Too stupid to breathe: Sid Dinerstein & L. Donald Jaffin

Today I bring you Blast Off!'s first "celebrity" Too Stupid to Breathe feature, as we welcome Palm Beach County Republican Party grand poobah Sid Dinerstein to the stage, along with fellow letter writer L. Donald Jaffin of Jupiter.

Yesterday (yeah, I know, I didn't get to it yesterday -- so sue me), each of these dolts had a letter published in the Palm Beach Post, excoriating those who accuse Republicans of being racist, especially in light of their embraced-him-before-rejecting-him flip-flop over avowed white supremacist Derek Black, who was elected to the county Republican Executive Committee.

I knew it was going to be a problem (and by "problem," I mean "hilarious laugh riot") as soon as I read the headline: Republicans judge by character, not color. Excuse me? The party that literally survives on keeping minorities down, opposing immigration, and gutting public education doesn't judge by color? Yeah, I know ... and it gets worse in the letters themselves.

Let's start with Silly Sid:

Let's be clear: Only one major political party judges people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. That would be the Republican Party. So when Mr. Black came knocking, we pulled in the welcome mat. But how about the Democrats, whose message seems to attract all the right people? When hatemongers Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton came knocking, the Democrats didn't just put out the welcome mat, they made them kingmakers. When former Ku Klux Klan member Robert Byrd came knocking, they made him "the conscience of the Senate."

Jackson and Sharpton are "hatemongers" now? Right -- and Trent Lott, Virgil Goode, and Jerry Falwell are/were choirboys. Surrrrrrrrrrre. You'd better be careful in your glass house, there, Sid.

But let's leave it to the Republicans to drag out the ol' "Robert Byrd was in the KKK" shtick again. Never mind the fact that Byrd repeatedly and vociferously has repented for his brief time in the KKK, while longtime Republican senator Strom Thurmond, who ran for president in 1948 on the openly segregationist "Dixiecrat" ticket, never recanted his racist views, and in fact was applauded for them by Trent Lott himself.

And, while we're at it, let's make sure we beat the dead horse of the Byrd allegations. Mr. Jaffin, you're up:

The Post should be embarrassed. [Post columnist Frank] Cerabino unmercifully attacked Chairman Sid Dinerstein and the Palm Beach County Republican Party for their efforts to block the seating of a Ku Klux Klan supporter as a member of the party's [e]xecutive committee. Perhaps Mr. Cerabino would have been more complimentary if we acted like the Democratic Party, which he and The Palm Beach Post adore and have heaped accolades on U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., a former member of the Klan.

I guess like everything else these days, racism is okay if you're a Republican, right, Mr. Jaffin? At least Democrats didn't elect a current, open racist (despite Black's protestations that he's merely a "white person concerned about discrimination against white people") to a leadership position in their party. Jeebus, you're dumb ...

Anyway, enjoy the next eight years, Messrs. Dinerstein and Jaffin. Not only are the grown-ups taking over on January 20, the lead grown-up is a ni--[GONG!] ... I said the lead grown-up is near. How does that feel? Or are you even aware that change is in the air? After all, you two officially are too stupid to breathe.

Today's Daily Schadenfreude: the Palm Beach County Republican Party

Poor Republicans. They just can't catch a break, can they?

Not here in Palm Beach County, it seems. Remember the fight about white supremacist -- oops, I mean "white person who is concerned about discrimination against white people" -- Derek Black being elected to the Palm Beach County Republican Executive Committee (REC)? Well, apparently young Derek isn't going to go away quietly, much to the chagrin of local GOP chair Sid Dinerstein (right, with glasses, speaking to Black).

On a night when new committee members were sworn in, Black showed up at the meeting in a dark suit and tie with his long reddish hair flowing from beneath a black hat. One committee member suggested before the meeting that he remove the hat. Black didn't.

The son of former Klan Grand Wizard Don Black and a "close family friend" of former Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, Derek Black approached ... Dinerstein while Dinerstein was giving a television interview before the meeting and began debating the party's enforcement of the oath requirement.

He also challenged Dinerstein once the meeting began.

"Are you saying the party's rules override elections?" Black asked. After that, Black remained seated while new committee members stood up to be sworn in and Dinerstein was reelected without opposition as party chairman.

