Former GOP leader apologizes to Obama, calls Republicans 'racist'

[sabra]

Source: CNN

Miami, Florida (CNN) - The ex-chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, Jim Greer, is now apologizing for stoking fears about President Obama's address to school children last year.

Greer, now under indictment on fraud and money-laundering charges after being drummed out of the state party, also accused "many within the GOP" of having "racist views."

In September 2009, conservatives raised questions about the motives of president's back-to-school speech, which was beamed into many of the nation's classrooms. Greer was among them, charging that "taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology."

...

Greer is now apologizing for those comments.

"In the year since I issued a prepared statement regarding President Obama speaking to the nation's school children, I have learned a great deal about the party I so deeply loved and served," Greer said in a statement Tuesday to CNN and other media outlets.

"Unfortunately, I found that many within the GOP have racist views and I apologize to the President for my opposition to his speech last year and my efforts to placate the extremists who dominate our Party today. My children and I look forward to the President's speech."


Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/14/former-gop-leader-apologizes-to-obama-calls-republicans-racist/

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I appreciate authentic redemption.

[Rebubula]

35. Too bad...

...that this is likely NOT an authentic redemption.

Stunts like this, when pulled under the taint of indictments and potential prison time, seem very contrived and transparent. At least they do to me.

[TexasProgresive]

57. Why is it?

Why is it that a person cannot apologize and have it accepted. I guess it would be better to just not, to never ever apologize.

[Rebubula]

63. Fair enough...

...HOWEVER...this guy is under indictment for several crimes and is looking for anyway to deflect criticism from himself.

He is just another self serving asshole that says a couple of good things and every sucker wants to believe him.

Anyway...he has never really apologized for his actions - just pointed out some obvious truths.

[kestrel91316]

58. I happen to believe a little bit in magic, and that the uttering of those words

can, in at least some people, set the mind in motion so it truly changes.

So mote it be.

[Voice for Peace]

69. convenient confessions.

[FSogol]

2. Better late than never, I guess. n/t

[SpiralHawk]

3. Blowing the whistle on mainline Republicon Haters & FAIL artistes

[jobycom]

4. Hell hath no fury like a Republican indicted.

[47of74]

31. Rolling over on his former comrades

The Republican way.

[Voice for Peace]

70. hahahahah!

[peace frog]

5. Taking this with a huge grain of salt

As a native Floridian who has seen way too much garbage like this from the local yokel GOPers, "let me say this about that":

If the FL-GOP in their infinite wisdom ::cough:: see fit to drop this gasbag Greer's charges, he will turn on Obama and Dems so fast he'll leave skid marks. Count on it.

[CLANG]

6. I'm hoping he's seen the light. But at least he admitted the pukes racism.

[peace frog]

8. Talk is cheap

I want to see action, not words, from Greer before I'm ready to consider him possibly rehabilitated.

[CLANG]

10. Maybe so, but he said it and we can use it against the pukes.

[peace frog]

11. That's what he wants us to do!

Greer has a beef with his own party so he made that statement as a reminder, a wake-up call, that he knows where the bodies are buried so maybe they should consider backing off their indictment of him. Meanwhile, if Dems get all excited and start trumpeting this as a "triumph" all over the media, we will be doing Greer's dirty work for him. And there's not a shred of proof, other than his words, that Greer has experienced anything approaching a true change of heart. More likely, he's experiencing fear of exposure and prison.

[CLANG]

13. Doesn't matter to me. He's on record.

[peace frog]

14. Doesn't matter to him. If and when Greer can come to terms

with his former GOPer pals, he will take back that apology to Obama so fast your head will spin around like Linda Blair's, "on record".

[CLANG]

15. He can't take it back - it's on the internets now.

It will just further prove they are lying sacks of shit if he tries to deny it or say he didn't mean it. Anyway, he is not my concern. He's a loser. But we have the quote. That's all I can take out of it.

