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Cindy McCain Is No Baby Mama


Or Laura Bush. Or Barbara Bush. Or Hillary Clinton. Or myself.

Why?

We're white.


As discussion swirls around 'fist-bumps' and so-called 'news stations' labeling the next potential First Lady as 'Obama's Baby Mama' let us all be very clear: racism is not ok just because it's on Fox.

It is not ok because it's in West Virginia or Kentucky. It's not ok because it's part of the culture or the heritage or the geography.

It is certainly not ok as the caption on a major cable news network, regardless of their 'right' leanings.

I may be as white and suburban as Cindy...strike that...maybe McCain's first wife is a better example, either way I KNOW 'baby mama' is certainly not meant as a term of endearment.

I'm sure Mr. ProducerMan at Fox News thought maybe tagging it under 'Outraged Liberals: Stop Picking on Obama's Baby Mama!' would blame this on Democrats or maybe just 'progressives.'

Nice try asshat.

What part of 'we are not stupid' do you fail to get?

Let's also be clear, the 'blogger' you see in the clip, Michelle Malkin, would be branded a 'baby mama' far quicker than I ever would. I wonder how she feels about this racism and sexism going on as she sits and spins for the GOP that uses her skin color to gain credibility with minorities? (yes, GOP, we see what you are doing)

Oh wait, apparently she thinks it's ok because Michelle Obama has been treated with kid gloves and allegedly used the term 'baby daddy.'

She's kidding, right?

Sadly, she is not kidding.

Here is what that half of America is missing:

This has nothing to do with feeling the next first lady is 'off limits.'

I expect everyone within an inch of Senator Obama be scrutinized.

I also fully expect Michelle Obama can take care of herself, and do not for one second worry the media is too hard on her or the right-wing bloggers too nasty. I get the distinct feeling Michelle Obama would and will handle herself as I would expect any strong, American woman.

Any strong, American woman who's not a Republican, anyway.

What I will not do, however, is sit by and watch sexism and racism on national news. THIS woman might moan and groan over feminism and Clinton, over which supporters are voting McCain and which are too angry to kiss and make up with the Democratic party, but just as we called-out sexism with the Senator from New York, we are calling it out with the rhetoric surrounding Michelle Obama.

Let's ask that producer if he would put the caption 'Bush's Baby Mama' under First Lady Laura Bush. Of course not, because Laura Bush is white.

Maybe Fox News would consider 'Trailer Trash Mama' under their next First Lady caption?

Or would THAT be offensive? Playing into stereotypes?

Of course it would.


How about a 'McCain's Stepford Wife' under the next Cindy McCain story?

Of course not, Fox would never dream of anything so crass and offensive while labeling the woman who could be the next First Lady.

Yet Fox is fine with 'Baby Mama' as the words describing Michelle Obama.

Why?

It's called racism, sexism, and it is as clear as Rupert Murdoch's bias.


Yes, Stefania at MOMocrats has it right:

"Just who do you think your audience is, Fox News? A bunch of 11-year-olds? Didn't you forget to call her Obama's 'boo' as well as his 'shorty?' /eyeroll It would be so easy to get outraged by this, but instead these tactics make me howl with laughter, because it shows that the right is scared out of their minds. Yesterday's 'terrorist fist jab' is today's Obama baby mama. Tomorrow will bring something worse, but it ain't gonna make their cause look any better. The Republicans are are going to get handled come November. This I know...

In the immortal words of Kimora Lee Simmons, MOMocrats co-founder Stefania Pomponi Butler 'will beat a bitch's ass' for messing with our country's next First Lady."


Updated: Liza at Culture Kitchen gives us a back ground reminder on Malkin.


Erin Kotecki Vest also blogs at Queen of Spain blog, BlogHer.com, and MOMocrats.com. She thinks Fox News can suck it.


 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
pcplz
just a lil ol' lady with a mind.
12:40 PM on 06/13/2008
I think it is all rather funny and transparent! Obviously they can't find anything real to go after so they are really reaching...like Saturday Night Live. Now they are searching for papers written in high school or college. Just wait until they find out that she used to wet her pants when she was a baby!!!

They don't have to label Cindy....her dear husband already did with his c*** remark. Don't think that I am in agreement with this. I am not. I believe that the ladies should be left out. We sure didn't have Barbara or Laura pursued like this.
11:35 AM on 06/13/2008
Michelle is a classy woman. It will be nice to see a black woman who is smart and strong in the WH. Finally, someone who looks like me and millions of others. Yeah, what do you say Clinton supporters? I'm sorry to say, that because the white woman has long been held up as "virtuous" and black women and "less or not/virtuous", (ROTFLMAO, just writing this) the only women who will support Michelle are true democrats. Nice to see kids in the WH too.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
sugarmoes
what doth life?
11:13 AM on 06/13/2008
you asked if their audience is 11 year old boys? yes. it is. all republicans seem to have the mentality and maturity of, at most, 11 year olds.
11:12 PM on 06/12/2008
Why haven't we heard from Hillary's millions of women supporters on this one.

