Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
Vernon Robinson is an African-American Republican (yes, Virginia, there is such a thing) running for Congress here in NC. He's aiming for the seat being vacated by Richard Burr, who is running for John Edwards' vacated Senate seat. You can see his stands on the issues at his campaign website, including his disgust with Hollywood elitists and the feminization of the military (for the latter he quotes "conservative heroine" Phyllis Schlafley, so you know just where he's coming from). He also has a fixation on illegal immigration, the subject of a diatribe in a recent radio ad of his.
As you're aware, candidates are required to identify themselves at the end of any ads that they produce. However, following Vernon's anti-immigrant rant (in English, naturally) too-clever-by-half Vernon decided to put the disclaimer in Spanish.
In the ad, an announcer says in Spanish, "Yo, gringo! This episode of The Twilight Zone was paid for by Robinson for Congress." [...] Robinson said that nothing in the regulations of the Federal Election Commission or the Federal Communications Commission says that the disclaimer has to be in English. [...]
Nothing specifies what language must be used in either case, said George Smaragdis, a spokesman for the FEC. But he did say that candidates should request an advisory opinion if they are unclear about the law. Robinson said he did not ask for an advisory opinion. The primary, which is July 20, would be over by the time the FEC made any decision, he said.
WSJS, a powerful Winston-Salem radio station that runs The Rush Limbaugh Show, decided that was a violation of FEC requirements and pulled the ad until Robinson put an English disclaimer at the end. I suppose he'll claim next that it's delivered in American Sign Language during a five-second silence. Robinson's campaign was also behind scurrilous smear e-mails signed "Pastor Randy" that targeted one of his Republican primary opponents. As of February, Robinson had raised more money than any non-incumbent House candidate in the country, and all but a dozen or so incumbents.
That's right, Republicans - these are your rising stars. A bunch of little Lee Atwaters in training, just as eager to slime Republicans as Democrats in their attempts to slither to the top. Vernon richly deserves to get kicked to the curb, and in the end, I suspect he will. I hope he spends a ton of those donors' dollars on the way to defeat. It would serve them right.
TrackBackAm I a bad man for giggling every time I hear how ugly it's gotten in the primary race to run for Burr's seat? Because I giggle. Lots. These people just expose themselves for what they are, and we didn't even have to lift a finger to make it happen.
Posted by: Michael at June 2, 2004 01:41 PMAs a log-cabin Republican I certainly disagree with many Republican stands on social issues including gay rights and immigration laws. At the same time I think it is wrong for you to stereotype every Republican as being evil.
Posted by: Joy Paul at June 2, 2004 02:05 PMSorry, Joy - I couldn't hear you over the deafening roar of self-loathing. What was that again?
Posted by: Michael at June 2, 2004 02:18 PMJoy,
You are welcome to support whatever candidate you want, of course. I'm having trouble finding where anyone claimed that every Republican is evil.
Did you perhaps mean Michael's statement that "these people just expose themselves for what they are?"
I assumed he meant the candidates, not all Republicans. But, if you hang around with dogs don't complain about the fleas.
Posted by: Tripp at June 2, 2004 02:19 PMWell now, I don't think every Republican is evil. That would be indicting a wide swath of my family and neighbors. I could even list several Republican officeholders who have earned my respect - McCain, Warner, Lugar, Hagel, Snowe, etc. - though certainly not my vote, as they caucus with the ones I do consider evil and put nutcases like Armey, DeLay, Gingrich, Helms, and the like into leadership positions.
North Carolina (and the South in general) has a very different political spectrum than does Minnesota. Most of our Democrats would be Republicans up there, and most of our Republicans would be in a militia.
Sorry if you felt tarred by an overly broad brush. I never know quite what to make of LCRs, though. Don't you ever get fed up of being scapegoated by your own party?
Posted by: apostropher at June 2, 2004 02:22 PMI agree with much of your assessment of the Republican party. I can't stand De Lay and he's from around the area I now live (TX). I haven't voted for a Republican since 1998. That doesn't mean that I am going to run out and vote for a Democrat tomorrow or later this year. In reality, I don't believe that being gay automatically makes you a liberal. So if you're trying to figure out the LCR's here is the first step: Being gay cuts accross all strata of culture. Gay people are Baptists and Catholics, Repulican and Democrat, educated and non-educated, white and black, rich and poor, etc.
Yes, I do get fed up with the anti-gay stand of the Republican party. That's why I make a conscious decision every election day not to go and vote for them.
Posted by: Joy Paul at June 2, 2004 04:09 PMSee, there's what I don't understand. If you haven't voted Republican in 6 years, why do you call yourself a Log Cabin Republican? I can understand being a gay conservative; it's being a gay Republican that makes no sense to me. It's like being a black Klansman.
Trust me, I know homosexuality transcends every socio-economic category. That's true of my wide roster of gay friends. But similarly, being a Democrat doesn't automatically make you a liberal either. And vice versa. It's not the ideological lean that mystifies me, it's the identification with a specific party whose leaders spend enormous time and energy denouncing you as an abomination and using your relationships as a wedge issue.
Posted by: apostropher at June 2, 2004 06:55 PMHere's what I wrote at my blog (http://blogic.joeuser.com)
"Jesse Helms is back! And this time, he's black."
How funny is that?
Okay, I can't take credit for the headline; it's the unofficial slogan of a leading candidate for Congress, Vernon Robinson.
He's the type of guy liberals love to hate. He xenophobically attacks illegal aliens, bashes gays, and announces the crisis of "feminization of the military". This is a guy guaranteed to create lots of awkward moments at Thanksgiving. He'd probably start screeching about "welfare queen injuns" or how the country would be better off if we all lived on wooden ships, or some other crazy shit.
Not even the 19th Century is safe from his pillaging: he resurrects the issue of "sound money". He's only a small step from ranting that leaving the gold standard was a communistic ploy, and paper money is only favored by the New York Jew money lenders.
You go, Vernon Robinson! Just please don't go to Washington.
Posted by: Adam at June 9, 2004 11:51 AMWhere does Orrin Hatch come off stating that
the demo's questioning Robert's is like
"the pharasee's(sp?) questioning Christ",
FOX news live interview.
I don't remember Robert's ever walking on water...
This should anger all Christians.
Posted by: CAB at July 20, 2005 01:18 PM