There is a linked thread to conservative statements and events over the past years concerning the fact our president is African-American. The sad fact is that at the end of the day too many conservatives can not get over the fact President Obama is black. That he is far brighter and more capable than the vast majority of his detractors only further enrages his white male critics.
Over and over I have posted about birthers, complainers over college records, and the backward teabaggers who spit and shout. The one element that unites them is racism.
Many have been wondering why Mitt Romney went completely off-script on Tuesday night and Wednesday while lying about President Obama, and misrepresenting the facts.
More and more people today are coming to the same conclusion as to the reason.
Racism is the reason, and the way conservative Republicans hope to employ it to win a presidential election for Mitt Romney.
Racism is not new for Mitt Romney or his Mormon Church which he was a bishop in for many years. Until 1978 Mormons had a policy against ordaining black men of African descent to the church’s priesthood. Being a Republican Romney might recall that President Lincoln freed the slaves during the Civil War.
So it is not hard to imagine how engrained racism is within the very fabric of Romney, and why his actions this week were so easy for him to perform.
The latest poll from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life helps fill in the blanks.
Unbelievably, the poll finds that the percentage of Republicans who believe that Barack Obama is Muslim, not Christian, has doubled since October 2008. It was actually a little higher in August 2010, right before the GOP administered its midterm “shellacking.” But in the most recent Pew poll on the topic, in July 2012, an astonishing 34 percent of “conservative Republicans” and 30 percent of all Republicans described the president as Muslim.
Overall, 17 percent of registered voters say Obama is Muslim while 31 percent say they don’t know what religion he is; only 49 percent know the truth, that he is Christian.
How is it possible that almost four years after we elected Obama president, the number of Republicans who think he’s Muslim could double, and that less than half of all registered voters know what religion he professes (in a country where religion matters)? Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because virtually every Republican politician has either encouraged or tolerated the far-right lunatic fringe, from crackpot “birthers” who insist the president wasn’t born here, to Romney campaign surrogates like John Sununu who just last month insisted the president “needs to learn what it means to be an American.”
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But Alex Pareene had a smart rejoinder, noting that the backdrop of rioting Muslims attacking American embassies (which continue in Yemen today) “is the sort of thing that will make certain voters more, shall we say, sympathetic to the candidate who is more shameless about hating Muslims. Romney understands this and is willing to capitalize on it.” He’s right. I’m counting on more Americans being appalled by Romney’s shamelessness than reassured by it, but it’s always risky to bet against the effectiveness of GOP fear-mongering.
Romney has made clear that he’s never going to pivot to the middle to win over independent voters; he obviously thinks his only path to victory is firing up the backward, racist and xenophobic elements of the GOP base. Now we know that strategy has succeeded in doubling the percent of conservatives who think the president shares a religion with people they see, one dimensionally, as the enemy. Well played, Mr. Romney. We’ll see where it gets you in November.
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 
Romney looks like he’s on the verge of a big ole tantrum. He can’t stand the slightest criticism…it should get really interesting if he continues to fall in the polling. Meltdown!
When desperate and you have nothing on your side to take credit for. Pull out the race card.
Refute the evidence.
You suggest that the commentor should refute the “evidence,” but the evidence you cite has nothing to do with the central claim of the post: “The sad fact is that at the end of the day too many conservatives can not get over the fact President Obama is black.” In all honesty, there is no way to refute this claim since “too many” could mean “one.” You could just as easily–and perhaps more truthfully make the claim: “The sad fact is that at the end of the day too many liberals can not get over the fact President Obama is black.”
While it may be true that:”34 percent of “conservative Republicans” and 30 percent of all Republicans described the president as Muslim,”it does not follow that this is a result of racism. Refutation is impossible except to suggest that one could not refute an opinion of yours which is based on your personal interpretation of thousands of experiences and learnings. An avid reader of this blog might note that you frequently attribute almost anything said, done, or written by a conservative to racism and determine that your mind was closed on the subject.
All of this being said, I would agree that too many republicans can’t get over the fact that Obama is black because I would argue that one IS too many.
here is a fact. when things happen and it needs the attention of the potus romney should have kept quiet until all facts and information was at hand. and then let the president address the public after that you can spew your lies but the fact remains romney is not fit to be the potus
Here’s the problem: Windy states: “Here’s a fact” but then gives an opinion. Do all liberals think their opinions are facts?
