As news of the horrific killings in Charleston hit Thursday morning, Republicans immediately began distancing themselves from anything related to Dylann Roof.
That proved to be more difficult than they had hoped. Fox News began cheerleading against “Christian persecution” almost immediately, and it looked like the hope was that this guy must be mentally disturbed enough for them to discount the racism that would inevitably put the GOP in a bad place.
That bad place happened, and happened again, and then again as it was discovered that Dylann Roof was indeed a racist, not some poor soul in need of counseling; that he had written a manifesto, naming a group with “conservative” right in the title as a source of his influence; and of course that yet another mass killing was pulled off at the end of a gun barrel.
The unthinkably bad publicity got worse when it was discovered that the white supremacist leader of the South Carolina Council of Conservative Citizens that inspired so much of Roof’s rage had donated to more than a couple of the campaigns of GOP contenders.
Uh oh. Now these clowns are in the uncomfortable position of having to admit that when a white supremacist backs a candidate, that candidate is a Republican. The bigot who donated, Earl Holt III, didn’t toss a fiver at an online campaign, either. He’s a major donor, responsible for more than $10K in donations. The campaigns of Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Rick Santorum are the benefactors so far.
Spokesmen for the campaigns have said they will return the money, with Paul’s campaign saying it will donate it to a fund for the families of the Charleston shootings.
The largest contribution, $8,500, went to Ted Cruz. Cruz, the Tea Party favorite, has been the most distant from the shootings, calling the administration’s response an attack on the 2nd amendment and scoffing at the fact that Roof perpetrated a racist hate crime. At an event the weekend after the shooting, Cruz showed incredible disrespect by joking about guns and citing an old Texas saying, “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.”
Considering the circumstances of last Wednesday’s massacre, that makes Ted Cruz just about the biggest scumbag running for president. He was forced to abandon the sinking ship of “mental illness,” however, after the ties to Holt were discovered on Sunday.
With such large donations, were these candidates really not aware that a man determined to be a white supremacist and domestic terrorist by the Southern Poverty Law Center was funneling money to their campaigns?
I call shenanigans. Once again the actions of the ignorant prove that while not all Republicans are racists, all racists are Republicans.
Featured image via The New York Times
These white supremacist groups always know which party will serve their purpose.
I wonder how many other racist groups are donating money to the GOP candidates?
ALL OF THEM and I wanna see a receipt from Cruz to prove He returned the money. But stop, think for a minute. If not for Roof Cruz and the rest would still be giving head to supremacists and taking the cash. In secret.
“praise the Lord and pass the ammunition”. Isn’t that what Obama said when he commented ‘people hide behind their guns and their religion’?
“Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” was a WWII song. My grandma used to sing it from time to time while cooking…we aren’t from Texas.
I wouldn’t have put my money on any of them. They all have that “I got my fingers crossed behind me” look. That’s why it’s important to know who and what you’re voting for. They’ve already lined the pockets of government officials who make decisions in our everyday lives and they too, need to be removed as it is evident they are not governing with middle class or lower class people in mind. Just keep their pockets filled. Interesting enough, Ann Coulter said on an interview that what the 1% wants is the elite of every country, free or cheap labor, and for the underprivileged to be the cheap labor. She also stated there were some 30 million illegals in the US who could provide this cheap labor. Proves what kind of thought process these people have and it’s scary they are trying to run our government. If they put to work all illegals for cheap labor, being these people are illegals, it means they have no right to vote, they will not pay taxes, they cannot buy homes or automobiles, they can’t send their children to school or go themselves. How does the government plan to continue on extremists pay, when no one is paying the extremist. If they can’t vote, there will be no government. If they can’t pay taxes, there will be no government because there will be no one legal to pay them. There won’t be a need for construction for new homes, automobiles, schools, hospitals or anything that helps support the American economy. So the reality of their thinking is a comic book script of Superman and how Lex Luther takes over the world because he’s rich. They should start watching reality tv, more healthier. And Ann better be careful before they realize she’s not one of the elite and return her to wherever. Stupid is as stupid does.
I am shocked, I say shocked, that conservative racist groups are throwing their money at Republicans. It’s an easy connection. Republicans want to take all the social programs away from all the poor people in urban America. Most of those urban poor are African American and Latino.