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The Republican National Convention, Day 1 — 18 Comments

  1. One of the worst moments occurred during the remarks by D Trump Jr, in which he stated that “we must put an end to racism. . . . because what happened to George Floyd is a disgrace.” The speech was not terrible, but the writer responsible for those words should never have included the kind of nonsense which should have been nothing more than a bad memory from last week’s ghastly convention.

  2. I did not watch a lot, but I also listened to Herschel Walker. I thought he was great. I was surprised and impressed. Surprised that he was so unabashed about his relationship with Trump; and impressed by his articulate delivery. When I was younger, and a great fan of Florida Gator football, we hated Herschel Walker (in a sports fan sense, not as a person). He made life miserable, in a sports fan sense. I always assumed that he was just another stupid Georgia Bulldog. So glad to know that he is on our team.

    I missed Ms Klacik, but I have seen her magnificent campaign commercial. Look out for her; she is dynamic. Tim Scott is always impressive.

    I guess those three, along with several others, don’t think all Republicans are racists. They may even question the words of the Wisconsin Governor (and a unanimous proclamation by my Board of Supervisors) that “Racism is a national health crisis”..

    It is hard to know what effect any Republican/Trump effort will have, because it is hard to know how much of their message will get through the filters. I started to write that we will know on 11/4, then I realized that we probably won’t know then; maybe never.

    Got an email today from the California Secretary of State reminding that, like all Californians, I will soon be receiving my ballot in the mail. The email did not say that since I am so old there is no need to even fill it in, just sign and my friendly Democrat ballot harvesting representative will be by to pick it up and save me a trip to the mailbox. I suppose that will come later.

    Just saw JE’s comment. Agree that is cringe worthy. I would take a close look at whoever inserted it into the speech. Events overtook the Floyd episode a long time ago; even if you are willing to grant that it was truly the original motivation. I don’t.

  3. The media is classifying the Republican convention as “dark,” the same as they did with Trump’s Mt. Rushmore speech as “dark and divisive.”

    As long as people get their information from the Democratic media complex, that is how they will understand them.

    Neither the Mt. Rushmore speech nor the convention have been dark at all. Unfortunately, there are those who will never watch them to see with their own eyes.

  4. If they think that is dark and divisive, they better not read the Z Man’s critique of the Republicuck Cuckvention:

    https://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=21142

    “After appealing to all of the constituencies that will never vote for Republicans, they had Jared Taylor come out and give the case for white people. He made the case that even though the GOP is full of actual cuckolds, white people have to vote for someone, so it may as well be the party that occasionally supports their interests. While Trump is not a white nationalist or an even a racist, he is the embodiment of implicit whiteness, while Biden is the manifestation of the current anti-White pogrom.

    Obviously, that never happened and will never happen. The diversity crap irritates everyone on this side of the great divide and many on the other side as well, but the sad truth is most GOP voters lap that stuff up. It is why Trump does it. Generations of Americans have been indoctrinated into this cult of diversity. White people get misty-eyed when they see a black or brown endorse “their side.” It is both validation and flattery, a one-two punch that still works on normal whites.”

  5. “Too much anger. Too much fear. Too much division…” (Biden)

    I think most people would agree with this. If the Dems & Co. would own up to doing their share of it, we might make some progress. But as it is this is just the same old refrain: “You’re disagreeing with us. That’s divisive.”

  6. Zaphod:

    I disagree. I tend to really appreciate and admire black conservatives for some very good reasons, among them the fact that (1) they confound the left’s expectations and contradict their “racist” narrative (2) they tend to be exceptionally courageous and tough, because it takes both characteristics to be an outspoken black conservative (3) they tend to be smarter than the average conservative politician and because they (like most political changers or people who go against the majority opinion) have usually thought a great deal more about these issues they are therefore usually able to state them quite well.

    Thomas Sowell is my most admired living conservative thinker ever, no contest. It’s not some sop to “diversity,” either. The guy’s a genius, and fearless as well.

  7. I like Thomas Sowell, too. I freely admit that the man is my intellectual and moral superior. He has *earned* the right to a serious hearing on economics and social policy anywhere and anytime.

    However One Swallow does not a Summer Make.

    It is always nice to learn of people who have transcended their backgrounds and who epitomise ideals of meritocracy and universalism.

    But one should always remember that the Thomas Sowells of this world are despised by their own people as Uncle Toms. Also we cannot look at a Thomas Sowell and see him as any kind of proxy for the Gaussian distribution of polygenic traits he represents: he is waaaaaayyyy out in the right tail and says zero about the bulk of said distribution. To do otherwise is to fetishise the man.

