Senator Tim Scott, from South Carolina and one of the three Republican African American legislators of the five hundred and thirty eight members of the United States Congress, delivered the response to President Biden’s State of the Union Address. The Senator, as he detailed his history of being discriminated against stressed that America was not racist, is the chief negotiator on the Republican side in creating a bipartisan George Floyd Police Reform Bill. Scott presented the current Republican mantra to fight the Democrats on cultural issues with no concrete proposals of their own. The principle objective of the Scott challenge to the Biden agenda was to remove attention from the latter. Gone are the days when the Republican Party was all about fiscal conservatism. To a certain extent Scott achieved the goal of refocusing the debate away from Biden’s new America but not for long. It is Biden’s proposals that are gulping down all the media oxygen again.
Scott’s answer had built in what the response would be to Biden’s State of Union address. A CBS poll showed that eighty - five percent of those that watched the President approved. Biden’s individual legislative proposals and parts thereof were backed by between sixty odd percent and eighty - seven percent. So it is obvious that the Republicans will have to stick to the voter suppression and cultural issues that got Trump elected in 2016. They are their only hope to scrape a minority victory in 2022 and 2024.
It is interesting to note that McConnell chose Scott. It was obviously an attempt to widen the appeal of the ever shrinking Republican Party and in line with their 2012 report the Party needed to become more inclusive of minorities. This approach is certainly not what got Trump elected in 2016. Scott is a down the line Conservative however it was his comments on racism in America that evoked the most reaction as well his support in general for the Republican’s efforts at voter suppression.
RESPONSE TO SCOTT CLAIMING AMERICA WASN’T RACIST
The feedback to Scott’s contribution by the Democrat legislators was muted, particularly from the white liberals. The two of the fifty seven African American Democratic legislators who were negotiating with Scott on the George Floyd Act held back as well. Senator Cory Booker said he was a jolly fine fellow while Representative Karen Bass stated that he was reflecting the views of his caucus. It was left to Vice President Kamala Harris to voice her opposition to his denial of the racism that has existed and still is present in America. No one needs reminding that she is the first woman to be Vice President and the first person of color to be in that office. The white liberal pundits held back while their African American counterparts roundly criticized Scott. Joy Reid of MSNBC called his intervention “embarrassing and a missed opportunity” while Eugene Robertson stated that Scott was addressing the Republican base and telling him what they wanted to hear about race. Where matters became ugly was when Scott was castigated for being an Uncle Tom on social media.
The crowd that really got exited about the rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union were a few of the GOP legislators and Fox News. Senator Cruz, who apparently was awake for Scott’s rejoinder, claimed that Scott enrages the Left because as a minority legislator he doesn’t sit down and shut up. Cruz then deviated from the underlying agenda of Trumpism and “they shall not replace us” line by agreeing with Scott that America is not a racist country. Cruz went onto claim credit for “the incredible legacy America had of fighting for equal rights for all”. Joe Concha a Fox Contributor slammed the left’s alleged apocalyptic reaction to Scott. Scott himself, as reported by Fox News, claimed that the liberal reaction to his speech was “an attack on the color of his skin". The Senator told Fox and Friends, “It was shocking to hear intolerance coming from those who say they want to end discrimination, and those attacking him were doubling down on the concept of liberal oppression”.
Kathleen Parker, the right of center pundit in her op -ed post was nearer the mark when she write that "Liberals cannot handle a black Conservative". This indeed was indicative of the reaction of legislators and pundits with white skins. McConnell has every right to designate Tim Scott to articulate policy even if the move was symbolic. Biden is doing plenty of the latter. For example if a vacancy should occur on the Supreme Court he has made it quite clear that the nomination will be a qualified black woman. Jay H. Ell is used to people of color espousing what appeared to be "sell out" messages having lived in South Africa. Whether it was in a different time or situation the white liberals had no difficulty in criticizing.
So like everybosy else Tim Scott has a right to have his rebuttal critiqued for its content and as the face of the Republican Party, or at least as McConnell sees it.
THE SCOTT INTERVENTION - THE PARTY LINE
Senator Scott is a highly respected member of the Republican caucus although he has no leadership positions. He is eloquent and a somewhat refreshing face of the Republican party.
From the get go the talking points started. There was a total denial of the public response and Biden's approval polling figures. The Republican party had been battling to smear Biden but he has proved "unsmearable", so it becomes, "Our President seems like a good man .... (but) our nation is starving for more than empty platitudes.... he promises to unite us ... but his actions are pulling us further apart..".
Senator Scott then narrates a legitimate story of his deprived childhood and how though incredibel family support he rose to the top. He is living the American dream that from nowhere you can pull your self up by your boot straps.
