(From the user diaries: I had been meaning to post on this, but had not gotten around to it. Thanks finifinito. - promoted by Thomas)
WTHR is reporting via Kevin Rader's Statehouse Blog on a story that first appeared in the Washington Time Herald on Friday concerning remarks made by Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita at the annual Daviess County Lincoln-Reagan Dinner. While speaking to the assembled GOP members at the Washington Conservation Club, Rokita referred to unsourced statistics that African Americans vote in favor of Democrats 90 percent of the time and compared the relationship between Democrats and black voters to the relationship slaves had with their slave masters.
Rokita spent some time revisiting the party's history, especially concerning the African-American vote. He said that African-Americans vote 90 percent Democrat and questioned why.
"How can that be?" Rokita said. "90 to 10. Who's the master and who's the slave in that relationship? How can that be healthy?"
Kevin Rader has requested an on camera clarification from Rokita and I am sure this is only the beginning of this story. In this day and Information Age, with YouTube and camera phones everywhere to capture comments made in public and every small town newspaper able to report to the world via the Internet, you would think a politician like Rokita would choose his words more carefully even when speaking to the base such as he was doing.
Boneheaded comments like Rokita's and Don Imus' recent incident showcase that speaking before thinking is a continuing problem for some folks. The insensitivity of the remarks Rokita made is astounding, but were probably greeted with nodding approval by the assembled soulless minions of orthodoxy that make up these types of gatherings.
I'm sure Rokita will give Rader an on camera clarification in which he will try to pass off his comments as innocuous but the damage is done here already. Comparing black voters to slaves and Democrats to slave masters not only is insensitive but damages the GOP on the subject that Rokita was addressing which is black voter recruitment. Rokita just kicked down the center pole in the GOP's big tent to close it up in a wrong headed effort to get his party to try to think of ways to gain a bigger share of the African American vote. Nice going, Todd.
UPDATE 4:30p: Brian Howey confirms this with Rokita's acknowledgement of an "insensitive metaphor" issued via a statement from Rokita's office today.
Shorter Todd Rokita: I was trying out this whole diversity thing but messed it up. My Bad.
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