Last week when Cokie Roberts attacked Barack Obama on ABC's This Week for vacationing in the "foreign" and "exotic" land of Hawaii, suggesting that he instead visit lovely Myrtle Beach, most of us just assumed she was shilling for John McCain. But, it turns out, she actually wasn't shilling for the Arizona Senator. She was shilling for something entirely different. Just watch.
I think all of us owe Cokie an apology. We thought ill of her when she tried to paint Obama as the elitist and exotic candidate, instead of McCain with his privileged upbringing, eight houses, and forty million dollar plus net worth. Little did we know how wrong we were.
So, allow me be the first. Cokie, I'm sorry.
And you'll be happy to know, I just booked a late summer getaway at lovely Myrtle Beach, South Carolina! With it's pristine beaches, golf courses, fine restaurants, and exciting nightlife, I think you'll all agree, Myrtle Beach truly is "America's Beach Playground".
Disclosure: This blog post brought to you by The Myrtle Beach Tourism Board.
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We expect journalists and pundits to do better this year and we are going to call them out on it if they don't.
I come from rural, western South Carolina (thankfully I was smart enough to get the hell out there) and let me tell you that for people who don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on arline tickets, and who only get one week of vacation a year, even Myrtle Beach is somewhat exotic.
It hasn't worked so far, that is, through the primary season, and with any luck the American people will wake up and see it for what it is -- a pack of fabricated racist lies and nonsense.
Of course, both Hillary and Bill Clinton have been diminished by having wallowed in that filth.
As for Cokie Roberts, she's got a lot of nerve to repeat that garbage, unless either she has an agenda or is more stupid than I thought. Since Obama actually spent some years when he was a child in Hawai'i, why the hell shouldn't he vacation in (drum roll, please) our 50th state (look it up).
To 'shill' is to advocate, etc.: 'to act as a spokesperson or promoter'.
If you're a native of Hawaii, surely you ought to vacation there every
chance you get. Even if you're not, for that matter.
Of course had he went to Texas instead of the big H, I guess the media could ride him on not going to visit his grandmother.
The media has its own interest. I remember that when I read what they write.
I went home to San Antonio until my parents died, and now I live in Hawaii. We don't have sewers or city water. We catch rainwater and filter it. We don't use a garbage disposal....the rinds go outside to become mulch. MANY of us grow our own vegetables. And we are everyman and woman. All colors, all religions, many different languages. We are Hawaii, the Land of Aloha.
There is nothing 'elitist' about us. We are like settlers on the frontier....connected by friendship, sometimes by faith, but with the knowledge that we are alone out here, 2,500 miles from the mainland. We saw what the government did for New Orleans. We know no one will come to help us. We understand the facts of life. And we are THE Obama state. We accept anyone....any color, any religion, any sexual preference. We are THE free world.
What makes Myrtle Beach a "place of aspiration for real Americans" and Hawaii some exotic destination for "elitists". For that matter, what makes a "real American"? Is there some "Congressional Committee on Real Americans" that publishes the guidelines?
I've been to Hawaii several times, nice place, but it hardly seemed "elite" to me.
Does this matter to me? No.
I think the Cokie thing is the left finally standing up, and saying that we're not going to let these little assumptions go unchecked. Especially when they're false.
Back on planet earth we are just talking about a guy and his family who wants to go home for a vacation. Everybody want to go home and home is Honolulu -- not some foreign land but the good ole United States of America. Obama's life will never be the same after he wins the Presidency he should have some time to take stock of that fact and have some private time with his family.
It's one of the many false narratives of this campaign.
Cokie Roberts (nee Boggs) hails from New Orleans, Louisiana where BOTH of her parents were Congress critters.
Her daddy was House Majority Leader Hale Boggs, and after he disappeared [Cessna 310 with Representative Nick Begich of Alaska, disappeared during a flight from Anchorage to Juneau], her mama, Lindy Boggs, was the first woman elected to Congress from Louisiana.
I betcha she ain't even ever been to Myrtle Beach.