XPost: alt.politics.republicans, talk.politics.guns, sac.politics
XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh

There were two big speeches in Washington last week, and one was
terrific. President Biden gave the other one.

Offering the opposition party’s response to a president’s
address to Congress is not easy. The trappings of the office and
the House chamber are impossible to compete with when you’re
standing alone in front of a camera, not to mention that the
other guy is the commander in chief and you’re not.

Those built-in disadvantages make Sen. Tim Scott’s achievements
all the more remarkable. The South Carolina Republican’s answer
to Biden wasn’t just an effective political counter. It was, in
all ways, a far superior speech.

Had it been given by a president, it would have been a national
sensation.

The many contrasts were striking. Biden talked America down by
building the government up, painting 330 million people as
hopelessly lost unless Washington takes more and more control of
the economy and everyday life. His plans for $6 trillion of
spending and tax hikes are so far out of the mainstream that
they are by definition radical.

Similarly, Biden’s continuing refrain of “systemic racism” is
fundamentally at odds with his promise to unite the country. A
reckless charge of racism might silence speech in college dorms,
but coming from a president, it’s an intolerable insult to
millions of people and fuels growing rancor.

Scott, the only black GOP senator, gracefully sliced and diced
Biden’s remarks with a tone of disappointment, lamenting “this
feeling that our nation is sliding off its shared foundation.”

He pushed back against the unaffordable price of Biden’s
overreach and Democrats’ determination to ram the measures
through Congress on party-line votes.

Scott offered contrast by noting how, with Donald Trump in the
White House and the GOP holding the Senate, “we passed five
bipartisan COVID packages,” with all five bills getting 90 votes
in the Senate.

Yet it was on racial issues where Scott put Biden and the entire
left to shame.

“I have experienced the pain of discrimination. I know what it
feels like to be pulled over for no reason. To be followed
around a store while I’m shopping,” he said evenly before
quickly adding: “I’ve also experienced a different kind of
intolerance. I get called ‘Uncle Tom’ and the N-word by
progressives, by liberals.”

He cited his efforts to get a police reform bill through the
Senate after the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, only
to have Dems use the filibuster to kill it. Dems, Scott said,
“want the issue more than they wanted a solution.”

He called the practice of having children focus on skin color a
new racism and said it was “absurd” for Biden to refer to
Georgia’s new voting law as worse than Jim Crow.

“Hear me clearly,” he said. “America is not a racist country.
It’s backwards to fight discrimination with different types of
discrimination. And it’s wrong to try to use our painful past to
dishonestly shut down debates in the present.”

Given the shaky state of our union, Scott’s speech is the most
valuable thing said in Washington this year. In under 15
minutes, he made vastly more sense than Biden did in 65 minutes,
while also outlining the case against the nihilistic attacks on
America’s history, culture and institutions.

But what happened after his speech is almost as important. The
reaction on social media and elsewhere confirmed everything
Scott said about the left’s intolerance and bigotry.

He was instantly insulted as an “Uncle Tim” on Twitter for
saying America is not a racist country and, revealing its own
bias, Twitter highlighted the offensive term for 12 hours.

This is the same left that is quick to label as racist anyone
who doesn’t subscribe to its agenda. Yet here it is, actually
using racist language against a black man because he dares to
disagree.

Joy Behar and Jimmy Kimmel, two white television personalities
who previously wore blackface, scaled the heights of hypocrisy
by mocking Scott’s heartfelt speech. Kimmel called Scott a token
and Behar said he didn’t know what he was talking about.

For Scott, the outpouring of vitriol was proof that blacks
“cannot step out of your lane,” as he put it the next day.

The attacks were indeed brazen but, sadly, consistent with the
mindset of many Dems. Black supporters of Trump were mocked as
traitors to their race, mostly by far-left whites who presume to
know how blacks should think.

Biden himself scolded a black interviewer, saying “You ain’t
black” after the interviewer suggested he was undecided about
how to vote last year.

Sadly, this is increasingly leftists’ approach to all people on
all issues. Your authenticity and legitimacy are recognized only
if you behave in the way they say you should, based on your
race, ethnicity or gender.

There is only one accepted path, and those who disagree are
stupid or racist or misogynist — and that includes blacks,
Latinos, Asians and women. No honest disagreement is acceptable.
It’s either conform or we will ridicule and silence you.

This intolerance is the greatest threat to America and is
turning public life into a nightmare. It makes the nation
brittle by leaving no room for disagreement and offers no
respect for those who differ.

Worse, this coercive approach is force-fed into the education
system. Even in kindergarten and elementary grades, children are
being taught to judge themselves and others by race, with whites
deemed oppressors and nonwhites victims. If you or your parents
don’t agree, shut up or leave.

Biden, who seems besotted by this madness, is giving it a boost
by handing out grants as an incentive for schools to teach
critical race theory, which pits people against each other on
the basis of race.

Thankfully, Scott, for one night at least, was the antidote. He
finished his remarks in uplifting fashion, saying, “Original sin
is never the end of the story. Not in our souls, and not for our
nation. The real story is always redemption.”

With that, he recited the words to a song based on Scripture,
ending with: “May His favor be upon our nation for a thousand
generations, and your family and your children and their
children.”

Amen.

FBI’s fishy Rudy raid
Call me cynical, but when the FBI raided Rudy Giuliani’s
apartment, my first reaction was to wonder if the FBI is playing
politics again.

Was this a new version of 2016? Was the raid payback for
Giuliani’s work for former President Trump, or for helping to
expose Hunter Biden’s laptop?

Leaks about the raid to the FBI’s favorite errand boys stoke
more suspicions. I hope I’m wrong, but I fear I’m not.

Good a‘noise’ance
Reader George DeSanto defends the annoying noise of motorcycles.
He writes: “Straight pipes save lives. Loud exhaust makes
pedestrians and motorists aware of the biker. Those e-bikes are
silent and deadly, and crossing streets can be hazardous with
delivery bikes zipping along, many going the wrong way. Some
noise would make them safer.”

https://nypost.com/2021/05/01/gop-orator-tim-scott-wins-race-
goodwin/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)