No, Patrick, you just seem to be unwilling to accept facts that you don’t like and that go against you worldview 🙂
Rush Limbaugh calls Obama Halfrican to absolute delight of most of his audience, Interviewed at Rep. convention women said that they want a first lady that looks like a first lady, etc..
Dont you have a psychotic elderly uncle that sends all caps daily email junk on Obama that is openly crazy racist? Come on,everyone does.
Same with the healthcare- you just didnt want to listen to what I said.. US is rated 37th, way behind the developed countries with nationalized HC system, and 38th in life expectancy, and somewhere among Solamia and such in infant mortality numbers and have a huge problem with staph infection that our overpriced hospitals cant combat..
Facts are there, you just can’t ignore them.
Alinka: Your precious Russian system ranks 130. Perhaps single-payer is not the answer to every problem?
Could you please tell me what in windy’s statement was a fact or could you identify a fact that I am unwilling to accept? I did not deny that the US was ranked 37th. Nor do I deny that our infant mortality is too high. I don’t deny that we have a problem with staph infections. But I reject the notion that government can fix every problem.
I don’t have any crazy uncles.
I don’t know what your comments about Rush Limbaugh or random people at the convention have to do with anything.
Do you have a point?
Patrick,
You claim that “liberals think their opinions are facts”.
That’s not true. Windy’s post is not just an opinion, but a set of irrefutable facts: it’s foolish to speak without knowledge of events you are analyzing, it’s immoral to use a tragedy just for your own campaign goals, and the man engaging in both is not fit to be our future president.These are facts! Just like a phrase “it would be good for one’s health to quit smoking” – is an opinion, but one based on a known fact. If you don’t understand that , I am wasting my time talking to you.
By the way, I didn’t mention Russia. You did, for no reason.
Another fact: There are many countries with the singlepayer healthcare system that are ranked way above US. American HC is really bad in comparison to theirs; my coworker just went to Israel for a routine operation that here would be many times more expensive, performed with lesser quality on outdated equipment.
Yet another fact: Republicans of all ranks- politicians, talk show hosts and regular GOP sympathizers often hate Obama because he is black ,and often are racist, and I gave you just a few examples.Esp. in the south, talk to people, they’ll openly admit it.
All those facts refute your current belief system on the subjects in question, but that’s why you dismiss them. “Its hard to teach a person what he thinks he already knows” – very much applies to you.
Alinka:
I would respectfully note that you did mention the Soviet Union (which I know is not the same as Russia) in your comments on September 11. I had no idea why you mentioned healthcare again in response to this post since the topic was Libya. But I’m used to the bait and switch.
Since I am starting to wonder if you understand the difference between facts and opinions, could you please note for me the actual facts in windy’s post? And further how it constitutes a “set of irrefutable facts?”
You suggest that ” it’s foolish to speak without knowledge of events you are analyzing.” While I might agree with you, the statement is only true sometimes. It is not a fact.
You suggest that: “it’s immoral to use a tragedy just for your own campaign goals.” Again, I might agree, but matters of morality such as this are not “facts.”
You suggest that: “the man engaging in both is not fit to be our future president.” Again, this is an opinion, not a fact.
Your analogy that the above statements are as valid as “it would be good for one’s health to quit smoking” is deeply flawed as analogies depend on a reliable set of similarities between a thing and its antecedent.
I’m confused about your friend. Are you suggesting she chose to go to Isreal so her operation could be performed with “lesser quality on outdated equipment?” If so, why?
As to your statement: ” Republicans … often hate Obama because he is black ,and often are racist.” Since “often can mean “more than one/once,” I would have to agree with you. I’m sure there is at least one republican who is racist, etc…. But if you wanted to make a claim of fact (a claim that something is true) you should write: “there is at least one republican…” Otherwise the statement is so elastic as to border on foolish.
Likewise, since I don’t live in the south, I can’t verify your claims in that regard. The Wisconsin conservatives and republicans I’ve talked to have never openly admitted that they are racists.
Finally, while it is very likely true that I am closed-minded on many subjects, the difference between us seems to be that I can tell the difference between facts and opinions with much greater accuracy than you can. Perhaps an exploration of the basic rules of thinking might overturn your “belief system.”