the latest racist comments about Obama

[Royd 0]

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We did? You only have to read Speakers Corner any day of the week to know that is untrue. The bigots just don't wear white sheets any more.

Sometimes they teach in universities, and their target is just a different group of people.

[mnealtx 0]

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Here's another scenario -

Obama wins the nomination and sometime before he gets to an election - some redneck right-wing fuck puts a bullet in him.

A likely scenario, sadly, even in this day and age.

TK

Gotta love how those from the 'party of tolerance and acceptance' are usually the FIRST to trot out the stereotypes

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[mnealtx 0]

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This is a GENERATIONAL divide. The 60's liberals are now out of touch. They fought the righteous battles 30, 40 , 50 years ago.

They do not realize, and cannot admit, that they won.
.

We did? You only have to read Speakers Corner any day of the week to know that is untrue. The bigots just don't wear white sheets any more.

No, they seem to wear a lot of hemp-based clothes now...

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[mnealtx 0]

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I'm just saying that it is ALSO easy to say, "You minorities out there can't get ahead. Let me take care of you." THAT, sir, is racist.

QFT

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Skyrad 0]

Hes black and shes ugly, get over it America.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[jcd11235 0]

These discussions remind me of political discussions on BBSs back in '92, with all the character assassinations of Slick Willie (pun intended). Same shit, different Clinton.

I think Clinton and Obama are both inferior to some other candidates that didn't make it past the primaries.

Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

[wmw999 2,587]

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But CLinton is campaiging as a woman. The strong woman. She was named after Sir Edward Hillary, and "I am Woman HearMe Roar" was written about her

I can't help thinking of a light bulb joke when I think about her these days.

"How many feminists does it take to screw in a light bulb?"
"one, and that's not funny"

I don't dislike her nearly as much as some, but I completely agree that McCain beats her, and loses to Obama. I'd probably vote for McCain over her, and I'm pretty friggin' liberal. There's plenty I disagree with him over, but he's a straight talker.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[PLFXpert 0]

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Ferraro's remarks - probably true [to a certain extent--PLFXpert]. I don't doubt there is motive and a little desparation, but reality is that 90% of black Americans aren't voting for a sub one term white Senator who can speak well. That is probably enough to drop white Obama behind Clinton,...We should stop acting like talking about race is taboo. It's real.

Yes.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[lawrocket 3]

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Ferraro's remarks - probably true [to a certain extent--PLFXpert]. I don't doubt there is motive and a little desparation, but reality is that 90% of black Americans aren't voting for a sub one term white Senator who can speak well. That is probably enough to drop white Obama behind Clinton,...We should stop acting like talking about race is taboo. It's real.

Yes.

This, however, is where the discussion is troublesome. I agree that race should be spoken about openly. But here's the problem:

There is a steamroller of their own making. Bringing up race and sex is offensive and not politically correct, right? Is this the making of the right or the left? The left.

Now, many on the left are finding themselves stuck. They can't discuss the way they want to because they won the war against it. They didn't want race discussions to be stopped. They just wanted the RIGHT wing to be unable to discuss it.

The problem isn't what Ferrarro was talkign about. IT's how she said it. Even Hillary herself has disavowed the comments.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[skydyvr 0]

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Even Hillary herself has disavowed the comments.

Yep, a lie in the face of plain truth, exactly for the reasons you say.

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[billvon 3,114]

>They didn't want race discussions to be stopped. They just wanted the
>RIGHT wing to be unable to discuss it.

If that were true, no left wingers would be rejecting what Ferraro said. That is not the case.

[skydyvr 0]

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>They didn't want race discussions to be stopped. They just wanted the
>RIGHT wing to be unable to discuss it.

If that were true, no left wingers would be rejecting what Ferraro said. That is not the case.

I think you missed Lawrocket's point -- left wingers reject Farraro's possibly true statement because they have to.

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[billvon 3,114]

>left wingers reject Farraro's possibly true statement because they have to.

Or they don't like sexism/racism. Occam's Razor strikes again.

[skydyvr 0]

As a common sense liberal, do you believe there could be any grain of truth in Farraro's comment?

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[happythoughts 0]

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The problem isn't what Ferrarro was talkign about. IT's how she said it. Even Hillary herself has disavowed the comments.

Not really. If she repeatedly uses a campaign tactic, she is for it. She uses it in states of the Old South to remind voters that Obama is black.
The timing is important, just before the vote.

How much more racist can you get than using the racism of the voter segment to draw votes?
Does she need to get the KKK to distribute flyers to white voters? How obvious does she need to be?

And this isn't flunkies who made an error.

Bill Clinton brings up that Obama is winning because he is black... just before the South Carolina vote.

cnn

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Clinton's husband, former President Clinton, drew sharp criticism from black leaders for a series of comments he made before the South Carolina primary, including comparing Obama's campaign to the Rev. Jesse Jackson's 1984 run.

Kerrey, repeatedly...

