By Ronald Kessler
A claim by Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz that Republicans want to return the country to Jim Crow segregation laws is “outrageous,” Reince Preibus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, tells Newsmax.
Wasserman Schultz leveled the charge on the African-American network TV One’s “Washington Watch” program. Referring to Republican efforts to require photo identification to register to vote, the Democratic congresswoman from Florida said that “now you have the Republicans who want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and literally and very transparently block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote Democratic candidates than Republican candidates.”
Reince Preibus “I think she owes Republicans in this country an apology,” Preibus says, referring to the DNC chairwoman. “This is beyond injecting racial overtones for political purposes. This is claiming that Republicans would like to return to de jure racial segregation in this country. That is pathetic and outrageous.”
Jim Crow laws required blacks to at the back of buses. When more whites got on, the driver would move a “Colored” sign farther back in the bus, making less room for blacks.
Blacks could not eat at the same restaurants as whites unless the restaurant had a separate room with a separate entrance for blacks. Blacks were not allowed to use the same drinking fountains or public restrooms as whites.
President Barack Obama’s campaign officials have said registering new voters will be a top priority for Democrats.
“You go to Blockbuster and rent a video, you need identification,” Preibus says. “You walk into a federal building, you need identification. There are very few people in this country that don’t have photo identification, and if they need to go get one, they can go to their DMV and get a state-issued identification.”
Given Obama’s dismal record on the economy, Democrats are desperate to find some way to attack Republicans, Preibus says. “They’ve done such an awesome job at following through on their promises in regard to the economy. They can’t possibly defend Barack Obama’s handling of jobs in this country, and we all know the direction that that’s taken lately. So now they’re resorting to television commercials with grandmothers being thrown off cliffs and talking about how we want to return to Jim Crow laws.”
Preibus says Obama has referred to the current unemployment rate of 9.1 percent as “a mere bump in the numbers, a slight deviation.
Obama has been president for more than two years, the RNC chairman says. “We have basically taken a leap off of Niagara Falls when it comes to the employment numbers in this country,” Preibus says. “He promised 3 million jobs if the stimulus was passed, which as we all know was an $850 billion program, and instead we lost 2.5 million jobs since he’s been in office.”
Instead of creating new jobs, Democrats are resorting to calling Republicans racists, Preibus says, adding, “It’s quite an accusation and one that I don’t believe Americans will buy into.”
No comments:
Post a Comment