Letters to the Editor
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Watch the Hillbots squirm.
Lets be honest here, those of you who support Hillary and are arguing that the statement wasn't racist: The reason is because you either agree that black Americans aren't hard working, or you are trying to bend yourselves into pretzels to defend yourself on all the other statements where you accused Obama's campaign of playing the race card.
Hillary lost the black vote not simply through Obama suddenly looking viable - she lost is through running a campaign that marginalised every voting block that constitutes the Democratic "Safe" core. That is what this statement did, it marginalised every person who isn't an uneducated blue collar white person in America.
Obama's support, Obama's campaign and Obama himself didn't have the ability to shove those words in her mouth. If you contrast the two campaigns, you will find that when Obama has praised McCain, he has said Hillary would still be a better president. When an Obama supporter called Hillary a "Monster" she appologised and resigned.
Can one say the same thing of Hillary's campaign? No. Ferraro resigned saying that she fully believed in what she said. Hillary Clinton twice stated that McCain was the better candidate than Obama.
And now finally, Hillary has said something that goes beyond the pail. The press didn't do this to her. The Obama campaign didn't do this to her. She did this to her.
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Hey folks, Rome is burning you know
Racism spacism, pretty soon black people are going to be irrelevant because everyone is going to be poor and out of work. Also, Hispanics are the new black vote--and unlike blacks they tend to vote Republican because for the most part they do not like handouts. How do you like these tidbits? Am I a racist?
HELL NO. I am a realist. And if you think that Obama has not said the same thing in closed door meetings you are 100 percent WRONG.
Hillary and Bill Clinton are not racist, but this truth is as irrelevant as racism soon will be. Poverty will be the new ism, and many of you who think you are immune will be getting quite the comeuppance--and deservedly so.
Barack Hussein Obama is a wanna-be-zillionaire with a very, hmm, global outlook. He has no intention of helping America, unless you mean helping himself to America's largess. When you support, defend, and vote for him you are pounding the nails into your own coffin.
STOP it when you still have the chance to vote for someone that actually cares about you. Who knows when this too will fade and become history.....
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@Jeffersonian
"...She sounds like David Duke. I know she's not a racist, by any definition, nor is Big Bill with The Big One, but they are Machiavellian to core. She'll say anything to peel away some super delegates. Anything. Imagine what they say in private. Disgusting...."
Actually, it could be argued that what Hillary Clinton [and Bill, as well] is doing is no different from what Bill's home state governor of the '50's, Orval Faubus, and Alabama's George Wallace did.
Both Faubus and Wallace were, at various times at the beginning of their respective careers for state wide office, keelhauled on the question of race. Both men were--well, relatively speaking--progressives on matters of race and, actually, populists who championed the "little guy". They knew blacks in their states and had cordial relationships with black leaders. And, both got "out-segged" in contests and lost. That is, they were branded as veritable "nigger lovers" and racial accomodationists by opponents who went on to beat them in elections for office, in their respective states.
What did they do in order to rescusitate their political careers? They vowed never to be "out-segged" again and, in effect, rode "segregation, now; segregation forever" to the highest office their states had to offer. Blacks and others who knew Faubus and Wallace have said and will tell you, today, that both men had cordial relationships with blacks and had the capacity to entertain progressive ideas, ala Lyndon Johnson, about schools, roads, other infrastructure buildup and cooperation between the races but each man took the low road to fulfilling their respective political ambitions.
Questions of race, like matters of economics vis a vis inflation, have to be viewed in the context of events and the passage of time. Given that, how does an honest observer, as I assume even Joe is [given his rightful defense of and steadfast belief in the Clintons dating from the days of Bill's administration], view Hillary's current utterances and activities?
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@Taliesan
"...Hillary lost the black vote not simply through Obama suddenly looking viable - she lost is through running a campaign that marginalised every voting block that constitutes the Democratic "Safe" core. That is what this statement did, it marginalised every person who isn't an uneducated blue collar white person in America...."
Bingo
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Good to see you selling out so quickly, Joe
Look, I maintain the basic outlines of the Iran comments were not "obliterate," but reaching out for a new strategic policy as we withdraw from Iraq. You can kneel in obeisance all you want, Joe. They'll throw you under the bus anyway, because you said nice things about the Clintons. Too late. Welcome to being 2008's Susan MacDougall.
The "racist" comments? What kool-aid have they been offering to you, Joe? You got a new master now? The racism was all race-baiter from the Obama camp, with the intent to bottle up Bill and make it impossible to criticize the opponent in any way, because somehow they'd get race out of it. "Saying I'm inexperienced, huh? Racist!" The Obama camp simply repeated the canards that the right had prepared for them, and the big name millionaire pundits agreed from the start, and the liberals never did like the Clintons much. Give it a rest about the "legacy." In two years, nobody will remember the mugging of Hillary Clinton. She'll have a career in the Senate, and who knows, politics is a funny business.
Now, that worthless fool Russert, and his buddy Matthews -- that's where the finger-pointing should go.
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@AKA Smith
AKA Smith: "I am tired of the sexist attacks and I am tired of being called a racist or people claiming that I don't understand a goddamned fucking thing because of my "white privilege." The whole damned lot of you can piss off!"
For a moment I imagined you were British. ("You can piss off! Bollocks to all of you!")
I just want to point out a few things:
(1) You seem angry. Don't be angry. I don't want you to become the female Hulk. You'll ruin your shirt.
(2) You are tired of sexist attacks. That is fair. You also call people "sexist." Sometimes you call people "sexist" when they're not sexist. That is objectionable.
(3) Others are tired of racist attacks, or attacks with racial undercurrents. That is fair. Some of those people call people "racist." Sometimes they call people "racist" when they're not racist. That is objectionable.
(4) Both #2 and #3 above are true. We should all be careful when we accuse others of an "ism." You don't like being called racist for no good reason. So don't go around calling people sexist.
(5) I don't have a 5. Oh yeah, I wanted to say that I think you and lolcait have some good points. I think we can all give Hillary Clinton the benefit of the doubt, that she didn't mean to say something that sounded racist. Try to understand, though, that many of us have given her the benefit of the doubt (lateagain, brunhilde), and we're making points beyond that. One such point is simply that this is a bad time for Clinton to speak carelessly, and it's unfortunate that she hasn't done more to clarify what she was saying. Hillary said "hard-working" instead of "working-class," and then she followed that with "white" in a way that could be interpreted as an appositive instead of an additional adjective. So she left it open for misinterpretation. Remember what Obama did when he was misinterpreted on his "bitter" remarks? He corrected them. I think Clinton should do similar damage control. Who knows, perhaps she will.