Monday, August 04, 2008

The Right Wing Attack Machine and the Race Card


Sen. Barack Obama last week attempted to defend himself against subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) racist attacks from the Right by telling an audience that "They're going to try to say that I'm a risky guy. They're going to try to say, Well, you know, he's got a funny name, and he doesn't look like all the presidents on the dollar bills." Oh no
he di-int!

In response, Rick Davis, campaign manager for Sen. John McCain, said "Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It's divisive, negative, shameful and wrong."

Oh, puleeeeze. This is the kind of projection Freud would be quite proud of. To be sure, whether directly or indirectly, everyone from Camp McCain to the GOP to conservative talk-radio hosts have been playing the race card since Day-One. What do you think the Rev. Wright scandal was all about, simple incendiary rhetoric? The imagery of an angry, unpatriotic black preacher against that of a supposedly angry, unpatriotic black presidential candidate was not just intentional, but exploitative of Americans' worst fears about race. How come there was virtually no major backlash or outcry over McCain's relationship with Rev. John Hagee? The leader of the 19,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Tex. has said the Nazis "operated on God's behalf" in driving Jews from Europe to Israel. He's also called the Catholic church a "great whore." I guess when it's white-on-white it's allright.

Or how about the fiery race-baiting ad created by Floyd "Willie Horton" Brown before the North Carolina primary that describes the murders of young people killed in Chicago gang violence and concludes by stating that Sen. Barack Obama, while an Illinois State Senator, voted against the death penalty for gang members convicted of murder. Not about race, you say? What was the ad about then, Chicago's terrifying Jewish street gangs?

Or how about the attack ad last Spring produced by the North Carolina Republican Party which featured Wright's "God Damn America" speech in an effort to align Obama with the two Democratic candidates for Governor, Bev Purdue and Richard Moore, both of whom had endorsed the Democratic presidential hopeful. Hence, don't vote for them because they support Obama, the supporter of an angry, black, unpatriotic, hateful preacher. Not about race, you say?

Or how about the non-stop attacks on Obama by Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity and others in the right-wing media? Hannity uses the words "radical" every three seconds to slyly imply that Obama's nothing more than an angry black man with "radical associations." I don't recall, even in the highly contentious '04 campaign, hearing the word "radical" used--and used so often--to describe Sen. John Kerry.

Or how about Bill O'Reilly's constant lapsing into Stepin Fetchit-talk when he discusses Obama? Funny, I don't hear any black slang from him when he discusses McCain.

Or how about Sirious Satellite Radio's Andrew Wilkow who weeks ago pointed to a NY Times photo of Michelle Obama and commented how 'mean and angry' she looked, and that if she were a teacher her students would be frightened. Not an image intended to conjure up an angry black woman, you say?

Obama was 100% right when he refered to "they," and the picture "they're" trying to paint of him. The race card's being played allright, but not by Obama. Let's not confuse playing the race card with pointing out the playing of a race card. Just as the media insists Obama acknowledge the "success" of the surge while they give McCain a free pass for voting for the war and inaccurately predicting we'll be greeted as liberators and that Iraq's oil will pay for it all...the media is now choosing to turn a blind eye to the rampant racism that clearly still exists in America while vilifying a black man for defending himself against it.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Clinton started the Rev. Wright Scandal, not the GOP.

Clinton surrogates were the first to spread the "Obama is a muslim" rumors.

Obama has played the race card multiple times during the Primaries and the General Election - usually as an offensive tool because he knows white people will run from it.

The Messiah first used his race card offensive about his funny name in June.

""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?"" --Barack Obama June 20, 2008

Now, the Obama campaign is claiming that Obama was not referring to his race when he declared that he "is not like all the other Presidents on the dollar bills". Well, he clearly was mentioning his race in June 2008 when he first tested the reaction to those statements.

Anonymous said...

4:03,

Rush Limbaugh began playing the song "Barack the Magic Negro" over a year ago. To my knowledge, not a single GOP candidate for President denounced this clearly racist stereotype and attack on Senator Obama.

Since February or March, Sean Hannity has routinely asserted that Barack Obama is a racist.

In February a McCain staffer was fired for circulating a ridiculous video designed to fan racist fears about Obama.

David Gergen, who is no liberal, went on "This Week" Sunday and flat schooled Jake Tapper and George Will about the racist undertones via code words utilized in McCain's "The One" ad.

My goodness, only someone who has been miraculously able to avoid the primaries and campaign so far could make the claim race has not been injected into this campaign by the right.

It's been SOP for the GOP for over 40 years, people. Ken Mehlman apologized for it three years ago but he's no longer the head of the party so the beat goes on.

