Have Your Say Without the Insults

WS Chronicle March 10, 2013 9

Political civility is dead. We know: that’s not news to anyone. We were reminded by Felice Pete of just how uncivil – and uncivilized, to some extent – folks are these days.

The Wake County Republican Party leader came to town last week to speak at a gathering of the Forsyth County Republican Women. Her stated mission was to preach self-reliance, God-fearing family values and other GOP planks, but she found ample time to engage in the GOP’s favorite sport: President Obama-bashing.

While calling the president “a guy who kind of has no religion … (who) likes to kill babies,” Pete also tried to make the point that the nation’s first black president is anti-African American and anti-woman.

Pete was preaching to the choir at the GOP event, but her appearance didn’t do squat to win over African Americans with conservative-inclinations. She pushed blacks and other minorities further away with her sanctimonious hate speech.

It is unfortunate that Pete and other black Republicans (e.g. Herman Cain, Allen West, Clarence Thomas, Vernon Robinson) feel that they have to prove that they are just as conservative as their white GOP counterparts by making the most extreme and unfounded statements. While this rhetoric may earn them pats on the back and cheers from the Republican masses, the rest of us – including those of us who want to give black Republicans the benefit of the doubt – see them as carnival sideshow acts.

If Pete believes the Republican Party is a better fit for the church-loving black community, why not simply say that without taking cheap shots at President Obama’s faith? Stating how a GOP policy would lower the black unemployment rate, which has always been higher than that of whites, doesn’t require personal, nasty digs either.

We simply don’t understand why seemingly intelligent people like Pete can’t simply present points and arguments without veering into crazy talk. This sort of Big Top politics may grab headlines and provide red meat for conservative die-hards, but is it helping a political party that is quickly falling out of favor? If Pete is the kind of goodwill ambassador the party hopes to use to increase its numbers among people of color, then we fear the GOP’s death is closer than anticipated.

TAGS » Allen West, anti-African American, anti-woman, black Republicans, black unemployment rate, Clarence Thomas, conservative, Editorial, featured, Felice Pete, Forsyth County Republican Women, GOP, Herman Cain, Obama bashing, Opinion, Vernon Robinson, Wake County Republican Party leader

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BostonBorn

This is another glaring example of how liberals do not believe that black conservatives are independent thinkers and we have minds of our own.

Believe or not, many black people really are pro-life and really believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman. That’s why we don’t support Barak Obama, because he’s against those things–its that simple!

And apparently Felice Pete knows more about President Obama than this columnist. The first thing he did as president, in January of 2009, was overturn an eight-year ban on U.S. federal funding of abortions overseas.

And as a state senator in Illinois, Senator Obama voted AGAINST providing medical assistance to babies that sometimes survive an abortion procedure. In other words, he’d rather they lay on the table and die.

Felice Pete’s statement about President Obama and babies was rooted and grounded in facts!

And there are many of us, in the black community, that are completely against this!
whatevergong82

To BostonBorn, those of us that vote care for more than ONE ISSUE, such as you just thinking of abortion to the exclusion to all else. How about unemployment, the Financial mess we’re in thanks to the crooked bankers, the voter suppression the REPUBLICAN PARTY is trying to do in other states (and had laws of that type passed in a bunch of states in time for the 2012 election), for starters?

People like BostonBorn and Felice Pete can talk bad about President Obama. How about you talk about the flaws (and there are plenty to look at) in the Republican Party?

Look up Southern Strategy for why a lot of African Americans simply refuse to vote Republican (to this very day). And what Reagan/Bush 1 did while in office, to say nothing of Bush 2, who didn’t do a doggone thing while people was drowning during Hurricane Katrina.

The Republican Party won’t get any black votes of a major percentage until they get rid of the Tea Party bigots, get off talking only about abortion and defense, and talk (and DO SOMETHING) about people’s lives that aren’t rich, connected, or white. I’m not rich, I’m not connected, and I’ll leave it to your imagination my heritage.
BostonBorn

To Whatevergong82

You completely missed the point. This column isn’t about previous republican administrations. It’s about Felice Pete’s comments during an FCRW meeting at Forsyth Tech.

