Conservatives Silent After Norquist's Racial Remark About Obama

Think Progress:

Eight days ago in Jacksonville, Florida, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) predicted to a crowd of supporters that he would soon face race-based attacks from the right:

They're going to try to make you afraid of me. He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And did I mention he's black?

Read the whole story: Think Progress

Comments

[JerryTheAngel]

I doubt if 1 percent of Americans even know who Norquist is. It doesn't cut either way. He's invisible to the electorate and irrelevant.

[illinoisan]

That's good for Norquist. If you were the conservative movement's general who marched the whole army of lemmings off a cliff, you'd want to remain as anonymous as possible.

[joeyp404]

I wouldn't know him if he fell on me.

Seriously, who is he and why does this warrant a headline here? I know the Obama camp wants to derail any smears, but elevating this comment to the point of a news headline makes me wonder what the strategy is here.

[BlueStateMan]

He's one of the neocon bluebloods that got us INTO the mess we're in today....

Don't blame the PRESS on your own woeful lack of knowledge.

[thisoldbroad]

This "invisible" & "irrelevant" man is on the board of the NRA: worked with Newt Gingrich to draft the 'Contract With America', his Americans For Tax Reform group is DEEPLY involved with the Abramoff scandal with deeds & racist comments; & is a frequent guest speaker at conservative think tank gatherings.

This creep is VERY visible & regarded as 1 of the top 5 conservative movers & shakers.

He's far to smart to 'accidentally' say ANYTHING. So when you hear things like this coming out of his mouth it's the first volley of attacks.

He's too dangerous an enemy to ignore & to let this comment go unchecked would be a serious error.

[Doofus]

We are dealing with half-truths here, people. Always a great way to sway some voters,
particularly those in the 'some of the people all of the time' group, the ones that vote for
'values' & flag pins.

May I point out that Navy hero McCain is indeed a 'jet ace', having destroyed five airplanes.
All ours, so what? Is this a guy you want for commander-in-chief? No, I didn't think so.

[illinoisan]

You should have seen the look on Bob Schieffer's face this morning on Face the Nation when Gen. Wesley Clark told him that getting shot down in a fighter jet wasn't a qualification for being POTUS.

"Really?" Schieffer said with genuine shock.

[elcojonu]

Any Army Man worth his salt will tell you that.
Wars are won or lost on the ground by Infantryman, Ground Pounders.
Air Power is there to SERVE the guys and gals on the ground.
Pilots are Jet Jockeys, people who are atracted more to their machinery than to the Art of War.


NAM CLASS OF 67

[ggmome]

Doesn't this remind you of the 'working, hard working white people' remark made by a certain person trying to amass votes in Appalachia? Which was not to be construed as racist or bigoted.

[riverhouse]

She was challenged by this racist remark and many posters here decried it as racist.

[shockmagog]

Perhaps since most people still have never heard of this very influential man (who just happens to be named after a Muppet), the media Power Elite figures his remark can be swept under the carpet.

[DCtrain]

Obama should just maintain his course. He never brought up sexism, and he never brought up racism... only in response to the crazy remarks of rev. wrong. Any news media or politician that stokes the fires of racism or sexism should be put down soundly. Life is not about racism or sexism. It is about enjoying your days in safety and with a level of prosperity that supports your way of life. With all of this balanced by the over-riding thought of "leaving a better country and world to the next generation." A tall order that leaves no room for racists or sexists. Racists and sexists seem like the flees in the sheets of society; it's time to fumigate to eradicate them.

[Roose]

And John McCain is a geriatric George Dumbya Bush!

[bazokbros]

A racist remark is "Obama shouldn't be president because he is black" or "white men like Grover Norquist is the image you think of when you think of a serial killer or pedophile that blends in with society."

A deliberate racially insensitive remark is "[Obama] is John Kerry with a tan."

[KBAR]

You mean BHO is BLACK??????

Oh yea, right, it's Barry Sotero that is WHITE.

[Redrover666]

I come to Huffpost for just this sort of comment. I get hours of entertainment from watching the far left pole vaulting over mouse turds.

[caldarone]

Obama was only telling the truth, if you listen to talk radio that is the ONLY THING they keep talking about.. he's black, he;s a muslim terrorist opperative.. I mean really if our CIA do not have the intelligence to know if he's that , would he have gotten this far if any of that nonsense was the slightest bit true? Fox news and the right wing are totally lost on how to compete against him, America was dummy down to voting for Bush twice, America has lost there standings in the world, and the world wants Obama, because he will unite us all.

