Under different circumstances, a Senate race in the Deep South between two Black candidates would be something to celebrate. But Herschel Walker is so unqualified that the Georgia contest has become cringeworthy. The Washington Post reported GOP operatives in Georgia united behind Walker in part to offset Reverend Raphael Warnock’s status as Georgia’s first Black senator. They also saw Walker as a buffer against claims that the party is racist, making Walker the party’s Official Black Friend. “A lot of [conservatives] said, ‘He’s Black, and he agrees with us,’” an unnamed GOP strategist told the Post, “and I think that’s why people just gave him the benefit of the doubt.”
A Facebook friend, a retired DVM who is black, wrote this on his wall, and he gave me permission to share it:
The GOP should be ashamed but it’s not. Instead they’re doubling down on Herschel Walker. Anything at all to gain a senate seat.
They know it but don’t give a damn that he is a slap in the face to Black intellectual competence, incapable of intelligently articulating anything much less understanding important issues. It’s sad seeing them on TV grinning in his face at rallies when you know they are shaking their heads and laughing at him behind his back. It’s not hard to imagine how he must be the butt of many of their jokes behind closed doors.
How can anyone understand much less take seriously a candidate who’s solution to mass shootings is “a department that can look at young men that’s looking at women that’s looking at social media”? That is just one of many examples of why he’s not qualified to come anywhere near anyone’s seat of government.
Shame on you, GOP - but, unfortunately, this embarrassing (at least to me it is) disaster is part of the sad reality we now find ourselves living in. Trump and Trumpism have taken our country to a place darker than it has been in a long, long time and I fear whether we will ever be able to fully extricate ourselves.
At first I thought it was mere tokenism that a Black man as clueless as Herschel Walker could receive any support from within the GOP. But yes, you're spot on in seeing the racism and exploitation by party leaders who are so desperate to get control of the Senate that they would support the most pathetically ignorant and morally bankrupt Black man imaginable. Black men like Herschel Walker used to lapse into obscurity and live off their sports hero image. Somebody persuaded Walker that he could be a US Senator even though he is embarrassingly unintelligent, and you can bet at least one white southerner saw him as a potentially very useful idiot. All they need is for him to win an election, even if he resigns a month later. Never have I seen such craven scheming.
In addition to the perverse and abominable racism steering the Walker campaign, there is another underlying paradox operative here as well as in tfg's campaign. The hypocrisy will never be seen as such. It is almost immediately shape-shifted by that evangelical alchemy around forgiveness. Almost as if the worse the candidate's moral character the better they are for saving!! So real evil
disappears into the boiling pot, stirred by the master evil-doers, the ear-whisperers around the candidate. Evil on evil, rationalized by a twisted take on the religious concept of forgiveness, wiped clean of any hint of sorrow or sinning no more or even of facing up to the very real consequences of one's action.
That's actually a thing. Some years ago I read a book "Strange Angel: The Gospel According to Bennie Joe" written by Ben Davis.
Mr. Davis was born and brought up in a Pentecostal Church community in Texas in the late 40's and early 50's. He describes old time Pentecost with great fondness and nostalgia and it's quite true that the Pentecostals seem to love the drama of "saving" and the blacker the sin and the sinner, the better the descriptions of the sin and the scenes thereof. It was just more vicarious thrills for the listening church members and they ate it up like a special treat.
The author also had much to say about the hypocrisy of the Pentecostal church leadership. Secret sin and lying is not a new thing for the Evangelical community; it is simply more open and accepted--even condoned--by those who lust for power.
You said what I was thinking TC. Walker is “their boy”. And he’s too ignorant to comprehend that they are white supremacists putting him in his place. The oligarchs and GOP absolutely want to put useful idiots like him in the Senate and the House. He will fit right in with Tommy Tuber and Marjorie Traiter Green, happy to do their bidding for them. It’s terrifying to say the least.
I remember when we last had a Senate race between two major party candidates who were black: Illinois, 2004. Jack Ryan had won the primary, but withdrew after the Chicago Sun-Times uncovered a scandal. The Illinois R's imported Alan Keyes to run the race against Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee. Keyes was so egregiously awful that he was one person that Obama said he wanted to punch when he met him. (Thankfully for his sake and history, he didn't.). Keyes lost, getting only 27% of the vote.
From Heather Cox Richardson’s article, because it says volumes: “Now, Republicans are rallying around Walker, with former NRA spokesperson and former Breitbart writer Dana Loesch saying: “I don’t care if Herschel Walker paid to abort endangered baby eagles. I want control of the Senate.”
all I keep telling myself, many times a day, is "you can't make this shit up.: it's almost a sort of mantra, but one that is in no way beneficial.
once again, most elegantly stated, Tom. and it's just soooo obviously true that I'm almost willing to bet some people might be afraid to say it to friends lest they seem to be stating the obvious to a degree that makes them look a little stupid. even OLD friends. I'm not, but I know plenty of people who feel that way, so they don't talk about it.
that this particular race is remotely close is insane, which is where we live now.
