And the Democrats claim the GOP are racist hicks....

[kage69]

when asked in 1995 why white people liked him so much, colin powell replied that “i speak reasonably well, like a white person,” and, visually, “i ain’t that black.”

despite what dick cheney asserts, colin powell is a republican.

snap!

 

[marincounty]

Both Lott and Reid's statements are far from being outright racist, but were both in extremely poor taste.

I could think of plenty of other reasons why Reid would be gone come November before this incident- Hopefully the people of Nevada see the same.

Reid's unfortunate choice of words will probably help him with Nevada voters.

 

[jonks]

Alright, perhaps I reacted hastily.

Do you think Limbaugh's McNabb comment was racist?

I'm glad you retracted, well done and far too infrequent to see on here.

As to Limbaugh, he said that McNabb was overrated and the only reason he was a pro qb was because he was black. I don't know that that indicates that Limbaugh thinks that all black qb's are inferior to white qb's, although he obviously felt that McNabb was inferior. I'd say it was more racially insensitive than racist, and either way it's sure as shit inappropriate for a sports commenter to make that statement. That's one of them there thoughts you keep to yourself and put the period at the end of the sentence so that it reads "I think McNabb is overrated and undeserving to be QB."

But that's in a vacuum. Rush has a history of race baiting to stir up controversy and make news. Frankly there's not a whole ton of pure racism left, where a person wholly and honestly believes that an individual is morally or intellectually superior to another person because of the color of their skin. As Chris Rock says, the racism we see today aint shit compared to the real racism back in the day. That's not to say playing off race isn't hurtful or counterproductive or even harmful.

Almost all "racist" statements today aren't actually racism, they're "racially insensitive." These are old, old wounds and they'll take generations more to heal, if ever. Or, as Warren Beatty said in Bulworth: "All we need is a voluntary, free-spirited, open-ended program of procreative racial deconstruction. Everybody just gotta keep fuckin' everybody 'til they're all the same color."

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

No, you tell us - what does your quote have to do with the thread subject? Sharpton has already accepted Reid's apology, so there's nothing to that unless you're..trying..to..change the subject.
I'm happy to be the tool that jams the gears of your diversion and obfuscation attempts. Thanks!

This thread broadly addresses racist comments by both Republicans and Democrats and has not been restricted to just Harry Reid's comments about Obama in particular. Many comments and comparisons have been made by many people regarding many other politicians in this thread...from Bill Clinton, Trent Lott, JFK, Thurmond Strom, Joe Biden, etc. In fact, I see that you've made some comments yourself regarding Trent Lott in one of your posts in this thread...shame on you for your role in diverting and obfuscating this thread. Oh the irony.

Recently we find out that Clinton said the following to Kennedy about Obama "A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee". I just quoted Bill...nothing more, nothing less...I made no comment regarding context. Yet you questioned my perception of the context of his statement. You totally fail to understand that Sharpton's the one who's offended here. If you want to criticize someone for taking things out of context...maybe you should start with Mr. Sharpton and set him straight.

Meanwhile, maybe you should get back to 'white washing' Reid and anybody that happens to have a (D) behind their name as they are the true champions for the cause. Everybody knows this.

 

[werepossum]

I'm glad you retracted, well done and far too infrequent to see on here.

As to Limbaugh, he said that McNabb was overrated and the only reason he was a pro qb was because he was black. I don't know that that indicates that Limbaugh thinks that all black qb's are inferior to white qb's, although he obviously felt that McNabb was inferior. I'd say it was more racially insensitive than racist, and either way it's sure as shit inappropriate for a sports commenter to make that statement. That's one of them there thoughts you keep to yourself and put the period at the end of the sentence so that it reads "I think McNabb is overrated and undeserving to be QB."

But that's in a vacuum. Rush has a history of race baiting to stir up controversy and make news. Frankly there's not a whole ton of pure racism left, where a person wholly and honestly believes that an individual is morally or intellectually superior to another person because of the color of their skin. As Chris Rock says, the racism we see today aint shit compared to the real racism back in the day. That's not to say playing off race isn't hurtful or counterproductive or even harmful.