[GayGrandpa]

There is nothing like the highroad!. You take the low road I'll take the high road! This is the typical Republican way throw so much mud that even if you opponent is merely racing toward the office it will look like he is throwing mud because it is dripping off his suit. Throw the mud until America is deep into it! That is the Republican way and in so doing many become apathetic and disillusioned and do not vote. Of course, McCain is not going to allow it to be clean; HE IS THE ONE WHO WILL DO ANYTHING TO WIN...ANYTHING!

[thegreatgiginthesky]

You can smell the neo-con stench of fear.

[Mogamboguru]

Obama = Kerry? => McCain = Beaufort T. Justice.

[BlackWidowPilot]

McCain = Charles Keating's happy lapdog.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[Redrover666]

BHO = Rev Wright's boy wonder

[riverhouse]

We are a nation directed by fools. The idiocy of some people simply amazes me. America stands at the doorway to ruin and people are willing to cross that threshold because they can't accept an African American in a position of power. Our debt is massive and the dollar has lost its power to control the world's marketplaces. Our military is outsourced to corrupt contractors, over extended and unable to win wars, and near collapse. Our Constitution and vaulted Bill of Rights have been undermined in ways that may never be recovered. And fools are foaming at the mouth not over the outrages perpetrated against our nation but the skin color of a potential president.

[Redrover666]

White folks are pretty well accustomed to Obama supporter placing racism at the forefront of this election. It started with the unfortunate and incredibly racist compliment by a Senator who admired how articulate Obama is.

Obama IS John Kerry with a tan.

This is going to come back to bite the left. This country is going to reject the likely possibility of four years of hyper sensitivity and constant accusations that any critic of Obama is a bigot.

[pfc1369]

You are very confused.

[KBAR]

"That’s just how white folks will do you."---------BHO

[anthonylee]

White folks and your lack of articulation or vocabulary (that you support) is no excuse to cry “hyper sensitivity” and try and place fault or blame at the feet of the “left”.

Try and become more enlightened and practice humility, you’d be surprised to see how quickly honor and respect would soon follow.

[KBAR]

"The point I was making was not that Grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't. But she is a typical white person..."-----BHO

[AnotherAndy]

Pardon the pun, but this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

His post may be short on vocabulary, but it is articulate, and yours is less than perfect too. Using fault and blame is redundant in the first sentence, and your punctuation is messy in the second sentence, which is actually two complete sentences or two independent clauses, depending on the punctuation. You should have used a semicolon instead of a comma to join the independent clauses, or a period to make them two sentences. Also, quickly and soon are redundant too.

In any case, you're right that he's an idiot. Any country that can elect George Bush twice, and nominate Obama and McCain as the best choices to replace him has its collective head so far up its ass already that a little racial hyper sensitivity won't have much effect.

[Liberalsliketoblowme]

You must mean the countless examples of enlightenment and humility we find here. All one has to do you elicit a condescending, hateful, unhinged screed from you wing-nuts is to articulate some criticism of the lord savior Obama.

[PumaAnn]

All slurs towards anyone who doesn't support Obama no longer have much meaning. Obama encouraged this by just such "warnings." The result is that most people no longer react to being called any host of names, including racist. The shock value goes down if it's overused, and it was.

I agree that over-sensitivity is unattractive, but he obviously is making it a central part of the GE campaign just as he did in the primary.

Or as one woman says when yet another Obama supporter calls someone a racist, "Oh, it's been 20 mkinutes since the race card was played."

[thegreatgiginthesky]

rover is angry that Obama has opened up the dialog for race. This makes it harder for idiots like him to come up with original material.

[buckbuck11]

Hey, Puma Ann (Coulter?),

How long have you been a registered Democrat?

When was the last time you voted for a Democratic Presidential Candidate?

PUMAs = Lying Trolls

[timm0]

This country rejects your brand of stupidity.

[sparkandy]

The headline is interesting. The word 'racial' is used instead of 'racist'. There's a big difference. 'Racial' is more like an identifier. 'Racist' is an accusation. Oh, well, leave to an English major to be picky about the distinction.

[VivaZapata]

Norquist is George Bush without stumblebum charm (if there is any charm in that).