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

[Mayoyo]

The man is a genius

[GrainOSand]

The only people surprised at the charge that there have been, and there will be manifestations of racisms aimed at Barack Obama, and the only people who express further bewilderment at the complicit and duplicitous nature of the mass media in this charade of evil, are as follows:
The naïve who are too young to know America or that there is no Santa Claus, or those too isolated, and therefore possessing a distorted view of America as from an ivory tower or a crystal bubble,
The complicit agents of doom and division working for corporations like FOX news, who by their actions appear to be card-carrying racists with journalism degrees who are willing to stoke racism, condone racism, and be racist without apology but with much spin of denial when called on their bogus hate filled approach to news coverage,
The other active racists who conspire with corporations like FOX news to put the hate bomb into the public stream of conscious thought and dialogue, thereby creating a “Mind F***k” brand of democracy. These are people like politicians, pundits (the paid and the financially made or well-heeled variety), and any other whacko, warmongering, wormhole diving, dimwit that is willing to open their mouth and let out the soiled nature and character of their tormented and wretched hearts for all to see and gasp at in horror of, and disdain for, its foul, ghastly, and despicable presence amongst loving and caring people.
Everybody else got the memo.

[athy]

Best defense is a good offense.
Sen Obama's campaign team has used race baiting right from the start.
As newspaper reports come out about Sen Obama's questionable past actions and decision his campaign resorts back to playing the 'race baiting' game so that voters can be distracted from the really important issues that they should be discussing with Sen Obama. His campaign has put up a smokescreen to keep the conversation off topic. This is what voters need to be discussing today with Sen Obama:


http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/06/27/grim_proving_ground_for_obamas_housing_policy/?page=full

His race baiting technique was used right from the start of this campaign...
He hired his campaign manager-David Axelrod-who has made a niche for himself by marketing black candidates-Obama team promotes racial division so Obama gets the sympathetic whites & angry black votes. Read on…

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=aa0cd21b-0ff2-4329-88a1-69c6c268b304

The New Republic, "Race Man" by Sean Wilentz

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070219/hayes
The Nation, "Obama"s Media Maven" by Chrisptoher Hayes. 2/19/08 issue

Sen Obama’s Campaign Manager-David Axelrod-Ethical?...You Decide:

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/mar2008/db20080314_121054.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

Businessweek, “The Secret Side of David Axelrod -The master of “Astroturfing: has a second firm that shapes public opinion for corporations- by Howard Wolinsky 3/14/08

[RobinSeattle]

Sorry guys, but while I think Norquist is an evil son of a gun, I fail to see what was so offensive about this remark. If it had come out of the mouth of, say, J.C. Watts, there wouldn't have been any fuss at all since African-American often refer to themselves as "people of color" and "chocolate."

Please fellow liberals, save your outrage for more substantive stuff and not go into the kind of politically correct paroxysm that turns off middle America over this tempest in a teapot.

[LuvDaH8ters]

hmmm

[muffler]

This is just the beginning. I expect a huge amount of new reports on black arrests starting in October. They will make it look like every crime in america is cause by a black man. It's been standard fair on TV for decades, but it will be intensified starting in October or even September. Crime shows, behind the scenes shows in prisons and rehab and then there will be the nightly arrests. Someone should keep a record of the reporting. It is going to get really ugly.

[zendem1]

You are correct. And you're going to see alot more stuff on mixed marriages.

[genseric13]

Never be ashamed of the truth. If they are committing crimes and I'm sure they will be, then it should be duly reported.

[BEHM777]

Of course they aren't saying anything. It fits what they believe. Their silence is tacit approval of Grover's statement. Besides, they can not spin it. You know if they could, they would.

[kinnycut]

Obama was wise for responding the way he did. It angered Fox, the Republican News Network, because now anytime someone does something racial he can beat them in the head with it. If you point at a piece of strategy your opposition is certain to use against you and poke fun at it, your controlling the action. It is like a boxer with a good jab. He keeps a fist in his opponents face not caring if it makes contact immediately knowing full well his opponent will literally step into his jab everytime they try throwing a knock out blow. It is a very clever strategy. This is old Chicago politics personified from someone they keep saying lacks experience.

