Rand Paul & the GOP: Black Friend Wanted

Big week in conservative outreach to the black community! 

Rand Paul went to the Harvard of historical black colleges -- Howard University -- to school a roomful of already educated black students on how President Abraham Lincoln was a Republican and that all of the NAACP's founders were Republicans. (Some were also white! And really light-skinned Negroes!!! And Ida B. Wells!!!!) Of course, all the students (and me and most black people who can read) already knew this.

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Slavery? Not That Bad, Sez CPAC Attendee

Stay in school, kids. Or ... um, don't stay in school. They're probably teaching that unit on slavery wrong if you live in certain parts of the American South and Texas. (Source: Clutch)

GOP Performs Autopsy On Ailing Political Body

Head of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus talks about the GOP's report on CBS's "Face the Nation."In the new "autopsy" report, (called the "Growth and Opportunity Report) is out! Re-published by Politico, the GOP outlines what they need to do to get out of their rut of losing presidential elections. Highlights: endorsing comprehensive immigration reform, a $10 million outreach effort for minority communities, reforming its digital operations and making the GOP presidential primary process shorter and having their nominating convention sooner.

Because this report is long and you probably don't want to read it, I'm going to break it down for you with some highlights and commentary. Giving you only what you need to know about what the GOP thinks it's doing wrong to get your vote.

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The New Republic Breaks Down How the GOP Doubled-Down on Whiteness

The best retort critics could come up with was "you do it too."

That was the slam after The New Republic published its piece "Original Sin: Why the GOP is and will continue to be the party of white people." Conservatives quickly googled Wikipedia, and pointed out how lacking in a tan The New Republic's staff is, failing to grasp that The New Republic (while could benefit from diversity) is not one of two national political parties that takes turns in writing, executing and judging our laws.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the GOP might be a bit more important and powerful than a magazine. I can't think of the last time TNR did something that determined what military contracts we might purchase and how much interest the government will have in my womb year-to-year.

As Dylan Byers writes at Politico: "Should TNR diversify its offices? That's up to them. But for the GOP, it isn't a case of should or shouldn't. It's a case of must."

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Mittens Finds A Mate: Paul Ryan Is Romney's GOP "Dream Date" Candidate

Photo via ClutchMitt Romney, the on purpose yet somehow accidental, presumptive GOP candidate for president announced Saturday that Rep. Paul Ryan will be his running mate. He announced this news during a time/date slot normally reserved for stories politicians want to bury in the haze of lazy Fridays, sleep-in Saturdays, an audience focused on how to get their drink on this weekend, not the news and the Olympics.

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Supreme Court Upholds Obama's Health Care Reform Law

Source: Twitter, via user @delrayser

It boiled down to the government has the right levy a tax. But considering that the government already has multiple social welfare programs going involving health care -- from Medicare to Medicaid to veterans' health care, etc. -- I was always more surprised that people were fighting the legality of it in court rather than hashing it out in Congress to modify the existing law. But in a 5-4 decision where Chief Justice John Roberts joined Justices Elena Kagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor in upholding the law, the signature legislation of the Obama Administration was allowed to remain unchanged. The descending votes came, unsurprisingly from Justices Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, who felt the law was an overreach and should have been struck down completely.

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Obama Administration To Stop Deporting Certain Illegal Immigrants Brought Here As Children

President Barack Obama greets people in the audience after delivering the keynote address at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies 18th Annual Gala Dinner in Washington, D.C., May 8, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)When the DREAM Act died in Congress many feared of what would come of the thousands of children, many now adults, who unwittingly were not citizens when their parents brought them illegally to the United States. Many, not knowing their status until their mid-to-late teens, found pathways to careers and college closed as they lived in constant fear of deportation from the only home they've ever known. Circumventing Congress, the Obama Administration announced Friday they would stop deporting certain younger illegal immigrants who fit a specific criteria: those who were brought here at age 16 or younger; are presently age 30 or younger; have no criminal record; have been in the US for at least five continuative years; and have either a GED, a U.S. high school diploma or have served in the military.

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Clutch Magazine: Stop the Vote! Someone Has An Election To Steal

This week for Clutch Magazine The Snob went political (one of my favorite things to do) and tackled how Florida Republicans are trying to push the Sunshine State into Mitt Romney's favor by purging their voter rolls of "possibly" illegal voters. They're currently fighting the Department of Justice as the DOJ says this purge is in violation of the Voter Rights Act. Hey, if the fight against non-existent voter fraud errs on the side of Democratic-leaning citizens not being able to vote, Republicans are willing to make that, ahem, sacrifice.

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The Return of Trump-De-Dump-Dump-Dump: The Donald's Revenge

Because GOP wannabe Mitt Romney is insecure, fearful of offending ANY CONSERVATIVE EVER and butthurt for friends, America's gilded bag of Cheetos dust covered in random hair clippings, aka Donald Trump, is back. Trump, for some perverse, publicity-laden reason is a Romney "surrogate." Probably because Romney saw his favorable ratings finally go up a little, got concerned he might actually win this thing, and deployed this asshole to tell us how Barack Obama is one of the lizard people.

It's a curious strategy, but if the goal is to NOT get elected ... it's just crazy enough to work.

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