    I do not think that a random sampling on the Streets of Kenosha or Baltimore would elicit much knowledge of or admiration for Thomas Sowell.

    As far as politics goes, the kind of Blacks who end up on the Republican Platform are of the sort Tom Wolf caricatured as Roger Too White in A Man in Full. Even if their hearts are in the right place and they are in fact not grifters, they only have talismanic value for Whites. Blacks generally despise or ignore them.

    If we’re going to pick talismans, best pick ones that actually help us.

    I repeat, none of this diminishes my respect for Sowell or others like him who have by dint of hard work (and in his case also genetic lottery score) made good lives and done good for others.

  8. Addendum:

    Someone in the Z Man comment thread made a good point.

    There is value in this ritualised display of diversity because it makes White Karens especially and GoodWhites(tm) in general have warm fuzzy feelings about their personal goodness and give themselves permission to vote Republican.

    Random Thought: One Thomas Sowell is worth 10,000 grifting Nimrata Randhawas. That’s Nikki Haley to you, GoodWhites 😛

  9. Zaphod, do you intend to read like a pretentious Progressive who believes, without justification, that he/she/whatever is superior to the rest of us? Or do I misread you?

    It would be great if I could say that I am impressed. Alas. I do wonder what you contribute to this society, that justifies such imperiousness. My guess is, based on no more than your tone, that you are an academic; perhaps in one of the so-called social sciences.

    By the way, I consider Herschel Walker, Senator Scott, Ms. Klacik, and any other “persons of color” who align with Conservatives or Republicans at this particular time to be heroes. We will never know what price they pay for doing so. You shame yourself by denigrating them.

    Now that I have seen your shtick, I am forewarned if you return.

  10. The first day was diversity day, but it was glorious. I know two folks who were libs last year, started having second thoughts this Spring, and last night they became Republicans. I don’t think Dr. Thomas Sowell, nor Judge Thomas are Uncle Tom’s-and I don’t think any thinking person would think that. I think if any black person (I guess we are no longer supposed to say African-American, since BLACK lives Matter) heard the speeches last night by Mr. Walker, Sen. Scott, and Ms. Klacik they too will start the path of leaving the Democrat party. And if any thinking person listened closely to what Mr. Maximo Alvarez said last night there will be surely be converts away from Socialism. Wow! What a great night.

    By the way, seeing the McCloskey’s all dolled up and proper looking was a hoot—I kept laughing seeing them in my minds eye the way they looked and carried their guns earlier in the summer.

    I look forward to each night this week.

  11. I second Tina’s take on Monday’s presentations, at least as far as the ones I watched went (I didn’t watch the McCloskeys’ talk).

    [Small note: that last apostrophe is intentional – I was referring to the talk given by the McCloskeys, not meaning the McCloskeys in the act of talking… I wouldn’t want anyone thinking I’m slacking off in the orthography department. 🙂 ]

    I’m just not quite sure what Ms. Klacik hopes to achieve for Baltimore if she’s in Congress when I would think she could do more as mayor or something.

    Anyway, I think this may be one of those times when the GOP starts to move beyond tokenism into more substantial territory with minority voters and their perceptions. Interesting that this should occur under Trump, although I don’t know how much of a direct role he had in speaker selection – I kind of hope not much, because I think it healthier for the party as a whole not for the show to be too much in the hands of one person, directly or otherwise.

    I imagine Herman Cain would have been given a speaking slot as well, had he lived. :'(

  12. Zaphod:

    Thomas Sowell is obviously your – and my, and just about everyone’s – intellectual and moral superior. But if you’re familiar with his work on race and culture, and if you understood it (and you seem to have more than enough intelligence to do so), you would understand that he makes an extremely persuasive case that culture is the culprit. The question is how to break that cycle among the minority of black people (and it definitely is a minority) and white people who are in dysfunctional cultures.

    I don’t have an answer. But I’m surprised you don’t see how the sort of black people speaking at the RNC, showing how intelligent, and full of merit and courage they are, can be effective. How the more of them that people can see, the more effect they can have in particular on other black people who may not even be aware that there is such a thing as a black Republican.

    You write that you don’t “think that a random sampling on the Streets of Kenosha or Baltimore would elicit much knowledge of or admiration for Thomas Sowell.” Well, very few people in the US of ANY color or in any city know much about the work of Thomas Sowell, and that includes the whitest and most highly educated.

    I was watching a bit of the RNC tonight, and I was quite impressed with the story of Jon Ponder. If you had taken a look at his life only for the first 38 years of it, you would say he was a scumbag, but he turned it around utterly afterwards. Most people, except for psychopaths, are not irretrievable. But our educational system, our media, and so many of our other institutions have failed to set example for people and give them the tools and guidance they need to live better lives.

