January 22, 2014 6:54 AM

The Multnomah County GOP: Clueless, insensitive...and built to stay that way (Part Troix)

I normally don’t flog a story for long. Frankly, my attention span isn’t what it could or probably should be, and my ADD means I’m easily distracted. I’m not much on execution, but I’m phenomenal when it comes to concept.

“SQUIRREL!!!”

You get the idea, right? I get bored easily and so I move onto new and different things quickly. Every now and again, though, along comes a story I find humorous and/or interesting enough to milk until all I get is sawdust. Such it is with the story of the Multnomah County GOP right here in my own backyard…almost literally. After having decided that raffling an AR-15 and tying that raffle to the legacies of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. would be a REALLY good idea, they experienced the full fury of da Interwebs and were forced to backtrack. Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox withdrew their welcome mat, and suddenly the county GOP was without a place to hold their annual Lincoln Day dinner and in full damage control mode. It’s been an entertaining exercise in Schadenfreude, because it appears that the county GOP leadership simply can’t own up to reality and admit the simple fact that they made a mistake. A HUGE mistake.

I think that most people would be OK with the idea that the Multnomah County GOP made a mistake. Hey, it happens; we all screw up or make bad/dumb/ill-informed decisions. It’s one of the things that make us human- I think, therefore I &$%# up. There’s no shame in admitting to a mistake; the shame lies in refusing to face reality and doing all you can to deflect blame and claim to be under attack by evil, unscrupulous adversaries, most likely imagined. In this case, the dissembling has been rather entertaining:

In our enthusiasm for celebrating Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln and the U.S. Constitution, our Multnomah Republican Party issued a press release that was unfortunately easily misunderstood. The GOP stands for individual liberty, lower taxes, smaller government and individual responsibility. We apologize if people were hurt by the message being marred by insufficient wording and/or cynical misinterpretations by those who disagree with us politically. We will certainly endeavor to communicate more clearly in the future, and learn and grow from this experience.

“[A] press release that was unfortunately easily misunderstood.” I’m not sure what part of the release could possibly have been “easily misunderstood.” They announced their intention to raffle an AR-15 and they misconstrued and twisted the legacies of Lincoln and MLK to make it seems as if they would have approved. (Just in case you were wondering, MLK wasn’t a Republican.) That they happened to have chosen two public figures whose lives were cut short by madmen carrying firearms is offensive enough. That they chose to make that argument and then, when caught, attempt to deflect the blame displays an astonishing lack of maturity, integrity, and grace.

Today, powerful elements within our political establishment are working to suppress the Constitutional rights of all Americans. Our rights to freedom in choosing our own medical care, our freedom to build businesses to enhance the lives of ourselves and our neighbors, our freedom to be free of debt, our freedom to be free of oppressive taxes and misguided regulations, and yes our freedom to defend our lives under the Second Amendment - all are under attack.

The great political issue today is whether or not the American people of all creeds and races will live free or live as slaves - slaves to their own overreaching government. 50 years ago, Martin Luther King’s great speech was an appeal for freedom for African Americans. Today, those same words he spoke 50 years ago are an appeal for freedom for all Americans.

It’s classic Republican strategy: when things don’t go your way, NEVER accept responsibility. The blames can and should always be deflecting on “enemies,” those who don’t share your ideology. It’s crap, and it’s nowhere near accurate, but that’s the usual Republican go-to approach. Accepting responsibility is for losers and Liberals.

NO ONE is “working to suppress the Constitutional rights of all Americans.” The threats listed in the press release are simply Republican dishonesty and disingenuous fear-mongering at its “finest.” It’s easier to claim the mantle of victimhood, to paint yourself as the one under attack, than it is to admit that your party’s ideology is impotent and not of the reality-based world. Blame-shifting and dissembling speak to the truth that Republicans have nothing to offer and refuse to accept responsibility for their situation and shortcomings.

“The great political issue today….”? Really? They’re pulling out the slavery card? In a democratic nation, where the only threat to one man/one vote comes from Republicans themselves (Uh…hello?? Voter ID??), NO ONE is in danger of living as slaves. This is America, where the only people concerned about slavery are oligarchs, who generally would be quite happy if Americans were enslaved. IF slavery was about to become a reality, it would be at the hands of those who line the campaign war chests of Republicans. Guess how much complaining about encroaching slavery we’d hear then?

The hypocrisy behind the Multnomah County GOP’s statement is stunning…if not particularly surprising.

Some things never change….

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on January 22, 2014 6:54 AM.

Reefer Madness: It'll make you forget about your "youthful indiscretions" was the previous entry in this blog.

Uh...you might want to open a window and turn on a fan or three is the next entry in this blog.

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