Why do African-American voters overwhelmingly support the Democratic Party?
To hear conservative radio host Laura Ingraham tell it, it has nothing to do with their support for liberal policies on issues like jobs, healthcare and education. Nor is it a reaction against the ugly racial rhetoric emanating from leading Republicans or the vile voter suppression measures pushed by the Republican Party. Instead, Ingraham asserted on her radio program today, black voters support Democratic candidates because Democrats won't allow "the black population" off "the plantation."
Highlighting the case of an African-American pastor who alleges that the robbery of his church may be linked to his endorsement of Illinois GOP gubernatorial nominee Bruce Rauner, Ingraham decried what she depicted as Democrats' demonization of African-Americans who stray from the liberal fold.
"Look at what they did to Col. Alan West. Look at what they did to Justice Clarence Thomas, or tried to do. This is what they do," Ingraham argued.
Echoing a common right-wing trope, Ingraham lobbed the "plantation" charge against the Democrats.
"You can’t get off the plantation," Ingraham said. "It is their sole province for maintaining control of the black population. You must be liberal. You must be for certain policies that Al Sharpton and Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid favor. You can’t waver – because if you think for yourself, you are, as that caller said, a ‘sell-out.’"
Listen to Ingraham's diatribe below, via Media Matters:
Shares