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To the editor:
A recent letter writer states (not naming me) that in "Deal Out the Race Card" I gave him "heat” ("The Hateful Old Party," The Chief, Letters, Oct. 24).
I presented alternate opinions and specific facts, facts the author was free to rebut yet seven months later still has not done so. The author provides no rebuttal or specifics yet feels I am giving him "heat"?
The racism of the Young Republicans is unacceptable and unconscionable, as is every Republican that doesn't repudiate them. I have no issue with the author saying so. I was once a Republican and might be now had the chair of another county party not specifically requested my assistance.
I have a major issue with the author labeling the GOP a big tent for racism, etc. based on the horrific actions of a few individuals. As a white man who votes for the candidate and not the party or demographics, I take exception with his statement that racism motivates the majority of electoral choices by whites.
While still a Republican in 1984 I voted for Mondale/Ferraro, and Dinkins in 1993. The author conveniently ignores that two chapters of the Young Republicans club were immediately decertified by state leaders.
The 2024 Democratic candidate's poll numbers and fundraising were initially high. Bernie Sanders recently said their candidate did not focus on issues of importance to Americans. Rather than learn from the plethora of written and audiovisual material online that dissects the loss the author chooses to deny, distort, deflect, and distract and blame racism, misogyny and xenophobia.
Nat Weiner
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fcannisi
Nat, I know you believe you offered "facts" in your Deal Out the Race Card letter, but you did not. That is why I refused to enter into an endless ping pong match with you. Experience had taught me at that point in time that such and exercise is pointless; you will only deflect from the original argument. This is the full text of your letter:
"It is naive and divisive to assume that every racist in this country voted Republican. It is similarly naive and divisive to assume that every Democratic voter was not racist (“Future tense,” Letters, The Chief, March 14).
Black Lives Matter condemned Harris’ anointing, noting fair, open primaries were needed. Is this racism? Former Ohio state Senator Nina Turner (Black, pro-Black, left wing) said Black men she has spoken to have their reasons why they don’t support Harris. Turner respects the right of a citizen to choose the candidate she doesn’t support. Is this racism? Trump gained ground with Black men in 2024; I guess these Black men are racist.
Racism allegations, devoid of any specific proof, divide the very demographic that needs to be united in these troubled times. If whites don’t vote for a white Democrat are they racist? A “free to vote for anyone as long as you vote for my candidate” attitude is a real threat to democracy. Networking now with fellow like minded citizens locally and nationally and formulating a winning strategy is how Dems take back the White House in 2028. Your candidate lost. Stop whining, get a grip, get over it, move on. I suggest you look at the YouTube videos and network with fellow Dems. Even Harris and Walz have moved on."
None of the above is a fact; it is all opinion, and nothing refutes the basic premise of my original letter - that bigots tend to be conservatives and they vote GOP.
What is a hard, provable fact is that NO Democrat has won a majority of White voters since 1964. Another fact is that one of the key factors in that statistic is that LBJ pushed for and signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act guaranteeing equal protections to people of color. It is also a fact that Richard Nixon intentionally courted racists in 1968 with what he himself called a "Southern Strategy". It is also a fact that every Republican since Nixon has used racial tropes to lure voters - Reagan invented the "welfare queen" who drives a pink Cadillac bought by taxpayers, GHW Bush ran a racist campaign featuring Willie Horton, GW Bush falsely accused John McCain of having an illegitimate child with a Black mistress, Mitt Romney said he would make immigrants "self-deport" and I don't even need to list all of Trump's racist tropes.
It is not an accident that David Duke and the Proud Boys support Trump, that the Neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville took place during Trump's first term or that the GOP rails against transgender athletes. If want to ignore these things as "the actions of few" that is your business. Finally, please don't misquote me - I never labelled "the GOP a big tent for racism, etc." I wrote "It’s fair to say the GOP “big tent” that Vance spoke of in his 2024 RNC Convention speech has ample room for bigots, racists, homophobes and misogynists." I stand by that statement.
Wednesday, October 29, 2025 Report this