Almost all "racist" statements today aren't actually racism, they're "racially insensitive." These are old, old wounds and they'll take generations more to heal, if ever. Or, as Warren Beatty said in Bulworth: "All we need is a voluntary, free-spirited, open-ended program of procreative racial deconstruction. Everybody just gotta keep fuckin' everybody 'til they're all the same color."

Bingo on racism. The left is professionally enraged anytime the right mentions race other than to parrot the official left line; this is just the right trying to get a bit back. And it won't work because there are different rules for the left and the right when it comes to race. (Personally I'm also more lenient with what people say about me if they also give me money than otherwise.) I think most people agree though that Lott's statement - that if Thurman had been elected (as a segregationist Dixiecrat) "we wouldn't have had all this trouble" was even dumber than Reid's statement, even if both had been of the same party. Even though I didn't think it was that big a deal it was really, really dumb. Even Strom Thurman wouldn't have believed that by then, regardless of his feelings at the time he ran, and there are plenty of other platitudes he could have said to honor the man. (BTW - isn't it bizarre that a man could have a daughter with a black woman, and maintain a warm relationship with that daughter, and still believe that blacks and whites should be legally and forcibly separated within the same country?)

I think though that what Limbaugh said (if I remember correctly) was not that McNabb was a quarterback only because he was black, but rather that the press, having a vested interest in having black quarterbacks succeed, was overhyping McNabb because he was black. In other words, McNabb was playing good but not great because he was a good but not great quarterback whom the media called great for its own purposes. I have no idea if that characterization is partially or completely true because I don't follow sports, but the comment was manifestly about the media's obsession with race rather than McNabb's ultimate qualifications (or lack thereof) as a quarterback. Limbaugh has been complementary of McNabb's skills at other points, as I've heard the audio. But yeah, it was a dumb thing to say, especially for a huge right wing target.

 

[woolfe9999]

FWIW I can't imagine that Sen. Lott was referring to segregation in his statements either, that'd just be really really stupid.

You may be correct about this and I certainly hope you are. However, I should point out that Lott said praised voting for Thurmond for President in 1948 and that if everyone else had done the same, "we wouldn't have the same problems we have now," or something to that effect. Thurmond, who was a democrat at the time, split from the dems and ran a third party campaign, whose only feature distinguishing it from the dems at the time was its pro-segregation stance. It was the central issue he campaigned on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strom_Thurmond

Perhaps Lott was referring to something else about Thurmond? Dunno.

- wolf

 

[woolfe9999]

Bingo on racism. The left is professionally enraged anytime the right mentions race other than to parrot the official left line; this is just the right trying to get a bit back. And it won't work because there are different rules for the left and the right when it comes to race. (Personally I'm also more lenient with what people say about me if they also give me money than otherwise.) I think most people agree though that Lott's statement - that if Thurman had been elected (as a segregationist Dixiecrat) "we wouldn't have had all this trouble" was even dumber than Reid's statement, even if both had been of the same party. Even though I didn't think it was that big a deal it was really, really dumb. Even Strom Thurman wouldn't have believed that by then, regardless of his feelings at the time he ran, and there are plenty of other platitudes he could have said to honor the man. (BTW - isn't it bizarre that a man could have a daughter with a black woman, and maintain a warm relationship with that daughter, and still believe that blacks and whites should be legally and forcibly separated within the same country?)

I think though that what Limbaugh said (if I remember correctly) was not that McNabb was a quarterback only because he was black, but rather that the press, having a vested interest in having black quarterbacks succeed, was overhyping McNabb because he was black. In other words, McNabb was playing good but not great because he was a good but not great quarterback whom the media called great for its own purposes. I have no idea if that characterization is partially or completely true because I don't follow sports, but the comment was manifestly about the media's obsession with race rather than McNabb's ultimate qualifications (or lack thereof) as a quarterback. Limbaugh has been complementary of McNabb's skills at other points, as I've heard the audio. But yeah, it was a dumb thing to say, especially for a huge right wing target.

