CPAC 'GOP minority outreach' panel goes as well as you'd expect

[Indy Texas]

Don't we have a thread about this every year during CPAC?

Seems better than last year when that guy complained about how tough it is to be a white male these days...

[Indy Texas]

Via Gawker

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Yes, because America was such a great place to live in 1814 if you were a black person or a woman or a non-Protestant Christian.

[Indy Texas]

I did not attend.

But the fact is the "GOP outreach" remains too often condescending and critical rather than offering a viable alternative. I haven't had the time to re-read on Paul Ryan's plan but it might be a step in the right direction, I've heard good things about it.

The GOP's problem is that they have almost regressed in terms of the way they view the poor to a mentality more suited to 19th century England. They view poverty as a purely moral issue: poor people are that way because they are morally reprobate (having children out of wedlock and raising them without both parents present; perhaps using drugs like marijuana even though the poor are no more likely to do so than anyone else), lazy (working sub-$10/hr jobs and not "pulling themselves up by their bootstraps"), and irresponsible (because if they didn't buy frivolities like cell phones and televisions, they'd have enough money to retire at 50!).

I was around Latino's for 4.5 years when I was at a job so I understand them.

Please don't even go there, dude. You sound like a GOP pol trying to walk back some ignorant comment he made about Hispanics by talking about how well he treated his landscaper or how he can't be racist because he supposedly has a black friend.

[Indy Texas]

I did not attend.

But the fact is the "GOP outreach" remains too often condescending and critical rather than offering a viable alternative. I haven't had the time to re-read on Paul Ryan's plan but it might be a step in the right direction, I've heard good things about it.

The GOP's problem is that they have almost regressed in terms of the way they view the poor to a mentality more suited to 19th century England. They view poverty as a purely moral issue: poor people are that way because they are morally reprobate (having children out of wedlock and raising them without both parents present; perhaps using drugs like marijuana even though the poor are no more likely to do so than anyone else), lazy (working sub-$10/hr jobs and not "pulling themselves up by their bootstraps"), and irresponsible (because if they didn't buy frivolities like cell phones and televisions, they'd have enough money to retire at 50!).

I was around Latino's for 4.5 years when I was at a job so I understand them.

Please don't even go there, dude. You sound like a GOP pol trying to walk back some ignorant comment he made about Hispanics by talking about how well he treated his landscaper or how he can't be racist because he supposedly has a black friend.

Dude screw you you want to attack me racally with the black friend and the landscaper rhetoric. I will not take that crap from you. You think I am not up on that rhetoric or that response? I am knowledgeable  about that rhetoric. You can take that rhetoric and take it back right at yourself. Just because I am a leaning Republican doesn't make you throwing your rhetoric at me right.

I'm not attacking you. I'm just being frank. You think the fact that there were Hispanic people at your job means you "understand them" and somehow makes up for the serious issues your party has with winning over that group?

I live in a majority-minority state. The county where I spent most of my life is 40% Hispanic and only 33% white. I hear Spanish spoken just about as often as I hear English spoken on any given day. But I don't pretend that I as a white person have any business telling Hispanics what issues should matter to them or making false assumptions about them. I don't support laws that make it harder for them to vote. I don't suggest their relatives in Central America are skulking around the deserts of Arizona and Texas with cantaloupe-sized packages of drugs strapped to their legs, as Steve King (R-Iowa) seems to think is happening, or that they are giving birth to "terror babies" who will undermine our nation, as Louie Gohmert (R-Texas does). I don't think the growth of the Hispanic population in America is going to lead to lower average IQs or undermine our "culture" as people like Pat Buchanan and that research fellow at the Heritage Foundation do.

Listen to what Hispanics are saying. Listen to what your party is saying. That should be enough for you to solve for X.

[Indy Texas]

I did not attend.

But the fact is the "GOP outreach" remains too often condescending and critical rather than offering a viable alternative. I haven't had the time to re-read on Paul Ryan's plan but it might be a step in the right direction, I've heard good things about it.

The GOP's problem is that they have almost regressed in terms of the way they view the poor to a mentality more suited to 19th century England. They view poverty as a purely moral issue: poor people are that way because they are morally reprobate (having children out of wedlock and raising them without both parents present; perhaps using drugs like marijuana even though the poor are no more likely to do so than anyone else), lazy (working sub-$10/hr jobs and not "pulling themselves up by their bootstraps"), and irresponsible (because if they didn't buy frivolities like cell phones and televisions, they'd have enough money to retire at 50!).