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Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, a major Clinton backer, said several times that an Obama presidency would improve the world's image of the U.S. because of the Illinois senator's Muslim roots.

Ferraro brings up that Obama is winning because he is black... just before the Mississippi vote.

If Clinton had truly wanted to disavow the statements and tactics, this wouldn't keep happening.

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Earlier, Obama's top strategist, David Axelrod, called for Clinton to sever ties with the former New York congresswoman, who serves on her campaign's finance committee.

"When you wink and nod at offensive statements, you're really sending a signal to your supporters that anything goes," Axelrod said.

...and it keeps going.

When an Obama staffer made the off-the-record comment to a journalist that Clinton was "a monster who would do anything to get elected". The staffer was fired for minor negativity.

Obama needs to re-hire that person. Clinton's actions have convinced me that the comment was on target and understated.

[billvon 3,114]

>do you believe there could be any grain of truth in Farraro's comment?

That Obama's popularity is due solely or primarily to his race? No.

That Obama's race is part of the person he is, and that person is winning delegates because of who he is? Yes, and that's what she may have meant. Unfortunately she didn't say that.

[happythoughts 0]

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As a common sense liberal, do you believe there could be any grain of truth in Farraro's comment?

It all boils down to timing and purpose.

If is true that black voters in Mississippi did overwhelmingly vote for Obama.
If black voters are voting along racial lines, then what was the purpose of the Ferraro remarks? To inform?

Each time, just before a vote in the Old South, the Clinton campaign is reminding voters that Obama is black.

Were they reminding black voters to vote for the black candidate? Probably not.
Or are they reminding white voters in Mississippi that black voters are voting for the BLACK candidate?

[lawrocket 3]

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Or they don't like sexism/racism.

But the issue is that it is NOT necessarily racist. 90 percent of the black male vote goes to Obama. Is that a racist statement? It's racist IF she is sayingthat he is popular mainly because he is black.

Hillary Clinton's best demographic has been women, labor union members and Hispanics. Is it racist to say that?

Ferrarro said that if Obama was white, he wouldn't generate the voting bloc that he has received. This is probably true. The PROBLEM is that, again, the steamroller has begun to roll backward.

It's been a couple of decades since a person could get away with saying something like that. It has been the realm of the left to castigate those on the right for pointing out racial statistics, etc.

I'm pretty sure that Geraldine Ferraro is not a racist. That doesn't matter, though. She said something that was not politically correct.

To be bitten on the ass by PC is something that the left simply is unprepared to do. THEY'VE been the ones frying people's asses. "What? You'll fry me? Huh? Why? You know I wouldn't do that!" Yep, as much as we knew Gov. Spitzer fought against prostitution. How could anyone ever accuse him of something like that?

In interests of politics, the left applauded the newfound rights found in the Consitution from the late 1930's through the 60's and 70's, and things that gave the federal government more powers to address the problems that they thought needed solving. The same process began to be used by Dubya to do things that they found were abhorrent. Hey, they built the road. Now it is being used by those who are unwelcome. And they find it appalling that a president would use those processes because it is for things they don't agree with.

In much the same way, the left sought to eliminate from our society expression of those thoughts that a hearer might find offensive. These thoughts - expressed by rednecks on the right - had no business being stated, and wer ripe for ridicule. In doing so, they could destroy those who would stand in their way. Despite history, they proceeded.

And these divisive politics of class, race and gender warfare are now being used for infighting. It turns out that when going against white men, women and blacks and hispanics and the poor and the young and the educated could get along to go against that. Now that parity is being reached (you can't deny it - a woman and an African-American (Obama really CAN say that with complete sincerity) are poised to be elected president) then the white men on the other side aren't the threat.

Now it's war between race and sex. Obama's winning, so he doesn't need to take it down. Hillary is not, and thus must start hitting hard and below the belt if necessary. Thus, "sexism" is important to her. Ideas don't count because you can't get that in a soundbite. The "sexism" angle does work. The racism angle does work. It can be put out there in a 2 second clip.

Turnabout is fair play. It is indeed ironic that it is the left who are fighting with each other over which class has it worse.

This is why I despise class warfare. It leads to these things. Blame, hatred and fighting develop. Your allies eventually become your enemies. And the Democratic party is on the road to serious fracture.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[FreeflyChile 0]

I think that the statement made was racist because of the generalism of it, how broad it was. It implies everything from "people vote along racial lines and being black has helped him with the black vote" (which, if true, is not racist IMO) to "his achievements stem from the fact he's black" (and as such not from his intelligence, charisma, etc - THAT is racist, again IMO).

If she had said something along the lines of "voting has seemingly been divided along racial lines in this race, with Obama taking the majority of the black vote, and that has been an important aspect of the lead he currently holds" - then there wouldn't be this mess.

I just find it more amusing than anything that, not so long ago, people were asking if Obama were electable because of his being black/this country not ready for that/blah blah blah whereas now the attack seems to be "well, he's WINNING because of his race"

[piper17 1]

Seems Ferraro has a habit of these so-called "racist" remarks as you can see from this:

A Ferraro flashback


"If Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race," she said.

