I understand the rough and tumble of politics. But Barack Obama -- the supposedly postpartisan, postracial candidate of hope and change -- has gone where few modern candidates have gone before.
Mr. Obama's campaign is now trafficking in prejudice of its own making. And in doing so, it is playing with political dynamite. What kind of potential president would let his campaign knowingly extract two incomplete, out-of-context lines from two radio parodies and build a framework of hate around them in order to exploit racial tensions? The segregationists of the 1950s and 1960s were famous for such vile fear-mongering.
Here's the relevant part of the Spanish-language television commercial Mr. Obama is running in Hispanic communities:
"They want us to forget the insults we've put up with . . . the intolerance . . . they made us feel marginalized in this country we love so much."
Then the commercial flashes two quotes from me: ". . . stupid and unskilled Mexicans" and "You shut your mouth or you get out!"
And then a voice says, "John McCain and his Republican friends have two faces. One that says lies just to get our vote . . . and another, even worse, that continues the policies of George Bush that put special interests ahead of working families. John McCain . . . more of the same old Republican tricks."
Much of the media that is uninterested in Mr. Obama's connections to unrepentant 1970s Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers and Rev. Jeremiah Wright have so far gone along with the attempt to tie me to Mr. McCain. But Mr. McCain and I have not agreed on how to address illegal immigration. While I am heartened by his willingness to start by securing the borders, it is no secret that we have fundamental differences on illegal immigration.
And more to the point, these sound bites are a deception, and Mr. Obama knows it. The first sound bite was extracted from a 1993 humorous monologue poking fun at the arguments against the North American Free Trade Agreement. Here's the context:
"If you are unskilled and uneducated, your job is going south. Skilled workers, educated people are going to do fine 'cause those are the kinds of jobs Nafta is going to create. If we are going to start rewarding no skills and stupid people, I'm serious, let the unskilled jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do -- let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work."
My point, which is obvious, was that the people who were criticizing Nafta were demeaning workers, particularly low-skilled workers. I was criticizing the mind-set of the protectionists who opposed the treaty. There was no racial connotation to it and no one thought there was at the time. I was demeaning the arguments of the opponents.
As for the second sound bite, I was mocking the Mexican government's double standard -- i.e., urging open borders in this country while imposing draconian immigration requirements within its own borders. Thus, I took the restrictions Mexico imposes on immigrants and appropriated them as my own suggestions for a new immigration law.
Here's the context for that sound bite: "And another thing: You don't have the right to protest. You're allowed no demonstrations, no foreign flag waving, no political organizing, no bad-mouthing our president or his policies. You're a foreigner: shut your mouth or get out! And if you come here illegally, you're going to jail."
At the time, I made abundantly clear that this was a parody on the Mexican government's hypocrisy and nobody took it otherwise.
The malignant aspect of this is that Mr. Obama and his advisers know exactly what they are doing. They had to listen to both monologues or read the transcripts. They then had to pick the particular excerpts they used in order to create a commercial of distortions. Their hoped-for result is to inflame racial tensions. In doing this, Mr. Obama and his advisers have demonstrated a pernicious contempt for American society.
We've made much racial progress in this country. Any candidate who employs the tactics of the old segregationists is unworthy of the presidency. Mr. Limbaugh is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host.
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
oh, i suspect the R's have tossed down a few as well, FM.
we have congressman westmoreland calling Obama "uppity".
we have congressman king saying that, because of his middle name, and obama victory would mean an islamic victory in the war on terror.
and we have congressman davis referring to obama as "boy"
i also think in the waning days of this campaign, you'll continue to see the race card thrown down, by both sides,like scotch at a shriners convention.
and for the record, it's hard to feel sorry for limbaugh, given his sterling track record of journalistic integrity.
First off, that's not McCain using any of that. Obama has played the race card several times already. Second, none of that is racial or too far out there. Uppity fits Obama's elitists aditude. Congressman King was right on the mark and referring to the fact Obama has been endorsed by Hamas (and members have donated money to his campaign) andAkmadinajad. What do you think they will do should Obama win in November? Cry?
Then you go on to say you think the race card will be thrown down played by both sides. Please give me one example of McCain playing the Race card? You know I can give several examples of "Obama" playing the race card so give me one of John? I think it's funny Republicans are the ones always blamed for it but never do it. However it's them dems who always do but never get called out for it.
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and for the record, it's hard to feel sorry for limbaugh, given his sterling track record of journalistic integrity.
This has nothing to do with Rush except for the fact he set the record straight and showed Obama isn't using the words in context and is clearly once again playing the race card. Do we really want such a person in the White House?
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
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"There is nothing in the world like a persuasive speech to fuddle the mental apparatus and upset the convictions and debauch the emotions of an audience not practiced in the tricks and delusions of oratory." --American author and humorist Mark Twain (1835-1910)
First off, that's not McCain using any of that. Obama has played the race card several times already. Second, none of that is racial or too far out there. Uppity fits Obama's elitists aditude. Congressman King was right on the mark and referring to the fact Obama has been endorsed by Hamas (and members have donated money to his campaign) andAkmadinajad. What do you think they will do should Obama win in November? Cry?
Then you go on to say you think the race card will be thrown down played by both sides. Please give me one example of McCain playing the Race card? You know I can give several examples of "Obama" playing the race card so give me one of John? I think it's funny Republicans are the ones always blamed for it but never do it. However it's them dems who always do but never get called out for it.
