Sunday, August 31, 2008

Y'all a Bunch of Racists

By now I'm sure you've heard the main Republican attack against Barack Obama. Immediately after Obama's acceptance speech on Thursday night, CNN had the following headline: GOP says Obama's set is too much.

Seriously? That's all you got?

The attack is this: "The Temple of Obama. Barackopolis. Egobama."

And it's echoed across the internet and all conservative media outlets.

Yes, the biggest Republican attack against Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama is that he's an uppity black folk.

Seriously. You ever met a politician who didn't have a healthy sense of ego? You got any measure of how he's supposedly more confident than your average presidential candidate?

You should all be very, very ashamed of yourselves.

12 comments:

Kelly said...

Yes, that's bad.
I guess that's all they could come up with.
They need to learn more from the democrats about ripping people down. Like the sites and blogs accusing Sarah Palin of hiding the true identity of Trig. There are thousands of people gleefully analyzing Palin's teen daughter's midriff (many of them women) at the Daily Kos.

They didn't want to stop with the sexist attacks on Palin, they wanted to destroy her daughter's self esteem too. This coming from the "pro woman" camp.

I sincerely hope that Obama's daughter's never have to deal with something like this. They probably won't though, the democrats are on their side.

I think it's interesting that you link advice on interior decorating with racism....what do you want to call the sexism?

Unknown said...

Saralynn, I'm going too change the subject. You know first hand the emotional challange of finding out your baby would be disabled. Well, I know the emotional challange of finding out your young daughter is pregnant and that her future potenial is challanged. So now we hear Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter is pregnant and her response to all this is bright and cheery and out signing autographs. I seems to me there is something very self centered and unhealthy about this woman. She has now exposed her daughters pregnancy to every tabloid on the newstands and every gossip show on radio and television and doesn't seem to care at all about what damage this could do to her. Every inch of privacy for this family is gone and she seems to celebrate her own celebrity. Something is very, very wrong here. I cried for days about impact on my daughters life...and it did indeed make for a very difficult journey...and ...am I wrong? Is not something sick going on here?

Kelly said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Homer said...

Kelly, the New York Times and the Washington Post are reporting that Sarah Palin's daughter is pregnant right now.

Palin knew about this before she accepted John McCain's offer. She knew that her daughter would be dragged through the tabloids. The 17-year-old girl is now planning to get married. It makes me sad that this has happened.

Kelly said...

Sorry, yes I removed my second post as it was confusing. I was talking about the Daily Kos article, which tried to establish that the Palin's youngest son was not Sarah's, but the daughter's and it was accompanied by many photos and postulation that were tasteless rumour mongering. Obviously they were lies.

stljoie is talking about this new story. I'm sure there are many teens and their moms who can identify with this story.

No one likes hearing this type of thing happening.

Obviously they stick to their convictions.

Sarahlynn said...

I like to put up one post per weekday, and when I get ahead I just schedule them to post themselves the following week. I wrote this particular post during the convention, and now I'm wishing that I'd posted it right away even though it would have meant double posting all last week.

I think it's unfortunate that this issue is getting swallowed by controversy over the Republican VP nominee and her family, because I think it's a very important issue that I haven't seen discussed elsewhere.

Kelly, there's an important distinction to be made here between the media, the paparazzi, and the campaigns. There is a huge difference between paparazzi photographers/gossip rags and the sort of campaign a presidential candidate chooses to run. Candidates wish they could control all the press, but they can't.

For example, in 2000, McCain was sweeping up the early primaries and was way ahead in South Carolina. Buzz was, he was about to clean the clock of the governor from Texas who was the son of a former president. Then Bush staffers did a push poll of South Carolina voters: Rove invented a uniquely injurious fiction for his operatives to circulate via a phony poll. Voters were asked, "Would you be more or less likely to vote for John McCain...if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?" This was no random slur. McCain was at the time campaigning with his dark-skinned daughter, Bridget, adopted from Bangladesh. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080128/banks

The Democrats are hardly above reproach when it comes to dirty campaign tactics, but nor are they worse than the Republicans. Far from it. And while you're welcome to blame all the media attention directed at Palin's teenage daughter and her pregnancy on the Democrats, the fact is that in today's media environment, it's what happens. Obama neither caused the crisis, nor has his campaign contributed to the media attention.

