, I would take my chances with the cartels.

      • http://www.facebook.com/ErikNash1965 Erik Nash

        Who do you think the GOP works for (indirectly????), the very same criminals that they say they hate. I just finished watching a documentary with a former coke importer and how he became an upper echelon member of the Republican party back in the early 80′s, and all it took was a million dollar donation and Strom Thurman accepted him in. That right there should tell you a little bit more about the part of Lincoln and what they’ve done

    • http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

      That’s The GOP/Tea Party = American Taliban Our Very Own Home Grown Terrorists Cells Operating In Plain Sight!! Fear Mongering And Lying Is What They Do And Hating, Blocking And Terrorizing People Is How They Roll!!! :-( They Are Not Christians Nor Are They Patriots Their More Like Terrorists And Traitors To Their Country And To The American People!!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/dominick.vila.1 Dominick Vila

    Issues such as welfare, abortion, women rights, same sex marriage, and allegations of racism are used routinely by borth parties during presidential campaigns to influence the opinion of social conservatives and liberals, gain their votes…and they fade away on election day.
    Both parties have gone through difficult times in the past, and what is happening within the GOP is far from being unprecedented. The GOP is not facing extinction, but if the Tea Party does not get its way in November, there is going to be a lot of finger pointing and I would not be surprised if moderate Republicans are purged and the party moves so far to the right that it becomes unacceptable to mainstream Americans. If that happens, cool heads will eventually prevail and the party will move back to the center-right in a few years.

    • 101strac

      DO you mean, you don’t think they are too far to the right already? And it is already unacceptable to mainstream americans. If the so called cool heads of moderate republicans have not had what it takes to rise up against these extremely fanatical right wingers now, who have taken over their party, then they never will have what it takes.

      • http://www.facebook.com/dominick.vila.1 Dominick Vila

        The GOP record of recent years demonstrates a disconnect between the extremism of their rhetoric and their actions, particularly on social issues such as abortion and same sex marriage. Consider what happened during George W. Bush’s first 6 years in office when he had a Republican controlled Congress. Little to nothing was done to ban abortion and DADT remained intact. Demonstrable extremism during those painful years was focused on crusades designed to transform the pathetic President and Congress that were in power when 9/11 occurred into War heroes, while at the same time making it possible for their donors to make billions of dollars in sole source contracts. Another example involved deregulation and/or efforts to gut regulatory agencies, a major factor in the ability of ENRON, AIG, and Wall Street to run amock and bring the U.S. economy to its knees.
        Obviously, the Tea Party platform, Romney’s tax plan and Ryan’s plan are worthy of Attila the Hun, which is why mainstream America will reject Romney’s candidacy, increase the Democratic majority in the Senate, and narrow the gap in the House.

        • stsintl

          What’s puzzling is why the polls show Romney so close to the President. Where are the 98% and the Occupy Wall Street people?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B6RROC4IUESHT322QS5VJVPYRM Lynda

    Stereotypes can be a two edged sword when used by deceivers. It is not that long ago that Reagan pushed the welfare queens in their Cadilacs nonsense even when the facts were known to him. Sadly it seems we are at it again.

    I offer the following as an example of how to play the numbers game. These figures are from the USDA regarding food stamp recipients as added or deducted under recent presidents.

    Nixon 12.9 million
    Ford 5.7 million
    Carter 2.5 million
    Reagan -2.4 million
    Bush I 6.8 million
    Clinton -8.2 million
    Bush II 11.0 million
    Obama 18.1 million
    —————————
    Total 46.7 million

    Added by GOP administrations: 34.3 million
    Added by Demo’s 12.4 million

    Just who is the party of ‘food stamps’…and who owns it?

    Of course all of this is meaningless since the ebb and flow depends upon a variety of factors, just as so-called Welfare programs. All of this type of playing with numbers reminds me of the old saying ‘figures don’t lie, but liars figure.’

    A little honesty would go a long way, but unfortunately the American people are going to be denied such by the campaigns.

    • onedonewong

      Dem’s and Barak

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B6RROC4IUESHT322QS5VJVPYRM Lynda

        ???

