McConnell says blacks vote as much as Americans

[Pohemi]

Unless he just doesn't care, because that history of racist 'othering' isn't that big a deal in his view.

Nor in the view of the Kentuckians that keep re-electing him.

 

[Shmee]

Does Mitch eat as much pizza as other turtles?

 

[pcgeek11]

Smart people and you understand the implied separation of African Americans from Americans in McConnells comment.

Whatever you want to think...

I agree he could have stated it better, but nowhere did he say or imply that African Americans were not Americans.

 

[sportage]

One thing is clear, now....
Now, we know why McConnell, Manchin, Sinema, and so many others in congress are so against passing voter rights legislation, because.... they are all closeted racist. In their own little way, they absolutely do now want Blacks to have any more power at the ballot box than Blacks had during the 1960's. Sinema says she supports voter rights yet she exposed her true nature by voting against changing senate rules to allow voter rights to proceed. So Sinema is full of crap. Manchin, we already know he is full of crap, and incredibly white, and incredibly racist, and so incredibly typical.

We're talking about old southern whities serving far too long in congress, and about women who are afraid of any and every black man, and a time in history where Blacks were expected to know their place. And that attitude applies to the US Supreme Court as well, especially John Roberts. And it is true, Joe Biden also is very much old school. That came clear during Anita Hill.
After all these years, and after all the efforts of president LBJ, and after the sacrifice from MLK, not much has changed. Congress is racist, courts are racist, a lot of society are racist. After all these years.....

 

[ch33zw1z]

Whatever you want to think...

I agree he could have stated it better, but nowhere did he say or imply that African Americans were not Americans.

Of course not, he called them Americans, just not American

 

[zinfamous]

African-Americans as compared to Americans.

Seems like much ado about nothing. Another way to say it would be

"African-Americans vote just as much as Non-African-Americans".

As I see it he called both groups Americans. Where did he say they weren't Americans?

look, I agree that Bitch the Fascist Turtle just misspoke like an idiot and this is all kind of silly, but your take has to be the dumbest fucking intellectually vacant of all. You're actually trying to defend his phrasing as accurate and fine, rather than the simple (i.e: not some dumbshit ramblings from an illiterate idiot) explanation that he simply misspoke?

Why can't you just admit that he misspoke, rather than, yet again, falling all over yourself to defend the stupid fucking thing that yet another racist piece of shit Republican has said? Why do you do this? Why can't you admit that a republican has simply said a stupid thing? For someone that "doesn't care all that much about anything," why do you continue to shove your dick in the vice and defend the inherently indefensible every time a republican ghoul says something inherently inhuman (which is about every 17 seconds)?

 

[dawp]

he basically implied that african americans are lesser than real americans and anyone saying otherwise are splitting hairs.

 

[blackangst1]

Pretty funny gaffe

 

[VRAMdemon]

He's old - almost 80 - Most likely McConnell’s personal beliefs don't include that African-Americans are not really Americans. But who knows what he REALLY thinks. I'm going with he misspoke with a caveat.

Mitch’s argument uses statistics to obscure the facts – African Americans do NOT turn out as much as “other” Americans, but for the last few elections they have turned out at about the same rate as Americans OVERALL. That’s because whites turn out at substantially higher rates than African Americans, who turn out at higher rates than Hispanics. Essentially the Republican argument is that because policies that make it harder for people of color to vote suppress the national average, African Americans are doing just fine.

He couldn’t say that black Americans voted at the same rate as white Americans because that would be an easily refuted lie. He got a better result by comparing voter participation of black Americans only with voter participation of all American’s, regardless of race ... even though it’s a stupid way to make the comparison, we have seen, time and again, that "othering" and "the other" is the one tool in todays Republican toolbox that they keep polished and properly lubricated at all times. Mitch could well have phrased it differently, but he did not. .... But he knows his target audience is too dumb to pick up on the distinction.

Even if he really thinks African Americans are not "real" Americans ....The people who elected Mitch don’t care what he says. The people who elected Mitch agree with what he says. Mitch McConnell will get reelected as many times as he wants.

 

[UNCjigga]

Press focusing on gaffes is just another indication of Americans generally failing to hold their elected representatives accountable. This was a waste of a news cycle.

 

[Bitek]

Smart people and you understand the implied separation of African Americans from Americans in McConnells comment.

Clever

 

[Moonbeam]

Whatever you want to think...

I agree he could have stated it better, but nowhere did he say or imply that African Americans were not Americans.

I can't say I would even have noticed how poorly his statement might have been worded the meaning being to me at least quite obvious. I do find, however, that when I decide somebody like this to be profoundly objectionable morally, I am more easily triggered which isn't, in my opinion, a good thing.

