O'Reilly doesn't get why Hispanics are fleeing the GOP: It's people like him
Let's give Bill O'Reilly some credit: He's smart enough to recognize that the GOP's desire to try to tear down Sonia Sotomayor is a classic case of cutting one's nose off to spite what's left of your face.
Here's a political party, after all, that's caught in a death spiral of declining membership and vanishing power. One of the key reasons for that has been the sharp decline in Hispanic participation in the GOP -- a significant loss among the nation's fastest-growing ethnic component.
O'Reilly can see this, and discussed it in last night's Talking Points Memo segment. But he also thinks it's just a PR problem:
So Hispanic voters actually put Barack Obama in the White House, and the GOP needs some of them back, thus Republicans face a quandary.
This morning on ABC, conservative Ann Coulter pretty much defined the problem:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANN COULTER, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: Saying that someone would decide a case differently, better in fact, because she is a Latina rather than a white male, I mean, that statement is by definition racist. I'm not saying she's a racist, but the statement sure is.
DIANE SAWYER, "GOOD MORNING AMERICA" CO-HOST: Were you moved by the Hispanic breakthrough, Ann?
COULTER: Why aren't Democrats — why aren't they choking up over Clarence Thomas or Miguel Estrada? I mean, you know, come on, why are we all supposed to weep only when it's a liberal Hispanic or a liberal black?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Yes, indeed, Coulter does define the problem. So do Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich. Their own bigotry has been on display so often, and so nakedly, that we already know where they're coming from. Coulter's performance -- including a flat refusal to offer even the smallest note of grace -- spoke for itself.
And how does it look to have the Right's leading bigots shouting "Racist!" at Sotomayor? Besides hilarious?
But O'Reilly didn't see it that way:
Ms. Coulter's point is true. Liberals gleefully attacked Clarence Thomas and Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, but the media is now lurking, looking to pound any conservative who goes after Ms. Sotomayor. So the Republicans have a tough situation on their hands.
The judge is vulnerable, especially on affirmative action, and her racial tone on who has a better outlook on the law, minorities or whites. But to the Hispanic-American community, that might not matter much, especially considering the judge's background.
So according to O'Reilly, Hispanics aren't concerned about her alleged racism, because she's such a swell "life story." When actually, they're not concerned about it because she's not racist.
A little later, in discussing it with Dick Morris, O'Reilly described it again:
Morris: And Latinos and Latinas are very open to the Republican Party. A third of them are evangelical Protestants -- they came as Catholics, and they converted while in the United States to Pentecostal or other evangelical religions or charismatic Catholics.
O'Reilly: Well, they're traditional people and they don't like some of the crazy left stuff that comes out of the Democratic Party at times.
Morris: They're against gay marriage, they're pro-life. But the Republican Party, they feel, drives them away. And they --
O'Reilly: Sure. Because that's the way it's marketed, and -- look, Ann Coulter was correct in her assessment, and we're going to get into that with Bernie Goldberg in a moment that -- compelling story, Judge Alberto Gonzales! Doesn't get any more compelling! But did you hear that? Nooooo. But all the media will do with Ann Coulter and people like her is concentrate on the "racist racist racist" thing. So the Hispanic voter at home who doesn't follow closely says, "Oh, they're at it again, these conservatives don't like us."
Well, I don't think Alberto Gonzales is the example O'Reilly wants to bring up here (Coulter, in fact, specifically and angrily avoided it in her clip, after James Carville brought it up) because his story wasn't really so great after all: When hauled before Congress for his obvious perjury, even Newt Gingrich refused to defend him.
But did you get the upshot of this? Republicans (see, e.g., Bill O'Reilly and Lou Dobbs) don't actually say wretchedly bigoted things about Hispanics in reality. It's just that the media reports it that way.
I wonder if it's not just the bigotry that turns off Hispanic voters. It might also be the constant insulting of their intelligence.
Omg! Omg!! OMG!!! Four frists in row!!!
Where's my prize!? And I don't want one of those cheap State Fair stuffed animals either!
I'll give you a prize. And I'll stuff it.
Where, will be the surprise.
;)
And that's supposed to make me stop? Lol!
I guess C&L is now a dating board!
I'm in NYC, you? You're not the Crooks and liars killer are you? Lol!
Miserable state of Texas, and not even in the good part (austin).
As for being the C&L killer.....
well, you wish..;)
aren't ya'll? Don't let them suckers get away we still hopeing to bring them before a court one day.Soon as this circus over sotamayor dies down a little that is if Israel hadn't already attacked Iran or someother country. in between for us to send our kids to fight and die for.
Keep an eye on those snakes cheney,bush etc.
The 6 months I lived in Dallas was the longest year of my life.
was there 4 months....had to get out. Houston's just as hideous, but it's hometown, but it's not like I have a choice here. I was in San Fran for about 6 years....loved every inch of it.
The more they talk like that the better it is for everybody except rich white guys and the stupid working people who like getting cornholed by them.
