Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus had no choice but to chew out Rep. Mo Brooks for his claim that Democrats are waging a "war on whites,'' according to Noah Rothman, associate editor of HotAir.com.
"It's really destructive,'' Rothman said Thursday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV. "It's really horrible, but what Brooks has done has really created a mess. So much so that … Priebus came out and called those comments 'idiotic' and he had no other option.
"He wasn’t allowed to do anything else because it completely contradicts what the [GOP election] autopsy report from 2013 was saying about tone, about tonality and talking towards minorities and cultural issues, etc. It … left the chairman no choice but to denounce those remarks.''
On Tuesday, in an interview with Malzberg, Brooks refused to back down from his controversial statement that Democrats are waging a "war on whites" and then claimed that President Barack Obama always intended to divide the nation by race.
"It's a planned strategy on the Democrats' part, and the American people ought to reject it because it's the wrong thing for America,'' the Alabama Republican said.
Brooks sparked a firestorm when he responded to National Journal writer Ron Fournier, who said on Fox News that the GOP "cannot be the party of the future beyond November if you're seen as the party of white people.''
In an interview Monday with radio host Laura Ingraham, Brooks said: "This is a part of the war on whites that's being launched by the Democratic Party, and the way in which they're launching this war is by claiming that whites hate everybody else.''
Brooks, a member of the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, told Malzberg he is "absolutely'' sticking by his comments.
"Look at what the Democrats do on a regular basis, they appeal to specific racial groups by saying we will protect you, that specific racial group, and who are they talking about protecting them from?'' he said.
"Well, they're talking about protecting them from Republicans, but at the same time what do they say about those Republicans? That they're whites.''
Rothman believes Brooks may have wanted some negative reaction from the GOP.
"That actually plays into what Brooks wants, which is to create a little distance between himself and the party establishment,'' he said. "It was sloppy politics.''