McCain-Backing GOP Senator Mel Martinez: Obama Did Not Play the Race Card

ABC News:

"I think we should be in a post-racial environment," said Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., a supporter of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., "I think Sen. [Barack] Obama has done an admirable job of that. I don't think he has race-baited. I think he has been very good about that."

Martinez made his comments to ABC News' David Puente on Thursday in an interview to run on Puente's show "Exclusiva," which covers Hispanic news from around the world and airs on the network's digital channel, ABC News Now.

Read the whole story: ABC News

Comments

[GrainOSand]

For purposes of context, and to support subsequent statements, a history of the playing card as object is provided.

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

Let us look at the concept of a manufactured object versus the end-use of same object. The race card suggests a card in a deck of cards that can be played as a tactic or strategy in a game. It could and should be considered ridiculous for manufacturers of a deck of cards containing a race card to find fault with anyone who would point out the presence of the card in the deck and its use in the games that are played. This is what Barack Obama did. He stated the game that is played and the cards that are used to play it. It is in his best interest to inform the public of how the deck is stacked with cards of disrespect and divide.

Barack Obama is not a manufacturer of cards (America manufactured racial divide not Obama) but he is a student of card games and thus is aware how a joker can be dealt from the bottom of the deck to sully the quality of what otherwise is a respectful game. Since he sees being elected as a collaborative effort involving a national community of the concerned, he simply sought to remind his team of the games that are played by the other side and how they might introduce (have introduced) a card with divisive and distracting properties.

[Ramirez]

Rasmussen poll on the playing of the card:
****

Only 22% Say McCa in Ad Ra c ist, But Over Half (53%) See Oba ma Dollar-bill Comment That Way

Sunday, August 03, 2008
Sixty-nine percent (69%) of the nation’s voters say they’ve seen news coverage of the McC ain campaign commercial that includes images of Br itney Spe ars and Par is Hi lton and suggests that Ba ra ck Ob a ma is a celebrity just like them. Of those, just 22% say the ad was ra c ist while 63% say it was not.

However, Ob a ma’s comment that his Republic an opponent will try to scare people because Ob a ma does not look like all the other presidents on dollar bills was seen as ra c ist by 53%. Thirty-eight percent (38%) disagree.

Both campaigns expressed a desire to move beyond the recent flap. On Saturday O ba ma backed off the ra c ism charge and accused Mc Cai n's campaign of cynicism instead. He also rejected Mc Cai n's charge that the Democrat himself had brought race into the campaign with his dollar bill comment.

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I apologize for the format.
Names altered and link omitted to facilitate posting.

[unionave]

"O" was saying what the GOP is thinking about using the old tried and true race issue . The GOP will not give us their plans with the WH because the mess we are in was engineered by the GOP . (WALL STREETS's POLITICAL ARM) The normal MODUS OPERANDI of the GOP is to point , accuse , blame , and this is one they must win so the old race card , race book , race pages , and race air waves will be cranked out 24/7 until our brains are completely washed clean of any ability to think about the mess the GOP has put us in .

[armadillious2002]

Well what do ya know? An honest Repub - don't find many of them around any more.

[riverhouse]

O*bama cannot allow these vaguely racists attacks to go unchallenged. Race is the elephant in the room and if he allows these shadowy race tinged ads and campaign comments to linger unanswered. When race is addressed up, front people who might have doubts about a black president have to confront their doubts instead of allowing racism to cling to the shadows.

[Okieborn]

I use to be a big fan of Meet The Press, "NO MORE" !!
This morning Tom Brokaw proved once again that he is either predjudice or a Republican or both.
Tim Russert would be ashamed !!
Mr. Martinez has not been on cable news , so evidently they are playing the hush game and hope his opinion on the race card issue will go away, since he is for Sen. Obama.

[Big0725]

My I say this with complete contrition, I am sorry that the citizens of my state have yet again embarrassed themselves by sending such a dolt to Washington. I hope that this problem will be rectified with the 2010 mid-term elections.