Hey pat, pretend you're the US border, and they'll all run over you.
Oh and pat? pat's a girl's name.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Annaleigh and PoP are looking for you in the Glenn Beck Fascist post
comments!!! They need a crazy video link!!! Quick!!
Billo, you just don't get it. We oppose Justice Thomas and the former attorney general because their ideologies are dangerous to this country. You'd know that if your head wasn't full of falafel.
Studying defamation in my torts class. And my first question is, how they hell have these jackasses not been sued for defamation yet?
when it comes to protections against defamation, slander, libel, etc. There's a long history of case law on it, most notably New York Times v Sullivan.
http://www.expertlaw.com/library/personal_inj...
Yes,I said foxnews can legally lie,Nobody can really tell which side is doing the lying or (slandering etc.)
All these turds are running with the racist angle by taking the original quote out of context. Find the original quote and read it. It was a statement of common sense, as part of a larger comment on sex and race discrimination. These assholes cherry pick everything, and the witless bend over and take it.
They are scum.
...always on message regarding the talking point d'jour.
It is scary. I wonder, do they get their talking points beamed to them daily by their supreme leader on board of the mothership?
they receive the talking points via direct contact with Rush Limbaugh's anus.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
I hope the GOP continues to think that their sinking popularity is simply due to bad marketing. It's a common mistake many in business make when they have a product that nobody is buying. They never stop to consider that the product is just bad.
for morons like o'reilly and limbaugh. they're really an asset at this stage of the game
it's morans....lol...gratefull
Sorry but I almost choked on my Boca Chicken Sandwich when I read
this....Clinton on Israeli West Bank Settlements!!!
"We think it is in the best interests (of the peace process) that settlement expansion cease. That is our position. That is what we have communicated very clearly. ... And we intend to press that point."
There may actually be hope!!
Maybe if they keep rolling out Cheney and begging Limbaugh's forgiveness and trotting out Coulter and having teabag parties etc some hispanics will see how they're actually the good guys.
Long shot but hey- look at the Kentucky Derby.
Shit happens (sometimes).
I don't follow the Kentucky Derby but
"Shit Happens" won?
Mine That Bird, a fifty to one longshot won.
Admittedly much better odds than Republicans have of hispanics embracing their party.
was fleeing Orally.
He's just now figuring out that we hate the GOP?!?!?!
No wonder his party is going the way of the Dodo bird...
I've never seen change without a fire
come from various spanish speaking countries have often made it clear to me that "hispanic" is not a word they carved out to describe themselves but one invented by White Folks based on the idea (as always) that all people of the same color are the same.
The Rethuglicans have been wringing their hands about the lack of folks of non-Caucasian ethnicity since I can remember.
When Republicans begin to understand how their party encapsulates and insulates social oppression then we should begin to worry, because it is at that point that we will know the universe has turned inside out and all that we know will be turned asunder.
Racists and the ignorant use the term "hispanic". It's much more respectful to use the term Latino when referring to the people that occupy most of the Western Hemisphere.
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity. Albert Einstein
In one breath he diagnoses that the Republicans need to court Latinos, and in the next he mispronounces Sotomayor repeatedly. It sure sounds intentional to my ears, and subtly sarcastic. That's it, Billo, make a mockery of their language and names, and they'll come running to you in droves. While you're at it, why stop at suggesting they vote in a bloc, like the negroes, and call it a bloc party. What a bloated douche.
"Maria" instead of Sonia, her actual name on a website.
He couldn't be arsed to remember her name, so he reached for one of the few he can probably pronounce, as if we're all named Maria.
(Full Disclosure: My middle name is Maria!)
I've never seen change without a fire
Mary Therese, Mary Margaret (Peggy), Mary Alice (Stubby), Mary Kay, Dionelle Marie, Maureen Anne (Maureen is an Irish form of Mary), Jeanne Marie, Marianne (Molly- my mom), Karen Marie (Kitty), Shelly Anne (the milkman's daughter) and Sara Mary. The only two who we refer to with Mary in their names are Mary Therese (named for her aunt Therese Marie) and Mary Kay, who we call by both names- for clarity's sake.
I don't think it's so much a Latina thing as it is a Catholic thing: for Catholic-born women of a certain age, you can call them Mary and be half right.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
among my ancestors there's Maria Teresa, Maria de Jesus, Maria del Carmen, Maria Josefa, Maria Gertrudis, Rosa Maria, etc. and the grandmother I'm middle-named for, Maria Olivia. All of them Catholic-born women, so point well taken. I still think Huckabee's lazy tho! :)
I've never seen change without a fire
Look at them, they're professional embarrassments.
And look at the right wing attack Sotomayor. It's race, gender and ideologically based.
Republicans either don't understand or don't care how bad they really look.
You trying to lower my standards now?
But Thomas (certainly) and Estrada were intellectually deficient. It had nothing to do with race. In fact, if Thomas hadn't been black, GWB would have never picked him to replace Thurgood Marshall (apparently, the "black" seat).