About an hour later, as party members plowed through procedural votes, Black stood up in front of the meeting and began addressing the crowd of about 200, but his words were inaudible to most because he did not have a microphone. "You need to sit down or leave," Dinerstein told Black. Black opted for the latter.
Black later returned to the meeting and apologized for the disruption and said he planned to be involved in the party in the future.

To be fair (yeah, I know -- Republicans fair?!), they decided not to seat a total of ten elected REC members, including Black, who had failed to sign the oath in time.

It's fun to watch the fireworks, though, as the local Republican leadership implodes. I mean, consider the irony: they have no problem using code words, shrouding their usual racism in lies and obfuscation while all the time voting and setting policies that blatantly discriminate against minority groups. Yet, when someone who at least is open about his racist opinions tries to join forces with the political party that most closely is aligned with his views, the party shuns him. Go figure ...

In the meantime, though, while we wait to see what will happen next in this entertaining saga, I'm pleased to congratulate the Palm Beach County GOP, because today's Blast Off! Daily Schadenfreude is for you!

White supremacist still battling for his seat on Palm Beach County Republican Executive Committee

Actually, newly-elected Palm Beach County Republican Executive Committeeman Derek Black would prefer not to be called a "white supremacist." Then again, what would you call someone whose father, a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, runs what purportedly was the first hate website on the Internet, Stormfront.org; who created a children's page on that site when he was 12 and who still contributes regularly to the site; and who has the support of another notorious former KKK grand wizard, David Duke?

I first told you about Derek Black in August, when county Republicans elected him to office at the tender age of 19. Back then, county GOP chair Sid Dinerstein said that if Black (how's that for an ironic name?) truly was eligible, he would be seated on the REC per his election. Now, however, Dinerstein is trying to keep Black from office on the grounds that he didn't sign a required oath.

"We're going to fight," [David] Duke said. "I know Derek Black is going to fight for his constitutional liberties. That's why I'm here, because I want to assist Derek."

Sorry, says county GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein. In the qualifying period in June, Black didn't sign a loyalty oath pledging he would not do anything injurious to the party. And that's not the only problem.

"He participates in white supremacist activities," Dinerstein said. "We're the party of Lincoln. We're the party that says we don't judge anybody by the color of their skin."

Derek Black's response: "I've told (Dinerstein) I'm not a white supremacist; that's an insult. I would describe myself as a white person who is concerned about discrimination against white people."

A community college student who was home-schooled in West Palm Beach, Black once contributed a kids page to his father's Stormfront Internet forum around the time he was 12. The page included puzzles, games, animated Confederate flags and white-pride songs. He has since helped with his father's Internet audio broadcasts.

As if Republicans overall weren't already about as dysfunctional as a group can be, here in Palm Beach County, it's comedy gold. The PBC GOP is between a rock and a neo-Nazi hard place, and I don't see this ending without fireworks (hopefully not firearms, though). They're going to rely on Derek Black's failure to sign a loyalty oath to keep him out of office?

Figures. Those Republicans are nothing if not consistent. Stay tuned ...

In Florida, Dems now outnumber Repubs among Hispanic voters

Looks like yet another group that has been a stalwart for the GOP has come to its senses, in the wake of the Worst President Ever. Hispanic voters in Florida now are mostly Democrats:

In 2006, Hispanics registered as Republicans in Florida outnumbered Democrats by 45,000, stoked by an overwhelming advantage in the conservative South Florida Cuban community.

But according to the latest figures from the Florida Division of Elections, Democrats now lead by almost 30,000 voters: 454,798 to 424,866. That represents a turnaround of 75,000 voters in less than two years.

In Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, where Democrats already had an advantage over the GOP among Latino registered voters, the party has increased its margins as Nov. 4 approaches. Democrats are crowing about it.

"Hispanics are like other voters in this country, and they want change," said Mike Rios, head of the Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce in Palm Beach County and a Democratic Party organizer.

"They want to stop the war in Iraq, bring down gas prices, create jobs and provide health insurance. And for all that, the Democrats and Barack Obama have the best platform."

