Tried to link video from Huffington Post, but couldn't. But, it is worth a look. Former Senator Al D'Amato (R-NY) blasts a fellow Fox Business News guest Jack Burkman about his racist comments that the US Postal Service only hires unskilled labor, particularly "Nigerians" who should be driving taxis.
Putting aside issues of the Postal Service and the fact that the internet has drastically changed how we communicate and conduct business, Burkman's comments about unskilled labor were stunning.
Apparently conservatives -- through the tea partiers -- have no problem supporting unskilled individuals to lead our states and even the country. Talk about unskilled labor. Christine O'Donnell and Sarah Palin could easily fall under the category of "unskilled labor." Yet, they are being promoted as the answer to America's future.
If you are a person of color genuinely trying to make an honest living to support your family and community you don't deserve a chance. If you are white and stupid, but profess Christian values and spout vacuous slogans, you are worthy to lead.
The tea party movement is nothing more than cover for racist individuals to exercise their racism under the guise of supposedly patriot Americans concerned with the country's direction.
My postman, Mike, is African American. His oldest son was killed in Iraq. I've watched him and talked to him over the past 4-5 years trying to deal with his grief and his unbearable anger at the last administration that robbed him of his son. Burkman can DIAF and I never, ever say that. But he can.
ReplyDeleteYou have to remember where they were when all this started. Completely demoralized with their worst fear sitting in the Oval Office. A black liberal. Forming the tea party and screaming and yelling about every conspiracy theory that crossed their tiny minds was in effect, howling at the moon. With corporate cash and friendly and welcoming msm, that energy brought them from the depths of a dead party with completely failed ideas for governance and a GOP shattered by the neo cons and failed presidency of their former hero George Bush.
ReplyDeleteThey still do not have any ideas and nominating tea baggers like O'Donnell, Angle, and Rand Paul is what they have to show for that energy. Candidates who don't even come close to being acceptable to the public as a whole, when they get down to voting.
The hatred for Obama will get them some success this mid term with low turnout, but the house of cards has nothing of substance, and with O'Donnell, maybe even some feloneous skeletons in her closet.
Actually, Burkman wasn't saying that the Post Office hires Nigerians. He was saying that we should turn postal workers into cab drivers because they have no more job skills than the Nigerian immigrants who drive cabs. I think Burkman's last comment was the most revealing: "If you want to have the debate, the reality is that many in the American quote-unquote middle, like postal workers, are really unskilled labor who should have been pushed down for market reasons but because of union and government pressures, we import labor at the bottom and we keep these people here. That’s a very true statement." That sure sounds like "class warfare" to me.
ReplyDeleteVinny, I take your point about "class warfare," but, to me the point is that conservatives -- tea bag conservative supported by Ms. Sarah and those who are jumping on the racist bandwagon -- don't really care about class, skilled, unskilled. What they care about is defeating our black President and the Democratic party, and they will use any argument to make their case to the American electorate. The US Postal Service is an easy target for those who supposedly care about government waste. Adding race to the Postal Service argument is so much the better. If the conservatives really cared about government waste, they would look towards our defense budget. If they really cared about unskilled labor, they would question the O'Donnell campaign for Senator.
ReplyDeleteAnnie,
ReplyDeleteWhat the rank and file tea party conservatives don't realize is that they are a part of the exact same middle class as those Post Office workers and they are going to get just as screwed if the pro-business Republicans get control of the government again. It's bad enough with the pro-business Democrats in control.
Vinnie,
ReplyDeleteAgreed..........!