‘Clueless’ Star Stacey Dash Drops Her California Congressional Bid Over ‘Plantation Politics’
Earlier this month, we told you that Clueless star turned conservative pundit Stacey Dash was running for a California Congressional seat. Well, the Stacey Dash Congress dreams have crashed and burned. On Friday, Dash announced she was pulling out of the race via Twitter. But in leaving, she did fire a few shots of the premium-grade “wat” we’ve come to expect from her.
One of the most notable parts of her statement is where she blames her Congressional bid’s failure on “Plantation Politics.” She wrote:
I believe we live under a system of “Plantation Politics,” which offers people on the lower end of the economic spectrum little more than symbolic gestures instead of true political empowerment and improvement. The high crime rate, unacceptable high school dropout rate and decaying infrastructure are all problems that could receive federal attention and funds, but not if we focus on distractions and partisanship instead.
While admittedly, she’s not necessarily wrong, we’ve yet to see any Republican policies that actually help the “lower end of the economic spectrum.” The GOP constantly wants to defund Planned Parenthood, even though, in many areas, Planned Parenthood is the only option for women’s health care for poor people. Republicans are fighting to pull back protections for LGBT Americans so they can be fired for being gay or trans. Trump’s Administration wants to let states kick poor people off Medicaid if they don’t have a job — despite the fact that Medicaid has helped people get well enough to find a job.
The phrase “Plantation Politics” dates back to 1966. It’s used in black political circles as “shorthand for an immoral concentration of resources, exclusion and the arrogance of a company’s unchecked power.” However, many conservatives have appropriated the term, to attack black people who side with the Democratic Party.
It should be noted that the Stacey Dash Congress campaign was likely doomed from the start. She was running in the heavily Democratic-leaning 44th Congressional District. According to The Guardian, only about 10% of voters in that district vote Republican.
And that’s before you even get into the baggage Dash herself would bring to the race. As a talking head, she’s spewed transphobia, said there shouldn’t be a Black History Month and, after Charlottesville, she said she couldn’t “judge the hearts” of neo-Nazis.
Read the full Stacey Dash Congress statement below:
I have released this statement on my campaign. It’s not an easy one. pic.twitter.com/HvKuUad48F
— Stacey Dash (@REALStaceyDash) March 30, 2018
