Posted by
Young Republican on Monday, October 05, 2009 5:24:14 PM
I spend a lot of time bashing Republicans but I was deeply troubled by the public reaction to the comments made by Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS). I liked Ms. Jenkins and paid attention to her politically from 2007 on and I was initially surprised to hear what she said. Not for the terms of content but all politicians with her intelligence and survival instincts know to never touch the topic of race. And she did.
"Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope." "I suggest to any of you who are concerned about that, who are Republican, there are some great young Republican minds in Washington." She went on and listed Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy, and Paul Ryan. Ok, not the smartest thing to say but I'm so sick and tired of people automatically assuming that if a white person misspeaks on race for a moment they are a racist. Ms. Jenkins is not a racist. But I'm afraid that she made not be able to hold onto her seat and even sadder about the fact that she may be harmed for future higher office be it Governor or Senator because of one mistake. And that is a shame for the people of Kansas.
Being white, young and male certain things get said when you are around all white males. I have heard racism first hand and am disgusted by it and Ms. Jenkins’ comments do not qualify. I also have been clear to call out both sides for saying very racist things from Rush Limbaugh to Stephanie Miller. Mr. Limbaugh is a racist; Ms. Miller made some very stupid comments about our former Atty. General.
But is it wrong to say that the Republican Party is white? It is! I wish we had more diversity. I wish that people from solid conservative districts would elect an African American now and then. I know we can do better than Michael Stelle. But the Republican Party is white. And what was perhaps a bad joke from Ms. Jenkins was also right; she just spoke about the elephant in the room. She was also right about the party’s stars, Cantor and Ryan are brilliant and it's time to remove Boehner as House Minority Leader.
Let’s judge someone on their record and give people some needed leeway. This world is too full of people (and I realize I’m saying this on a blog) who make snap judgments and write people off in two seconds flat. Let’s be smart for a change.