  • Melvin Chatman

    It’s all Obama’s Fault!
    They just can’t control themselves anymore and the “Hate” Scab has been pulled back off the Cancer they’ve able to hide in the past.
    The T-Party is not new, it’s the Real Republican Party that’s been outed by a Black Man living in the White House – as long as “Hate is alive”, so will the Republican Party be alive!
    Extinction is “Wishful Thinking” although very pleasing to the Ear!!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_REQQEMPOQISA3W6B42SHFMKTEM Andrew

    I’ve been writing on Facebook and Twitter for about a year about the eventual death of the Republican Party, most likely on the night of 6 November, 2012. The dog-whistle politics certainly don’t help…however, the fact with which the GOP’s two lunatic factions, the Conservative Wrong-Wing Nut Jobs and the Tea Party Militia, should be most concerned was an estimate I read online earlier this week of the number of moderates who’ve left the GOP…before I tell you the estimate, I knew that there has been and will continue to be an exodus of moderates from the party; I had pegged the number at a few million, say, 2-5 million….however, imagine my surprise when that estimation earlier this week was 25 MILLION! Assuming that there’s 150 million eligible voters in this country, 25 million is nearly 17%! While the GOP’s voter suppression tactics have been continually smacked down in court, the moderate defections have been blunting the effect of that effort in case it succeeded (the Democratic voter suppression).

    I have written this question on several comment platforms over the past few weeks: “where have the Eisenhower Republicans gone?” If 25 million have left the GOP, I’m guessing the answer to it is, “they’ve left to become Democrats and Independents”. It didn’t help that, before the defections, the Democrats already had a higher raw number of voters, about 8% more than the GOP. That has become much worse since then. Political analysts have said that President Obama needs 80% of the minority vote to win re-election….sorry, guys….he won’t need that many…there aren’t enough angry rich old white guys and incredibly stupid poor and middle class white folk to vote Mittens the Liar Rmoney into the White House….

    The GOP should forget about the White House this year and try to think of a way to save the party and try to make a comeback in the 2014 mid-terms. Perhaps Americans will fall asleep on that November day just as they did two years ago. As far as this year goes, can the GOP save their US House majority? I think not. Can the GOP wrest control of the US Senate? Not a chance…in fact, the GOP will be lucky if they can prevent the Democrats from getting a 60-seat, filibuster-quashing supermajority there. In local and state races, the GOP defectors are definitely not going to vote for the Tea Party Militia members, so many state Houses, Senates and Governor’s mansions are “going blue” this November. There’s nothing the GOP can do about this…it’s as though they’re watching a traffic accident in super-slo-motion and being powerless to stop it.

  • Landsende

    I have always voted for the candidate that I thought would do the best job for the country regardless of party affiliation but since the republican party has been taken over by the tea party, religious zealots and big corporations they no longer represent what was once good in the party. When you have a party wanting to suppress women’s rights, do away with laws that protect the enviroment, the consumer and workers and put their idealology ahead of what is good for the country by refusing to compromise and negotiate causing for the first time ever the United States credit rating to be downgraded causing more economic hardship,then you have a republican party that no longer cares about the needs of its citizens. There are no more moderates in the republican party. Until that changes, I and many others will be voting strictly democrat.

  • William Deutschlander

    The REPUBLICAN CARTEL SHOULD FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE DINOSOAR!

    • onedonewong

      Barak and the Dem’s are following in the foot steps of his idol and fellow socialist Germany in the 1930′s and 40′s

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B6RROC4IUESHT322QS5VJVPYRM Lynda

        Hitler was certainly no socialist. Where do you get such twaddle? Nazism is not socialism—it is facism. Hitler himself liked the term ‘social revolutionaly’ over National Socialism. You are being confused by lingustics not factual information. Have you ever read anything about Germany under the Nazies? It sure doesn’t appear so.

  • http://twitter.com/UltraVerified UltraVerified

    40+ yrs of GOP race baiting, it’s always been there.

    Republicans have nothing to run on except the scapegoating of minorities, ethnicity, American workers, unions, the LGBT community, women.

    Who is their next GOP scapegoat?

    • kfc

      Perhaps the Repubs should try honesty, friendship, togetherness and positivity, eh? The scary part is..if the Repubs don’t bother to hide their disdain for the above-mentioned classes of US citizens…especially of the poor…while actively campaigning, just think how much more openly disdainful they’ll be of them after their election win. Their goal is to cut all entitlements, Obamacare, education grants for the poor and funds to the universities, as well and heavens can only guess what other programs they’ll slash.

      It’s obvious, the Repubs consist mainly of ‘yes men’; otherwise, an inhouse assistant would have been able to spot many of their major speech flaws long before the words were spoken to the candidates and general public.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IT52KKSUVE2L2VTWAWBJITIHXU elvnbrvo

    Going extinct!

  • onedonewong

    38% of americans are self described Republicans the most since Ronald Reagan while self described demorats are 23%. Looks to me what party is dying off

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B6RROC4IUESHT322QS5VJVPYRM Lynda

      From Gallup poll in 2011: 31% D 27% R 40% I

      Rasmussen poll in 2011: 35.4% GOP 34% D 30.5% I

      Gallop from August 2012. 26% GOP 29% D 42% I
      from that same poll GOP leaning (including I’s) 41% and 44% leanding D

      Facts can be a mysterious thing can’t they. Fact is that over the years the Independent registration have been taking from both the GOP and the Democratic Parties. As to who is dying off the figures don’t really support either point of view.

