Saturday 29 September 2007

Offbeat Moments with the Republican B Team

Tempted by the Huffington platform, I sat through the televised debate at Morgan State University, which was to address issues of concern to black and brown Americans and promptly was dissed by all four top Republican contenders who said they were busy. It was less painful than I expected although there were molar-grinding moments and plenty of unintended hilarity. I got to compose a snide round-up afterward, including this:

"Ron Paul, speaking for the many libertarian anarchists in black Republican ranks, plumped for eliminating government and giving the state of nature another try. Tancredo caromed issue after issue off the Mexican border wall, and Hunter repeatedly intoned his former life in the ‘barrio’ although he stopped short of trilling his double-Rs. "

But the most striking aspect of the debate, for me, was the nature of the questions posed by a panel of one Hispanic and two black journalists. The issues raised and the assumptions behind them were entirely different from what we've come to expect, illustrating what I'll call a 'white slant' that filters into our everyday discourse. So it was no great loss that the Giulianis and the Romneys and the McCains didn't come to speak, but it's too bad they didn't come to listen.

Read the whole piece here.

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