And Ms. Pete talked about many issues during that time–including black unemployment which is at 16 percent!

Since you missed the point, I’ll help make it clear. It’s about Ms. Pete’s comments and the columnist–that’s all.

And the columnist said and I quote, “It is unfortunate that Pete and other black republicans…feel they have
to prove that they are just as conservative as their white counterparts by making the most extreme and unfounded statements.”

And my point is this: Felice Pete’s comments came from her own mind and her own heart. She’s a free and independent thinker and she was expressing her own views. She wasn’t trying to please white conservatives.

And that’s what liberals think of black conservatives. They don’t believe our thoughts are our own. They think our opinions were given to us by white people.

But here’s a news flash for the columnist; black conservatives really believe in conservative principles. And when we articulate them, we’re articulating what we believe.

And here’s my other point: Felice Pete’s comments were rooted and grounded in the truth. As an Illinois state senator Barak Obama voted AGAINST the Born Alive Infant Protection Act in 2002. Which meant that any baby that somehow survived a late-term abortion, could not get medical help. They had to lay on the table and die. And in January of 2009, President Obama ended a ban on U.S. funds supporting abortions overseas.

Therefore, what Pete said about President Obama and babies is true. But the columnist said they are “extreme and unfounded statements.”

So Felice Pete clearly knows more about Barak Obama than the columnist does.
- whatevergong82
  
  You still don’t get it. I don’t care ONE BIT about the abortion issue. I am NOT MARRIED, and I DON”T HAVE CHILDREN. What you do in your house is your business, not mine. I could easily Google the many Republican Party members that have flaws in their house (the former Governor of South Carolina, or the Florida’s lieutenant governor resigning over gambling.) Democrats aren’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but what gets me is that the Republicans tend to talk about family values but can’t follow their own advice.
  
  You still didn’t say a thing about the many flaws the Republican Party has vis a vi with African American voters. I don’t care about the side issues, I care about right now, not when someone’s in the womb. If you want to vote for someone whose religion excluded blacks until 1978 (Romney), then that’s your business. But what I find funny about black conservatives is that I don’t see them being of any influence or impact in the AA (African American) community by and large.
  
  I have to go to work right now. I didn’t vote for Romney, and I feel until the Republican Party ‘gets it’ with AA voters such as myself, they can try all the voter ID nonsense or try to override the Voting Rights act, but they’ll still have trouble winning national elections.
BostonBorn

To Whatevergong82

This isn’t a forum where you spout off about anything at all.

It’s supposed to be a way for people to talk about the published article.

But you don’t want to talk about it. You want to complain about everything else! If you don’t want to talk about this article, you should’ve said anything.

I’d be glad to comment about the Republican Party beneath an article ABOUT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. But that’s not what this article is about.

So you just wasted my time and yours. And if anyone else wants to talk about this article–I’ll be glad to respond.
- whatevergong82
  
  BostonBorn, I didn’t waste my time. I just politely pointed out some of the hypocrisy of the black conservatives when it comes to their own party. I already told you, I DON’T CARE ABOUT ABORTION. This is yet another reason why Black conservatives don’t get any respect in the black community, they don’t talk about (or do ANYTHING ABOUT) stuff that resonates with the community.
  
  I went to school like President Obama did, and graduated like President Obama did. I work for a living (and just got off of it, thank you), like he does. One of the things that annoys me about Black Conservatives is that they talk responsibility, but have absolutely nothing to back up their words with actions.
  
  Please note that Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll resigned yesterday over that gambling scandal I mentioned earlier, and she’s a Black Republican, imagine that. Don’t forget the saying, ‘He who is without sin, cast the first stone.’
  
