Tucker's comments are a reaction to statements that Cain made in the first Republican Presidential Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire in June and can be seen here:If we didn’t already know this, here’s what Herman Cain’s regrettable campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has taught us: Black Americans are as capable of ugly and inexplicable prejudices as any other group. Our collective history as victims of ugly and inexplicable prejudices has not made us immune to the virus of bigotry.
What really bothers us more than the fact that Herman Cain spews anti-Muslim rhetoric, is that anyone would be surprised that an African American would hold such bigoted opinions. As Cynthia Tucker states, "Cain’s reflexive animosity toward law-abiding Muslim Americans has served as an unnecessary reminder" that bigotry is not limited in scope but is pervasive in American society. In his weekly column, Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post says that we should stop letting Cain get away with his "unapologetic bigotry" and see how poisonous it really is:
But Cain’s prejudice isn’t against Mormons or Jews, it’s against Muslims. Open religious prejudice is usually enough to disqualify a candidate for national office — but not, apparently, when the religion in question is Islam.This comes as no surprise to anyone watching the currently polarized U.S. political arena as the extreme right wing of the Republican Party, namely the Tea Party, has made clear. Judson Phillips, founder of the Tea Party Nation, is quoted by the Grio as saying, "I, personally have a real problem with Islam" and that he suspects that a majority of Tea Party members "are not fans of Islam." Is it any wonder then that Herman Cain is the darling of the Tea Party and a current recipient of the largess of its donors?
For now, Cain may be the extreme right wing of the Republican Party's flavor of the month, the Tea Party's "authentic," "real Black man in the race" compared to Obama's "half-white/half black" ancestry, in the words of right wing radio talk show host, Bryan Fischer (seen below):
We, however, agree with Cynthia Tucker and do not think that Herman Cain will stand the test of time:
Cain was never going to win the Republican nomination. He’s politically inexperienced, ignorant about major policy issues and hardly highly-regarded among the big-time donors he’d need to fund a serious run. He enjoyed a brief boomlet among the GOP’s tea-party-adoring social conservatives, but he’s been eclipsed by their latest star, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Wisc.) It’s hard to see how Cain is more than an after-thought by the time the GOP primaries start next year.
But his candidacy will prove costly. He will leave the campaign trail having tarnished not only his personal reputation but also having contributed to the GOP’s difficulties with voters who are not white Christians. Ironically, Cain has managed to worsen the problems that the party has reaching outside its homogenous ranks.
The larger problem, as we see it, is the persistent and pervasive anti-Muslim bigotry. On this, no American and certainly no U.S. Presidential candidate should get a pass. The marginalization of any ethnic/racial/religious or other group of Americans should not be tolerated. Nor should we allow any candidate for any public office, especially candidates running for the highest office in the nation, to spew hateful rhetoric under any circumstances. We think that Herman Cain's rise is the Republican Party's cynical reaction to the first African American President. He's the perfect candidate after all -- he's "authentically" black and he's unelectable. We applaud Cynthia Tucker and Eugene Robinson for addressing Cain's deplorable and hateful anti-Muslim utterances. We hope that other prominent persons in the media will follow their lead.
--- Carmen Fortes and Melissa Warren
