RNC chair candidate was member of whites-only country club

**Penny Lane** · November 24th, 2008, 03:00 PM

Candidate For RNC Chair Was Member Of Whites-Only Country Club
By Greg Sargent - November 24, 2008, 12:04PM

Now here's a good way for the GOP to make the case that it hasn't been reduced to a southern regional rump party that's held hostage by intolerant crackpots: Elect as the new chairman of the Republican National Committee a southerner who just resigned a longtime membership in a whites-only country club.

Katon Dawson, the South Carolina GOP chairman, announced his candidacy for RNC chair yesterday.

And guess what: Back in September, when Dawson was first quietly laying the groundwork for his RNC run, The State newspaper reported that he resigned his membership in the nearly 80-year-old Forest Lake Club. Members told the newspaper at the time that the club's deed has a whites-only restriction and has no black members.

Dawson claimed to the paper that he'd actually been working since August to change the club's admission practices after reading about them in the press. Nonetheless, his membership could become an issue in the RNC chair race.

After all, the paper says he was a member for 12 years, so it seems like a pretty fair question to ask whether he started working to change the club's rules this summer, and then resigned, in preparation for his RNC chair candidacy.

That seems like a particularly relevant question when you recall that the case some GOPers made against Obama over his ties to Reverend Wright was that his supposed silence in the face of Wright's rantings should raise questions about Obama's patriotism.

What's more, The State said that Dawson resigned the club after it became known that the paper was getting ready to report his membership.

Either way, it's hard to see how it sends a winning message for the GOP to pick as its chief strategist and public face someone who was a member of a club where the first African American president in history apparently need not apply. Ah, those good old Repubs.

TPM Election Central | Talking Points Memo | Candidate For RNC Chair Was Member Of Whites-Only Country Club

**Grimmlok** · November 24th, 2008, 03:22 PM

how is that even legal in this day and age

**Just Kill Me** · November 24th, 2008, 03:31 PM

A racist republican? Shocking!

**RevellingInSane** · November 24th, 2008, 03:52 PM

Reveal a country club in the south which isn't restricted membership, then I will be surprised.

**Grimmlok** · November 24th, 2008, 04:13 PM

could we please just do away with the south? Take the appalachians too.

**celeb_2006** · November 24th, 2008, 04:23 PM

Originally Posted by Grimmlok

how is that even legal in this day and age

I'm sure they be many places like that across the U.S. If it's private they can do whatever they want, right?

**Just Kill Me** · November 24th, 2008, 04:47 PM

Why is it only in the south?

**celeb_2006** · November 24th, 2008, 05:00 PM

Originally Posted by Just Kill Me

Why is it only in the south?

Are you sure these clubs are only in the south U.S.? I've always thought that many country clubs were quite racist and exclusionary in many other places besides the south. There's always been the impression that they have been racist as long as I can remember.

**Penny Lane** · November 24th, 2008, 05:05 PM

Just gonna throw it out there that something similar happened to Clinton in 1992.

THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Democrats; Club Where Clinton Has Golfed Retains Ways of Old South - New York Times

Please don't throw things at me.

ETA:

And Lynne Cheney promoted one of her books at another.

Lynne Cheney Visits Country Club With Racist Reputation | PEEK | AlterNet

**Just Kill Me** · November 24th, 2008, 05:13 PM

Originally Posted by celeb_2006

Are you sure these clubs are only in the south U.S.? I've always thought that many country clubs were quite racist and exclusionary in many other places besides the south. There's always been the impression that they have been racist as long as I can remember.

That's what I meant; I was responding to what RevellingInSane said.

**purple rain** · November 24th, 2008, 05:24 PM

That country club should be shut down.

And for the record, all of the blacks-only organizations in this country should be shut down as well. I've never understood why it is so bad to have whites-only organizations, but accepted to have blacks-only organizations. All exclusionary organizations should not exist, imo.

**celeb_2006** · November 24th, 2008, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by purple rain

That country club should be shut down.

And for the record, all of the blacks-only organizations in this country should be shut down as well. I've never understood why it is so bad to have whites-only organizations, but accepted to have blacks-only organizations. All exclusionary organizations should not exist, imo.

There's blacks only organizations, really?

But yea this guy's a true sleazebag, a member for over a decade and only after deciding to run tries to pull a fast one by quitting. King douche.

**Grimmlok** · November 24th, 2008, 06:01 PM

Well the blacks only organizations only happen because of affirmative action.

*cough*

**buttmunch** · November 24th, 2008, 08:18 PM

There have been restricted clubs all over the north for years...no so many now but it was an issue when I was growing up.

**kingcap72** · November 24th, 2008, 10:51 PM

Originally Posted by purple rain

That country club should be shut down.

And for the record, all of the blacks-only organizations in this country should be shut down as well. I've never understood why it is so bad to have whites-only organizations, but accepted to have blacks-only organizations. All exclusionary organizations should not exist, imo.

I agree that there shouldn't be any racially-exclusive organizations.

But what would these 'black-only' organizations be? I'm curious since I've never heard of them. Not the NAACP, since they've had white members for years. Not black colleges, because they accept white students, too. And some black fraternities and sororities have white members. The only black-only organization I know of are the Black Panthers.