  13. Zaphod,
    You’re coming across as a white nationalist.
    No civic nationalism for you, right?

  14. Maybe I was/am naive, but when I retired at the end of 2007 I was under the impression we as a nation had turned the corner on racism. Not eliminated it but drastically reduced it. I worked for a major defense contractor who actively promoted diversity and sought the best talent available. I had a black dept. mgr. in 1983. I hired 3 or 4 black men into my dept. when I became a mgr. in 1986, hired another man into my project in 2000, and supported hiring 2 or 3 black women in the 2004 time frame. By 1993 my company president was a black man, and he/they hired many blacks of ability as they could afford to hire the best. Some affirmative action bias existed but almost all of the people hired or promoted earned and deserved their position. On the other hand I knew these people as professional peers but never really came to know them (or my white colleagues) socially outside of work, or had extended discussions on matters related to race.

    I could see the same thing in the wider world: black broadcasters presenting the news, sports, and weather; successful black actors in the movies I watched; almost a dominance in the sports world; more blacks in senior business mgmt. positions or entering politics; occasional evidence of successful blacks in academia and education; etc. My father had a black doctor in 1999 as it happened.

    And then Obama and Holder stirred the pot, advanced the elements of the racialist industry, and things started to fall apart. Or were these issues of prejudice buried all along and I and many whites were simply ignorant of how the less successful blacks were faring? We came to believe the younger generations had had greater levels of personal integration and reacted positively to their experiences, further reducing prejudice. Or was that only really among the college crowd? Yet since retirement I have had occasion to meet several fully competent skilled black tradesmen. And today we are now seeing more and more advertisements showing interracial relationships and marriages/children, thus promoting but also reflecting increased racial comity in our society.

    In terms of the RNC: if we/they can promote the success sequence of education/skill set, work/job, marriage, children, while emphasizing that reality can only provide equal opportunity but not equal outcomes, maybe we can still return to those “halcyon” days of 2007. We have to find a way to slap down those who denigrate children who study as “acting white” and similar negative forces — but really the “we” has to be the successful black people as whites apparently cannot be trusted to understand or empathize with the blacks. Well, change has to occur, a recurring theme of our hostess.

  15. Hi again. I’ve got more to say. (*sound of groans is heard*)

    I’m thinking this whole thing of putting forward this considerable number of black and other minority speakers (that reminds me, I have to find a minute to listen to the Navajo Nation fellow – no, I’m sorry, I can’t remember his name off the top of my head – now if it had been somebody from the Three Fires Confederacy, that name I would remember, but anyway…) is really increasing in efficacy because it’s a way of showing that the public face of the black community doesn’t have to be just the freak show in Kenosha or Minneapolis or Chicago. Basically what Neo said in her response to Zaphod above.

    It’s indeed about breaking the cycle, showing that here are independent-minded blacks who aren’t just standing around being tokens, but are showing what good can be and is being achieved. As Sen. Scott said yesterday, we have a ways to go, but look how far we have come. (It’s a pity we couldn’t see Michael Jordan at this convention, but maybe in a decade or two….) It’s tackling the entire thesis that the Democrats have built up head-on.

    Oh, and R2L, that was great.

  16. Kim Klacik is, well, classic.
    And classy.

    “I’m just not quite sure what Ms. Klacik hopes to achieve for Baltimore if she’s in Congress when I would think she could do more as mayor or something.” – Philip

    To be the Mayor in a Democrat-run city, where the entire Council has not flipped and you have Democrats in State offices as well, would be an exercise in futility.
    Congress gives her a pulpit with national reach, and gives us more firepower in the face-to-face with the Democrat Black Caucus.

    “…Three Fires Confederacy, that name I would remember” – please tell us more!

  17. Aesop – hmm, fair point about the Baltimore city politics. (I wonder who Klacik is running against. Some hack buffoon, no doubt. Boy, I have had too much to drink right now.)

    As for the Three Fires thing, since that involves the northern Great Lakes, I feel a personal connection to it, albeit acquired late and cheaply. It comes from my trip up north year before last. (Man, was it really that long ago?) One of the distinctive things about the U. P. is the Native American element there, which is rare east of the Mississippi. I find that it appeals to me, though I’m not one to fetishize Native culture. But I was thinking to myself that if someone from the Ojibwe nation were to make his or her way onto that list of speakers, that would certainly get my attention.

  18. Philip – thanks; I thought maybe you had a personal heritage (at least 1/1024!). Nations other than the Cherokee, Comanche, Sioux, Navaho, and Hopi don’t get as much “press” as the many others still extant.

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