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"Republicans are struggling right now to find the Great White Hope, and I suggest to any of you who are concerned about that, who are Republican, there are some great young Republican minds in Washington." -- Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS), yesterday.
I'm going to cut Jenkins a huuuuuge amount of slack and attribute her comments to ignorance as opposed to outright racism, for a number of reasons. First off, I'd like to think name-dropping James J. Jeffries into your political conversation, a boxer who challenged then-champion Jack Johnson saying "I am going into this fight for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a Negro" (and that's about the only quote of his I feel comfortable quoting in its entirety) is, even for the current state of political discourse in this country, abhorrent. Second, it's entirely more likely for Jenkins to have glommed onto the phrase second-hand without realizing its origins in one of the most racially-charged events of the early 20th century: there've been enough ironic derivations of the title for someone to be aware the phrase exists and not understand its context. Third, and most compellingly, ideally, your invocation of a "Great White Hope" would be someone who does not, when the time finally comes to drop gloves, proceed to get his ass wiped all about the canvas by the man he mocked and derided.
That said, you would hope an elected official would be a little more aware of the historical context of their rhetoric when bandying it about. I'm guessing Jenkins has learned a history lesson in the last 24 hours.
I'm going to cut Jenkins a huuuuuge amount of slack and attribute her comments to ignorance as opposed to outright racism, for a number of reasons. First off, I'd like to think name-dropping James J. Jeffries into your political conversation, a boxer who challenged then-champion Jack Johnson saying "I am going into this fight for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a Negro" (and that's about the only quote of his I feel comfortable quoting in its entirety) is, even for the current state of political discourse in this country, abhorrent. Second, it's entirely more likely for Jenkins to have glommed onto the phrase second-hand without realizing its origins in one of the most racially-charged events of the early 20th century: there've been enough ironic derivations of the title for someone to be aware the phrase exists and not understand its context. Third, and most compellingly, ideally, your invocation of a "Great White Hope" would be someone who does not, when the time finally comes to drop gloves, proceed to get his ass wiped all about the canvas by the man he mocked and derided.
That said, you would hope an elected official would be a little more aware of the historical context of their rhetoric when bandying it about. I'm guessing Jenkins has learned a history lesson in the last 24 hours.
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...what?
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Or better yet, maybe she got it and actually believed it?
So what's the ETA until Fox News runs a story about this while showing "Rep Lynn Jenkins (D-KS)" in the crawl?
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Then again why exclude other politicians? But that would be terrible for your liver.
We shouldn't be surprised when these people are voted by, and guided by, big money.
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That just pushed the level through the ceiling. Need to find the person who taught that chant and slap them with a fish...catfish at least if not bigger.