 

[Dave_5k]

In 2008 or 2012, ignoring the bad wording, McConnell's implication appears to have been approximately true - for the first times in American history.

But in 2020, a ~10% gap opened up again between Black vs. White voting %, even before the latest set of republican voter restriction laws. 70% of White (non-Hispanic) voting age population voted in 2020, while only 59% of Black voting age population voted. So once again, surprise surprise, the Republican is flat out lying.

Historical Reported Voting Rates

The historical time series figures present estimates alongside various demographic characteristics for each national level election between 1964 and the present

www.census.gov

Note the graphic includes Hispanic (much lower voting %) with the White category, artificially lowering the apparent White voting %, and even so there is a modest gap, but the underlying data available from the census tables page shows the much larger underlying White vs. Black voting gap.

 

[Pipeline 1010]

Is it possible that he was speaking of African-Americans as a subset of Americans? And when he says African-Americans vote as much as Americans (the superset which includes African Americans) that he might not have been going a "Normal Americans" vs "Darkie Non-Normals" comparison?

I suppose he could have phrased it as "African-Americans vote as much as All Americans, which is a group that includes the aforementioned African Americans". That seems a bit over-explainy. If he assumes African-Americans are part of the group that includes Americans, why should he have to spell it out so that a 5 year old can understand?

I hear things like "cops beat their wives at a certain percent differently than the American population". It doesn't make me feel like someone is communicating that cops aren't Americans unless a politician on the other team says it and now I get to accuse them of being bad and evil.

 

[dainthomas]

Was that all that different than Biden saying "poor kids are just as smart as white kids"?

So you agree both statements are racist.

 

[m8d]

AmeriKKKa has never considered black people as citizens.

 

[Hans Gruber]

The most embarrassing part of the 2016 Presidential campaign. The revelation that a significant number of candidates had either rarely or ever voted. Carly Fiorina admitted she was not even a registered voter before the election.

Shaq admitted he had just registered to vote for the 2020 Presidential election. I was like hold on, MTV had the rock the vote campaign throughout the entire decade of the 90's.

Shaquille O’Neal explains why he had resisted voting before this year’s election

The NBA legend said that he has now made time to vote, even participating in a virtual rally to support Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

www.usatoday.com

I guess voting for some is viewed as a civic duty for only the little people or the poor and disenfranchised.

Let's talk voting rights now.

 

[Grey_Beard]

No, see my explanation above.

If you need to explain, that’s an issue.

 

[Greenman]

So you agree both statements are racist.

For the most part, yes.

 

[cytg111]

African-Americans as compared to Americans.

Seems like much ado about nothing. Another way to say it would be

"African-Americans vote just as much as Non-African-Americans".

As I see it he called both groups Americans. Where did he say they weren't Americans?

What a fucking weird hill to chose old man.

Could you not pay a hooker to spit in your mouth and punch you in the sack? And spare the rest of us of this shit?

 

[DaaQ]

Would you be less butthurt if he had used a fully formed sentence and said "all Americans" or "Americans in general"?
Given that is how the sentence is read regardless, you'll just have to forgive me in forgoing outrage over a completely benign comment.
McConnell is a massive blight on the Senate, and generally evil power monger, but your attacks on him need to at least be real and logical.
This topic is just slander.

But stealing a SC seat is just business as usual?

 

[Sunburn74]

African-Americans as compared to Americans.

Seems like much ado about nothing. Another way to say it would be

"African-Americans vote just as much as Non-African-Americans".

As I see it he called both groups Americans. Where did he say they weren't Americans?

Wow.

First its insulting and incredibly racist to not consider "african americans" as just "americans". Maybe it was a freudian slip but the its a horrible thing to say and is blatantly racist. He's basically saying there are "actual real americans' and then there are groups that wannabe americans but aren't quite.

Secondarily those facts aren't even right. African american's vote at a dramatically lower rate than other racial groups in this country. There are lots of reasons (both structural, political, and cultural) behind this but nontheless the facts have been unchanged for decades. It fact its such a trope/meme that black people don't really vote that whenever they turn out in any sort of decent number it makes the news (for example see the press coverage of when the alabama senate seat when to Doug Jones or the recent press coverage about the 2 geogia senate seats going democratic).

Large Racial Turnout Gap Persisted in 2020 Election

70.9 percent of white voters cast ballots compared with only 58.4 percent of nonwhite voters — a disparity that will worsen with new restrictive voting laws.

www.brennancenter.org

How can the guy who's setting the rules on voting not even know this basic fact?

 

[MrSquished]

Was that all that different than Biden saying "poor kids are just as smart as white kids"?

it's quite different. People's smarts are often judged by wealth. Look poor, people think you are dumb. Far different statement than McConnel.

But you are Greenman, incapable of real critical thought and a constant apologist for the worst of your party.

Horrific as always.