Why the GOP Can't Run from Giuliani's Hateful Rhetoric

While Rudy Giuliani has belatedly back peddled on his statements that Barack Obama doesn't "love America" and wasn't raised to love this country, the foaming at the mouth across the Republican Party base and among a number of the Party's worse demagogues continues undiminished.  Why?  In my view, because of the rampant racism that is now a prerequisite to being a Republican in far too many circles within the GOP.  This element of the GOP simply has never gotten over having a man who is half black in the White House.  Obama's mere presence reminds these people that their days of unrestricted white privilege are waning and that - horror of horrors - American is moving towards a minority majority population.  A post at The Bilerico Project looks at the unrelenting hate that motivates the GOP base.  Here are highlights:

Republicans can't run from Rudy Giuliani's hateful rhetoric about President Obama's patriotism, because their base won't let them. This is who they are.

Last week, former New York mayor and failed GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani ruined a quiet dinner where anti-tax Republicans were vetting Wisconsin governor and possible presidential candidate Scott Walker -- by becoming the latest Republican to question President Obama's patriotism.

Giuliani doubled down in an interview with the New York Post.  "Logically, think about his background," Giuliani said. "The ideas that are troubling me and are leading to this come from communists with whom he associated when he was 9 years old," he added in reference to President Obama's childhood years living in Indonesia with his mother and stepfather. On Sean Hannity's show, Giuliani invoked 9/11 to reinforce his claim about the president's patriotism.

Meanwhile, conservatives jumped on the Giuliani bandwagon.

• Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California) said Americans should "thank" Giuliani for taking the debate "back to national security."
• Rep. Peter King (R-New York) said Giuliani "should not apologize" for his comments because President Obama doesn't have the right "fervor" to fight terrorism.
• Fox News' Katie Pavlich echoed Giuliani, saying the president has a "blame America first" approach.
• After initially punting on the president's patriotism, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker attacked the president's faith instead, telling a Washington Post reporter that he "doesn't know" if the president is a Christian or not.
• RedState.org founder Erick Erickson echoed Walker, tweeting that the president is not a Christian "in any meaningful way."

Then an interesting thing happened: they tried to take it all back.

It's become the usual conservative response when those who lived through the consequences of America failing to live up to its stated ideals dare speak their truth. First our love of country is questioned. Then we're told how to love their America, on their terms.

President Obama has expressed his love for America countless times, but conservatives don't believe he loves it the right way. To them, America is like a fragile narcissist who must be loved unquestioningly and uncritically. As Matt Taibbi noted, it's an ironically Soviet style of patriotism, especially for people fond of calling the president a "communist."

Republicans can't run from Giuliani's hateful rhetoric -- it's who they are. They're tailoring their rhetoric for a shrinking white conservative base that's wrestling with economic anxiety caused by right-wing policies and the cultural anxiety facing an America where white is no longer the norm.

The strategy has worked too well for Republicans, and it's now required to win credibility with right-wing conservatives. It also repulses an American majority that looks less and less like the GOP base.

The audience for right-wing xenophobia and jingoism is only going to get smaller. The Republicans' problem is that they don't appear to have anything else.

 

Hate and fear - and of course greed - are the main motivations for the policies of today's GOP.