by Jeffery Rendall
Isn’t Maxine Waters indefensible?
It’s a question Democrat leaders must be asking themselves these days as the furor over Waters’ recent inflammatory “resist” comments has drawn apologists of the California congresswoman out of the woodworks.
These people seem to think Maxine deserved a more stringent public defense of what she said a couple weeks back. Why, you ask? Because Waters is black!
Victor Morton of the Washington Times reported last week, “A group of black women sent a letter this week to the two top Democrats in Congress demanding that they apologize for their veiled criticisms of Rep. Maxine Waters and threatening repercussions at the ballot box in November if they do not.
“’For Black women, who are the most loyal base of the Democratic Party and the Progressive Movement, Congresswoman Waters is our shero [sic],’ declared the letter signed by nearly 200 people, mostly black female academics, activists, local elected officials, political consultants, and religious leaders, along with a few male allies.
“The letter, a copy of which was posted by Politico on Wednesday, accused House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, both of whom are white, of racial insensitivity and expressed ‘our profound indignation and deep disappointment over your recent failure to protect Congresswoman Waters.’”
You can’t make this stuff up. The activists’ letter also addressed the content of Waters’ diatribe, suggesting that because black women suffered incivility under slavery and segregation they have no obligation to play nice now. They also see Waters as someone who stands up to oppression (in the form of President Trump) and freely uses her First Amendment rights to speak.
Yes, like verbally assaulting a conservative in a restaurant or at a gas station (as Waters begged for) is a constitutionally protected usage of speech rights. Technically speaking that’s probably true – no one would be prosecuted for confronting a public figure in a public place and “speaking” to them about a political matter. But it also crosses the bounds of taste and “civility” to disallow anyone the “privilege” of having dinner or getting gas without undue disturbance or harassment to the point where they must leave the scene or face potential physical harm.
But we don’t need to get into the free speech aspect here. It’s more than enough that this group of leftist (mostly) women joined together to chastise Pelosi and Schumer because the Democrat leaders disagreed with Waters’ immoderate approach to “resisting” the president and his conservative supporters. These militants only see color in their defense of Waters – would they go to the mat for her if a white woman blurted out the same exact things Waters did?
Further, they’re blatantly threatening political repercussions for the Democrat leaders’ public stances on Waters, saying straight out that black women would see the Democrats’ failure to support Maxine as a reason not to vote for party candidates. It’s curious because that’s basically the opposite of what Waters was trying to accomplish – would Waters expect black women to stay home if Pelosi and Schumer withheld an apology to her?
It’s stupid…but what else do you expect from this group of malcontents? For what it’s worth Pelosi did release a statement in response to the letter, blaming President Trump for collapsing civility and called Waters “a valued leader.” Leader of what? A revolution of freaks?
These leftist African-American rabble-rousers must naively believe all black people think alike and react in a similar manner to the way someone like Maxine Waters is treated. Here’s thinking there are a healthy number of black Americans who consider Waters a crazed nutcase and wish she’d stop claiming to speak on their behalf.
There’s even an effort, led in part by conservative black woman Candace Owens, to convince people to wake up and leave the Democrat Party. It’s called the #WalkAway movement and it’s gaining attention and momentum in the black community. Democrats should be very afraid; if even a small percentage of the African-American vote leaves the party – or merely stays home – it could mean curtains to their chances to win a lot of elections.
David Catron wrote last week at The American Spectator, “[The] Democratic Party has become so dependent on the African-American vote that it cannot hope to win a national election without generating a level of enthusiasm in that community comparable to that which former President Obama enjoyed. Consequently, any Democrat with an IQ exceeding single digits should be terrified by the #WalkAway movement. Candace Owens, one of its most influential voices (ask Kanye West), constantly reminds her huge social media following that the Democratic Party has used African-Americans to gain power and provided very little in return…
“Democrats are in denial on this as well. They obviously believe that constantly accusing President Trump and his supporters of racism will somehow keep African-Americans on the liberal plantation. These people evidently failed to notice that, after Kanye West signaled his affinity for the President, a Reuters survey found that Trump’s support among African-American men doubled. This isn’t a huge number. But it won’t take a very large number of electoral defections to assure the death of the Democratic Party.
“All that is needed is about 5 percent more African-Americans to vote Republican and another 5 to 10 percent to simply stay home. And once they kick the Democrat habit, they won’t backslide. As Candace Owens puts it, paraphrasing Harriet Tubman, ‘I’ve seen black liberals go conservative, but never seen a black conservative go liberal.’”
It’s true, and poll after poll has shown many black men holding decidedly conservative political positions despite their fidelity to the Democrat Party. For example, in his excellent piece Catron talks about the black community’s views towards illegal immigration and the potential abolishment of ICE. Simply put, black Americans are more “conservative” on this particular issue than white folks. Should brainless dunces like Maxine Waters and her Democrat brethren continue bludgeoning Trump and Republicans on behalf of illegal border jumpers expect some blacks to gradually stop propping up the party.
