The rhetoric is far from new or unexpected, but what is notable about these hateful outbursts is that they come from two black members of the Republican party. While their white counterparts have somewhat tamed their messages and toned down the obvious bigotry (not always, but they seem to make an effort), these two prominent black Republicans have spoken with reckless abandon.
This could be the result of a few different things. First, and perhaps most ironically, this is their attempt to prove to the Republican base and their Tea Party supporters that they are indeed true conservatives. President Obama has had to jump through hoops no other president has ever gone through to prove his "American-ness" and it mostly boils down to a racial identity issue.
Cain and West are going through a similar path on the other side of the aisle, having to prove their conservative bona fides in a political landscape that assumes African-American support always lies with the Democratic party (or Democratic plantation according to Cain). They are essentially performing for their supposedly "color-blind" ideological mates a hyper-conservative dance to prove their allegiances and loyalty before they are questioned.
LISTEN TO REP. WEST CLAIM HE IS BEING CRITICIZED ONLY BECAUSE HE'S BLACK:
