Audra Shay is likely to like you as long as you’re not black, poor, ugly, gay, Muslim, and a terrorist.

July 10, 2009

The making of a new political star.

We came across a very disturbing tale on ‘Daily Beast’ this morning about rising political star – Audra Shay, who is likely (we hope not) to be voted in as the new head of the Young Republican contingency. Equipped with many references to comments on her Facebook account (which since then have been scraped clean- naturally) the article exposes Audra for her very narrow and inflammatory sensibilities.

In one account, Audra lambastes “Obama Bin Lauden [sic] as the new terrorist… Muslim is on there side [sic]… need to take this country back from all of these mad coons… and illegals,”

This of course preempts consideration- how is it that a bright group of individuals- the ‘Young Republican Party,’ be considering to vote for such a nihilistic individual?

Is there something we don’t know about Audra that makes her loveable and sweet after all, or are there just a lot of people in society who despite themselves share Audra’s point of view.

In fairness we think it’s fine to think and feel whatever you want, but we do wonder if people like Audra ever got any real power how her way of thinking could perversely affect the conduct of current social dialectics.

In any event, if you come across Audra on facebook, don’t be afraid to facebook friend her unless of course you’re the type of person that we ‘all’ know are ‘spooky.’

Fun and counter progressive people you should check out on Facebook now.

Audra Shay, accused of endorsing racism on Facebook, is favored to become the head of the Young Republicans tomorrow. John Avlon uncovers new details about her disturbing online comments.

Pat Henry

It’s concerning to me that people who are elected officials, who should know better, decided to continue to support Audra, even after she made these racist statements.

People that not only supported her but continued to run on Audra Shay’s Ticket such as:
Audra Shay’s Treasurer Candidate – Kelly Arnold, County Clerk – Sedgwick County, Kansas
Audra Shay’s Auditor Candidate – Dennis Cook, President, Consolidated District 230 Board of Education – Illinois (who is thinking of running for Statewide Office in Illinois)

I think it is unacceptable to have these elected officials continue to get elected after their support of such behavior from Mrs. Shay. They should resign along with Mrs. Shay.
jj12345

Black, poor, ugly, gay, Muslim and a terrorist? Using that criteria I would say that less than 1 person in 5 million fit that tag. Now, if the criteria where black or poor or ugly or gay or Muslim or a terrorist then you cast a wider net.
Jay

Audra Shay referred to lynching an African American as supported in Atlanta and then she suggesting lynching gays too in 2008. She scrubbed her other potentially bigoted comments instead of making an apology. She and her supporters demonstrated poor leadership in calling other Young Republicans her enemies in her and their response to the controversy. Political grace seems hard to come by in the Republican party but that is what they need to get fiscal conservatism supported from fiscal conservative social moderates/liberals over the noise from their xenophobic wing. This is how a real non-racist, non-petty partisan leader responds to controversies:

It is with my deepest regret that I feel the need to address the incident that has recently plagued this campus. It has been in the Republican tradition to support those persecuted against. We are the party of abolition; the party of the Civil Rights movement. What happened on campus this week is disheartening to American politics. Regardless of your politics, this act of hate cannot be tolerated. We at George Fox are a moderate and close-knit culture. It is important that we not let this uncharacteristic event taint our reputation. The GFU College Republicans have been encouraging the creation of a College Democrats group and find that now, more than ever, this should be pursued. We believe in a civil political dialogue between both parties in which students can objectively decide their platforms. Our heart goes out to the Act Six scholarship recipients and the GFU faculty who have had to address this unfortunate issue.
John Archibald
Chairman, GFU College Republicans
quidpro

You’ve taken a news item from last week and twisted it further than needed. It was one of her facebook “friends” that made the comment and her response was “lol”. Still bad, but not what you are quoting.
safara

Lol WOW omg she doesn’t deserve any power. sings, “A little bit of history ry, repeating.”
claire

friend “her”?

oh lord. and here I was thinking HE was all nutty.