My thanks to Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker for putting in a nutshell the WHY behind my current contempt for my former political party. Nothing underscores why I find the current GOP so utterly despicable as the response of its politicians & cheerleading pundits as Wednesday's tragedy in Charleston, South Carolina, where a gunman killed 9 parishioners attending a prayer meeting in an historic African-American church. And so far, no one - not even Lindsey Graham - has captured my sense of disgust as well as Gov. Baker.
America & the world was aghast on Thursday when S.C. Governor Nikki Haley ordered the Stars & Stripes and the state's palmetto flags lower - but the Stars & Bars remained flying high & proud on state house grounds.
When a local radio station asked Gov. Baker if he still stood by his position that states should have the right to fly the Confederate flag, he responded, "“My view on stuff like this is that South Carolinians can make their own call... I do believe that the reason that flag still hangs there is, you know, what I would call sort of ‘tradition’ or something like that.”
Over at Fox News, Steve Doucy was stunned that anyone could describe it as hate crime, when it clearly reflected "hostility toward Christians." On the same channel, "America's Mayor" Rudy Guiliani pointed out, "We have no idea what’s in his mind. Maybe he hates Christian churches or maybe he hates black churches or he’s gonna go find another one. Who knows.” How did GOP leaders& media spin the story? Not as an attack on individuals, but one directed at religious liberty, spurred by religious animosity.
As for Gov. Baker, how did his take on the flag set with Bay Staters? Not well. By day's end, he did his best to walk back his comments. This is the best he could do?
I certainly apologize. I did hear from friends of mine who said, ‘Jesus, Charlie, you know, what were you thinking?' The last time I checked this is one nation under God and we’re big believers in equality and liberty and every day we should strive to be better at it. That does not speak to that.
It took friends calling him up to realize the cluelessness of what he'd said? Seriously? His p.r. staff didn't set him down & read him the riot act? He missed the editorials ripping him for jaw-dropping insensitivity?
Going on to point out that he “ran … to represent 100 percent of the people of Massachusetts... I’ve continued to reach out since I took office” suggests he thinks the outrage over his comments divides along racial lines. How could he so totally miss that this issue has struck deep into the hearts of people everywhere, all over the world? Yet, he did.
MassLive.com summed it up beautifully:
During his misguided analysis of the Confederate flag issue, Baker alluded to "sort of tradition or something like that.'' He's right. The Southern tradition is about more than slavery, but the flag represents that ugly aspect of its history to many blacks and, for that matter, to many whites.
Flying the flag is not only a slap in the face to those people, it ignores history. The Civil War was won by the North, not the South.
Yet many Southerners cling to a "tradition'' that caused scars which remain to this day. At a time racial tension is especially fragile, defending the display of the flag used to denote a attempted break from the United States is incredibly insensitive, but it would be insensitive even in the best of times.
Sigh.... Back when I was a proud member of the Republican Party, the GOP had a reputation for intelligence. Those days are gone. In his comments walking back the day's earlier debacle, Gov. Baker said, "I am cognizant of the fact that literally millions of Americans died over what it represents in the Civil War." Millions. The mind boggles.
Again, Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, summarizing why I so utterly despise so many in the political party I once revered. Its political & thought leaders are spectacularly narrow minded, bending events to what their restricted world view allows them to process; cursed with the compassion of... I can't think of anything low enough; and just flat-out dumb.
other examples of GOP intransigence:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-charleston-shooting-1434669812
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/06/19
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/jeb-bush-doesnt-know-charleston-shooters-motive
http://www.salon.com/2015/06
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/18/why-the-gop-hates-talking-about-hate-conservatives-don-t-want-to-confront-racism-in-charleston-shooting.html
http://www.wopular.com/gop%E2%80%99s-staggering-charleston-cowardice-why-are-so-many-republicans-so-scared-admitting-truth
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