I thought they were AGAINST SEXISM, and the Baby Mama caption covers both sexist and racist sides.

I really want to believe that Hillary's supporters were GENUINE in their support for women, and NOT JUST HILLARY.

Why haven't they come out in droves to defend Michelle Obama?

What say you millions of defenders of women? WHAT SAY YOU?
12:58 AM on 06/13/2008
i don't think all of hillary's supporters feel this way, or only hillary's supporters...

but there are many self-labeled feminists who do not consider a woman a woman until she is white.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
IslandGyal
08:57 AM on 06/13/2008
hello
11:32 AM on 06/13/2008
Yeah, Erica Jong?? Where's your outrage, sadness, etc. now, huh???

I'm listening . . . . . . .

Thought so.
10:00 PM on 06/12/2008
Its going to be a long, smelly, election season. The mudslinging from here on out is bound to get very, very, heavy from the Right Wing's white collar Klansmen with the assistance of their Swift Boat buddies. These criminals plan on getting as racist and socially divisive in their comments towards Obama as FOX' shock troops and the poll numbers will allow. What else can they do? They do not have one successful thing to point to with justified pride or reasonable sense of accomplishment, so we better get use to it.
07:54 PM on 06/12/2008
why do people really watch fox news??? i cant stand watchin those guys talking trash all the time...i never watch fox news and will never do so and the american people have realised such network is a bogus and that is why even their ratings has gone down...just let them do their thing and we'll do ours
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
hankandted
07:54 PM on 06/12/2008
Great post! Just as we condemn the sexist comment about Clinton we have to condemn the sexist/racist comments about Michelle Obama.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
TooLooze
Someone should do something about all the problems
07:42 PM on 06/12/2008
Apparently, racism IS ok if it's on FOX. I'm sure USA Today's headline won't be about it. The right wing media will support FOX and the MSM will ignore it.
06:12 PM on 06/12/2008
What exactly is a "baby mama"? Is it some kind of ebonics term of endearment?
07:52 PM on 06/12/2008
At the very least it means a woman who isn't married to her babies father. It also has the connotation of a woman not married to the father and who has no relationship to the baby's father. It also means a one night stand that results in a child and the mother is the baby mama. Not matter what it means, it is racist and sexist and has no place on a "news network". It doesn't even apply to Michelle. Fox continues to sink to new lows when it comes to Obama.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjvNSpsPu1k
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XME
Life is hard. After all, it kills you.
08:56 PM on 06/12/2008
According to the news, it's a racial term for a woman who's the unwed mother of a guys kid...usually ones he has nothing to do with!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
plafayette
Rehabilitation Counselor
05:47 PM on 06/12/2008
This is despicable and outrageous! Is there anyone left alive that cannot imagine why Michelle might say, “For the first time in my adult life I feel really proud of my country”? As a potential first lady standing out in the public where people are likely to have many opinions about you, positive and negative I’m sure the Obama’s are not overly thin skinned when it comes to these attacks. However, this must also be viewed in the larger scope of what other African Americans and people of color – not in the public arena- must confront and live-with every day from people who are insensitive to, or uncaring of the pain of stereotyping and racial slurs. Sadly, too many white people are not willing to be honest about the level of racism that still exists in their homes, workplaces, and social circles. Please let’s not all point to W.V. and other southern states as the sole culprits of racism – most of these poor folks haven’t the reach or the power to affect the behavior of a major news network, and fortune 500 companies where there is not only a glass ceiling but a very distinct color line. Sure we are allowed to cross it every now and then (affirmative action) but there is very little welcome and a hard way to go for “making it” to the top.
anon004
With this moniker, you were expecting a picture?
09:05 AM on 06/12/2008
Actually, I think Cindy McCain is more of a trophy wife than a Stepford wife (she steals recipes from the food network instead of inventing them herself). I am loving the fact that people on Faux News are becoming unhinged with regard to Obama's candidacy. Keep it up, guys!
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thisoldbroad
I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist
05:28 AM on 06/12/2008
Well said!!!!
05:43 AM on 06/12/2008
i concur
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
blaqntelligence
09:41 AM on 06/12/2008
As do I.
The repubs know their end is near and are desperate. No more feeding off the bodies of Americans.
Insult to injury: This country is waking up and demanding answers. No more cowering behind plastic and duct tape while those war criminals rape this country and loot its treasury.
People are angry, hurting, grieving over lost loved one, grieving over lost homes, jobs, people are struggling to feed their families, keep homes heated, keep gas in their cars.

Oh yeah, as so many posters here have said: Republicans, you're goin' down......