      • onedonewong

        Your problem is using Gallup its a left wing polling activity

        • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B6RROC4IUESHT322QS5VJVPYRM Lynda

          Did you see the Rasmussen poll, which is hardly left leaning?

          • onedonewong

            They have Romney ahead by 4 points

          • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B6RROC4IUESHT322QS5VJVPYRM Lynda

            Check again after next week. The polls will change again which as I’ve said before does not address the voter registration. Independents are taking folks from both parties, or is that too hard for you to grasp?

          • onedonewong

            Romney has been even or ahead sine June. 56% of the electorate believe that a republican will be elected

          • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B6RROC4IUESHT322QS5VJVPYRM Lynda

            Todays Reuters/Ipos poll shows both at 45%. Last week it was Obama 46% and Romney at 42%. Where’s the big bump? Polls indicate a small sample…registration is the story.

        • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B6RROC4IUESHT322QS5VJVPYRM Lynda

          Are you aware that over 2.5 million voters have left both parties while the Independents continue to grow? In the states that register voters by party the D’s are down in 25 of the 28. The R’s are down in 21 of them. The I’s are up in 18 of them. D’s are down 800K, R’s down 350K and the I’s are up 325K in those states.

          Nationally registered D’s still dominate with 42 million, while the R’s are at 30 million and the I’s at 24 million.

          Look to Arizona for the shocking data. You will find that registered D’s & R’s fell 20% in the last decade while the I’s increased by 160%.

          The choice of polls, while being political, does not change the fact that the parties are in trouble. Check with the register of voters in your area to find out how your people are leaning.

  • daffodilly

    What must it be like for a low income white person, maybe working maybe not, who looked at the RNC convention stage and saw prosperous Latinos (Latinas) African Americans, Asian-Indian Americans in roles of leadership and bound to work their ways up the national ladder of influence? Would this, while praising these minorities for working their way up said ladder, also put a thumb in the eye of that low income white person? Would the praise heaped on these speakers not also draw a vivid comparison to their accomplishments and the sad state of the white low income viewer? Would the act of holding-up and praising incite envy and disgust adding to the already roiling racial prejudice felt by some? As a result, one can’t turn against ones Republican masters who claim only to have the welfare of the poor white as their ultimate goal. So, look to the other, the one not like oneself as the object of hate and disgust. Turn on those who think differently. Those who choose a black man as their leader. The racism is definitly there in this election and the means of pulling it to the fore are varied. Were I other than a white male in the Rupublican party, I would really watch my back.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/HUAPJTKZ6USWUKL6TK535ACUPA James Curran

    I see that there is only one way to get people back to work from the welfare and unemployment lines.The only way is to do it is to say no more free money,you are going to have to work for it and create jobs for these people.The streets in my city are in poor shape.Send the welfare and unemployed to the public works departments in you cities and towns and put these people to work.The States should not have to foot the bills when there are capable people to work.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002055962247 Kim Walton

      All States already have work requirements for people receiving welfare benefits. You can thank the Republican Party for the poor shape of the streets in your city, in fact the rest of America, are in. You see President Obama proposed an infrastructure program that not only would have gotten the streets in your city fixed but would have put a lot of the unemployed back to work. It was blocked and rejected by the Republican Party – charlie watkins

  • http://www.facebook.com/jules.guidry1 Jules Guidry

    I think the Republican Party, in the past 11 and 1/2 years, has cause many of the problems of this “GREAT COUNTRY”! The are bough and paid for by big business, the supper rich and the greedy. The Republican Congress caused the lost of Our AAA rating, the outsourcing of jobs, and hampered the forward progress of this country. From them, we hear a bunch of lies and deceptions of the current administration. Too elect Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan as President/Vise President, will mean to spend four more with high unemployment.

  • imabrummie

    From what I have seen, read, and heard, the Republican Party which formerly represented many ideals of the Middle Class has long since expired and has been replaced by the party representing the rich, angry, old, white male. I cannot understand anyone who honestly admits they are amongst the so-called 99%ers can in good conscience honor the current Republican Party with their vote when individuals such as Romney and Ryan peddle their lies and half-truths. But, I gess there will always be folks who are gullible enough to believe anything.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/AWPA2QA5OQBFEF3KRHLJLX5DEI Donald

    All comments are very true, nothing else need to be said.