I was around Latino's for 4.5 years when I was at a job so I understand them.

Please don't even go there, dude. You sound like a GOP pol trying to walk back some ignorant comment he made about Hispanics by talking about how well he treated his landscaper or how he can't be racist because he supposedly has a black friend.

Dude screw you you want to attack me racally with the black friend and the landscaper rhetoric. I will not take that crap from you. You think I am not up on that rhetoric or that response? I am knowledgeable  about that rhetoric. You can take that rhetoric and take it back right at yourself. Just because I am a leaning Republican doesn't make you throwing your rhetoric at me right.

Woah, woah, calm down now.

IndyTexas, there's a bit of truth in your response but the fact is that's probably closer to the truth than the "the white man wants to keep you down!" rhetoric peddled by charlatans like Al Sharpton, and which many people actually believe. It's a cultural matter, and it's an endogenous issue that requires community-based solutions rather than government intervention or a massive push against "white racism".

Is the GOP more interested in demonising the dehumanised "other" for white votes than actually helping end systemic economic and cultural poverty amongst blacks and Hispanics? Sadly, probably so. But do the Democrats offer much more? Not really.

See, you just proved my point. What "cultural poverty" are you talking about? How is black or Hispanic culture somehow inferior to white culture?

And if neither party is going to solve their economic problems, don't you think they're at least going to vote for the party that doesn't hold them in contempt to the extent that your party does? At least the Democrats don't act as if being anything other than a white, straight Christian in a suburb or rural area makes you less American or prevents you from being part of the "real America" that Republicans love to point to.

[Indy Texas]

Hopper, how exactly did I "racially attack" you? That to me implies attacking someone based on their race. And to my knowledge, we are both white and I didn't even discuss being white.

[Indy Texas]

Hopper, how exactly did I "racially attack" you? That to me implies attacking someone based on their race. And to my knowledge, we are both white and I didn't even discuss being white.

To be honest racially I thought you were latino. But still the black friend thing is kinda old lingo from the late 80's/early 90's. Never heard of the landscaper saying till you said it but still your statement went to far racially for me. I have listened to Hip-Hop and followed the NBA and NFL for over 20 years so I am very familiar with racial rhetoric like that.

[Indy Texas]

Hopper, how exactly did I "racially attack" you? That to me implies attacking someone based on their race. And to my knowledge, we are both white and I didn't even discuss being white.

I have listened to Hip-Hop and followed the NBA and NFL for over 20 years so I am very familiar with racial rhetoric like that.

Wow, just, just, wow, fail at defending your argument.

No I didn't fail.

Hopper, ITT, you have compared yourself getting criticized by others on this Forum to the struggles of Martin Luther King and black people to overcome racism, Jim Crow and slavery; and you have claimed that listening to Hip-Hop and watching professional sports give you credence to talk about these things, as does the presence of Hispanic people at your former job.

But please, please, keep on digging.

[Indy Texas]

I'm going to sound like a Moderate Hero/Serious Person/TED Talks Shill, but isn't this one of those situations where "innovation" and "harnessing the power of technology" and "Big Data" and all those buzzwords come into play?

What if we could all simply register to vote online? What if workers at a voter drive could do something as simple as swiping your driver's license and using a smartphone/tablet app to pull up your info, do an instant verification and have you registered and then you'd get an email within a few minutes confirming you're registered, with the option to print out your voter card?

[Indy Texas]

I'm going to sound like a Moderate Hero/Serious Person/TED Talks Shill, but isn't this one of those situations where "innovation" and "harnessing the power of technology" and "Big Data" and all those buzzwords come into play?

What if we could all simply register to vote online? What if workers at a voter drive could do something as simple as swiping your driver's license and using a smartphone/tablet app to pull up your info, do an instant verification and have you registered and then you'd get an email within a few minutes confirming you're registered, with the option to print out your voter card?

It would be very nice.  Indeed, judging by what was on the Florida voter registration website, right now the only thing that would be a bar to this right now in Florida is the legal requirement for a hardcopy signature on paper.

No reason we should be bound by that.

We can file tax returns online without a physical signature. Seems like a PIN-based system for voter registration would be doable.