Maria Cantwell - Redskins Name Change

The Democrats, the party of slavery and the party of vehement opposition to civil rights legislation, have decided the most pressing issue facing the nation is changing the name of the Washington Redskins.

Harry Reid, the man who called Obama a "'light-skinned' African American 'with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,'" believes that the Washington Redskins must be coerced into a name change.

Jobs? Education? Health care for veterans?

That stuff can wait, but we as a nation cannot move forward until the Washington Redskins are stripped of the name.

From AP, via ABC News:

Half the U.S. Senate urged NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Thursday to change the Washington Redskins' name, saying it is a racist slur and the time is ripe to replace it.

In one letter, 49 senators cited the NBA's quick action recently to ban Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life after he was heard on an audio recording making offensive comments about blacks. They said Goodell should formally push to rename the Redskins.

"We urge you and the National Football League to send the same clear message as the NBA did: that racism and bigotry have no place in professional sports," read the letter, which did not use the word "Redskins."

Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, wrote his own letter saying he doesn't believe that retaining the Redskin name "is appropriate in this day and age." He described himself as "one of your great fans for both the game and you personally."

...Last month, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., took to the Senate floor to say Snyder should "do what is morally right" and change the name. Thursday's letters were aimed directly at Goodell.

...Reid and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., led the letter-writing effort. All senators on the letter are Democrats. Cantwell spokesman Jared Leopold said Republicans were not asked to participate.

Cantwell later said on the Senate floor that she was inviting Republicans to sign the letter or write their own.

"I'm convinced that if each member of this body speaks on this issue and is forceful in their resolve, that we can help initiate change," she said.

Democrats not signing the letter were Tim Kaine and Mark Warner of nearby Virginia, where the team's headquarters are; Mark Pryor of Arkansas, in a tight re-election race this year; and Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Joe Donnelly of Indiana, two of their party's more moderate lawmakers.

These Democrats are insane.

A letter-writing campaign?

"Do what is morally right"?

Gee, maybe addressing the VA Scandal would be MORALLY RIGHT.

Maybe taking the deaths of four Americans in the Benghazi terrorist attack seriously, rather than dismissing the cover-up by the Obama administration as a phony scandal, would be MORALLY RIGHT.

It's outrageous that the Democrats are attempting to direct the nation's focus on the Redskins debate.

Is this really what we send senators to Washington to do, to write letters demanding that a team change its nickname?

That is pure lunacy.

Clearly, the Democrats want to talk about this issue rather than the train wreck that is ObamaCare or the litany of scandals embroiling Obama and his administration.

Maria Cantwell is really a piece of work.

Benghazi is not a phony scandal.

The use of the IRS to target and harass conservative Americans is not a phony scandal.

The fact that Obama knew the VA was seriously failing our veterans and did nothing to fix the abuses is not a phony scandal.

What is phony? The alleged outrage over the Redskins.

If Maria Cantwell really cares so much about the offensiveness of Redskins and its use is a moral outrage, why doesn't she write a little letter to get a high school in her home state to drop its own Redskins nickname?

From Seattle Weekly:

Here in the other Washington, after 90 years as the Redskins, Port Townsend High School agreed this year to drop its nickname, despite strong opposition. John Stroeder, a star player for the 1976 PT Redskins basketball team who went on the play for the Milwaukee Bucks, told the school board “If you change the name, I’m done here,” the Port Angeles Daily News reported. “I will take my jersey out of the [high school trophy] cabinet.” The Olympic Peninsula town’s school board is still mulling over a replacement mascot, however, so Redskins prevail for another season.

Same for the Willpinit High School Redskins, over in Spokane County. Except they have no plans to change their mascot. At a school where more than 90 percent of the students are Indian - in the heart of the Spokane Reservation where author Sherman Alexie was raised – they’re sticking with Redskins. Said Tim Ames, superintendent of Wellpinit schools, this week: “I’ve talked to our students, our parents and our community about this and nobody finds any offense at all in it. ‘Redskins’ is not an insult to our kids. ‘Wagon burners’ is an insult. ‘Prairie niggers’ is an insult. Those are very upsetting to our kids. But ‘Redskins’ is an honorable name we wear with pride. … In fact, I’d like to see somebody come up here and try to change it.”

Ames was talking to ESPN.com’s Ricky Reilly, who argued in favor of Redskins, in both Washingtons. He wondered how to tell the Willpinit Redskins the “name they wear proudly across their chests is insulting them. Because they have no idea.”

Interesting, isn't it?

Cantwell needs to get busy writing letters to the 90 percent of Native American students at Willpinit High School and inform them they are racists or bigots or just plain bad people for embracing a nickname like Redskins.

What is this really about?

The Democrats are using this small issue in the scheme of things to distract from other far more important matters.

It's a diversion to protect Obama. It's a way to keep people from the talking about the disaster that is the Obama presidency, home and abroad.