There's a reasonable paraellel between the Limbaugh statement and the Reid statement, actually. Reid was saying that the electorate is biased against black candidates who are of dark skin and/or speak in dialect. He wasn't endorsing the bias, just saying it was a reality. Limbaugh was saying the press has a pro-black bias, but wasn't embracing an anti-black bias himself. This is a better parallel than the Trent Lott example IMO, in spite of the temptation to compare it with Lott since both Reid and Lott were Senate leaders.

I certainly agree that the left adheres to a double standard. I'm just not so sure that the comparison of Reid/Lott is the best example of it.

- wolf

 

[werepossum]

There's a reasonable paraellel between the Limbaugh statement and the Reid statement, actually. Reid was saying that the electorate is biased against black candidates who are of dark skin and/or speak in dialect. He wasn't endorsing the bias, just saying it was a reality. Limbaugh was saying the press has a pro-black bias, but wasn't embracing an anti-black bias himself. This is a better parallel than the Trent Lott example IMO, in spite of the temptation to compare it with Lott since both Reid and Lott were Senate leaders.

I certainly agree that the left adheres to a double standard. I'm just not so sure that the comparison of Reid/Lott is the best example of it.

- wolf

Agreed. I wasn't trying to equate Lott and Reid anymore than necessary under the circumstances, I was actually commenting that it wasn't quite a valid comparison because Lott's statement implied an endorsement, even if it were obviously said to butter up a very old man, whereas Reid's statement was a slur against the country (albeit with a big grain of truth) rather than implying an endorsement. While I generally like Trent Lott and generally despise Harry Reid, to me the dumbness was much stronger on Lott's part, especially given that as a Republican he knows he'll not get the pass a Democrat would. Not that I thought either should have stepped down. Lott was forced to step down because Republicans saw that as better for their party and issues, not because of any ethical complaints or because they thought Lott actually believed in segregation.

And both sides have double standards; that's just the way of the world. If a Republican politician known as a strong Second Amendment supporter and a Democrat politician known as a strong gun control advocate each get caught in the same illegal gun possession, the Republicans and the NRA are going to be much harder on the liberal hypocrite. To quote the Flying Pig, everyone knows this. Knowing you're going to suffer more severe consequences should be added reason not to do something, not an opportunity to shriek about fairness and double standards. These calls for resignations over some arguably racially insensitive remarks are simply silly, and in my opinion politicians do it only because it's expected.

 

[Craig234]

A few more items on Trent Lott's history:

In November 1980, at a Mississippi political rally, after Thurmond had made a fiery speech backing Ronald Reagan, then-congressman Lott told the crowd: "You know, if we had elected this man 30 years ago, we wouldn't be in the mess we are today." In 1992, Lott told a meeting of the Klan-like racist organization, the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC): "The people in this room stand for the right principles and the right philosophy." He is quoted at several places in his career saying that the figure he "feels closest to" in American history is Jefferson Davis--the Confederate leader who led the slaveowners in war. It even came out that when Lott was a college student back in the 1960s, he led a fight to keep Black students out of his Sigma Nu fraternity.

As I recall, Reagan himself sent a message to the 'racist' demographic by announcing his campaign in a small souther location known only for being the site of killing civil rights advocates.

That's how it's done - enough to signal the racist, soft enough to deny to avoid offending thr non-racists.

 

[woolfe9999]

There are certainly double standards practiced by both sides. For the left there is a double standard on race, for one thing. For the right, it is apparently verboten to criticize a sitting republican POTUS on national security because it supposedly sends the wrong message to our enemies, but OK to do it if the POTUS is a democrat. And the list goes on. It is as if the dems somehow "own" the issue of racial sensitivity, and the repubs "own" the issue of national security. And so on.

Our political dialogue in this country is pretty much filled, top to bottom, with double standards, hypocrisy, and all manner of bullshit. I blame the American people for this for failing to be critical consumers of opinion and information. If there was no demand for such nonsense, there would be no supply.

