Young Republicans National Federation knowingly elects racist as chairwoman

[Phokus]

This is definitely a step back for the GOP movement and their efforts to reach out to minorities and the young.

Here's the backstory:

Someone named "Eric S Piker" makes a racist post about 'mad coons' on Ms. Audra Sigler Shay's (the leading candidate for the national chair of the young republicans national federation) facebook. She responds with 'you tell em Eric! lol'

http://www.arktimes.com/assets.../audrashayfacebook.jpg

Some young republican leaders are upset about this and made remarks showcasing their unhappiness on her facebook wall:

First of all, why is a vice chairwoman of the Young Republicans 38 years old? And secondly, why is she "lol"-ing at racist Facebook comments? Oh, right, because she is a vice chairwoman of the Young Republicans.

Frankly? It is a pretty non-shocking example of the GOP's ability to find humor in the craziest and most racist of places. But here is the magical tale of Audra Shay, Young Republican leader:

Shay posted something dumb about health care, on her Facebook, and one of her friends responded, as anyone would, with an angry string of slurs.

Two minutes later, Piker posted again saying "Obama Bin Lauden [sic] is the new terrorist? Muslim is on there side [sic]? need to take this country back from all of these mad coons? and illegals."

Eight minutes after that, at 2:02, Shay weighed in on Piker's comments: "You tell em Eric! lol."

Yes. You tell em, Eric! Tell em something insane! And, hah, it got better! Shay only de-friended the people who complained. Shay defriended people complaining and surprisingly kept the man who made the racist comments friended.

Cassie Wallender, a national committeewoman from the Washington Young Republican Federation, then wrote: "Someone please help a naïve Seattle girl out, is Eric's comment a racist slur?" She answered her own question one minute later: "Okay, why is this okay? I just looked it up. ?It comes from a term baracoons (a cage) where they used to place Africans who were waiting to be sent to America to be slaves.' THIS IS NOT OKAY AND IT'S NOT FUNNY."

This was followed soon after by the chairman of the D.C. Young Republicans, Sean L. Conner, who wrote "I'm really saddened that you would support this type of racial language. ..wow! Thanks Cassie for standing up?"

Shay was silent on this exchange, but soon word started spreading throughout the Young Republican circuit, open to GOP members under 40. Significantly, Shay then "de-friended" Wallender and Conner-in the world of Facebook, that means cutting off relations-after calling her out, but kept Piker as a "friend" (subsequently, it appears their profiles are no longer linked).

The election for chairman of the Young Republicans is next Saturday, guys. Let's see how many embarrassing and permanently archived examples of electronic racism the candidates can rack up in the coming days.

She proceeds to defriend everyone who post disapproving posts on her facebook page, yet keeps the man who made the original racist remarks as a friend

Even though he reaffirms his racist position. http://i43.tinypic.com/5a13wh.jpg

turns out she has a history of controversial remarks involving bigotry (despite her efforts to scrub her facebook page clean, dailybeast was able to find the following):

Following those revelations, several Young Republican colleagues urged Shay to remove herself from tomorrow?s election at the group?s convention in Indianapolis?a request Shay, the favorite going in to the vote, has pointedly refused. Instead, she said that she was responding to an earlier post from her friend, and labeled criticism against her ?political attacks? which ?proves that my opponents will stoop to the lowest levels to steal this election from the jaws of victory.?

Now, The Daily Beast has obtained more troubling details about her online musings?despite clear attempts by Shay to scrub her social-networking pages clean. Specifically:

* In October 2008, in the wake of news that an effigy of Sarah Palin was being hung outside an affluent Hollywood home as an offensive Halloween decoration, Shay replied, returning to the ?LOL? style that she employed after the ?coons? comment: ?What no ?Obama in a noose? Come on now, its just freedome [sic] of speech, no one in Atlanta would take that wrong! Lol.?

She picked up the thread again the next morning with a clarification and a new insight. ?Apparently I could not spell last night. I am wondering if the guys with the Palin noose would care if we had a bunch of homosexuals in a noose.?

* Posting and endorsing a conspiracy-theory video that attempts to prove that Obama believes he can only ?ensure his own salvation? and ?fate? if he helps African Americans above whites, complete with Barnum-esque captions (?LISTEN AS HE ATTACKS WHITE PEOPLE?).

* Numerous posts in which Shay says that President Obama is ?anti-American? and has ?disdain of this country.?