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and for the record, it's hard to feel sorry for limbaugh, given his sterling track record of journalistic integrity.
This has nothing to do with Rush except for the fact he set the record straight and showed Obama isn't using the words in context and is clearly once again playing the race card. Do we really want such a person in the White House?
couple points
1. well, i guess the primary issue is whether the ad is fair and accurate. the ad links McCain to Limbaugh, andmaybe unfairly.at the same time, this is a campaign. we see ads linking obama to the democrats and liberals as a whole, so i suppose i don't have much of an issue linking McCain toone ot the republican's most prominent mouthpieces. within the context of the "game"McCain benefits from Limbaugh in one snese, and will suffer to a degree as well.
2. there was that McCain dollar bill internet ad. i saw that as having racial overtones.
3. i said both sides. mccain did not call Obama uppity. westmoreland did.
rightly or wrongly, politics is both a contact, and a team sport. if the left tackle holds, the quarterback suffers the penalty as well. republicans speaking about, and attacking obama, are surrogates of the McCain campaign (if not the man himself). he can no more insulate his campaign from their actions than obama can re the democrats. late edit similar to your linkage on a different thread,of the alleged action of the son of state rep Mike Kernell re the Palin email hack to Obama.
and the republicans did do it, contrary to your assertion that republicans get "blamed for it but never do it." PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me you understand that calling an african american "uppity" and "boy" is racist. Please.
That's right. There's a big difference between stuff said by rogue small-time congressmen who neither candidate has control over, and stuff said by the candidates themselves.
But this isn't surprising. It's par for the course. Obama repeatedly said (and, heck, even got an agreement from the NYT in a premature editorial bashing McCain) that McCain would roll out the attack machines in the form of 527s. Yet the smear campaign came from the other side after Sarah Palin was placed on the ticket. The DailyKOS might not be a 527 organization but it is the official unofficial mouthpiece of the Democratic Party. How many times did Obama say that McCain was going to try to "scare" voters by saying that he had a funny name, was black, etc.? Yet the scare tactic has been the steady drumbeat of the Democrats who make it sound as though it's a foregone conclusion that McCain is going to die while in office.
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Politics, it seems to me, all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~Richard Armour
1. well, i guess the primary issue is whether the ad is fair and accurate. the ad links McCain to Limbaugh, andmaybe unfairly.at the same time, this is a campaign. we see ads linking obama to the democrats and liberals as a whole, so i suppose i don't have much of an issue linking McCain toone ot the republican's most prominent mouthpieces. within the context of the "game"McCain benefits from Limbaugh in one snese, and will suffer to a degree as well.
That's fine boysda if the info was even acurate but it's not. Obama is using Rush's words and applying his own meaning to them.
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2. there was that McCain dollar bill internet ad. i saw that as having racial overtones.
Please, don't throw that crap out here with no ad and no one knowing what in the heck your talking about.
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3. i said both sides. mccain did not call Obama uppity. westmoreland did.
What is racist about "uppity"? Uppity has to do with arrogance and elitisim which both discribe Obama.
As far as 'boy" that in my mind goes more to contrast Obama calling McCain old.
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
1. well, i guess the primary issue is whether the ad is fair and accurate. the ad links McCain to Limbaugh, andmaybe unfairly.at the same time, this is a campaign. we see ads linking obama to the democrats and liberals as a whole, so i suppose i don't have much of an issue linking McCain toone ot the republican's most prominent mouthpieces. within the context of the "game"McCain benefits from Limbaugh in one snese, and will suffer to a degree as well.
That's fine boysda if the info was even acurate but it's not. Obama is using Rush's words and applying his own meaning to them.
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2. there was that McCain dollar bill internet ad. i saw that as having racial overtones.
Please, don't throw that crap out here with no ad and no one knowing what in the heck your talking about.
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3. i said both sides. mccain did not call Obama uppity. westmoreland did.
What is racist about "uppity"? Uppity has to do with arrogance and elitisim which both discribe Obama.
As far as 'boy" that in my mind goes more to contrast Obama calling McCain old.
see now your testing my tech savy. I'm trying to post a you tube link, but here's hoping it works:
it was fairly well publicized, so i presumed most here were familar with it.
i see this ad as having racial connotations. i realize this is a futile gesture, FM, and that you will disagree. if youcontinue to apologize for racist attacks such as "uppity" and "boy" with reference to an african american, i don't think you'll have a problem with the linked ad.
How do you figure that little youtube video portrays Mccain as racist? It took Obama's image and superimposed it on a number of National landmarks and the $100 bill. I saw nothing racist about it. BTW what a short memory you have, the democratic primaries were filled with mudslinging by both the Hildebeast and Obama.
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Obama=The Fourth Reich,
Just look at the parallels of the Nazi regime and the Obama Administration amazingly similar arent' they.
How do you figure that little youtube video portrays Mccain as racist? It took Obama's image and superimposed it on a number of National landmarks and the $100 bill. I saw nothing racist about it. BTW what a short memory you have, the democratic primaries were filled with mudslinging by both the Hildebeast and Obama.
i said the ad has racial overtones. i see it, you don't, and we're obviously not going to agree.
i don't have a short memory, nor have i ever said that the D's are without fault. my point in this thread is simply that the Rs HAVE played the race card in this campaign. I think i also said the Ds and the Rs both will play it as they move forward.
i also took a swipe at Limbaugh, but that was more a target of opportunity than anything else.
Obama plays the Race card, again!