Then it was back to the talking points. he doesn't look or sound like Jim Jordan but the message is the same - that Biden and company are taking away freedoms - ".......But for months too many of our churches have been shut down... locking down vulnerable kids out of classrooms is locking out too many adults of the future... science has shown for months that schools are safe, But too often powerful adult grown ups set science aside....Thanks to Operation Warp Speed the country is flooded with vaccines". It is obvious that he never listened to the former President who said that Covid was like flu and would be over in no time if only they would take hydroxyquinolone and give bleach a whirl, It is even more obvious that he has forgotten that the Trump response was chaotic and he designated responsibility to the States
So next it was the Republcans that reversed the pandemic carnage with Operation Warp Speed and all that, They wanted to continue help but, "...the Democrats wanted to go it alone with a two trillion dollar partisan bill.....no requirements to open the schools". Again McConnell made it quite clear that there would be no Republian votes.
Then it was an attack on the immensely popular infrastructure and family bills,"....it is a liberal wish list of big government and waste, killing tax hikes...it will lower wages...and shrink the economy....the so called......Family Plan....Even more taxing even more spending to put Washington even more in the middle of your life....".
Now for the most inexplicable claim to African Americans..."Nowhere do we need more common ground desperately on our discussion of race. I have experienced the pain of discrimination. I know what it is like to be pulled over for no reason...I get called Uncle Tom and the N word by progressives and liberals,,,,I built an even bigger police reform bill which the Democrats rejected". The bill nowhere near contained the provisions of the George Floyd Bill which Scott is against because, among other objections, he doesn't want to ban choke holds and he insists on providindg immunity for rogue police. Scott acknowledges his own experience with discrimination but in the wake of the biggest crisis ever, the shooting of unarmed African Americans by the police, he maintains that race is being used by Democrats as a divisive tool.
On the race theme Scott continued, "People are making money...by pretending we haven't made any progress at all by doubling down on he divisions we have worked so hard to heal...Hear me clearly this is not a racist country...".
It was on voting legislation that Scott appeared most out of sync, ".....Republicans support making it easier to vote and harder to cheat...The State of Georgia passes law that expands voting...If you actually read the law. It is mainstream.... is easier to vote earlier in Georgia than New York...". The Senator is obviously ignoring the nation wide Republican State effort to do the same. Myriads of corporations have objected to the laws as has the National Baseball League who withdrew their marquee event from the State.
He continues that the Democrats through the introduction of HR1, The John Lewis Voting Rights Act, is a "Washington power grab. This misplaced outrage is supposes to justify the Democrats' passing of a new sweeping bill that would take over elections of all fifty states...thisisnot about civil rights or our racial past, It is about rigging elections....". Major corporations have continued their attacks in scores including American Airlines, Microsoft and Dell against the Texas legislation.
It was then on to divisive Biden and the great America under Trump, "...a President who promised to bring us tohether must not push agendas that tear us apart. The Americam Family deserve better. And we know what better looks like. Just before Covid, we had the most inclusive economy in my lifetime. The lowest unemployment rate ever recorded for African Americans... The bottom twenty - five percent saw their wages growing faster than the top twenty - five percent .... this happened becuase Republcans focussed on expanding opportunity for all Americans... we cut taxes for working families and single moms like the one who raised me..." . Such is his spin on the Biden and Trump administrations.
Continuing to contrast the Trump Administration with Biden, "Our best future won't come from Washington Schemes or Socialist dreams. We are all in this together." The acknowledgment of Trump is in line with McConnell's slippery position of accepting Trump if he becomes the nominee in 2024.
And so Senator Scott ends the way he began with his impressive story and his faith. "I am standing here because my mom has prayed me through some really tough times.... So I will close with a worship song that helped me the past year of Covid..."
LATER OUTCOME OF SCOTT'S REBUTTAL
There is little doubt that the immediate impact of the speech achieved McConnell's short term objectives. His corporate backers were reassured that the Republican Pary was the good old Conservative Party that it was before Trump and that they weren't going to back Biden's "Socialist Schemes", that would raise their taxes.
Biden who is attempting to be FDR and Lyndon Johnson rolled into one is keeping up his line of sweet reasonableness and desire to work with the Republicans. The polls not only show support for his initiatives but sixty - seven percent claim that the Republicans aren't cooperating enough, while just only twenty percent polled that they were. So Biden's bipartisan message is getting through.
With these poll numbers the Republican support is shrinking to its barest base which has become the Trump cult, believing "The Big Lie". The sad reality is that the majority of the GOP legislators have joined in so they can win their primaries.
AT THE END OF THE DAY
Senator Scott has had no lasting impact with his rebuttal. It did however satisfy some Republicans that there is a conservative African American that supported them. He is even being mooted as a Presidential candidate. However Trump's true base cannot be impressed. They did not vote for Trump so that an Evangelical Black Man can become the second African American President. As former President George W. Bush has maintained the current Trump party is centered around becoming exclusively white Anglo Saxon and Protestant. So McConnell and Trump will fight it out in the Republican Primaries in 2022 and 2024.
Everyone can only hope that Democrats Cory Booker's and Karen Bass's hopeful assessment that what America saw and heard was not the real Tim Scott and that they and the Repunlican Senator can reach an acceptable compromise on the George Floyd Police Reform Bill.
Senator Scott's rebuttal has already been forgotten.
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