[peace frog]

16. He doesn't care if we call him a lying sack of shit

By all means, take what little satisfaction from his quote that you can, but the truth is Greer and his ilk don't give a flying fig what we say about them. They will claim his words were "taken out of context", that he was "misquoted", etc ad nauseum, and any protestations to the contrary from us will be denied, denied, denied.

[CLANG]

20. No doubt, he's a puke after all. But he can't deny he said it. That may

be small comfort, but it's just another straw to throw on the camel's back.

[peace frog]

24. Hope springs eternal, but your straw won't break their back

This is Florida, where GOPers rule. Jeb Bush did his work well.

[CLANG]

40. Do you not understand the reference?

It's many straws that accumulate that brings down the camel. This is just one straw. I don't really feel like going back and forth on this forever.

[peace frog]

46. Then don't go back and forth like this forever

and it's your time to waste, so do what you're gonna do.

[Techn0Girl]

30. That's three times in as many responses here you used the word "pukes" ....

Here's a helpful hint (that I wish teabaggers could would learn) - creating a made up derogatory word is neither hip nor smart nor does it help your argument in any way at all. It just makes everyone on the left look as bad and ignorant as the opposition.

In other words - you aren't helping.

[Javaman]

37. But...

They are still pukes.

:rofl:

[CLANG]

41. You are not helping, so bye.

And you may as well, torment 90% of the people on this site that use derogatory names for the "PUKES".

[TK421]

50. There are far less-endearing terms for them used on this board nt

[BlancheSplanchnik]

42. yeah it'd be nice to see it get used against the pukes, but who will do the honors?

not the fucking flying monkeys media.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. I can't believe everyone is falling for this.

Is it only in Florida where we have schemers that will say or do whatever they have to in order to hold onto power? Is it because there are so many gullible people in the world that it works?

[peace frog]

19. Not everyone, bunky

This Florida girl knows better than to believe a practiced liar like Greer, you betcha.

[DainBramaged]

23. There is NOTHING DU or 'we' can do to influence anyone about this

Panties in a knot, check


hair on fire, check


green stuff flowing from mouth, check


eyes bulging, check


accomplished, zero.

[dbmk]

60. More likely..

.. he just felt like lashing out at his now old friends. And then it suddenly becomes a little bit less of an epiphany and apology.

But it does not hurt that it was said. Just not sure it will sting much coming from that source.

[Lochloosa]

7. From one Floridian to another....

:headbang:

[peace frog]

9. Howdy neighbor!

:hi:

[Richardo]

22. This is my take.

It's tranparent retribution to my eyes.

[valerief]

39. You're as right as rain. nt

[LiberalLovinLug]

12. ALWAYS after the fact with these guys

They jump in, do the damage, then they get humbled by some indictment or revelation. Then there are two kinds of Repukes, the ones with a small conscience, like Colin Powell and this asshat, who need to shed their guilt by confessing. But the majority of Repukes don't give a shit what lies they spew and have convinced themselves that they are always right, even when they are wrong.

The problem is the only place we hear about his apology is on DU, whereas we heard his accusations all over prime time for days on the MSM.

[COLGATE4]

25. You certainly got that right! As far as hearing about this on

the MSM (unless Rachel gets hold of it), all you'll hear is crickets!!

[butterfly77]

18. Okay,

we believe him,not..

[NewJeffCT]

21. If this gets mentioned anywhere in the media

it will be followed by a GOP talking head who will call him a disgruntled former employee who is under criminal investigation...

[DAMANgoldberg]

56. Which CNN did...

Rick Sanchez's program mentioned it and the 'disclaimers' of his being under indictment.

[Turborama]

26. Whatever his motives, these words will stick in people's minds. I hope CNN repeat this ad infinitum

over the next few days and that this is just the 1st of many whistle-blowers who are going to jump that sociopathic hate and bigotry filled ship.

[BEZERKO]

27. Of course they have,

of course they did. They'll keep doing it till the president stops them.