Really. The cite is an April 15, 1988 Washington Post story (byline: Howard Kurtz), available only on Nexis.

Here's the full context:

Placid of demeanor but pointed in his rhetoric, Jackson struck out repeatedly today against those who suggest his race has been an asset in the campaign. President Reagan suggested Tuesday that people don't ask Jackson tough questions because of his race. And former representative Geraldine A. Ferraro (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that because of his "radical" views, "if Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race."

Asked about this at a campaign stop in Buffalo, Jackson at first seemed ready to pounce fiercely on his critics. But then he stopped, took a breath, and said quietly, "Millions of Americans have a point of view different from" Ferraro's.

Discussing the same point in Washington, Jackson said, "We campaigned across the South . . . without a single catcall or boo. It was not until we got North to New York that we began to hear this from Koch, President Reagan and then Mrs. Ferraro . . . . Some people are making hysteria while I'm making history."

Sounds like the "racist"remarks come mostly from the northeastern liberal establishment! Aren't these the same people who are always pushing affirmative action...and now they hold that against those they claim they want to help with this reverse discrimination?

"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

[billvon 3,114]

>But the issue is that it is NOT necessarily racist. 90 percent of the black
>male vote goes to Obama. Is that a racist statement? It's racist IF she is
>sayingthat he is popular mainly because he is black.

Correct. And that's how her statement sounds. She may not have meant that; indeed, I suspect she didn't. But that's what she said.

>To be bitten on the ass by PC is something that the left simply
>is unprepared to do.

Uh - surely you do not claim that the left has not been attacked for being racist/sexist before! One need only read the posts here, or posts on right wing blogs, or editorials in right leaning papers, to see that that's been going on for a long time.

[lawrocket 3]

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It implies everything from "people vote along racial lines and being black has helped him with the black vote" (which, if true, is not racist IMO) to "his achievements stem from the fact he's black" (and as such not from his intelligence, charisma, etc - THAT is racist, again IMO).

What she said was, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position."

The issue is that it is left to inference and assumption to gauge what she means. There is nothign inherently racist about it.

The problem is that it is being interpreted as racist, whether it was meant to be interpreted or not. A person can find something in a statement regardless of whether it was meant to be there.

Recall Tipper Gore - who alleged that the Tisted Sister song "Under the Blade" was about sadomasochism and rape.

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Senator GORE. You say your song "Under the Blade" is about surgery. Have you ever had surgery with your hands tied and your legs strapped?

Mr. SNIDER. The song was written about my guitar player, Eddie Ojeda. He was having polyps removed from his throat and he was very fearful of this operation. And I said: Eddie, while you are in the hospital I am going to write a song for you.

I said it was about the fear of operations. I think people imagine being helpless on a table, the bright light in their face, the blade coming down on them, and being totally afraid that they may wake up, who knows, dead, handicapped. There is a certain fear of hospitals. That is what, in my imagination, what I see the hospitals like.

Senator GORE. Is there a reference to the hospital in the song?

Mr. SNIDER. No, there is not. But there is not a reference to a woman, sado-masochism, or -- well, bondage, yes.

Senator GORE. There is just a reference to someone whose hands are tied down and whose legs are strapped down, and he is going under the blade to be cut.

Mr. SNIDER. Yes, there is.

Senator GORE. So it is not really a wild leap of the imagination to jump to the conclusion that the song is about something other than surgery or hospitals, neither of which are mentioned in the song?

Mr. SNIDER. No, it is not a wild jump. And I think what I said at one part was that songs allow a person to put their own imagination, experiences, and dreams into the lyrics. People can interpret it in many ways.

Ms. Gore was looking for sado-masochism and bondage and she found it. Someone looking for surgical references would have found that as well.

Dee Snider hit the nail on the head. You can find what you are looking for in just about anything.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[lawrocket 3]

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surely you do not claim that the left has not been attacked for being racist/sexist before!

They have. But those on the left don't see it as an issue if a right-winger is doing the attacking. They are not to be acknowledged in that department.

Now they are attacking each other. That's a whole new ballgame.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[FreeflyChile 0]

I agree with everything you said. The thing is, and you'd know this better than most given what you do for a living, people naturally assume the worst in an ambiguous statement.

I think that especially in a field like politics, and especially one where gender and race are issues, it's not unreasonable to go "hmm..." when a statement like that is uttered. Also, even if she meant absolutely no harm by it, given the climate of the race for the dem nomination, at the very least she showed exceedingly poor judgment in her choice of words.

[lawrocket 3]

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people naturally assume the worst in an ambiguous statement.

Enemies do. And they'll pounce. Friends do not.

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at the very least she showed exceedingly poor judgment in her choice of words.

Which is the shame of it. Every word is pounced upon, spun, interpreted, etc.

My wife is hotter than your wife.