[Spud777]

Great post Big0725, thanks for your insightful and intelligent thoughts.

[Spud777]

Senator Mel Martinez has been a totally ineffectual politician since his "coat tails on the republican party" election. His constituent services are almost non-existent, his office rarely responds to letters sent to him. He was fired from his ancillary "job" as head of the RNC due to incompetence. He is just lucky he is not up for reelection in November 2008 (he would be gone in a New York Minute). He is now starting his pandering and history revisionist re-election campaign in the hopes that his miserable record as a Senator from Florida will be overlooked and forgotten by November 2010.

[JJeff88]

It's refreshing when a political surrogate resists the temptation to gain-say for his candidate, regardess of veracity and, instead, deals the cards face up.

[MPeter]

The Daily Kos has a nice montage of the MCBush lies. Even the usually deranged MSM seems to have reached a consensus on how dishonest this man really is. here, scroll down and take a listen.
http://dailykos.com/

[ebanks84]

So true. That just goes to show not everybody believes macdaddy's version of O race baiting.

[brwnizofmine]

Why should someone's race be a way of scaring people? What does that tell others about this country? To be honest, it's scares me every time a person like Ronald Regan or GWB gets elected president. I don't think they have my best interests at heart. I"m not afraid of them because they are White, I'm afraid of them because they are Republicans. Why would we be afraid to have a Black man elected President?

[MPeter]

Because old school politicians, particularly the MCBush generation and their party have perfected the game of divide and rule. It is a very sophisticated way of Rethugs playing the Aryan race superiority card without seeming to be KKK. They claim to play the race card without being racist. As far as I know, MCBush is playing the race card because he is both racist and cynical, not just cynical. Any time you put a dumb blond woman next to a Black candidate, a lot of bad history is conjured up, always to the benefit of the White candidate. That is why MCBush needs to be confronted any time he pulls race and blonds but claims that he is being humorous. There is no humor in that.

[ebanks84]

My goodness, a babe in the woods speaks. Bless you child, for you know not of which has been spoken for eons about blacks. They are supposedly shiftless, lazy, unintelligent, bad people who do crimes against other people like rape, they steal from other people, they shoot people, and they don't pay their bills. So, since they do what others DO NOT do, you should be AFRAID! Get it?

[lexnekst]

They're not really afraid BECAUSE he's black. They're afraid b/c they don't want a Democrat in charge.

And they know that his race is the easiest thing they can use to get the base riled up (i.e KY, TN, MS, GA) - Just wedge-driving 101 from the Asshat School of politics ( Formerly the Rove building)

[brwnizofmine]

Thank you Senator Martinez!

I would really like to know how "O" can play the race card, when he is half White and half Black. Sounds silly to me!

[rasthedestroyer]

it's like were all in H.S. how can we be expected to be taken seriously after DUBYA and now McStumbles i'm headed back to JA

[StillAmused]

Signs of intelligent life in the outskirts of the GOP... notify the media!

[ebanks84]

Sorry, nothing in site yet:)

[InfosolutionWiz]

SMART Response From and Out Sider Republican because of his position on IMMIGRATION

I LIVE HERE IN BROWARD COUNTY FLORIDA and I THINK Mel is one of the Better Republicans That Even A Lot of Democrat Support! His Response is Accurate and Smart Because Democrats is Regestering Voters at a Rate of 3 to 1 and he is going to need some of that support to keep his seet!!

[ebanks84]

If it is still allowed in this country, you can pick candidates from either party. And I hope Mr. Martinez wins because he espouses good sense and knowledge of what is going on in this country today.

[Marichu]

The senator from Florida is a politician. And as a politician he wants to stay in office so he will say what he needs to say in order to keep his job. If the republicans were a little stronger in the polls he would not be so considerate of BO. But because the tide is turning he knows what must be said in order to mollify his constituents.