The nativist wing of the Democratic Party?
I'm not sure it helps Democrats to have local party functionaries calling voters racists, even if done subtly.*An East Texas Democratic Party county chairman told gubernatorial candidate Farouk Shami in an e-mail that he is wasting his time running for governor because "nobody is going to vote for anyone named Farouk" in today’s post-9-11 political climate.
J. Larry Davis, chairman of the Anderson County Democratic Party, said he made the comments to Shami, a Palestinian-American who founded a billion-dollar hair care empire, as a realistic assessment of what he said are "redneck" attitudes in deep East Texas. He said there was "nothing racist at all" intended by the message.
Meanwhile, Shami has fired back** by saying:
I am more Texan than [Bill White] could ever be.Slampo's commentary on the issue made me laugh.
* Perhaps Mr. Davis was suggesting the idea that voters like to vote for someone like them -- I expressed a version of this idea when I mentioned my surprise that Shami's signs say Farouk and not Shami on them -- but the "voting for someone like me" that voters often have is made up of all factors. Name is only a part of that. Davis' comments seem unarticulate if we charitably assume that this is what he wanted to say.
** I'm not sure what the exact timing is, but Shami was surely trying to pre-empt the talk about his name.
Posted by Evan @ 02/01/10 11:26 AM
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