Republicans: Blind to the Past — and Future on Race

The insanity that engulfed Cheerios' new ad is symptomatic of the larger problem with today's Republican Party: its core constituency out side of Christofascists (although there is significant overlap of the groups) is out and out racists, KKK members and open white supremacists.  The GOP continues to cling to the racial hatred of the past and refuses to open its eyes to the reality that no matter what it and its racist base does, the nation's demographics are changing and will continue to change towards a more diverse population where whites in some areas will be a minority.  A column in the New York Times looks at the problem in the context of the efforts at comprehensive immigration reform.  Here are excerpts:

As a new effort at comprehensive immigration reform inches its way forward in the Senate, dissent from many conservatives is revealing their true contempt for, and fear of, the possibility that demographic groups who look different from their base will accrue power. 

The questions are: Is providing a pathway to citizenship (or at least permanent residency) for the 11 million people in this country illegally an act of humanity and practicality? Or is it an electoral imperative to which opposition ultimately guarantees political suicide?  The answer probably is “yes” to both, although many Republicans seem to think the opposite. 

The most outlandish example of conservative rhetoric in its truly offensive glory on this subject came in an interview last week with Phyllis Schlafly, a prominent conservative activist, on the news site PolicyMic. In it she said: 

“I don’t see any evidence that Hispanics resonate with Republican values. They have no experience or knowledge of the whole idea of limited government and keeping government out of our private lives. They come from a country where the government has to decide everything. I don’t know where you get the idea that the Mexicans coming in resonate with Republican values. They’re running an illegitimacy rate that is extremely high. I think it’s the highest of any ethnic group. .  .  .  Well, that’s unacceptable. We don’t want people like that.”

There are so many stereotypes and fallacies in that statement that it’s not even worth unpacking, but it is a great illustration of some deep-rooted conservative views. 

Republicans, seemingly ignorant of the lessons of history and impervious to the wisdom of experience, are hellbent on revisiting 2005 [when Democrats receive a great increase in Hispanic votes]. While the Democratic advantage among Hispanics in presidential races is large and growing, the Democratic advantage in House elections has slowly begun to shrink again. And Hispanics, seemingly excited by the movement on immigration reform and optimistic about its prospects, have developed sharply more favorable opinions of Congress. A full 56 percent of Hispanics hold Congress in high esteem, up from 35 percent in November 2011, according to an ABC News/Washington Post Poll. 

So what do some Republican lawmakers want to do to the only segment of the population in which a majority now has a favorable opinion of Congress? Spurn them and dash their hopes. Brilliant, if you want to cement Democratic preference among Hispanics in perpetuity.

And not to harp on the issue, but most of these racist members of the GOP base claim to be "godly Christians."  The hypocrisy is nearly complete.