So, Presidential candidate Henry Booth really wants to win the State X primary

[ruggerson]

He and his advisors have done the math. He needs the good ole boy, white male vote to pull it off.

His opponent, Florence Dowell, has the black vote pretty well wrapped up, and she and Henry are competing for the white Democratic vote, which will swing State X one way or the other.

Henry is a center/liberal kind of guy. He's pretty good on most issues, pro choice, was against the IWR, is a fiscal moderate. But he desperately needs State X to give him momentum for the nomination.

He knows the good ole boy white vote in State X is quietly racist. Old school bigotry. Nothing overt, as that isn't accepted anymore, but privately held views, hardened in stone.

Henry and his advisors decide to hire Chet Strummer to sing at Henry's big fundraising event down in State X. Chet Strummer is a very famous country singer, with a tawdry racist background. Chet was in the Klu Klux Klan when he was a younger man, and publicly, as an entertainer, had fought hard against busing and affirmative action. He came from a family that had staunchly opposed integration a generation earlier.

Word of Ole Chet's singing at Henry's fundraiser filtered down to the black community, where many were enraged. They demanded that Henry's campaign remove the racist country singer from the roster.

Henry's campaign refused. Henry issued a statement which read:

"I have clearly stated my belief that African Americans are our brothers and sisters and should be provided the respect, dignity, and rights of all other citizens. I have consistently spoken directly to white religious leaders about the need to overcome the racism that persists in some parts our community so that we can confront issues like sickle cell anemia and broaden the reach of equal rights in this country.

I strongly believe that African Americans and the white community must stand together in the fight for equal rights. And so I strongly disagree with Chet Strummer's views and will continue to fight for these rights as President of the United States to ensure that America is a country that spreads tolerance instead of division."

The Henry Booth fundraiser went off as planned. It was a huge success, and thousands of good ole boys and their wives and sons and daughters turned out for it.

And, surprise, Chet Strummer didn't just sing at it. He was the Master of Ceremonies from beginning to end. And at the end, he addressed the racism issue, declared he wasn't a racist, and then proceeded to launch into a diatribe against affirmative action and talked about the "cultural heritage" of white people and how it was under siege in this country. He touched every white supremacist code word he could touch. The crowed ate it up and the event was a big hit.

The blacks in State X were furious. They demanded an apology from Henry Booth, but never received one. Henry Booth blithely went on campaigning, and the event was soon forgotten in the heat of succeeding campaign events.

And Henry Booth's poll numbers popped up nicely. Looked like he might just bag State X after all.

Would you vote for Henry Booth?

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

1. Of course I would. We need to reach out to people without all these "litmus tests" of who's a bigot

Any elected official needs to represent all the people; bigots, tax cheats, HOV-lane scofflaws, dead beat dads, dog-beaters... We can't win by limiting our appeal to people who agree with us.

[FredScuttle]

8. We need: rustlers, cutthroats, murderers...

bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and (of course) Methodists

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km7WD8wkb1c

[MadBadger]

2. Flame bait

[ruggerson]

3. It's hardly flamebait

and the fact that you can't even respond intelligently to it speaks volumes.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

4. This particular hypothetical should be called "the cricket scenario"

It has never been answered.

The other great unanswerable is to post the Human Rights Campaign Letter to Bush from 2004 demanding he remove a certain singer (ahem...) from the Republican convention line-up and ask whether Bush should have removed him or told the HRC to piss up a rope.

I never tried that one as a poll though... it would be funny watching the the "Bush should not have removed him" votes flow in, though nobody will ever say that for attribution.

[ruggerson]

10. Interesting, isn't it?

They can't answer it.

[FredScuttle]

9. Flame bait? Without mentioning a single candidate by name?

That's a new one...

[Bluebear]

5. Yes, we have to "reach out" to all voices, or we're just as bad as Bush.

:silly:

[dbackjon]

6. Excellent....

[FredScuttle]

7. Excellent post

K&R

No one in our "big tent" deserves to be a doormat to be stepped on in the "outreach" for bigot votes. Democrats can win without pandering to bigotry.