  None of us is perfect, and getting mad about something that happens between two people is pointless. I won’t judge, and I wish that anyone of ANY STRIPE would DO THE SAME. I’ll leave that to God.
  
  Also, why constantly bring up something that happened years ago, to someone like me that isn’t even remotely interested in it? I (along with other voters like me– who don’t even vote Republican, by the way) want to know how is this country going to get out of the Financial mess the banks just put us it, along with getting us out of two wars we had no business in, for starters.
  
  The previous President (George W. Bush) is responsible for getting us in two wars, on dubious and FALSE PROOF, and not doing anything of note to slow and stop the ‘Great Recession’ that happened on his watch, at the end of his Presidency, late 2008- January 20, 2009. His time, his dime, and he didn’t do nada.
BostonBorn

To Whatevergong82

I’ll try one more time to get you to discuss this column–and this column only–with a question.

Do you care at all that the writer was COMPLETELY WRONG when they said that Felice Pete’s comments were “unfounded” ?
- whatevergong82
  
  I disagree. Felice Pete doesn’t know President Barack Obama personally, and neither do I, and especially neither do you. Like it is said, ‘Judge not, less you be judged.’
  
  If she wants to disagree about what someone voted on years ago, it’s one thing. But to go out and say that a guy has ‘who kind of has no religion, likes to kill babies and really is not for women at all’– in her words, not Barack Obama’s, not mine, and not yours, is putting words in other people’s mouths.
  
  That used to be called spreading falsehoods.
  
  If Ms. Pete wants to protest abortion, then go right ahead. It’s her right, and she can do all that she wants to. But note that she went to school in North Carolina, and wasn’t within shouting distance of Illinois when President Obama lived and worked there, if I’m correct.
  
  But, my point still stands: If you don’t know someone, don’t put words into their mouth. Get to know that person, and then make your decision based on what you’ve observed and noted about said person.
  
  Also, what I’ve stated about the Republican Party still stands, despite Ms. Pete saying that ‘You’ve got to know more than ever. Don’t let them (liberals) back you down. Republicanism is great,’ (Her words, by the way.) If you want to be Conservative, then go right ahead.
  
  But remember this, it was people like U.S. House of Representatives Congressman John Lewis of Georgia that put his life on the line (and got beaten up for it) during Bloody Sunday back on March 7th of 1965. He’s far from Conservative (and is actually a LIBERAL), and I respect him a lot, because he put his tail on the line. I don’t frankly see that from the Conservative side, just like Conservatives have been wrong on so many things in the history of this country.
BostonBorn

To Whatevergong82,

We don’t have to know Barak Obama personally. We only need to know his record. And the record shows that he voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act in 2002 as a state senator. And the first thing he did, as president, was to commit U.S. tax money to abortions overseas.

Which means that Pete’s comment about “killing babies” was accurate and founded in the truth.

And when it comes to her comment about “a guy who kinda has no religion”, Obama has publicly professed to be a Christian. But he’s also publicly mocked the Bible.

And while speaking at Georgetown University, in 2009, he had the monogram of Christ that was on the podium, covered up. He also declined to host services for the National Day of Prayer. And Obama is the FIRST U.S. PRESIDENT TO REFUSE TO HOST THE NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

And in 2011, he ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs to stop using references to God and Jesus during burial ceremonies at Houston National Cemetery.

I can point out a lot more examples, these are just a few. But the major point is that Felice Pete characterized Obama as “a guy who kinda has no religion.” AND THE RECORD SHOWS THAT SHE’S RIGHT.

And finally, to many Christians have misinterpreted the scripture “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”

There’s a BIG DIFFERENCE between judging someone and speaking out against wrong. To judge someone is to consign them to a specific end with no hope of escape and no hope of change.

And to speak out against wrong is simply speaking out against wrong. Misinterpreting the scripture has caused generations of Christians to refuse to speak out against what’s wrong.

And God wants us to speak out against wrong. And that’s what Felice Pete did!

Have Your Say Without the Insults

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