I was responding to jebdlmm's assertion that no other group has voted his way. WHile not all JFK voters were Irish American (after all, blacks voted for him too), the polls after the vote showed that among Irish Americans, he polled as Obama does. And it was close.

Yes, blacks are Americans, as are Irish Americans. And I'm 1/8th Irish, grandpop off the boat, besides being black. Over here, we of Irish descent call ourselves Irish. It is because of pride. I'm sorry that offended you. You misunderstood the reference. In the context, it was clear I meant Irish Americans.

On the other hand, to refuse to understand that Americans are monolithic, that we are not all of one culture, is not very savvy. To call all JFK white voters, as you did, gullible American simpletons is to underestimate the issues of that race, the way elections worked then, and what it meant. Ethnic Irish here were discriminated against. Catholics were discriminated against. It meant a lot to have someone from a discriminated group (and understand, the Klan's discrimination against ethnic immigrants and Catholics in the 1920s involved considerable violence, including lynching). Kennedy is a symbol of the decline of the prejudice against those groups. We have not had an Italian American president, nor one of Jewish ancestry. In this nation of millions, the uniformity of the etnicity of the presidency is telling of the hegemeny of certain groups.

I don't get why you went off like that.

Kid kicked the keyboard. OOPs.

Strange how the media goes crazy over a single ambiguous sentence from Obama, yet ignores all the ridiculous negative attacks from the McCain camp for the last two weeks.

Obama's not so stupid as to inject race into the campaign when it clearly does not benefit him. He's smart enough not to have spoken about race at all until the Wright controversy forced him too. I believe no accusation of racism was made in that sentence - I myself clearly did (and do) not see it as an accusation of racism. Nor do I believe McCain's ad was racist, for that matter, but ridiculous - and sadly, many will buy into that. In this country, popularity, among others (intelligence, oratory skill), seems to be a liability.

Tiger Woods is not an apt comparison of overcoming racial discrimination. If Tiger Woods came of age in 1955, no one would know who he is. Old golfers who suffered from various ignominies paved way for Woods. There was an absolute prohibition against black golfers on the PGA tour until the 1960s. Tiger Woods is a beneficiary of the Civil Rights movement whether he likes it or not. However, you give short shrift to Woods' appreciation of black golfers who came before him. Just listen to Woods when he talks about Charlie Sifford and Lee Elder who blazed the trail for Woods.

If Tiger Woods and Colin Powell have no racial issues to deal with it is because someone else did the dirty work for them.

...but his militant supporters sure play the hate card, as evidenced by many of the commenters here.

His supporters scare me more than Obama does. In fact, Obama is benign, IMO, but also inexperienced.

Obama is scary b/c of his history and record. That it is a record of left wing affinities and fringe associations with kook anti-American Reverends, unrepentant terrorist bombers, Marxist Professors and PLO officials cannot be dismissed or discounted.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with the color of his skin.

That is something the Democrats with their "identity politics” foisted upon us: The First Ever Affirmative Action Candidate for President.

His race should neither qualify nor disqualify him for office.

John McCain is not a racist personally, I am certain. But I am equally sure that he has allowed and encouraged his campaign to indulge in behaviors that are bigoted and which appeal to racists in our society.

When McCain says repeatedly that he thinks that Obama "just doesn't understand" about issue of foreign policy he invites his audience to agree that Obama is either uneducated, mentally deficient or stupid. When McCain continues to label Obama a mere "celebrity," he encourages the belief that Obama has not worked hard to get where he is, that he is just lazy and shallow. When McCain and his surrogates accuse Obama of being presumptuous or arrogant they are purposely using code words to recall the ultimate charge of racial scorn: uppity n****r.

McCain want voters to think that Obama is stupid, lazy, shallow, unfamiliar, and arrogant. In other words, McCain wants us to feel uncomfortable voting for Obama because he is black.

And that, my friends, is racism.

About two seconds worth of thought will clearly lead any sentient being to realize that Obama has nothing to gain by "playing the race card", and McCain has everything to gain by doing so. The campaign playing the race card is the campaign with the most to gain----McCain.

John McCain is a racist. Click on Nah Nope to read the proof.

The big question is why isn’t the media making an issue out of this? He routinely used the “g-word” to describe the Vietnamese. Forgivable? Read the post (or just Google it). It's not. He's a racist.

Why does the media protect John McCain?

They are underrepresented, but present at all levels of our system, including the white house, although not as President. There have been hundred, if not thousands, of golf pros, compared to less than 50 Presidents

I think you also stated he could have been vice president if he just waited his turn, really you wanted to say "Knew his Place" didn't you. First off saying there have been hundreds or thousands of black golf pros makes me know you know nothing about golf, or black golfers, as a white longtime golfer, I want to tell you, you are wrong and are you equating being a golf-pro who is someone who works for a golf course, they teach people and may or may not play professionally or semi-professionally, or a professional golfer, of which you can only name Tiger Woods as a black golfer, he hardly represents thousands, but you don't know what you are talking about anyway.

You want us all to know how much better black men have it then white women, well, again you are living in some weird parallel universe, where only heads in sand reside.