The whole situation makes me sick. I'm so sorry for the pregnant teen. I can't believe she's going to be thrust into the national spotlight at this difficult time in her life.

I don't support anyone "gleefully" crowing about it. The irony, however, is unmistakable. It's bigger news when a a family values, Christian coalition pastor is caught with drugs and a male prostitute than when, say, a rockstar is in the same position. If you're campaigning on family values, then your family's values are going to be scrutinized. It's the record you're running on.

We should never, ever lose sight of the personal aspect of this situation, though. I hate that it's a political issue that Palin's son and Biden's son are both deploying to Iraq in the next couple of weeks with the military. (I give credit, however, to the Obama/Biden campaign for not mentioning it or making political hay about it, even during Beau Biden's speech at the convention. I assume the Republicans will follow suit.)

These issues are not without political ramifications, and they can and should be discussed respectfully, but people's lives are at stake, here.

(Regarding the folks who comment at The Daily Kos, they're hardly spokespeople for the Obama/Biden campaign any more than the pro-McCain conservatives who comment on every single online newspaper article I've seen about the Clintons lately, posting about how disgustingly "ugly" Chelsea Clinton is and making horrifying personal attacks about her.)

Blaming the Obama/Biden campaign for Americans noting Palin's daughter's pregnancy is ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as suggesting that the Democrats are the party most known for dirty campaigning. Are you familiar with the terms "Swift Boat" or "Obama Nation?"

StLJoie, and Homer, I agree. As a mother, it breaks my heart to think of either of my daughters going through a situation like that . . . and to invite public scrutiny during such a difficult time is beyond my ability to comprehend.

Kelly said...

Yes, I understand the distinction of sources. Unfotunately the ones that bubbled to the top of public attention were the stage and the rumour.

I do have to admit I found the setting for the Obama speech to maybe be a wee bit over the top if was wanting to appeal to the regular, struggling folk. The visual display didn't convey a tone of party restraint, which may have been an effective and subtle pairing for his message.

Obama's reaction to the Palin news was....classy.

Sarahlynn said...

It certainly was: Obama says Palin's family off limits

And the campaign source confirming the pregnancy to the media? "An aide to Sen. John McCain who asked not to be named."


Obama didn't personally design his stage, and it's not at all out of keeping with what's typical of such events. So you didn't like the set. Reasonable enough. But how is that relevant to official Republican charges of "egomania" about Obama? That's hardly rumor, Joe Republican popping off at The Drudge Report; it's a campaign attack. And it's hardly limited to the setting for Obama's convention speech. Feel free to Google for cites.

Stushie said...

I never saw any racial comments, Sarahlynn, about the stage design until you raised them in this blog.

I'm a Republican, but I also have been a stage designer. I didn't think it was over the top or uppity. I watched and listened to the speech from beginning to end, and enjoyed the whole spectacle.

Crittle said...

I just came across your blog today and I'm enjoying your point of view. It's amazing how folks can be so different and have so much in common at the same time...and I appreciate intelligent debate, so yeah, I'll stick around. Who says we all have to agree on everything anyway?

Unknown said...

Yes your post was important. Fox news cannot say Barack Obama without adding the Hussien...as if there haven't been many honorable Husseins in history. They put out the youtube with Baracks face on the dollar bill and Mt Rushmore and when he responded to it by saying his face was not like others on dollar bills they accused HIM of playing the race card...they carefully didn't put the ad on tv...but it certainly was approved by McCain. And if you don't believe how dispicable they are..go here and see for yourself... http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0geu_J5sLxIYSQAsn5XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTBzbWFxZGlyBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA0gxODZfODM-?p=obama+on+dollar+bill&fr2=sc-sb&fr=ybr_sbc&vs=youtube.com&ei=UTF-8

Sarahlynn said...

Stushie, my point is that those "egomania" attacks are racist, even if they're not explicit. "Uppity Black Folk" is a term with a very heavy historical weight in American society, and that's exactly the charge that's being leveled at Obama.

Welcome, Chrystal! I enjoyed the brief moments I spent at your blog this evening, too.

StlJoie, that's sad. Awful.