He should be talking about how if you wanted to track down all the ingredients in your burger and fries and shake you'd end up traveling twice around the world and still end up in Vegas.
Hey O'Mousedick, is that what you really want to hold up as an example? For real? Gonzo? That would be like the Democrats holding up Senator Burris as a compelling story. I don't see that happening.
Toes Morris is a real good role model as well.
You mean the GOP lost the White and Stupid* vote too? Well then it can't be called a party if all the geusts have left.
*I'm not saying all white people are stupid, but a lot of the ones in the GOP sure are. - I mean really you had lower and middle class right wing people protesting that they wanted to give more of their own money to the upper class. - now that's unbelievably stupid!
"..Ms. Coulter's point is true. Liberals gleefully attacked Clarence Thomas and Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez.."
Clarence Thomas is an Uncle Tom who stands in the way of social progress and plays directly into the hands of people like you Bill.
There was also the *cough* small matter of Anita Hill?
So yeah,no big cause for celebration there.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
"The GOP is percieved to be the party of rich white guys!" Percieved? Gee Billo, I wonder why?
If you drop the "percieved to be" part out of your comment, you will have spoken the truth for the first time in your life.
That was a close call there Billo. If you should ever let the truth slip out, I don't know if the world would end, time would stand still, or matter and anti-matter would destroy the universe in a titanic explosion, but I just know something cataclysmic would happen.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
clinching to their plausible deniability to the bitter end.
"perceived to be" sometimes they really really crack me up. Do they really think they are fooling anyone. Did O'reilly say that with a straight face, or did he wink one eye as a mischievous grin appeared in his face as soon as those words left his mouth?
O'Reilly used the word "Republicans","common" and "sense" in the same sentence --> I am laughing.
Then he portrays our little torture enabling buddy Gonzo in a sympathetic light (his story is "compelling") --> Now I am on the floor.
Stop it Bill, you are killing me.
It amazes me that the only faults Core Republicans can find with themselves is marketing. "Politics is all about perception". The party needs to re-brand. The Republican brand is not doing well. Nothing to do with failed policies and bad ideas.
his talking point on his screen says "the GOP is now perceived as the party of rich white guys"
What does he mean "now?" It's been that way for a hundred years. I think the republicans have been losing ground ever since Lincoln was shot!
Late,
QSE32
I love how they act like we attacked Gonzales and Thomas just for shits and giggles or because they were Republican appointments.
Also, Bill? I know you like to make shows occasionally at being more moderate and independent minded than you really are. They're completely transparent, but even if they weren't admitting you find Ann Coulter rational would give away your game. If you're going to pick one of the many voices trying to make that particular point, it's best not to pick someone who everyone knows makes ridiculous accusations just for the pleasure of doing so.
"gleefully attacked Clarence Thomas and Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez" because they were cringeworthy sycophants woefully unqualified for the lofty positions to which they were appointed.
O'Reilly's a dickhead, but I believe he understands this, although he wouldn't admit it in a million years. It wouldn't play well with his audience if he did.
"Liberals gleefully attacked Clarence Thomas and Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez"
That's because Thomas is the dumbest person to ever serve on the court and Fredo is an even bigger liar than you are, Bill. Pretty simple to figure out.
but much better and with fewer words. I like it.
Thomas isn't just a dumbass, he's a mean, whiny, self-righteous dumbass.
And yeah, Fredo's a big-time liar, but not a very good one. You'd think as part of the Bush gang he'd have perfected lying, but he sucked at it.
comes out. Holy Crap, Batman.
Just bend over and repeat my favorite line:
"Thank You Sir, May I Have Another"
"Let's talk dirty to the animals"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdFLPn30dvQ
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
The are NOT the party of rich white men... that statement was simply to entice bigotry in the superficial masses who actually watch this sh*t-show. The GOP is the party of bigots and historical revisionists.
To these wackadoodle nutjobs that there's no such thing as a Latino (or Latina) race?
There's no country of Latin. For the record there's really no modern-day Hispania.
Are we really this lazy?
"When are we going to stop trying to tell elected officials what to do. Our job is to spend the taxpayers' money the best way we can." -- Tommy Watkins, Justice of the Peace, Crawford County, Arkansas
" . . . constant insulting of their intelligence."
OMG. All the GOP talking heads can DO is insult our intelligence! They will use any excuse to avoid the truth -- that we the people (regardless of race) are looking for INTELLIGENCE in our leaders, judges, etc. Didn't we already prove that with the election of Obama? They want the easy solution? Get someone SMART who speaks the TRUTH. Simple. There must be an intelligent, honest Repug out there somewhere!! . . . Um, OK . . . maybe not.
Braindead O'lielly, ignorantly can't understand why Americans are running from the Reslug party, but then he stupidly continues to call people insulting, horrible names, he's a bigot and a complete, habitual liar everyday.
I still haven't heard anyone publicly discuss the context of Sotomayor's "wise Latina" comment. What's up with that?
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