Letters to the Editor
KateTex
Published Letters: 615 Editor's Choice: 4
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@picko
[Read the article: Obama says Clinton ad "straight out of the Republican playbook"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You say: "All the timeline seems to prove is that Obama has been running a vigorous campaign against a political opponent."
How is it that when Clinton says essentially the same things about Obama she is characterized not as 'running a vigorous campaign' but rather as unfairly 'attacking' Obama, using 'kitchen sink' tactics, and running a negative campaign? Fair's fair, and this campaign season has been anything but. Obama's no choir boy, but he got away with the image long enough to get traction, primarily because the media were either asleep at the wheel or gunning for Clinton at the outset. If Obama accused Clinton of running a pedophile ring, the headlines might well read "Porno in Clinton past?"
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Y'all are insane
[Read the article: Fox News calls Mississippi for Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Someone above said: "Before Hillary started to go super negative the party of coalescing behind Obama, now Hillary and her cadre of bastards and bastardettes has thrust a giant knife in the party over race"
It was Obama and Obama alone who made this race about race. Didn't you get the bulletin about all the Malcolm X 'okey dokes', 'bamboozles', and 'hoodwinks' which comprised Obama's main message to blacks in MS (not to mention in SC)? I am thoroughly disgusted with this gleeful gutting of the Clintons, which is going to backfire big time. I lived through too much of this shite in New Orleans not to recognize it when I see it. Keep clapping yourselves on the back - all the way to the November guillotine and beyond. Enjoy the hilarity and spite while you can, folks, because you're going to have one hell of a lot of digging out to do.
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@josie
[Read the article: A look at exit polls from the Mississippi Democratic primary]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You say: "I think they should discuss why Clinton injected race into the race."
You just don't get it, do you? She didn't. He did. Sorry, but that's what the history books are going to say. Guarantee it.
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@baltimore
[Read the article: Fox News calls Mississippi for Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]From Media Matters:
"Mr. Clinton had noted that Mr. Jackson had won South Carolina in the Democratic contests in 1984 and 1988. Pundits and many in the blogosphere interpreted Mr. Clinton's mention of Mr. Jackson as an attempt to diminish Mr. Obama -- and what would turn out to be his landslide victory Saturday in South Carolina over Senator Hillary Clinton [D-NY] -- because Mr. Jackson had not gone on to win the Democratic nomination.
But Mr. Jackson said he did not see it that way.
"I don't read anything negative into Clinton's observation," Mr. Jackson said in a phone conversation late Sunday night from India...
In his conversation with Mr. Obama on Saturday, Mr. Jackson said, "He told me what Bill had said. And I said to Barack, as a tactical matter, resist any temptation to come down to that level. There may be temptations, especially when the media keeps saying 'Barack is black,' and they never said 'Dukakis is white' or 'Hillary is white,'' he said, referring to Michael Dukakis, who won the Democratic nomination in 1988.
But, Mr. Jackson said, "Bill has done so much for race relations and inclusion, I would tend not to read a negative scenario into his comments." He said his chief concern was that Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton not "bloody themselves" so much that they can't unite against the Republicans in November..."
Obama obviously didn't take Jackson's advice. Oh, that he had.
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@lordb
[Read the article: A look at exit polls from the Mississippi Democratic primary]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You say: "Okay. Help us get it. Please explain how Obama is solely responsible for bringing race into this election."
Obama all but pounced on the Clintons' remarks - which have been twisted out of all recognition, promptly but quietly seguing into his Malcolm X, talking-in-code act in SC, which NO ONE covered in the media. I found video of this depressing display on YouTube, Obama sneer and all. He repeated it today in MS. It's one thing for the guy to run for president and encourage fellow blacks to vote for him; it's another for him to encourage a complete trashing of the Clintons in the process and attempt to turn blacks AGAINST them. This he has done and if you can't see it, you're pretty much blind.
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@chhabili - Obama YouTube link
[Read the article: A look at exit polls from the Mississippi Democratic primary]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y7OFLl3asg
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@lord
[Read the article: A look at exit polls from the Mississippi Democratic primary]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You say: "He did use the words "bamboozled" and "hoodwinked" and yes, Malcolm X is quoted as using those words as well. Is that the black code? Is the assumption that Malcolm X has such a powerful grasp on the black psyche that any reference to him will stir up militant sentiments in black populations?"
There's no way anyone can look at that video, see the sneer on Obama's face, catch his inflection, and interpret it as anything other than Obama trying to portray the Clintons as racists. Who exactly, is the 'they' he's referring to here, if not the Clintons?
And yes, I lived in New Orleans long enough to know there is such a thing as speaking in code. It's not unique to blacks - whites do it, too.
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@KCM
[Read the article: A look at exit polls from the Mississippi Democratic primary]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You say: "In any case, I'm finishing up a PhD in US History, and I don't know anyone here in my program who doesn't think the Clinton campaign went hog-wild with the race card..."
Well, y'all may want to interview Jesse Jackson before you write any books, because he's on record as saying he doesn't believe the Clintons were being racist. He's also on record as saying that he believes the Clintons have done a great deal for racial relations in this country.
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@KCM
[Read the article: A look at exit polls from the Mississippi Democratic primary]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You say: "The question isn't whether the Clintons are racists. The question is whether they are political opportunists, and would resort to playing the race card if it thought it would benefit them. The answer, pretty clearly, is yes."
This makes no sense at all. What kind of strategy would dictate that you publicly denigrate blacks - some of your very strongest supporters, thus almost instantly mobilizing them for your black opponent? C'mon, the Clintons might be a lot of things, but they are hardly dim.