Despite this controversy, Ms. Shay won 472-415 just today

http://arkansasnews.com/2009/0...dra-shay-wins-yr-post/

Naturally, black republicans are outraged:

http://hiphoprepublican.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...eature=player_embedded

Wow...what else is there to stay?10 minutes ago from txt

And the unAmerican move to eliminate the secret ballot cost Rachel Hoff the election. Several people did not vote. Some delegates walked out44 minutes ago from txt

Looks like coons and nooses are ok for a leader in the Republica Party to advocate. Amazing.about 1 hour ago from txt

Looks like Shay won on a platform on racial tolerence and playing the victim.about 1 hour ago from txt

Has the Young Republicans just time-warpped back 30 years with this election? We will find out starting today if Shay wins.about 1 hour ago from txt

The Shay controversy made this convention a madhouse. No order. No unity. No deceny for the most part. Almost fisticuffs a few times.about 1 hour ago from txt

It looks like Audra Shay will win, more because of a blind eye towards intolerence than a step towards leadership.about 1 hour ago from txt

This YRNF is a huge mess. This confusion is not a sign of leadership. Amazing.about 2 hours ago from txt

Audra Shay's team has been side-stepping Americianism to skirt the secret vote. Looks like they will win. Ridiculous. Un-American.about 2 hours ago from txt

Audra Shay's team is trying to suspend the secret ballot in her election. Isn't the Republican Party vs this with union elections?about 3 hours ago from txt

Sean Conner (DCYR Chair) just rolled into the convention hall with the cool, Hollywood glasses. Others strolling in as well.about 7 hours ago from txt

Sitting here at the YRNF Convention. Speeches now. Another example of the culture war within the GOP.about 7 hours ago from txt

On one hand, it's amusing that this could happen and sure enough makes the Democrat's jobs a helluva lot easier. On the other, of course, is the sad fact that so many people could swallow someone's racist views and still elect them to be the leader of the GOP youth. So much for the theory that young conservatives are more tolerant than their older peers, eh? In my personal experience, younger republicans tend to be more racist, surprisingly.

I'm still confused as to how any black person could be a republican though, given the fact that the modern day GOP was founded on racism against blacks. This should be a wakeup call to black conservatives (who apparently didn't do their homework before choosing which political party to join) everywhere:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy

From now on, the Republicans are never going to get more than 10 to 20 percent of the Negro vote and they don't need any more than that... but Republicans would be shortsighted if they weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That's where the votes are. Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats.[3]

You start out in 1954 by saying, "great person, *****, *****." By 1968 you can't say "*****"?that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.

And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me?because obviously sitting around saying, "We want to cut this," is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "great person, *****".[9]

 

[theeedude]

Racism? I thought USSC declared racism a thing of the past with the firefighter decision?

 

[sandorski]

wow, but at least some spoke up against it.

 

[Phokus]

Here's a conservative's take on why republicans should take this story seriously:

http://politics.theatlantic.co...ndal_thats_rocking.php

I shudder at some of these racist clowns (and those that condone racism) being future leaders of the GOP.

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: sandorski
wow, but at least some spoke up against it.

A small minority (no pun intended) did, she still won.

 

[alchemize]

Here:

| | || || ||| |

Some more straws for you to grasp at.

 

[seemingly random]

I was wondering why this didn't get coverage here the past few days. I thought maybe people considered that it was just one more repug doodoo on the pile and were worn out talking about the douche-buggery.

It looks like shay is a bald faced liar. She'll fit right in with the leadership.

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: seemingly random
I was wondering why this didn't get coverage here the past few days. I thought maybe people considered that it was just one more repug doodoo on the pile and were worn out talking about the douche-buggery.

It looks like shay is a bald faced liar. She'll fit right in with the leadership.

It's gotten coverage with liberal blogs, black republican blogs, (obviously) and reformist Republican blogs. Obviously, the party insiders want this thing to be swept under the rug.

 

[gingermeggs]

wrong button! my bad!

 

[gingermeggs]

Originally posted by: gingermeggs
If they lived in Australia, she and eric could eat my excellent compatriot Cheese on Mighty White sliced bread! (I'm not kidding you).

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: alchemize
Here:

| | || || ||| |

Some more straws for you to grasp at.

I feel sorry for you. It must suck for you to be a closeted republican.

 

[alchemize]

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: alchemize
Here:

| | || || ||| |

Some more straws for you to grasp at.

I feel sorry for you. It must suck for you to be a closeted republican.

You really are quite obsessed with republicans, aren't you. It's unhealthy.

Personally, if I was a democrat I might be a little concerned that the president I just elected is upholding some of Bush's most complained about policies, like in this thread you are ignoring. But hey, let's focus on facebook pages of some arkansas redneck who doesn't even hold office!

 

[n yusef]

I had always thought that the cases of overt racism of minor Republicans (staffers, mayors of small towns, etc.) to be overblown, and counterintuitive to real anti-racist dialog. I had assumed that the overt racists were a minority among conservatives, and felt that focusing on them while ignoring the more nuanced racism that I witness every day (on this forum and in person) did us all a disservice.

But in light of this story, it is evident that the Republicans have a real racism problem. Still, I maintain that we do not use it as a red herring to real social injustice. We must not make this woman and her ilk the racism standard bearers, and therefore condone the speech and actions of those slightly-less-racist than her.

 

[theeedude]

They don't see it as a racism problem, they see it as their strategy.

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: alchemize

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: alchemize
Here:

| | || || ||| |

Some more straws for you to grasp at.

I feel sorry for you. It must suck for you to be a closeted republican.

You really are quite obsessed with republicans, aren't you. It's unhealthy.

Personally, if I was a democrat I might be a little concerned that the president I just elected is upholding some of Bush's most complained about policies, like in this thread you are ignoring. But hey, let's focus on facebook pages of some arkansas redneck who doesn't even hold office!

