Newt Gingrich wants to win the South Carolina debate and if he has to play the race card to do it so be it. Last night when Fox News contributor, Juan Williams confronted him on some of his more controversial comments Gingrich struck back with a vengence. Williams said that many had been insulted by Gingrich’s comments regarding black peeople lacking a “work ethic” and the suggestion that black children become “part time” janitors at their schools. Gingrich stood by his previous statements and the crowd seemed to have his back. In fact this exchange gave Gingrich his first standing ovation. So on Martin Luther King Day we had Gingrich throwing out the racial red meat to a crowd hungry to blame others for their own economic plight. There is another Republican debate scheduled for Thursday perhaps Gingrich can float the idea of the reinstitution of slavery that could reduce the number of people looking for jobs and and allow the real Americans who do have work ethic have more opportunities to get the non-janitor jobs. (Last statement pure sarcasm so don’t send comments saying this is impossible.) My point is Gingrich is now going for blood and if black people are the doormat for a victory gingrich is ready to walk accross it.
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/newt-gingrich-and-the-art-of-racial-politics/
I did janitor work as a high school student but was paid for it.
I attended a school outside my jurisdiction so needed to pay tuition.
The school offered an “academic” course which my district did not offer.
A commonality between blacks and whites:
Both races have lazies; both have overachievers; both have good; both have bad.
New has the ability to offend white Republicans.
I would like to believe that the majority in the South will not tolerate racism.
BTW, I’m white.
I as a young black student in high school worked as a janitor in a private school. Oh how demeaning that must have been; but fortunately for me I didn’t realize it. All that I knew about that experience at that time was that it provided me with much needed income to purchase things my parents could not afford to provide.
Later in life as I embarked on my career I became aware that I had gained something far more valuable than the meager income. I realized that I had learned and developed a work ethic. Yes, I meant to say learned because contrary to those who are offended by Gingrich’s comments, a work ethic something that has to be learned. So the fact is all people lack a work ethic until it is learned through the experience of working; it is not an innate quality.
If you find it insulting that Gingrich suggested kids working as “part time janitors” I would truly encourage you to contemplate the dignity of all productive work. Ironically Martin Luther King spoke of this on the day before he was murdered.
This is a quote:
“You are demanding that this city will respect the dignity of labor. So often we overlook the work and the significance of those who are not in professional jobs, of those who are not in the so-called big jobs. But let me say to you tonight that whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity and is for the building of humanity, it has dignity and it has worth.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Memphis Sanitation Strike.
April 3, 1968
“Racial red meat”? I listened to this clip twice. Didn’t hear it. Did you capture the correct clip? Newt talked about offering POOR kids an opportunity to earn MONEY by doing light janitorial work at their schools. Bad news for union janitors; good news for the kids. Work builds character, regardless of color. He said that Barak Obama’s administration has put more people on food stamps than any other administration. He didn’t specify color, just PEOPLE. Seriously, I don’t see any use of the race card. Maybe it’s so subtle compared to what I normally see when it’s used by the Left that I’m missing it. BTW, is there anything Gingrich said about janitorial pay and kids learning to work at an early age that was wrong?
Finally, Newt hit upon what I feel is the difference between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, and one of the key reasons I switched affiliations many years ago: Democrats say “We have this government program that will help, and as long as you stay on it you’re OK”. Republicans say “What you need is a job, and we want to help you earn your own money, and eventually own the business that does that job”. I’ll choose a job over a program every single time.
elogam you just don’t get it because you obviously have not been indoctrinated to experience everything through the prism of racism; so you just didn’t fit in the Democrat party (lol). And neither did I.
I don’t know who you are talking about when you say someone sees everything through the prism of racism, but for this discussion i will assume it is me, and that is not true. No Gingrich does not come out and say I hate black people, but he is not suggesting that poor white children become janitors. Gingrich made these remarks initially and made the statement that black children can not earn money unless they engage in criminal activity. It was then he suggested that they be part time janitors. Perhaps you did not see the SC debates last night. Juan Williams was booed for even asking the question. Racism still exists. There are no more White Only signs, but that’s not true there was a case in Ohio regarding that type of sign. I noticed last week when i wrote a post on the plight of the Scott Sisters and Haley Barbour’s decision not to pardon them and I said in the post race was not a factor you made a statement and asked really race was not a factor? I don’t see everything as a race issue, but when it is a factor in my eyes I will write about it.
It’s time to lighten up here…lets please get back to MLK’s words – Newt is trying to do that…judge people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. A good work ethic is color blind.
This is the problem as I see it: Juan Williams asked Newt about his comments concerning BLACK people. Newt answered his question referring to POOR people. Liberals assume that all Republicans find BLACK and POOR to be interchangeable. In the past he’s said that poor BLACK children do not develop a work ethic because they are not exposed to it from seeing parents go to work. He commented that the only connection they see concerning effort and money seems to be criminal activity. He isn’t saying that’s all they are CAPABLE of, he’s saying that’s all they SEE. When a child grows up in an area where there’s 30+% unemployment, how can they learn a work ethic? That’s like saying you can learn French without hearing it spoken.
Now liberals, who do see everything Republican through the learned prism of perceived racism, assume that Newt’s comments about POOR are only directed towards BLACKS. I wish Newt would make clear that he understands that not all POOR people are BLACK, and vice-versa. I wish he would make clear that he understands not all welfare recipients are BLACK.
There is nothing wrong with a black person doing janitorial work to earn money. It’s not demeaning to do honest manual labor. These kids need opportunity to learn a work ethic. To take umbrage because he’s not specifically saying white kids do this too–and I doubt he would object to white kids doing this if they were also poor–is to deny the therapeutic and character-building nature of doing work. That racism exists today is not the issue. The fallacy that it is the driving factor in all things Republican in general and Newt Gingrich in particular is why Newt is being pilloried and not listened to by those who need to hear it most.
It was actually Juan Williams who played the ‘race card,’ especially since he asked the direct race question, and Newt Gingrich doesn’t play what Democrats play on a regular basis when they find they are losing an argument: Baseless Racial Accusations
Newt Gingrich has the guts and compassion to go to a mostly Obama-supporting Black Church and take their guff, all the while defending Conservative Principles of hard work and paychecks, verses Government Paychecks and Government Dependency Programs. Newt worked with both presidents Reagan and Clinton to help create an environment where over 20 million jobs were created, along with Welfare Reform and balanced budgets. Newt wants ALL Americans, regardless of skin pigmentational differences or national origin, to be able to receive paychecks INSTEAD of food stamps, so that ALL can seek their dreams, instead of just getting by and serving the Democratic Party Plantation of Government Dependency. Thanks for listening, 777denny
Your rejoinder to my reply to elogam inverts my premise. I did not state that there was anyone viewing everything through the prism of race. What I did say was that elogam did not see anything racist in Newt’s comments because he had not been indoctrinated to view every experience through the prism of racism. A distinct difference. But I am sorry if that touched a nerve.
Yes I did see the debate. No Gingrich did not suggest that poor white kids should work as janitors but I did hear his recounting his own daughters experience working as a janitor in their church when she was thirteen years old. She is white but not poor. Is that where you make a distinction?
Finally, as for your reference to my comments about the pardons granted by Haley Barbour, I was curious that you did not suggest even a modicum of racism in his decisions. But I later realized that wouldn’t be a feasable claim because many of those who were pardoned are Black.