Anonymous said...

4:47,

Is your pacifier firmly re-inserted? Good.

Now stay away and let the adults have a conversation.

Anonymous said...

OBAMA BEWARE! THE GOP HAS FINALLY UNLEASHED THEIR ATTACK MACHINES. NOW IS THE TIME FOR YOU TO UNLEASH YOUR MILLION$ TO COUNTER ATTACH
THESE PARASITES AND NEUTRALIZE THEM BEFORE THEY CAN HAVE THE UPPERHAND.

Anonymous said...

Gotta love Jonathan Alter's new piece at Newsweek on McCain: http://www.newsweek.com/id/150477

My favorite line is the following:

"For a man who will turn 72 this month, he’s a surprisingly immature politician — erratic, impulsive and subject to peer pressure from the last knucklehead who offers him advice. The youthful insouciance that for many years has helped McCain charm reporters like me is now channeled into an ad that one GOP strategist labeled “juvenile,” another termed “childish” and McCain’s own mother called “stupid.”"

Man, oh, man. First the Wall Street Journal, now his own mother drops the "stupid" bomb on him.

Anonymous said...

Poor Bill Clinton is out there defending himself against Obama's labeling of Clinton as a racist.

This is what every American will be subjected to if The Messiah becomes President.

That dirtbag Ostroy is falling right in line. A few months ago he was calling Obama an empty suit on this very blog.

Anonymous said...

Heres the real problem. The GOP doesnt really see anything wrong with racism but its a useful took to denounce those nasty libs. Does anyone remember how the present day GOP got its start? Think Lindon Johnson and the Civil Rights act that caused almost the entire Southern delegation to leave the Democrats for the GOP where the south has remained to this day.

Anonymous said...

"... GOP doesnt really see anything wrong with racism..." - This is the first sign that your head is up your ass

"...but its a useful took..." - This is the second sign that your head is up your ass

The GOP got "its start" on March 20, 1854 which is well before Lyndon Johnson. - This is the third sign that your head is up your ass.

Three strikes and your out, Anonymous 7:20 AM. Try pulling your head out of your ass and come back tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

8:36,

It's a damn shame you had to go and provide more evidence that the Republican Party revels in its ignorance.

The Pope of Pop said...

I wish Obama was radical. He is just another underqualified, overconfident candidate, running on "hope" - the Kennedy comparisons are quite accurate. Kennedy ran to the right of Eisenhower, claiming the general was soft on communism, then floundered around for a while. His mediocre legacy was obscured by his murder. Unfortunately for Obama, he won't inherit the same empire Kennedy did; foreign adventures and the domestic policies of Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush will hand Obama an empty shell. Hopefully Obama at least will not be able to re-establish the hemispheric hegemony which is surely near the top of the agenda for both parties. Bush pinning the US down in the Middle East has created unprecidented opportunities for economic and political development in South America. If we aren't careful, we might even lose Mexico to capital development and democracy! Then where would we be? You tell me.

bama-mama said...

Barack Obama is a very smart man. He realizes that his opponents are trying to win by scaring the simple-minded, white voters. He knows that when they say they don't know him, what they really mean is "I am afraid that being black, he will use his presidential power to even the playing field for blacks." That is the FEAR they have. All they can think of is "Oops; pay-back time." They are counting on the fact that those voters would rather have 8 more years of Bush, and the old white guy, than risk having to live like black Americans have always lived since they were drug from their homeland and enslaved. That's what they mean when they use the "code word", RISKY.

But Obama is smart. He knows what he has to do--and he is doing it. He pretends not to notice the "code words" and continues being positive--(ARROGANT and UPPITY is what it is being called). He knows that those are code words for "not knowing his place".

Go right ahead Obama; continue being confident, and truthful, and your own man. No, you are not like Colin Powell, and Conde Rice, the token pawns of the Republican Party. I guess they know their place.

Anonymous said...

Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, Levin,
spend most of their days on talk radio attacking obama. making fun of obama, implying that he is an idiot and on and on.

How do they get away with using their radio shows for nothiong more then to attack obama, discredit obAMA, thereby convincing their listeners to vote for Mc Cain.

Senator Mc Cain is clearly begining to show the mental signs of aging. furthermore he supports the same rupblican policies that have put this nation into debt never before known, repbulican policies have led to the federal governrment having to bail out the financial system. a vote for McCain is likely a vote for the draft ( or at least the argument can be made to that effect ) and yet these radio guys spend their time attacking one man. obama!
it sickeing to have such men , especially limabugh and beck ( one an opiod abuser and the other an alcholic. these men are allowed to go after obama. these are bad men!