Conservative blacks are currently a small but vocal minority of a significant minority group. African-Americans wholesale switched parties 80 years ago (from Republican to Democrat) during the Great Depression and there are signs they’re open to doing so again. Just like many Jews recently realized Democrats no longer represent their interests (all of the Israel bashing these days is from Democrats) conservative blacks will begin a similar thought metamorphosis.
It’s only a matter of time, especially since Democrats are moving so far left, led by old pasty-white dinosaurs like Bernie Sanders, politicians who preach high taxes and government control of everything yet live lavish personal lifestyles and embody hypocrisy on a massive scale. Hillary Clinton’s pandering for minority votes is the stuff of legends – she even condescendingly adopted what sounded like an African-American accent when speaking to black groups.
Do Democrats seriously believe people don’t notice this? It’s almost like they exist in a vacuum, counting on black citizens to continue lending the party over 90 percent of their votes regardless of the awful conditions in the inner-cities where many of them live. Democrat governance and policies led to nothing but poverty and despair for many of these neighborhoods plagued by gang violence, poor schools and very little opportunity to escape despite the welfare state’s having dumped trillions of dollars into “relief” programs.
Cretins like Maxine Waters are directly responsible for these failures and her hate speech won’t have the effect the leftist black activists (who wrote the letter) anticipate. More and more black Americans will #WalkAway from Democrats. Some already made the leap long ago – and there are plenty of examples to look up to.
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott is one of them. Alexandra DeSanctis wrote at National Review, “…For Republicans inclined to dismiss complaints about unequal racial treatment, Scott’s stories were a force to be reckoned with. That day on the floor, Scott showed himself an able communicator, a measured conservative, and a man capable of teaching the Right and reaching the Left by being honest about his life, recognizing that his race mattered while avoiding the toxic, fatalistic conclusions of those who peddle identity politics…
“For Scott, skin color and political party will always take a back seat to principle. ‘I am more conservative than I am Republican,’ he tells me. As much as possible, he prefers finding areas where Left and Right can agree — his opportunity-zones legislation was co-sponsored by Cory Booker (D., N.J.), for example. But even so, and over the last two years in particular, the senator has taken to frequently denouncing the identity politics of the left, and he calls tribalism one of our greatest national-security threats…
“When we spend the afternoon in Anacostia touring new local businesses, Scott enjoys a much warmer reception than any Republican could rightly hope for in such a solidly left-wing area, and one so desperately in need of assistance. In this dilapidated neighborhood, Scott showed his willingness to interact with the people he so often mentions, people he believes are capable of success if the culture and the government don’t stand in their way.”
DeSanctis’s profile of Scott is lengthy – and first-rate – well worth a full read if you have time. Scott is the epitome of a principled conservative legislator who happens to have black skin. His unique story sets him apart from most other Republicans, so it’s not just his outward appearance that stands out in a crowd.
The establishment media’s negativity towards Scott and other minority conservatives is especially intense since these leaders represent the potential undermining of the Democrat party’s foundation. If Democrats can’t segregate people into groups and then hammer on them individually there’s nothing left for the politicians to say.
It used to be Democrats could appeal to working class whites in the so-called rust belt with an economic message centered on providing a better life – you know, a “hand-up” rather than a “hand-out”. Today, however, the Maxine Waterses of the party would rather peddle hate and “resistance” instead of proposals that could make everyone’s outlook more promising.
It’s the Democrats’ fatal flaw, one that could lead to their demise in future elections. Their entire platform is based on lies. If for nothing else, there’s no way any of their schemes – universal healthcare, free college tuition, etc. – will ever be enacted as long as Republicans retain control of the senate (highly likely this year) and Donald Trump occupies the Oval Office.
So in essence Democrats’ ideas are based on flawed assumptions and will never reach the surface anyway. Therefore, all they offer voters is “resistance” and their public face has morphed from Obama into Maxine Waters. It’s not looking too pretty for them, is it?
Separating or singling out people by race has never been a good strategy either. Democrats just can’t stop doing it. Nicholas Ballasy of PJ Media reported, “Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) compared the separation of children from their parents who are caught entering the U.S. illegally at the Mexican border to Japanese internment camps during World War II.
“Takano said he visited a Texas detention center recently where he saw children behind ‘high fences with razor wire.’
“’Those images brought back to mind the way that Japanese-Americans, including my very young mother and very young father, were treated during World War II,’ Takano said during a conference call organized by Immigration Hub with immigrant-rights advocates last week. ‘Like then, we’ve allowed hysteria and scapegoating to justify an immoral policy. We are living in disturbing times.’”
The reason why times are so disturbing is Democrats insist on labeling conservatives and Republicans as Nazi-like fascist extremists whenever there’s an attempt to enforce the law. In a civil society we should be able to disagree on the means of enforcement of a law but still agree on the policy. That’s just not possible in today’s political environment where Democrats instinctively defend the defenseless to save a party member from censure.
Liberals may think they’re laying the groundwork for political success by backing their own no matter what anyone says or does but they’re really just setting themselves up for failure. Maxine Waters has become a lightning rod for a reason – Democrats are suicidal to follow her lead.
