The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    You Down With GOP?

    By DF on Sun, 03/01/2009 - 8:45pm | Humor & Satire

    So, I'm assuming that plenty of people have seen this gem by now:

    Newly elected Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele plans an “off the hook” public relations offensive to attract younger voters, especially blacks and Hispanics, by applying the party's principles to “urban-suburban hip-hop settings.”

    (Hat tip TPM)

    Now, that's funny all by itself.  Funnier still is this clip from the Daily Show that aired about a month before Steele's comments were published:

     

     

    So, I now find myself in the totally awesome position of being able to seriously pose the question: Is Michael Steele basing his PR strategy on bits from the Daily Show?

    As if that weren't awesome enough, there's this clip from CPAC:

     

     

    That's right. "My bad." Sorry about those wars and economic stuff. My bad. I'm going to leave the cognitive dissonance that is issuing a mea culpa while maintaining that there's absolutely nothing wrong with ideology or policy alone because the icing on the cake is here:

     

     

    That's right.  Michelle Bachmann said, "You be the man." I would really like to be able to express how awesome that is, but words are failing me right now.

    Okay, I lied. I'm not going to leave it alone.

    GOPers: It's not the branding.  It is the ideology and the policy.  That's why people are holding their noses.  Why would you think anyone would seriously believe you when you say that you've done wrong, but then turn around and claim that there isn't anything wrong with what you did and can you please have the power to do it some more?  That appears to be exactly what Steel is saying.  It's as if they can't understand why anyone would be upset, but they can recognize that people think so and therefore feel obliged to acknowledge it.  That doesn't work in relationships.  Will it work in politics?

    Whether or not it helps their case, it sure is fun to watch.

    Topics: 
    Humor & Satire

    Comments

    Due to random biology and geography, I will never be an African American who lives in the inner city. But in my life, when I have had to opportunity to work with African Americans who did live in the inner city on issues that were important to all of us, I did a few things. I listened to their concerns. I expressed my concerns. And then, I worked together with them, trying to find common ground and solutions to problems that we all faced.

    What I did not do was attempt to speak in slang or dialect and talk unrelentingly about my love of hip hop. First of all, had I done these things, I would have felt like an ass. Can you guess why?

    (Because to affect the cultural traits of a culture to which I do not belong, and have not been assimilated into, is asinine.)

    I don't have to act exactly like someone to understand their concerns. I just have to listen to their concerns. That concept doesn't seem to me to be overwhelmingly profound. What I do find overwhelmingly, staggeringly profound is the utter and wilfull stupidity of CPAC and its members.


    by Orlando on Mon, 03/02/2009 - 9:30am

    Personally, I like to ask every African-American that I meet about last night's basketball scores.  Right after I implore them to dap the rock, of course.


    by DF on Mon, 03/02/2009 - 2:47pm

    Not that there's anything you can do about it, but clips from the Daily Show never work for me -- or anyone accessing from a Canadian ISP. Instead I get a message that boils down to "Rent the Comedy Network, you cheap bastard!"

    Oddly, it's just the clips that are blocked; I can watch the show itself on a local channel via on-air signal or basic cable. Just wanted everyone to feel my pain.


    by acanuck on Mon, 03/02/2009 - 6:29pm

    Yeah, I've heard that this is the case for hulu.com as well.  I'm really not sure why this is the case.


    by DF on Mon, 03/02/2009 - 6:35pm