The media also plays a big role in this as well, for seizing on any little thing that can be sound-bited and converted to ratings then doing it to death.

- wolf

 

[Craig234]

There are certainly double standards practiced by both sides. For the left there is a double standard on race, for one thing. For the right, it is apparently verboten to criticize a sitting republican POTUS on national security because it supposedly sends the wrong message to our enemies, but OK to do it if the POTUS is a democrat. And the list goes on.

Our political dialogue in this country is pretty much filled, top to bottom, with double standards, hypocrisy, and all manner of bullshit. I blame the American people for this for failing to be critical consumers of opionion and information. If there was no demand for such nonsense, there would be no supply.

The media also plays a big role in this as well, for seizing on any little thing that can be sound-bited and converted to ratings.

- wolf

I'm not going to quite agree there's a double standard on race 'among Democrats'. There can be some occassional double standard, and some inflated sensitity among some, but that's overly broad.

What are examples where the left as a whole expressed double standards on race that are comparable to the right's broad double standard on attacking the president depending on party?

Three examples should be available for a generalization?

 

[woolfe9999]

I'm not going to quite agree there's a double standard on race 'among Democrats'. There can be some occassional double standard, and some inflated sensitity among some, but that's overly broad.

What are examples where the left as a whole expressed double standards on race that are comparable to the right's broad double standard on attacking the president depending on party?

Three examples should be available for a generalization?

As one example with multiple components, the aforementioned Limbaugh. I actually think that Limbaugh is a racist and several of his statements are quite clearly racist. However, he has made several statements that can be interpreted as ambiguous at best.

http://newsone.com/obama/top-10-racist-limbaugh-quotes/

There are several statements in here which are at best unclear.

On the other side, people have already discussed here the examples of Clinton and Reid.

I don't think there is any real issue where the statements made are clearly racist or clearly non-racist. For example, if Reid had used the clearly prejorative "N" word rather than the archaic but non-pejorative N-word, I think liberals would call that racist without reservation. However, it is where there is some ambiguity, where it is a borderline case, that the liberal will get the pass where the conservative will not. You really think that if Limbaugh had said "several years ago that guy would have been fetching coffee" that liberals would have interpretted that as referring to seniority and not race?

- wolf

 

[Craig234]

As one example with multiple components, the aforementioned Limbaugh. I actually think that Limbaugh is a racist and several of his statements are quite clearly racist. However, he has made several statements that can be interpreted as ambiguous at best.

http://newsone.com/obama/top-10-racist-limbaugh-quotes/

There are several statements in here which are at best unclear.

On the other side, people have already discussed here the examples of Clinton and Reid.

I don't think there is any real issue where the statements made are clearly racist or clearly non-racist. For example, if Reid had used the clearly prejorative "N" word rather than the archaic but non-pejorative N-word, I think liberals would call that racist without reservation. However, it is where there is some ambiguity, where it is a borderline case, that the liberal will get the pass where the conservative will not. You really think that if Limbaugh had said "several years ago that guy would have been fetching coffee" that liberals would have interpretted that as referring to seniority and not race?

- wolf

I odn't think Limbaugh 'making several statements that are ambiguous' along with ones that are unambiguously racist means 'the left has double standards on race'.

That statement does make it sound like Democratic leaders run around using the N word while it's excused away, which you mention and I agree is not the case.

I won't say you can't find any examples possibly, but enough to justify a generalization about the left is another standard. Even if it sounds appealingl non-partisan to 'admit', the question is, is it right.

 

[Patranus]

What is the most disturbing part of this comment - like a typical liberal - he assumes that middle America is full of a bunch of racists who wouldn't vote for a dark skinned African American.

Not only should this comment offend African Americans, it should also offend every single middle American white voter who voted for Obama.

 

[woolfe9999]

What is the most disturbing part of this comment - like a typical liberal - he assumes that middle America is full of a bunch of racists who wouldn't vote for a dark skinned African American.

Not only should this comment offend African Americans, it should also offend every single middle American white voter who voted for Obama.

