Tea party conservatives supporting state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R-MS) have been accusing establishment Republicans supporting Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) of “race-baiting” — but they’re using that term in a different way than how it’s historically been used, as a sort of shield to try and block accusations of racism.
Since the runoff McDaniel and his supporters have argued that Cochran’s campaign won the primary mostly through getting Democrats and African-Americans to vote for him. They did that, they say, by using “race-baiting” ads, which allegedly motivated African-Americans to vote for Cochran because McDaniel is a racist.
The problem is, while this is a technically correct use of the term — which is defined as unfair statements about race — that’s not quite how the term race-baiting has usually been used. Typically, it’s been used to describe verbal attacks directed at people of a certain racial group to intimidate or otherwise undermine them.
But when Senate Conservatives Fund President Ken Cuccinelli went on MSNBC Tuesday morning, he used the term to attack establishment white Republicans for supporting a pro-Cochran super PAC that sought to get Democrats and African Americans to vote in the runoff election (and this outreach is largely credited with helping Cochran secure his win). That was race-baiting, according to Cuccinelli, who ticked off a partial list of Republican senators helping to fund the super PAC.
Or take McDaniel campaign manager Melanie Sojourner’s Facebook post shortly after the runoff describing how Cochran and his supporters used “race baiting tactics to take advantage of African-American voters all for the sake of holding onto a seat to feed their money grubbing, greedy, selfish egos.”
McDaniel, himself, used the race-baiting phrase at a press conference where he announced his formal challenge to the runoff results.
“We saw despicable acts of race-baiting. We saw despicable allegations from those that are supposed to be leaders in the Republican party,” McDaniel said. “There is no place in the Republican Party for those that would race-bait. There is no place in the Republican Party for racism of any kind and that’s exactly what we saw on these evenings and morning leading up to the 24th.”
Lately, though, discussion on race in the Mississippi Senate race has been centered around whether African Americans were involved in stealing the election for Cochran. A Tea Party Express email in early July read that Cochran “deliberately, and possibly illegally, pandered to black liberal democrats in order to steal the Republican primary election. Whose side are they on?”
The Mississippi Senate race has included accusations linking McDaniel to the Ku Klux Klan, critiques that he supported policies that would be bad for African Americans, and McDaniel having to address attending events hosted by pro-secession or neo-Confederate groups. McDaniel’s campaign didn’t choose to deny the the accusations or critiques themselves, but merely said that by raising such racially tinged issues, this counts as “race baiting.”
As Slate’s Dave Weigel pointed out in the wake of the runoff in early June, “They’re arguing, factually, that Cochran’s campaign and an outside PAC appealed to black voters by pointing out what he’d done for them (in fiscal terms) and by accusing ‘the Tea Party’ of trying to block their votes. Oh, sure, the Tea Party has spent the postgame trying to literally cancel out the votes of black Democrats, but that’s not the point.”
McDaniel’s team has tried to walk a very narrow line on this. A press release from the McDaniel campaign reportedly originally blamed “black Democrats” for Cochran’s win. That line was struck and replaced with just “Democrats.” The McDaniel campaign, when finally reached for comment, didn’t exactly deny the content of the original draft and instead accused the Cochran campaign of once again engaging in “dirty tactics.”
Saying that these people are flipping the race baiting
script is giving these two losers power that they don’t have.
Frankly, they are embarrassing and don’t seem to understand
how voting works.
The right has always done this. Its nothing new. You know— because calling them out for racism in their book is race baiting.
Yeah, get back to me when they successfully flip the script. These dipshits are just buying their own snake oil.
(Not that I don’t 100% support both Cochran and McDaniel. Kick his bony old ass, Chris! Kill him, Thad!)
It’s simply an incorrect use of the term. Race baiting means one thing: Using racist imagery and allusions to racial stereotypes to harass or intimidate a member or members of a minority the imagery/stereotypes refer to.
It doesn’t mean merely accuse someone of racially motivated or otherwise racist behavior.
Flipping the terminology of race like this is a sure sing that the person is at his or her core a racist. When a racist tries to flip the term, they are signifying to their compatriots and circling the wagons to protect their real or perceived race privilege.
People who really believe in redressing the effects of real racism need to blow the racists’ door off with this correct usage every time a racist tries to get away with flipping the terminology.
The only way the tea baggers could “flip the script” on this issue is with the help of journalist who practice equivalency journalism. If a politician lies, then the politician and his lie should be the story, not simply providing a platform of dissemination for the the lie.
It’s been reported that Gingrich bought the tactics of Saul Alinsky to the RNC. Among them is accusing one’s opponent of precisely what they themselves are doing.
Republicans do this as a matter of course, even to the point of accusing Democrats of using the Alinsky playbook they themselves are using when they level that accusation. Playing the race card is no different.