[soundfury]

It won't be the first or last time the repubs put their foot in their mouth. O stated the obvious and the predictable. If you don't want to be labelled as predictable, then don't make the same mistakes over and over again. However, since they have so little of value to offer, they're desperation always leads them to the low road.

[Exit]

If the GOP picks Jindal as their VP heads will explode in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Those racists will have no where to turn. Should be fun to watch.

[Tommygun264]

Makes me wonder what the 'pubs call Bobby Jindal when he's not around. It's really quite pathetic to see the aging racists deluding themselves into believing that the American public will accept such blatant racism. Perhaps if they got out of their restricted country clubs and gated communities they would see that there is a new generation of voters who don't judge others based solely on race, religion or sexual orientation, who see diversity as a good thing. Then again, perhaps some people are incapable of accepting change.

[CuriousPerson]

Believe it or not, Indians are classified as part of the Caucasian race.

[BARRISTER]

CuriousPerson, you are wrong. Indians are of the Aryan Race, not the Caucasian Race!!

[Gatormouth]

Curious, I thought that what is now India was a originally mix of small nations of various ethnic/racial groups.

There are many diverse ethnic groups among the people of India. The 6 main ethnic groups are as follows.

Negrito, Proto - Australoids or Austrics, Mongoloids, Mediterranean or Dravidian,
Western Brachycephals, Nordic Aryans and others like the turkic Moguls

( http://www.webindia123.com/india/people/people.html )

...and some left over Brits and Portugese, of course.. All Indian now.

http://www.webindia123.com/india/people/people.htm

[wesinohio]

I think you mean that the Aryan language of India belongs to the Indo-European family of languages, and so is related to Greek, Latin, Persian and German, Spanish, English, French, Czech etc., indicating a shared cultural origin. On the other hand, the Dravidians and other ethnic groups in India, to my knowledge, do not belong to that linguistic family.

[PAposter]

Very good points, and I feel as you do about Bobby Jindal. Although, Bobby Jindal is a little out there, so the color of his skin could be way down on the list, but I doubt it, LOL!

[scornflakes]

We all know what they say about racial-minority-Republicans: "He's one of the good ones."

[Egalitare]

Whatever it is, you can be sure that Jindal shrugs it off as part of the price of admission into the club.

I wonder if he leans against the wall of the country club with a hot girlfriend, smoking cigarettes and making snide remarks about all who pass by....

[mamacat]

I suppose we have to pay a little bit of attention to what the right-wing nuts are saying, but really, my b.s. filter is pretty good, and I don't need anyone to point out to me what fools the lunatic fringe are.

It might be enought to just make a list of what lies and spin the Republicans are spreading on any given day, and then move on to the things that are important.

[awcbuddy8]

Lies? What lies? Is Obama not darker skinned than John Kerry?

[Dave01]

One problem. Obama doesn't have to go outside to be darker than John Kerry. His skin color is naturally dark. Hence it is NOT a tan.

Boy you dolts are out in full force today aren't ya?

[patmancando]

Actually, I didn't think this was a racial slur.. I do think that we are so "racist' sensitive.....they did it to Bill Clinton thoughout he primary. Lets just admit Obama is black and be done with it. But if you are going to attack the right on this basis, like the MSM did the Clintons, I really don't think the GOPhers are going to be bothered by these kinds of accusations. Now, I have subjected myself to charges from the O;s for saying something I think is true. Let me say it again, so there is no mistake about what I said: I think there is way too much sensitivity about race in this campaign. I think if we don't get past that, it will do all harm.

[Kalima]

I'm waiting for your JMc to start his speeches with, "I'm white............"
It would make about as much sense as your constant harping on
about colour. Oh, I forgot, for you Repubs, it's all about the colour
of someone's skin.

[MemphisBuffalo]

This is nothing. Just wait until the GOP meet for the convention. The hate pressure cooker will produce some real nasty and ugly stuff about him and his wife and children.

[BEHM777]

I don't believe that they will wait that long. McCain is such a hopeless candidate that I doubt they will be able to hold out much longer. Terror Alerts anyone?

