Meet The Mandela RINOs: Republicans Who Lost Their R-Card For Praising Mandela

TPMDC ^ | TPM | Tom Kludt

[LonelyCon]

Republican politicians have tried to pay homage on Facebook to the late Nelson Mandela since his death on Thursday, but many of their conservative supporters want to hear none of it.

Peruse through comment sections of the GOP's Facebook tributes to Mandela, and there's a good chance you'll find plenty of vitriol for the former South African president and for the politicians who praised him.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) wrote that Mandela "will live in history as an inspiration for defenders of liberty around the globe." One commenter took a different view of the anti-apartheid leader's legacy, urging "all you Mandela lovers head on over to South Africa and see what's going on now that 'Mandela's people' have control of the nation."

As Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) sees it, Mandela "showed South Africans and the entire world what the power of forgiveness truly means and can accomplish." It's unclear if some of Rubio's disappointed supporters will be similarly forgiving of the senator.

One woman found it "sad" that Rubio, a son of Cuban immigrants, showed such reverence given that the GOP senator's family "fled the very things that mandela (sic) stood for." After seeing the tribute, another woman said Rubio had lost her vote.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) wrote that the "world has lost an exceptional leader who made the world a better place." But some commenters cried foul at the "revisionist history" of Mandela. Another expressed relief that "Mass Murderer Mandela is finally dead."

[ek_hornbeck]

That doesn't mean that Cruz or Rubio or Cantor have "lost their R-card."

No, but it does show just how much the Left has won and how much the Right has lost when conservatives start embracing and praising leftist icons like Mandela, MLK, etc.

And as far as I'm concerned, Rubio lost his legitimacy as a conservative as soon as he spearheaded the push for amnesty to illegals. He sounds just like Obama on immigration. This is yet another issue where mainstream Republicans have capitulated to the Left.

[grania]

...how could they possibly be this stupid?

They should research and write their own statements. I can understand statements that say that Mandala was a voice that ended apartheid, that he was president, and that many people looked to him as inspiration for demanding more freedom. They should also say that he was jailed for his terrorist activities and that South Africa faces serious challenges under the current system.

Believe it or not, CBS News came close to being that even-handed.

[anton]

Scratch most any American Jew and you have a pandering liberal.

[grania]

the problem is that our education system and media have basically made a saint out of Mandanla

Not just the education system. Everyone has speech writiers and nobody, neither the speech writers nor the people making these statements has background knowledge. "checking the facts" has become what appears online or in the "news". Thus, the statements they make don't get the scrutiny that they should.

What these statements need in difficult situations is to be nuanced. Saying something like "After Mandala left prison, his leadership of anti-apartheid dissidents led to the end of the apartheid era in South Africa".

Someone as smart as Cruz is should know better. Since he's busier now with speaking out, he needs some research specialists who don't make mistakes like this.