Republican Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama generated quite a bit of attention for himself this week, declaring that Democrats have launched a “war on whites” by telling white people they “hate everybody else.” The far-right congressman hasn’t offered any evidence of this, or explained why Dems would wage war against 77% of the population, but he seemed quite certain about his thesis.
The ensuing controversy gave Brooks a platform to elaborate on his perspective and perhaps even walk it back a bit. But the Alabama Republican refuses to change course.
In an interview with Steve Malzberg on Newsmax [on Tuesday], Alabama Republican congressman Mo Brooks said he “absolutely” stands by his recent complaint that Democrats are staging a “war on whites.”“Look at what the Democrats do on a daily basis,” Brooks said. “They appeal to specific racial groups, saying we will protect you, that racial group. And who are they talking about protecting them from? They’re talking about protecting them from Republicans. But at the same time, what do they say about those Republicans? That they’re whites.”
Brooks then told USA Today that “if you look at current federal law, there is only one skin color that you can lawfully discriminate against. That’s Caucasians — whites.”
Indeed, in his Newsmax interview, note that the GOP lawmaker asked, “What is the one race that can be discriminated against? … All whites.” Brooks added that there’s “reverse discrimination” going on.
Remind me, how’s that Republican rebranding campaign going?
In this case, we have a congressman who not only sees Democrats as waging a “war” against white people, Brooks also believes white people are victims, who face discrimination in American society, and who apparently deserve public sympathy for their plight.
He wasn’t kidding. Indeed, this was not an elaborate joke executed by liberals to make Republicans appear foolish — the Alabama lawmaker made these comments on purpose because he believes what he’s saying.
This probably isn’t the election-year message Republican officials were hoping for.
GOP strategist Bettina Inclan said Republican leaders should push back more aggressively against comments from individual lawmakers that don’t necessarily represent the whole party. “I think it’s important for us to say, ‘Look, that is not representative of who we are as a party or as a country,’ ” Inclan said. […]GOP strategist Ford O’Connell said Democrats are likely to use comments like Brooks’s to paint Republicans as intolerant of minorities. “It may not catch up with Republicans in 2014, but I can bet you that Democrats will use it against them in 2016,” O’Connell said. “It’s what I would do.”
At this point, I haven’t seen any Republican leader anywhere who has criticized Brooks or denounced his comments.
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Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."