Jimmy Carter: Wilson comments 'based on racism'

[garbon]

Agreed.

[C.C.R.]

If you are at a dinner party at that house of an African-American, and you ask your hostess for a drink, is that racially loaded?

A martini?  Probably not.  A mint julep?  Probably so...

[Ed Anger]

Sen. Sherrod Brown booed in Dayton
Remarks dealt with race, Pres. Obama



DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN - A talk by Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown is interrupted by boos in Dayton when the subject of race and the President comes up.

It happened during the Senator's appearance at the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce Friday morning, Sept. 18.

The reaction was triggered when Brown answered a question from the crowd about his thoughts on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's statement that she was concerned about some of the language in the current political debates.

"I think some of the animosity toward Barack Obama is race-based," said Sen. Brown, a statement the crowd met with boos.

"That just again proves to me that Pelosi was right because you booed that."

Brown said many of the problems in the country like the financial crisis and the budget were inherited by President Obama.

Afterwards the chamber president apologized to Brown for the emotional response from the crowd. Brown said he's used to much worse.

During the event, protesters stood outside on Fifth Street with signs and shirts reading "fair tax" and "stop the mob."

Brown did exit the stage to applause, and the majority of the crowd responded politely while Brown talked about other controversial issues.

I'd boo Sherrod just for being a dork.

[The Minsky Moment]

Calling someone a racist in an effort to ignore their argument is as reprehensible as actually *being* racist.

What if there is no argument?

[Berkut]

Calling someone a racist in an effort to ignore their argument is as reprehensible as actually *being* racist.

What if there is no argument?

Then there isn't any need to slander them as racists, now is there?

[CountDeMoney]

Tomasky said this (and more).  I don't wholly agree, but I think the thrust of his argument is correct:

But right or not, Carter wasn't being strategic, and it's a classic kind of no-win statement. I've seen a thousand of these kinds of situations over the years, especially when I covered politics in New York City. Whenever a liberal tosses out a charge of racism, the other side demands "proof". And since everyone has learned by now how to code and calibrate their language so as to stop just at racism's water's edge, there almost never quite is proof, even in extreme cases.

...

But conservatives get to claim the high ground when a liberal charges racism without stone-cold proof. Early on in the campaign, Obama said something about some people being against him because of the colour of his skin. He said it in a kind of offhand way, and it was obviously a true thing to say, as the later appearance of the Obama monkey dolls one sometimes saw at the McCain-Palin rallies would prove. But because Obama had no hard evidence at the time, conservatives were able to say that it was Obama who'd injected race into the campaign. And in the narrow sense, they were, however infuriatingly, correct.

The thing is, and what most of our learned, knee-jerk ZOMG AM I RASCISS Languishians fail to understand, is that racism is simply more than overt, stone-cold acts, and there is as much racism in the passive nuance of the Wilsons or Rush Becks or "Big Guvmint". 
Much like the continentals and their WHAT? US ANTI-SEMITES? attitudes--after all, if they're not stuffing Jews into cattle cars and ovens, then it's not anti-semitism, right?--then if we're not lynching the darkies or making them pay poll taxes, it's not "really" racism. 
Well, that's bunk.  Carter's called it like it is, whether people want to acknowledge it or not.

[Admiral Yi]

fail to understand

Yeah, we just don't get it.

[CountDeMoney]

fail to understand

Yeah, we just don't get it.

You don't.  You just don't. :shakesheadindisappointment:

[Warspite]

Jesus. And I thought late Yugoslav politics was bad. 

[garbon]

The thing is, and what most of our learned, knee-jerk ZOMG AM I RASCISS Languishians fail to understand, is that racism is simply more than overt, stone-cold acts, and there is as much racism in the passive nuance of the Wilsons or Rush Becks or "Big Guvmint". 
Much like the continentals and their WHAT? US ANTI-SEMITES? attitudes--after all, if they're not stuffing Jews into cattle cars and ovens, then it's not anti-semitism, right?--then if we're not lynching the darkies or making them pay poll taxes, it's not "really" racism. 
Well, that's bunk.  Carter's called it like it is, whether people want to acknowledge it or not.

I'm glad that you are another whitey crying about racism directed at blacks.

[CountDeMoney]

I'm glad that you are another whitey crying about racism directed at blacks.

Now is not the time for division, my brother.

[Warspite]

I'm glad that you are another whitey crying about racism directed at blacks.

Now is not the time for division, my brother.

Together, we got power. Apart, we got pow-wow.

[garbon]

Now is not the time for division, my brother.

What have you done for me lately?

[Scipio]

It isn't necessary; it is failure of leadership.  The GOP is a leaderless party and the McCains of the party have completely lost control to the radio and TV talk show crowd.  When the de facto leadership of a major political party is more concerned about Nielsen ratings than public policy, that is going to have a corrosive effect on public life.

In theory the Democrats should be more organized since they have an obvious charasmatic leader, but for some reason Obama has adopted this cool detached approach, and so the moveons slip into the vacuum and clowns like Carter come out of the woodwork.

The reason the Democrats are not organized is that they are Democrats.

[CountDeMoney]

Now is not the time for division, my brother.

What have you done for me lately?

Embraced diversity.