Hmm yes, keeping track of who does and doesn't post in a thread is certainly not 'obsessed'.

But yeah, keep electing racists into leadership positions, heh, that doesn't matter anything.

 

[alchemize]

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: alchemize

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: alchemize
Here:

| | || || ||| |

Some more straws for you to grasp at.

I feel sorry for you. It must suck for you to be a closeted republican.

You really are quite obsessed with republicans, aren't you. It's unhealthy.

Personally, if I was a democrat I might be a little concerned that the president I just elected is upholding some of Bush's most complained about policies, like in this thread you are ignoring. But hey, let's focus on facebook pages of some arkansas redneck who doesn't even hold office!

Hmm yes, keeping track of who does and doesn't post in a thread is certainly not 'obsessed'.

But yeah, keep electing racists into leadership positions, heh, that doesn't matter anything.

Obsessed or not, you're the hypocritical douche ignoring it and instead posting about facebook pages of some irrelevant hick.

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: alchemize

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: alchemize

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: alchemize
Here:

| | || || ||| |

Some more straws for you to grasp at.

I feel sorry for you. It must suck for you to be a closeted republican.

You really are quite obsessed with republicans, aren't you. It's unhealthy.

Personally, if I was a democrat I might be a little concerned that the president I just elected is upholding some of Bush's most complained about policies, like in this thread you are ignoring. But hey, let's focus on facebook pages of some arkansas redneck who doesn't even hold office!

Hmm yes, keeping track of who does and doesn't post in a thread is certainly not 'obsessed'.

But yeah, keep electing racists into leadership positions, heh, that doesn't matter anything.

Obsessed or not, you're the hypocritical douche ignoring it and instead posting about facebook pages of some irrelevant hick.

Hypocritical douchebag? Hmmm yes, this from the guy who called me a partisan hack who challenged me to find a bunch of partisan hack posts by you. Funny how it was so easy to do. But keep on pretending that you're 'not a republican' :laugh: hypocritical douchebag indeed

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: seemingly random
I was wondering why this didn't get coverage here the past few days. I thought maybe people considered that it was just one more repug doodoo on the pile and were worn out talking about the douche-buggery.

It looks like shay is a bald faced liar. She'll fit right in with the leadership.

It's gotten coverage with liberal blogs, black republican blogs, (obviously) and reformist Republican blogs. Obviously, the party insiders want this thing to be swept under the rug.

I can categorically say that I didn't realize there are so many categories of repug blogs.

 

[alchemize]

btw - nice of you to admit you read the thread and couldn't think of a single thing to say in it Sorry, you are in the top 5 partisan hacks on the forum. Want to have a contest to see who is the bigger hack? I'll start a thread, open voting. Loser stops posting, K?

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: alchemize
btw - nice of you to admit you read the thread and couldn't think of a single thing to say in it Sorry, you are in the top 5 partisan hacks on the forum. Want to have a contest to see who is the bigger hack? I'll start a thread, open voting. Loser stops posting, K?

I dunno where i 'admitted i read the thread and couldn't think of a single thing to say'. You're lying piece of shit as usual.

Besides that, you're not exactly the trustworthy type, remember the last 'bet'? If you had any honor, you wouldn't even be posting here until (if i recall) december?

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: alchemize
btw - nice of you to admit you read the thread and couldn't think of a single thing to say in it Sorry, you are in the top 5 partisan hacks on the forum. Want to have a contest to see who is the bigger hack? I'll start a thread, open voting. Loser stops posting, K?

Didn't the two of you have some thread where if someone could find x number of post, one or the other would stop posting? I could of swear it was you two. I apologize if it wasn't.

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: alchemize
btw - nice of you to admit you read the thread and couldn't think of a single thing to say in it Sorry, you are in the top 5 partisan hacks on the forum. Want to have a contest to see who is the bigger hack? I'll start a thread, open voting. Loser stops posting, K?

Did the two of you have some thread where if someone could find x number of post, one or the other would stop posting? I could of swear it was you two. I apologize if it wasn't.

Yes, i found it, he didn't stop posting because he's a piece of untrustworthy shit

 

[trenchfoot]

Well, the racists needed to find a home, and I guess the republican party welcomed them with open arms. Good on them, they deserve each other. Together, they will overcome; what they will overcome, I have no idea.

 

[dali71]

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: alchemize
btw - nice of you to admit you read the thread and couldn't think of a single thing to say in it Sorry, you are in the top 5 partisan hacks on the forum. Want to have a contest to see who is the bigger hack? I'll start a thread, open voting. Loser stops posting, K?

Did the two of you have some thread where if someone could find x number of post, one or the other would stop posting? I could of swear it was you two. I apologize if it wasn't.

Yes, i found it, he didn't stop posting because he's a piece of untrustworthy shit

Maybe he didn't honor the bet because you, by your own admission, never agreed to it?

 

[alchemize]

Let's not hijack this really important thread on an arkansas hick, I posted another thread to settle it between Phokus and myself.