Yesterday, RJ Eskow was on our show and we had an interesting discussion of why so many people in West Virginia and Kentucky admitted to pollsters that they voted based on race. This is otherwise known as racism. It's also something that people are usually loathe to admit. So, why did 21% of the voters in Kentucky freely admit that race was an important factor in their vote?
It's because Hillary Clinton's campaign gave them permission to be racist. Let me explain.
Normally the race issue is a third rail in American politics; you're not allowed to touch it. But Clinton did two important things to change that paradigm. First, she turned it into a legitimate issue by framing it as a matter of electability. The argument is -- it's not that you wouldn't vote for a black guy, but knowing how you and others around you feel, you know the black guy can't win.
This argument has soaked into the Hillary team so much that I'm afraid they've actually come to believe it themselves. That's part of the reason why they can't let this campaign go. I keep hearing them say -- we can't let the party make this kind of mistake. It is profoundly disappointing to see them internalize this ultimately racist argument.
What's interesting is that the primaries allow them to make this kind of race-based argument. In the general election, you can't say -- don't vote for this guy because he's black. But in the primaries you can say -- don't vote for this guy because you know in the general election people will not vote for him because he's black. It's not that you're racist, wink, it's that so many other people are, wink.
The second way they gave their voters permission to be racists is by using thinly veiled code words like, "I'm looking out for people like you." The very thin veil on these code words was lifted when Senator Clinton flat out said she was looking out for "hard working white Americans." And presumably Obama wasn't. And why is that? You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand the implication that he wasn't looking out for people like them because he wasn't one of them.
So, when the voter in Kentucky stepped into that booth, he didn't necessarily think, "I'm going to vote against Barack Obama because he is black and I'm racist." He thought, "Hillary Clinton is looking out for people like me. Obama cares more about his own people. And besides which he's going to lose in the general election because who would elect a black guy as president?"
Voila, he has been given permission to vote based on race. Now, how many of you think that the Clinton team stumbled upon this phenomenon and how many of you think they understood this and took full advantage of it? Well, now you understand why so many of us are frustrated and disappointed with the way Hillary Clinton has run her campaign.
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She got overconfident and trivialized her competition and smugly told us about her "experience and leadership" when the voters were looking for change. Instead of the coronation she expected, Iowans gave her campaign a huge wake up call, and she's been staggering ever since.
So, it's not surprising how she played the race card. But, the problem is, it only works with the ignorant and uneducated, and with actual racists who would not have voted for Obama anyway. But that's not all she did. She changed masks as often as we change our socks. Two faced? Ten faced is more like it.
Now, she and her campaign are deep in denial, trying to overturn decisions that she agreed to. The hubris and spin doctoring of her campaign has set a new paradigm for future phonies to emulate.
It is a fascinating and disgusting thing to see. This is feminism? I think not, but she has set the movement back with the aid of people like Geraldine Ferraro and all the shills she sends on the TV shows.
Mr. Uygur's assertions are spot on.
That was great to see You and brother RJ together on the Young Turks, you guys were Spot-On. Agape.
By the way, did Wright call the Catholic Church the great whore? Did he say Hitler was God's servant in carrying out the Holocaust?
No bogus argument seems to be beneath you. Are you Karl Rove's avatar?
I'm still trying to figure out how come so many people think Pres. Clinton was so grand. There must be a lot of well-off upper middle-class people who benefited from Pres. Clinton but from my advantage/job, his policies, which seemed to me more Republican than anything liberal/progressive, hurt the population I work with: The poor, the disenfranchized, the mentally ill, special ed. children and their families, ..... you know, the ones who people don't care about until election time, if we're lucky. Yes, I'm glad the budget was balanced but guess whose back it was balanced upon?
Whether fair or not, if the Democrats lose this election, Hillary will probably be blamed and would she want that burden along with all this other "stuff"? It all makes me sad how Democrats started out so wonderful but has come to this Rovian fiasco. We need to do better than this.
Peace
Rather that focusing on "why can't Obama win the white working class vote," maybe we should be asking, "Why can'l Clinton win the educated whire vote or African American?" Well, the "eggheads" can be ignored and the African-Americans, they'll come back to Clinton in the general election.
Hillary "say anything, do anything" Clinton. It is so sad.
What took you so long to see the Clintons as they really are?
When I told you that the Clintons are nothing but political opportunists and would do anything and say anything to get elected you ignored me.
The Clintons do not care about the democratic party it is about Bill and Hillary and it will always be that way.
The democratic party is still trying to recover from the political losses of the 90's when the Clintons were in office.
The democratic party stood by the Clintons and ended up loosing seats at the local, county, state and federal levels. It is the Clintons who owe the democratic party rather than the other way around. Yesterday Bill was floating the idea of Chelsea running for president in 2016 and he is dead serious. Imagine Chelsea ready to be president at 36! I mean if Obama is not ready why should anyone expect Chelsea to be ready? The Clintons are serious about this; heaven spare us! I think all American are quite a bit exhausted with the Clinton and Bush political machines; for the good of the democratic party the Clintons, all three, should leave politics and never return.
The rip off's they've done, with taxpayers, government, foreign governments, Foreign bank accounts, they 'incite' the selfish part of the population "WOMEN VOTERS". Voting only for themselve, not their country. To think their vote should be counted as some kind of 'referendum' about women, is sickening.
We are voting for a President for all Americans. This woman is the most narcisstic, self-centered, grandiose failed candidate in history.
We need a woman in power that has substance, inclusive, strong in an intellectual way (not part of 2 for 1), honest. Hillary is like picking the rotten apple at the bottom of the barrel, like choosing a woman for the sake of all those that have been oppressed by men. You've got the wrong country.
American women have equal rights. Hillary wouldn't know a damn thing about a woman's worth. She''s been paid handsomely for screwing everyone. In fact, any other person would have been dismissed month's ago from the elections. NO Kidding.
The Women in many countries have little, here she is running on her 'I am woman, hear me roar" stand. It is an insult to women everywhere. She's using 'gender bias'.
a link to her being weak because shes a woman would have made more sense
I've heard the phrase 'feeling down' thousands of time in my lifetime and it had nothing to do with being a woman. You're either reaching or your ignorant. Which is it.