BBC News online has published an article today by “Washington-based journalist Seema Sirohi” asking why Indian-Americans prefer the Democratic Party. This being the BBC the journalist is of course strongly pro-Democrat (see example tweets below) and the article is basically an excuse for her to rail against the Republicans in the most obvious and partisan way. Sirohi even uses the awful device of making up a quote to prove a point about frustrated Republican opinion:
Interestingly, the support for the Democrats is stronger among the younger generation, a group where one might expect the mantras of the Republican Party – about success, getting ahead, Wall Street is Main Street and deregulation – might work the most.
Instead the young seem more enamoured of the fairness doctrine and an activist government.
This is much to the chagrin of the Republican Party whose Indian-American supporters – fewer in number – are puzzled, frustrated and even irked by the fierce loyalty to their opposite number.
“Why doesn’t the community just follow them into the ‘large’ [but mainly white] tent of the Republican Party?” they ask plaintively.
Fairly loaded writing there, but she really hammers home the point with “[but mainly white]” and “they ask plaintively”, doesn’t she?
That, however, is nothing compared to her description of Republican governors Bobby Jindal and Nikki Haley:
The Republican Party fielded two Indian-American governors – Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Nikki Haley of South Carolina – at the convention. Mr Jindal could not make it because of hurricane Isaac which hit his state hard.
Both Mr Jindal and Ms Haley are stars in their own right, but both have shied away from their ethnic roots to gain acceptance.
They converted to Christianity from Hinduism and Sikhism, a move that many in the older generation frowned upon. Whether they did it for personal or political reasons is unclear.
The decision on conversion did not endear them to the community, which is largely Hindu, but only reinforced the feeling that the “family values” of the Republican Party are essentially Christian values.
In a piece which tries to paint the Republicans as intolerant that last paragraph is rich in unintended irony. However it’s the implication that Jindal and Haley may have converted to Christianity for political reasons that is truly outrageous, and she offers no evidence to support it. There’s a reason for that.
Jindal converted to Christianity in high school:
When he was 4, he decided to call himself Bobby — after the youngest son on the “Brady Bunch” television show. In high school, he gave up Hinduism and became a Christian; and during his first year at Brown University, he was baptized as a Roman Catholic. His wife, Supriya, is also a Catholic convert.
Haley first ran for political office in 2004. She married a Methodist in 1996:
Haley was born and raised as a Sikh. On September 6, 1996, she married Michael Haley in both a Methodist church ceremony and a Sikh gurdwara. Haley identifies herself today as a Christian, but attends both Sikh and Methodist services out of respect for her parents’ culture. She sits on the board for Mt. Horeb United Methodist Church.
A Q&A on her website offers this:
Is Nikki a Christian?
Truth: In Nikki’s words: “My faith in Christ has a profound impact on my daily life and I look to Him for guidance with every decision I make. God has blessed my family in so many ways and my faith in the Lord gives me great strength on a daily basis. Being a Christian is not about words, but about living for Christ every day.”
But clearly Sirohi knows better. Where does the BBC find them?
As promised – some of her tweets. Here she is responding to a friend’s comment about Bill Clinton:
Another on Clinton:
And here she is gushing over Fauxcahontas Elizabeth Warren:
In her BBC article Sirohi talks of tokenism in the Republican Party but calls Warren (who claimed minority status as a Cherokee on the most ludicrous of evidence) a star. You couldn’t make it up.
Check out more for yourself.