Rios said the large increase in registered Democrats is due in part to new, young Latino voters, who tend to be more liberal. He also said many Puerto Ricans, some from the Northeast and others who have fled the Caribbean island's economic problems, have moved to Florida. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens and, traditionally, Democratic voters.

Florida also has seen a sizable spike in Colombians who have become citizens, and many have registered as Democrats, Rios added.

"We've also had some Cubans register Democrat," he said in a mild dig in the ribs to his Republican rivals.

Sid Dinerstein, Palm Beach County's GOP chairman, and other Republican activists don't see those registration numbers determining the November vote.

No, of course you wouldn't, Sid. That's because you're willfully ignorant to the fact that America is sick and tired of the political games, the lies, the death and destruction, and the profiteering enabled -- and conducted -- by your party over the last eight -- well, really more like the last 15 years. If I were a Republican, I'd kill myself realize that maybe the problem is that America wants change -- and I'd look at ways to change the party platform from something that depends on allegiance to a failed, corrupt presidency and a failed, corrupt ideology into something that more closely resembles what the Republican Party claims to support: a smaller federal government and other hallmarks of traditional conservatism.

Looks like Hispanic voters in Florida, like everyone else, are discovering that real change comes not from the empty rhetoric of the Right (Huggy Bear claims to be the candidate of change? The guy who hugged Drunky McStagger and who has voted with him in increasing percentages up to the present-day 95% of the time? It's laughable, really ...) but from, well, real change -- as in electing Barack Obama president and making sure Democrats have a mandate in down-ticket races as well.

The Hispanic vote in Florida, as usual, is likely to make a significant difference at the polls in November. But this time, no matter how much Sid Dinerstein and his pals clap their hands and wish it away, that difference will benefit the Democrats.

(h/t Palm Beach Post via Twitter -- had I not been on the road yesterday, I would have posted this when I received the heads-up, but thanks, PBP!)

(cross-posted at FPC Blog)

Republicans and racism: together forever and never to part

Don't worry, this isn't a Rickroll ... think of it more as a "Ratroll." I need to take you away from Denver just for a moment to share with you more Racist Fun With Republicans back home in America's Glans™.

Our old West Palm Beach friend Don Black of Stormfront.org is in the news again ... but this time it's via the reflected glory of his son Derek's election as a Republican committeeman in Palm Beach County:

Derek Black couldn't be reached Wednesday. But he's also known in this country's white supremacist crowd.

In 2001, Derek was just 12 when USA Today highlighted his work at creating a children's page on stormfront.org. That page included white supremacist songs, bulletin boards and anti-Martin Luther King bedtime stories. Don Black, the story pointed out, keeps a photo of his son in a Confederate uniform on his desk. The teenage boy, who sports flaming red hair, is currently listed as a radio commentator on his dad's site.
Derek Black quietly campaigned, visiting many of the district's historic homes. Residents on his block include a single lesbian on one side, and a gay couple on the other. One of the two men is black.

"His mom (Chloe) took him around, introducing him to everyone," said one resident who asked that her name not be used. Chloe Black, by the way, is none other than the former wife of [David] Duke, maybe the best known white supremacist of the past 30 years. He ran for several public offices in Louisiana, at times coming close to getting elected. He ran both as a Republican and a Democrat.

Naturally the Republicans would love this kid. He's evidently picked up all the old habits of his dad -- you know, racism, neo-Nazism, douchebaggery -- no doubt tempered by an ignorance that only youth can provide.

The local Republican Party leaders, while publicly expressing caution over young Derek's victory, nevertheless are taking great strides not to distance themselves from his family's demonstrated racist viewpoints:

"I assume he qualified to run for the seat and he was elected," said local GOP boss Sid Dinerstein. "Anybody in this country can join a party and run for a position on that party. He is entitled to be seated if he acts according to our constitution."

Added Dinerstein, who's Jewish: "Hopefully, he left that past behind. He shouldn't forget that this party was formed by abolitionists."

Allen West, a black Republican running for Congress in the south part of the county, says he'll "have a talk" with Black at the first meeting of the local GOP in September.

"If he won't judge me for my character instead of my race, I'll ask to please not support me in any way," West said.

In the meantime, though, Sid and Allen are perfectly okay with hitching their wagon to a racist fucktard. Nice going, Republicans. At least you're consistent.