[Mdazes]

I love America. But my biggest complaint about some white and some black Americans is that for some reason they act like race does not matter in America. The whites that think this way are usually he biggest racists on God earth and the blacks folks are usually Negroes that will sell their soul to the devil to be white. Hell the bible tell us that Solomon own sisters and brothers hated him because he had dark skin. I love America but it is not a color blind nation. Obama having black blood is a problem for some folks.

[PAposter]

Trust me, his blood is red, just like the rest of us.

[Mdazes]

No shit Sherlock. "Black Blood" I am not referring to color but to the relationship of a black person

[OlongapoEd]

Speaking of "Negroes that will sell their soul to the devil to be white," here is Walter E. Williams making a mind-boggling declaration:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/03/26/is_obama_ready_for_america

"The civil rights struggle in America is over and it's won. At one time black Americans did not have the constitutional guarantees enjoyed by white Americans; now we do. The fact that the civil rights struggle is over and won does not mean that there are not major problems confronting many members of the black community but they are not civil rights problems and have little or nothing to do with racial discrimination."

I've noticed that one way those on the right deal with charges of racially motivated rhetoric is to indignantly claim that you are "playnig the race card," as though there were no longer any real issues in the USA. Those on the right have to know that there are...it's mostly their fault!

Another thing...I'm beginning to strongly suspect that at least some of the angry rhetoric about Obama from so-called "progressives" on one of the blogs is racially motivated. I have tried to point out that politics is a dirty business in the USA and that any politician is necessarily flawed, but the good wittle pwogwessives don't want any of it...they just stick their fingers in their ears and shout "La, la la! I can't hear you!" (figuratively speaking, of course.)

[Mdazes]

Thanks for the link OlongapoED

[clearthinker2008]

His blood is literally black? That's how stupid you sound. I know of no "Negroes" willing to sell their soul to be white, but I know of some African American's who would sell their souls to be treated fairly.

[TimmySlagle]

"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?"

Gee, you mean that if Norquist hadn't mentioned it, that nobody would have noticed?

The true attack from Norquist, was comparing Obama to Kerry, not his pointing out something that even most blind people are already quite aware of.

[AdLib]

Said like one of the Repugg Klan.

[TimmySlagle]

And responded like a hardcore HuffPoster,

... with a childish slur.

[patmancando]

Actually, I think that was the intended insult.......elitist. Grover was just trying to be clever and cute about it, and it probably should have been dismissed for as that. This is going to be one long 4 1/2 months. The charge of elitism is a charge that the GOPhers used on both Gore and Kerry, and it worked with the beer drinking crowd.

[buzzygirl]

You should know. You speak it very well!!

[rinpochet]

I agree. I never thought this was a racist remark and as a white woman whose deceased husband was black and whose children are mixed, I am super-sensitive to it.

The slight was not that he is black, but that he is like Kerry, which of course he is not. They would love him to be like Kerry and not fight back at the right, but that hasn't happened and will not happen.

The racist remark was the "arrogant" one by Rove; another word for "uppity n***** t". Obama is supposed to know his place, in other words.

The real racist garbage is yet to appear.

[riverhouse]

It was a racist comment, clear as a bell. It tags you when you defend racism.

[TimmySlagle]

I didn't defend racism.

I pointed out that there was nothing offensive in Norquist pointing out Obama's complexion. It was if he had said: "he's just John Kerry with Big Ears"

It isn't even as bad as if he had said "John Kerry with a Muslim name."

Of all the offensive racist stereotypes out there, being "tan" is by far the mildest.

[Liberoservative]

In an email I received from Move On.....

"FOX must stop injecting racism, prejudice, and fear into our political dialogue. We intend to hold FOX, its advertisers, and its personalities accountable for FOX's attempts to smear the Obamas."

Clicking here will sign the petition:

http://pol.moveon.org/stopthesmears/o.pl?id=13009-9161767-LrISEex&t=5

Please help send a message to Fox News...
Thanks! :)

[macbabe]

better to boycott them all together, if everyone stops watching, sponsors will stop paying and they will cease to exist! ... how hard is that?

[PAposter]

....it ain't gonna happen, they are the highest rated news program, that should tell you something. We have to find another way, go after the money (sponsors).

[PAposter]

Thanks, Liberoservative!

[ProgressiveBum]

Done.