Did you know that the Republican Party is totally white and is stuck in TV Land shows like "Leave it to Beaver," "Father Knows Best," and "Howdy Doody?"
So said film director Spike Lee Wednesday as he discussed the meaning of Tuesday's elections and the first black president with MSNBC's "Morning Joe" team.
Lee also said history will view things in terms of "BB" and "AB", meaning Before Barack and After Barack.
Does that mean next year is 1 instead of 2009?
While you ponder, here are some of the lowlights (video embedded right):
Let's think about the pictures that we saw of McCain-Palin rallies. Contrast that with the rallies of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. The Republican party is stuck in a land of TV Land - "Leave It To Beaver," "Father Knows Best," "Howdy Doody." That America does not exist anymore. The Republican Party has got to do something because their base is totally white." [...]
The America that's come behind Barack, this mosaic, is the America of today - white, black, brown, yellow, various religions, gay, straight - That is the new America. And Giuliani and these other guys are stuck in the 1950s.
Hmmm. The Republican Party is all white? Really?
Well, let's look at the exit polls, shall we? McCain-Palin received:
- 31 percent of the Latino vote
- 35 percent of the Asian vote
- 31 percent of "Other"
Add it all up, Spike, and McCain-Palin received about 1/3 of the non-black minority vote. Do these people not count in your view?
And, even though a black man was running for president on the Democrat ticket, McCain-Palin received four percent of the African-American vote. Do these folks also not count, Spike?
Alas, one shouldn't expect facts to get in the way of Spike's views as the following will further demonstrate:
"Do The Right Thing" was really not essentially about America as a whole, but I really think it got the temperature of New York City at that time was polarized under the then-mayor Ed Koch.
Hmmm. So, how did New York City fare the following four years under David Dinkins? Remember the Crown Heights riot of August 1991? Or the boycott of the Korean-owned market in Flatbush?
Oddly, as Lee pointed fingers at Koch, there was no mention of the extraordinary failure of Dinkins as mayor, in particular as it pertained to solving New York City's racial problems. I wonder why.
Yet, potentially the best part of this segment was the following:
We cannot beget the 40 years of slavery. This is something that nobody wants to talk about. It's not taught in schools. All this came out of 40 years of slavery which built this country.
40 years of slavery? Nobody wants to talk about slavery? It's not taught in schools? Slavery built this country? Really?
Honestly, what the heck was Lee talking about, and why didn't one of the "Morning Joe" team ask him? Sadly, they didn't, but there was more:
You talk about historians, there's going to be BB and AB. BB is everything that happened before Barack. AB is everything that's going to happen in this country and the world after Barack. It's a defining moment. BB and AB.
Imagine that. Not only here in America, but all around the world, this election is more important on the calendar than the beginning of Judaism or the birth of Christ? Will Iran and Afghanistan stop using the Persian calendar, and Muslims throw away their Islamic calendars as well?
Is this what unity looks like?
