Wedge Politics: A point about race and class and Breitbart and Sherrod

[BurtWorm]

Breitbart and Sherrod are members of the same class, more or less. Not by birth, but by the rules of pure economics. Breitbart was not picking on Sherrod because of her class. That much is clear.

But Breitbart, like all Republican operatives, by highlighting the alleged "racism"--or just plain race--of his intended victim, was playing a game that Republicans have been playing since Nixon launched the Southern strategy sending white Southern Democrats fleeing into their arms following passage of the Civil Right and Voting Rights Act. He may not even be aware of what he was doing, being the idiotic, racist asshole he is. But it seems clear that he, like his Republican brethren before him, was ultimately using the notion of black racism to drive a wedge between blacks and whites of similar economic straits, to fire up economically distressed whites in anger against black Democrats to divide and weaken the potential coalition that can keep Republicans out of power for a very long time to come.

This is a point that Democrats need to be fiercely aware of and should now be fighting to make all the time. We need to wake the people up to the attack being waged on them by Republicans in every election and with every fiber of their body, to keep them disunited and ineffective, against their self-interest.

[CTyankee]

1. I think Breitbart was trying to embarrass the NAACP and the Obama administration.

But OF COURSE he used the politics of resentment to drive the wedge between two groups of poor people! The repubs always do that. It is how they stay in the game politically and often win.

They are sick people...

[BurtWorm]

2. Trying to embarrass them and get the teabagging red-meat-eaters all excited while doing it.

Repulsive people!