Why would it offend African Americans to suggest that some white voters are racist? I'm just not getting this...

- wolf

 

[Craig234]

Why would it offend African Americans to suggest that some white voters are racist? I'm just not getting this...

- wolf

Why would it offend non-racist white voters to hear that some other white voters are racist?

 

[woolfe9999]

Why would it offend non-racist white voters to hear that some other white voters are racist?

It shouldn't. The fact is, it only takes a small percentage of the population to he influenced by factors like these to change the outcome of an election. If 3% of the voters are more inclined to vote for Obama because of his light skin or manner of speech, that could make a difference in outcome, but it still doesn't implicate the majority of white voters as having this kind of preference.

- wolf

 

[Pacfanweb]

To paraphrase our righties, 'we're not saying Republicans are racist hicks. We're saying racist hicks are almost always Republicans'.

Yet the only former KKK member in the Senate is a Democrat.

 

[OrByte]

What is the most disturbing part of this comment - like a typical liberal - he assumes that middle America is full of a bunch of racists who wouldn't vote for a dark skinned African American.

Not only should this comment offend African Americans, it should also offend every single middle American white voter who voted for Obama.

hahahaha! That is totally awesome Patranus!!

 

[kage69]

This thread broadly addresses racist comments by both Republicans and Democrats and has not been restricted to just Harry Reid's comments about Obama in particular. Many comments and comparisons have been made by many people regarding many other politicians in this thread...from Bill Clinton, Trent Lott, JFK, Thurmond Strom, Joe Biden, etc. In fact, I see that you've made some comments yourself regarding Trent Lott in one of your posts in this thread...shame on you for your role in diverting and obfuscating this thread. Oh the irony.

Nice try, but no, if you had been keeping up on the story you'd know that the Lott reference was a development of this story - introduced by GOP members like Kyl and Cornyn as some kind of analogous situation that in their minds should warrant a similar outcome. THEY brought Lott into this, not me. I was commenting on this, and kept my comments relevant to the story.

You, and much of the GOP, are trying to make as much political hay from this as possible. I'm all for holding Reid up to the fire, I think he's bungled a great deal lately, but there are far better issues to take him to task over. This is just another display of faux outrage and an overall lame attempt to smear an influential Democrat.
That you used a But Clinton!(tm) retort in conjunction with this new found respect for PC makes it all the more ridiculous, so please, cut the shit. I've read too many of your posts.

Come to think of it, I think I've already invested too much of my time on this, it's a dead issue at this point. Obama accepted an almost immediate apology, and as per the Republicans after the Joe Wilson incident, the grievance is settled. Sorry, Reid ain't going anywhere.

 

[First]

It's what he does. Sad, huh?

He can't help it. CAD's Avvocato Effetti-light, except he doesn't realize he's a parody of a parody. Dude just literally repeats the same thing with different words hoping the obfuscation isn't noticed, since people have better things to do. The likelihood of Lott not being at the very least significantly prejudiced against blacks/minorities is basically nil. His 02 comment, especially in the context of his comments/actions throughout his lifetime (King's holiday, CRA renewal, both outright and insinuated race baiting in both public and private, etc.) over the years shows the hack for exactly who he is and the dead social prejudices he holds.

 

[shadow9d9]

Considering that there is a democrat in the senate who fillibustered civil rights, I don't get your point.

The hicks make up the MAJORITY of the republican party at present.. and a majority of their senators along with it.

Reid is a retarded ass.

 

[cubby1223]

This whole debacle is pathetic.

Republicans calling out Reid for that comment. Democrats countering by "proving" these Republicans are all hypocrites, despite the fact that they too are hypocrites in how they are treating the situation.

I bet dollars to donuts the only thing the public sees from this is how disconnected all politicians are from what really matters. Democrats and Republicans alike, all incumbents should be kicked out of office. But as history shows, the vast majority of these idiots will win re-election.

 

[Zorkorist]

Naw, Hairy Reid is gone. He can't survive this.

 

[Zorkorist]

He's too beige white, and speaks with a Kansas accent.

-John