Audra Shay: Save the Applause

Well, frumps, defying all reason and political intelligence, Audra Shay became the National Chairwoman of the Young Republicans last night. I don’t like to post multiple times on the same subject (yesterday’s post) but this news cries out for some follow-up.

I guess I expected that, in the end, some Grown-Up Republicans would pull together an Eleventh-hour intervention and get this Shay woman off the stage. People have lost real elected positions over less of a mess than Audra Shay created.

To give you a feel for how such a thing could happen, here’s a snippet of an interview by an Indy Star reporter on the convention floor last night. Katherine Miller was a delegate from Kentucky:

“Elections bring a lot of emotion out of people,” said delegate Katherine Miller, 24, Lexington, Ky. “But this controversy really is not the decisive factor for the majority of people voting here. There are so many important issues we are considering.”

More important than the overt racism of your National Chairwoman, Katherine?

Miller abstained from voting, uncertain whom her delegation was backing.

Huh??

Shay and Hoff declined requests for interviews, said Todd Tolson, convention chairman.

Since when do politicians, running for the highest office at a national convention decline press coverage? So far, I haven’t been able to find word one out of Audra Shay’s mouth on her win – anywhere.

What has happened in the hours since the election results were announced is that a new Facebook Group, Audra Shay is not my Chairwoman! has appeared. That’s healthy.

The Frightening Part

Young Republicans have been electing National Chairs every two years since the 1930’s and I suspect that only a handful, if that, of those events captured days of national press coverage. And this one certainly wouldn’t have either, had Audra Shay not been so clueless. Or is she?

Maybe some wayward GOP faction sees that a stunt like this is what’s needed to call home the thousands of racists, militants and conspiracy theorists out there that will make the Republican Party of their twisted dreams a force to be reckoned with.

Michael Rowe, at Huffington Post has written a fascinating analysis of what this incident could mean for America. I’ve excerpted a piece here because Michael has eloquently stated some of my own worst fears:

“Decades from now, social historians may be able to pinpoint the exact moment, during the lead-up to the 2008 election, that the sheer weight of historical potential tipped the scale of restraint to the breaking point, shattering the fragile veneer of the post-Civil Rights-era façade of civility. That rupture, for its part, is leaking public social and racial bile in a way that has not been acceptable since the 1960’s.”

“In the months following Obama’s win, the Southern Poverty Law Center has reported more than 200 hate-related incidents referencing race. In Madison County, Idaho, a school superintendent found it necessary to respond to a complaint from parents that children on one school bus were chanting “assassinate Obama,” while in North Carolina, the Statesville Record newspaper apologized for running a leader column asking, “What’s more scary, a bleak economy or a black president?” In December of 2008, Chip Saltzman mailed out a CD of “Barack the Magic Negro,” the racist parody of “Puff the Magic Dragon,” as a Christmas gift to his nearest and dearest.”

“Having long relied on the so-called Republican “base” (and still reeling from the stinging November defeat) the GOP appears to be unable–or unwilling–to put the genie of religion-based social intolerance and racism back in the bottle by calling it out, and distancing themselves from it in unambiguous terms once and for all.”

“Instead, the smell issuing from the GOP’s lack of leadership and direction is attracting the subterranean element of the wingnut “base” like blowflies to a carcass by the side of the highway.”

To read the entire post, which I highly recommend, go here.
Future of the GOP?

One brave voice from within the ranks of Republican youth is sounding off and, in my opinion, deserves our attention and support. Meghan McCain, albeit from a somewhat sheltered spot, has called out her colleagues more than once, recently, and has become next generation “voice of reason.” Meghan McCain had this to say to The Daily Beast, last night:

“The definition of insanity is repeating the same actions over and over again and expecting different results. What exactly do the Young Republicans expect to achieve by electing a 38-year-old woman who thinks racial epithets are acceptable? Also, did I mention that she’s 38? And she’s going to be the leader of an organization with the word “young” in the title? Is it so implausible that people in their 20s (or even early 30s) could join the Republican Party—or have we just completely given up on their vote? Are we expecting “young” people in the Republican Party to soon be entering their 40s?”

And

“What Young Republicans need is a revolution. We need someone who will inspire us, bring us together, and lead us into the 21st century. We need to look forward, not backward. I for one chose a different path as a young Republican because at the end of the day I know that many young Republicans are starving for a new image that is so many times stereotyped within the media, so I ask: Why are we feeding everyone the same old same old?”

Here’s hoping that, if Meghan keeps sounding off, rational reasonable young republicans will have the courage to do the same and rally the support needed to rebuild their Fixer-Upper of a political party.

Audra Shay Meghan McCain Young Republicans Republicans GOP Michael Rowe Huffington Post Daily Beast racism