Appearing as a guest on Thursday's PoliticsNation on MSNBC, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank mocked South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley as someone who has "reached out to a minority" in the form of white supremacists since they are a "minority," as he reacted to accusations that a member of her reelection committee is a white supremacist. Milbank:
Well, Reverend (Sharpton), a patty on the back to you for putting all these disparate threads together because I think it is significant, and, now, let's give Governor Haley some credit. She has reached out to a minority because white supremacists are a minority in America today. So I guess she's got that part of the coalition in place.
The Washington Post columnist soon tied in the Tea Party:
This is a problem -- particularly this Conservative Citizens Council has bedeviled Southern Republicans for some long period of time going back to Trent Lott and before that. You would think they'd be wise to that, and be able to go through the database and avoid this sort of thing, but it's part of the, you know, the idea is you want to play footsy with the Tea Party with that segment without crossing the line, but this is what tends to happen when you do that.
Host Al Sharpton, who ignored outgoing South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian earlier this month when he asserted that Governor Haley -- who is of Indian descent -- should "go back to wherever the hell she came from," introduced the segment which portrayed Republicans as alienating various minority groups. Sharpton:
It's been a few weeks since we last checked in on the GOP's effort to reach out to women and minorities, so let's see how they're doing. First stop, South Carolina, Governor Nikki Haley. Today we learned she put an accused white supremacist on her campaign steering committee. The guy's name is Roan Garcia-Quintana, a big Tea Party activist in the state. The Southern Poverty Law Center says, "Garcia-Quintana is a lifetime member and board member of the Council of Conservative Citizens," which they classify as a white nationalist hate group. How's that for rebranding? An accused white supremacist on your campaign team?
After finding other clips of Republicans which he viewed as alienating Latinos, homosexuals, and women, the MSNBC host brought aboard Milbank and liberal talk radio host Joe Madison as guests.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Thursday, May 23, PoliticsNation on MSNBC:
AL SHARPTON: It's been a few weeks since we last checked in on the GOP's effort to reach out to women and minorities, so let's see how they're doing. First stop, South Carolina, Governor Nikki Haley. Today we learned she put an accused white supremacist on her campaign steering committee. The guy's name is Roan Garcia-Quintana, a big Tea Party activist in the state. The Southern Poverty Law Center says, "Garcia-Quintana is a lifetime member and board member of the Council of Conservative Citizens," which they classify as a white nationalist hate group. How's that for rebranding? An accused white supremacist on your campaign team?
Let's move on to Pennsylvania. Governor Tom Corbett. Here he is at a roundtable last week showing off his outreach to Latinos.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Do you have staff members that are Latino?
GOVERNOR TOM CORBETT (R-PA) No, we do not have any staff members in there. If you can find one, please let me know.
SHARPTON: He can't find a Latino to join his staff, even though there's close to one million Latinos in Pennsylvania? But wait, there's more. Donald Rumsfeld is comparing gay marriage to polygamy.
LARRY KING: Do you support same-sex marriage?
DONALD RUMSFELD, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: You, know, I guess I'm a generation that I don't, I wonder, I listen to some of the Supreme Court justices, and one of them said, "Well, what's next after that? Is it two people?"
SHARPTON: But if all this wasn't enough, Republicans are still going after women, too. Republicans yesterday in Oklahoma state senate voted to defund Planned Parenthood, doing it under the radar by not posting it on their agenda for the day. So here's a recap of everyone Republicans have managed to offend in their big rebranding effort. African-Americans, check. Latinos, check. Gay people, check. Women, check. Way to go, Republicans. You're the big winners in the campaign to lose huge chunks of the American voting public. Congratulations.
(...)
SHARPTON: Dana, let's start with Nikki Haley and her situation. How can she put an accused white supremacist on her election team?
DANA MILBANK, WASHINGTON POST COLUMNIST: Well, Reverend, a patty on the back to you for putting all these disparate threads together because I think it is significant, and, now, let's give Governor Haley some credit. She has reached out to a minority because white supremacists are a minority in America today. So I guess she's got that part of the coalition in place. This is a problem -- particularly this Conservative Citizens Council has bedeviled Southern Republicans for some long period of time going back to Trent Lott and before that.
You would think they'd be wise to that, and be able to go through the database and avoid this sort of thing, but it's part of the, you know, the idea is you want to play footsy with the Tea Party with that segment without crossing the line, but this is what tends to happen when you do that.
