Until recently, it looked as if the midterm elections might be defined largely by an argument about health care. Over the past few days, however, the headlines have been dominated instead by hatred — hysteria over a caravan of migrants a thousand miles from the U.S. border, and now the attempted assassination of multiple prominent Democrats.
But whoever sent the bombs and why, the caravan hysteria is no accident: creating a climate of hatred is how Republicans avoid talking about health care. What we’re seeing in this election is a kind of culmination of the strategy the right has been using for decades: distract working-class voters from policies that hurt them by promoting culture war and, above all, racial antagonism.
When it comes to substance, the modern conservative policy agenda, which centers on cutting taxes and tearing up the social safety net, is consistently unpopular. By large margins, voters want to raise, not lower, taxes on corporations and the wealthy. They overwhelmingly oppose cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Even self-identified Republicans favor preventing insurers from discriminating against people with pre-existing medical conditions — something Obamacare does, but Republican health proposals wouldn’t.
So how do Republicans manage to win elections? Partly the answer is that gerrymandering, the Electoral College and other factors have rigged the system in their favor; Republicans have held the White House after three of the past six presidential elections, despite winning the popular vote only once. And they will probably hold the House unless Democrats win by at least 6 percent.
Also, let’s not forget about voter suppression, which is putting an increasingly heavy thumb on the scale. Still, given how unpopular Republicans’ policy positions are, how do they even get close enough to cheat?
MEGYN KELLY’S FACE
https://claytoonz.com/2018/10/26/megyn-kellys-face/
Megyn Kelly’s venture with NBC was probably doomed from the start. You can take the woman out of Fox News, but apparently you can’t take Fox News out of the woman.
A lot of media pundits felt she was too much “hard news” for a 9:00 a.m. morning show. I guess those people don’t watch CNN’s New Day or the daily shout fests at MSNBC’s Morning Joe. But whatever it was, Kelly’s Today was failing. That’s not what network executives expect from a $69 million contract.
It is now being reported that Kelly and NBC are negotiating her exit. This is a move that was probably hastened by her “blackface” comment.
On Tuesday’s show, Kelly said, “But what is racist? You do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface for Halloween or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was OK as long as you were dressing up as a character.” Uh, what?
I’m 52, five years older than Kelly, and I don’t think it would have been OK if I had put on blackface at Halloween when I was a kid and told everyone I was being Lamont from Sanford and Son. I just don’t see any scenario where that would have gone down well.
Before Kelly went to NBC, she initiated another storm by saying Santa Claus is white, as if that’s really important to her. But, it’s nice to know that Kelly would think it’s OK for a black kid to put on white face paint and go as Santa.
I think it’s OK for a white kid to go as Black Panther, or a black kid to go as Thor (the whitest of the superheroes), or a boy to go as a witch, or girl to go as Darth Vader. It’s Halloween when imaginations are supposed to fly for children, and in a lot of cases, adults. But, to go as Sambo or Aunt Jemima is just wrong. Parents, don’t let your children go as Aunt Jemima.
Kelly later apologized, but her colleague Al Roker still wasn’t happy. Roker said, “While she apologized to the staff, she owes a bigger apology to folks of color around the country. This is a history going back to the 1830s minstrel shows — to demean and denigrate a race wasn’t right.”
From white Santa to white Jesus to defending cops who brutalized a teenage black girl, Kelly has had spouts of racism that’s undermined the respect she’s earned as a hard-nosed journalist. For a $69 million salary, she owes it to her viewers and the public to buy some awareness.
We need role models, real and imaginary. Right now, Megyn Kelly isn’t one.
A gunman who killed two people at a Kroger supermarket in Jeffersontown, Ky., on Wednesday tried to enter a predominantly black church minutes before the attack, the police said on Thursday.
The man, Gregory Bush, 51, of Louisville, was arraigned Thursday on two counts of murder and 10 counts of wanton endangerment. He was ordered held with bail set at $5 million. The police said they were investigating the motive for the attack, which killed Vickie Lee Jones, 67, and Maurice E. Stallard, 69.
Both were black, while Mr. Bush is white, and the son of a witness saidhis father heard the gunman make a racist remark during the episode, though the police said they could not confirm that account. Mr. Bush has a history of mental illness, Chief Sam Rogers of the Jeffersontown Police Department said at a news conference on Thursday.
The police said there was no indication that Mr. Bush knew either of the victims, nor did he have any known connection to the grocery store.
Chief Rogers and church officials said that surveillance video had recorded Mr. Bush’s unsuccessful attempt to enter the nearby First Baptist Church of Jeffersontown shortly before the attack.
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