After the South Carolina Republican primary was called for Newt Gingrich, an MSNBC panel discussed how Gingrich used racially charged comments about food stamps and jobs to appeal to the mostly white Republican electorate.
“The question is are we dealing with some on who is racially insensitive?” asked Al Sharpton. “Or someone who is cynical, who would use race to play and use blacks as a backboard to score a shot.”
Recommended Stories
Sharpton was indignant, noting that he never heard rhetoric like this when he toured with Gingrich and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan promoting better education for inner city schools.
Sharpton also challenged Gingrich to an interview on his Politics Nation show on MSNBC next week.
“What we’re getting at here is a question of whether or not racial politics, racially-charged politics works in Republican primaries, whether there’s moral opprobrium ought to attend to that and whether or not fighting about it is ultimately good for Republicans,” said Rachel Maddow, who added that Gingrich would probably use an interview with Al Sharpton to pick a fight with him for advertising purposes.
“This is a terrible thing for the Republican party over the short term, mediate term and the long term.” said former McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmitt, who agreed with his fellow panelists. “Newt Gingrich is setting the party back when he does stuff like that and I don’t like it personally.”