A Facebook friend, a retired DVM who is black, wrote this on his wall, and he gave me permission to share it:
The GOP should be ashamed but it’s not. Instead they’re doubling down on Herschel Walker. Anything at all to gain a senate seat.
They know it but don’t give a damn that he is a slap in the face to Black intellectual competence, incapable of intelligently articulating anything much less understanding important issues. It’s sad seeing them on TV grinning in his face at rallies when you know they are shaking their heads and laughing at him behind his back. It’s not hard to imagine how he must be the butt of many of their jokes behind closed doors.
How can anyone understand much less take seriously a candidate who’s solution to mass shootings is “a department that can look at young men that’s looking at women that’s looking at social media”? That is just one of many examples of why he’s not qualified to come anywhere near anyone’s seat of government.
Shame on you, GOP - but, unfortunately, this embarrassing (at least to me it is) disaster is part of the sad reality we now find ourselves living in. Trump and Trumpism have taken our country to a place darker than it has been in a long, long time and I fear whether we will ever be able to fully extricate ourselves.
thanks for posting this...it's terrific.
At first I thought it was mere tokenism that a Black man as clueless as Herschel Walker could receive any support from within the GOP. But yes, you're spot on in seeing the racism and exploitation by party leaders who are so desperate to get control of the Senate that they would support the most pathetically ignorant and morally bankrupt Black man imaginable. Black men like Herschel Walker used to lapse into obscurity and live off their sports hero image. Somebody persuaded Walker that he could be a US Senator even though he is embarrassingly unintelligent, and you can bet at least one white southerner saw him as a potentially very useful idiot. All they need is for him to win an election, even if he resigns a month later. Never have I seen such craven scheming.
my opinions about Walker have evolved in pretty much the same way; same timing as well.
In addition to the perverse and abominable racism steering the Walker campaign, there is another underlying paradox operative here as well as in tfg's campaign. The hypocrisy will never be seen as such. It is almost immediately shape-shifted by that evangelical alchemy around forgiveness. Almost as if the worse the candidate's moral character the better they are for saving!! So real evil
disappears into the boiling pot, stirred by the master evil-doers, the ear-whisperers around the candidate. Evil on evil, rationalized by a twisted take on the religious concept of forgiveness, wiped clean of any hint of sorrow or sinning no more or even of facing up to the very real consequences of one's action.
!
A person can be forgiven for his transgressions, but that does not make him qualified to be a US Senator.
That's actually a thing. Some years ago I read a book "Strange Angel: The Gospel According to Bennie Joe" written by Ben Davis.
Mr. Davis was born and brought up in a Pentecostal Church community in Texas in the late 40's and early 50's. He describes old time Pentecost with great fondness and nostalgia and it's quite true that the Pentecostals seem to love the drama of "saving" and the blacker the sin and the sinner, the better the descriptions of the sin and the scenes thereof. It was just more vicarious thrills for the listening church members and they ate it up like a special treat.
The author also had much to say about the hypocrisy of the Pentecostal church leadership. Secret sin and lying is not a new thing for the Evangelical community; it is simply more open and accepted--even condoned--by those who lust for power.
You said what I was thinking TC. Walker is “their boy”. And he’s too ignorant to comprehend that they are white supremacists putting him in his place. The oligarchs and GOP absolutely want to put useful idiots like him in the Senate and the House. He will fit right in with Tommy Tuber and Marjorie Traiter Green, happy to do their bidding for them. It’s terrifying to say the least.
Agree this post is spot on….and “Coach” Tubervllle who couldn’t even name the three branches of govt….and yes, “everybody is cool with it.”
I remember when we last had a Senate race between two major party candidates who were black: Illinois, 2004. Jack Ryan had won the primary, but withdrew after the Chicago Sun-Times uncovered a scandal. The Illinois R's imported Alan Keyes to run the race against Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee. Keyes was so egregiously awful that he was one person that Obama said he wanted to punch when he met him. (Thankfully for his sake and history, he didn't.). Keyes lost, getting only 27% of the vote.
The results inspired the Crazification Factor Theory, which states that in the U.S. there are 27% who will vote for a crazy or unqualified candidate. (scroll down or search for "27%) http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2005/10/lunch-discussions-145-crazification.html
From Heather Cox Richardson’s article, because it says volumes: “Now, Republicans are rallying around Walker, with former NRA spokesperson and former Breitbart writer Dana Loesch saying: “I don’t care if Herschel Walker paid to abort endangered baby eagles. I want control of the Senate.”
The "quiet part" said out loud.
This really says it all. These people have no shame or self-respect.
all I keep telling myself, many times a day, is "you can't make this shit up.: it's almost a sort of mantra, but one that is in no way beneficial.
once again, most elegantly stated, Tom. and it's just soooo obviously true that I'm almost willing to bet some people might be afraid to say it to friends lest they seem to be stating the obvious to a degree that makes them look a little stupid. even OLD friends. I'm not, but I know plenty of people who feel that way, so they don't talk about it.
that this particular race is remotely close is insane, which is where we live now.
oy yet again.
Here is a more about Walker. A great post from Thomas Clay Jr on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/posts/72906908?utm_campaign=postshare_fan
That nailed him 👍😎
Spot on!