What on earth is the Virginia GOP, aka the party of xenophobes and white “nationalist” sympathizers like their leading U.S. Senate candidate Corey Stewart, blathering about here? A few points:
- If the Republican Party of Virginia really took “allegations of racism and white nationalism very seriously,” it would unequivocally condemn racists and white nationalists in their party. People like Corey Stewart, in other words, who has posed for photos with the Confederate flag a gazillion times, ranted and raved about how crucial it is to defend monuments to slave owners and Confederates, also ranted and raved about immigrants from Latin America (just a coincidence, I’m sure, that they happen to be people of color), called an anti-Semite a “hero,” etc, etc.
- When Virginia GOP Chair John Whitbeck, himself infamous for telling an anti-Semitic “joke” in public, says “over the years there have been times where Corey Stewart and I have had our differences,” he might be referring to Corey calling for Whitbeck’s resignation following the blue tidal wave here in Virginia last November. LOL
- The claim that Corey Stewart “condemned the violence in Charlottesville and the groups behind it” is a complete joke. In fact, as this August 13, 2017 Washington Post story’s headline stated, “Virginia politicians of all stripes condemn white nationalists — except one.” Which one? According to the Post article, “Corey A. Stewart, who is running for U.S. Senate and nearly won the Republican nomination for governor of Virginia on a pledge to preserve the state’s Confederate monuments, said white nationalists had been unfairly singled out for their role in the weekend chaos in Charlottesville that left three dead and dozens injured.” As if that’s not bad enough, Corey added, “All the weak Republicans, they couldn’t apologize fast enough…They played right into the hands of the left wing. Those [Nazi] people have nothing to do with the Republican Party. There was no reason to apologize.” So yeah, who knows what John Whitbeck et al are talking about, but clearly they’ve got the disease the rest of their party has, which is completely inability to tell the truth about anything.
- The fact is, the Virginia GOP has been Corey Stewart’s party since June 2017, when he came within a whisker of defeating Ed Gillespie in the gubernatorial primary.
- The concept that Virginia or the United States would be “vast[ly]” better off with neo-Confederate Corey Stewart; anti-government extremist, gun nut, Koch brothers favorite Nick Freitas, himself endorsed by the “#5 Worst U.S. Purveyor of Anti-Semitism“; or theocratic anti-LGBT bigot Ewwww Jackson is beyond laughable. Not sure what Whitbeck and Company are smoking today, but it’s some strong stuff.
- Meanwhile, the guy Whitbeck et al are defending – Corey Stewart – is a strong favorite, according to PredictIt.org, to be their party’s nominee as of Tuesday night.
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