[orbitalman]

28. Still... It's like hard constipation with so many of the rest. n/t

[savalez]

29. Of course I knew this but it's nice to hear it right from the horse's mouth.

[mistertrickster]

32. If you apologize for hurtful lies and slander, can you still be a Republican? nt.

[bullwinkle428]

33. How long did it take him to find out these attitudes existed within the Rep. Party?

[defendandprotect]

34. GOP/Grand Ole Patriarchy .... elitist ... sexist, racist, and homophobic!!

[florida08]

36. LOL

They threw him under the bus so he's returning the favor. It's not like he's telling us something we didn't already know..but I accept the public apology. I just hope he takes a few of them with him as he goes down. Money laundering is a way of life in the GOP.

Greer funneled party money to a company called Victory Strategies that he controlled and concealed his relationship with, investigators said. On Greer's orders, the Republican Party of Florida paid Victory Strategies for campaign work, much of which was never performed. That was in addition to a 10 percent cut of major donations to the party that Greer took along with his top assistant, Delmar Johnson, Shepherd said.

Greer got about $125,000 of the almost $200,000 that the party paid Victory Strategies, the statewide prosecutor said.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/06/ex-florida-gop-chairman-arrest.html

[blondeatlast]

38. "I got caught. Can I please, please, please have a presidential pardon?" nt

[Drale]

43. It seems that of late

many are seeing the light, while others are falling to darkness. I wonder what the ratio is because even though the media would have us beleave that the tea baggers make up at least 50% of the population we know that just isnt true.

[Dappleganger]

44. Give it up, Greer...

nobody believes anything that comes from your mouth any longer. You can kiss that sweet good old boys' club status goodbye.

[still_one]

45. Lee Atwater appologized also when he found out he was dying. I doubt he would appologize if

he wasn't under indictment

He knew what he was doing when he created a scene when the president addressed the school children

Now that he has been thrown out of his own party and is under indictment, he is looking for redemtion

When the "pseduo christians" in his party were crying for blood he was right there

He indicates he was placating the extremists in his party. He wasn't placating them, he was part of it

[KG]

47. still scum.

[hatrack]

48. Too little, too late, too bad.

Toodles, Mr. "Road To Damascus" Greer.

[Courtesy Flush]

49. Personal growth. I've been down that road. n/t

[TK421]

51. What a fantastic publicity op this is for him! Such a change of heart...

right before the midterms, no less

Can't have our constituents look any worse than they do now,can we?

[Nightshade01]

52. How Covenient.......

That he picks NOW to say this. Like it matters.

[craigmatic]

53. Fuck his apology I hope he gets locked up on those charges. None of these assclowns

apologize while they still have power. So fuck him and their former party chair both.

[Jello Biafra]

54. All this tells me is...

he's sorry that he got caught...isn't always the case?

[muntrv]

55. He's really sorry for getting caught.

[austin_democrat]

59. Sounds like someone's desperate for an ass to kiss

[earcandle]

61. Cool! That takes an authentic person to say this! Thank you!

[Scuba]

62. It would be nice if a few more Republicans showed some conscience. n/t

[Rebubula]

64. REALLY???

You REALLY think that this is even in the same ZIP CODE as sincere??

This guy is a liar and a crook. He is simply preying on the weaknesses of people.

[Scuba]

66. Agreed, his motives are questionable. Still. But my point stands. If a Susan Collins...

...or a Mike Castle turned on Republicans and exposed their "politics over country" and "rich over poor" strategies, that would be a good thing.

[voteearlyvoteoften]

65. "PREPARED" statement

When this happened last year I was sure that he had not written the press release...he clearly had "handlers" I made a button and wore it to the Fl Dem Party convention "Jim Greer is an asshole". Question is will he roll on Crist to help his legal case? He seems contrite, but is it genuine?

[Vickers]

67. Too little too late, you racist fuck. n/t

[deacon]

68. It's good he brought that point to more peoples attention. n/t

[Love Bug]

71. Now that he's not in any position to effect any real change in the R party, big deal

Yeah, he's in trouble and now he feels sorry. Whatever.

[old mark]

72. Call me cynical, but I believe he would never have said any of that

had he not been indicted. I have seen to many jailhouse conversions on the part of republican scum -going back to Watergate - to actually believe anything they have to say.


mark