It is truly amazing how so many are just fixated on anoutdated black/white dynamic. I must think that Asians, immigrants from Africa, and Hispanics must be shaking their heads.
I thought things were way out of hand when I read From Burke to Kirk and Beyond... post Am I a racist? After what seems like a thousand silly accusations of racism relating to race this week alone we now learn
SKINNY EQUALS RACISM!!!
Rod Dreher of the Dallas Morning News and of Crunchy Con has more on that at McCain's secret weapon: Crazy White Liberals
It is hard to police your own but it must be done. We Republicans and conservatives did a horrible job of doing that during immigration reform debate. So called conservative yahoos would for the 100th time have another picture of McCain in Mexican headgear or talk about how Hispanics were a danger to the Republic. The problem is a lot of hispanics and Latinos were reading that stuff in emails. talking about it over lunch ,and did not find it amusing. We lost tons of hispanic vote in 06 as a result
In 2004 the liberals wrote really hurtful things about Republicans and Conservatives when we had our convention in New York. In the weeks before the Election we were reading what the Democrat voices were saying about us. I recalled a excellent post by MAXED OUT MAMMA that hit on this days after the 2004 election and I found it again tonight. She said in part
I don't perceive the mass of the US as fundamentally divided. The party structures might be, but after all political differentiation is their reason for existing. I may be totally wrong, though, because I don't understand the reactions of a lot of the national Democratic pundits. I was surprised at NPR's coverage yesterday, and I'm going to listen to more radio to see if I can get a clue. This overwhelming blame of Christians for Kerry's defeat is more than a little frightening. Trying to strengthen your party by demonizing one of the largest denominations in your country seems just a touch unstrategic, as well as unfair. ..........
Furthermore, the rhetoric they used in this war was likely to truly anger and disturb anyone who had any respect for Bush. Bush's support was extremely high after 9/11, so this made for a broad umbrella of denigrated potential voters. Is this the Democratic "big tent"? Nor were the slams, the extreme allegations, and the rage confined to the sideline organizations and chat groups. No. In the south, we're talking about people like Madelaine Albright, who speculated that Bush had Osama Bin Laden stashed away somewhere and would produce him right before the elections. We're talking about all the rumors that capturing Saddam Hussein was a fake - that the US had had him for months and had produced him when it was politically convenient to do so. We're talking about Senator Joe Biden announcing that Bush was brain dead, and Edwards remarking that you had to be an idiot to vote for Bush. We're talking about various editorials and commentary observing that fundamentalists in the US were essentially the same as Islamic fundamentalists, and claiming that the real war on terror should include stamping out certain religious beliefs in this country.
We're talking about the fact that independent recounts in Florida showed that the 2000 election there was truly close, but not stolen or illegitimate - yet it somehow became McAuliffe gospel that Bush was an illegitimate president who had stolen the presidency and subverted the Supreme Court.
Do you know what all this looks like to the people I work with, shop with, and talk with? They think the national Democratic leadership has gone insane. They think their local Democratic politicians are just fine. Unfortunately, if this sort of rhetoric continues their local Democratic politicians are going to switch parties.
Some of my neighbors may have high school educations, but they read newspapers on the internet. The days when an article or editorial written in the New York Times denigrating their religious beliefs (which don't include killing gay people, by the way, or shunning them, or excluding them from their churches) would not be read and understood in the small town where I live are OVER. Long past. Ancient history. If the Democratic party decides in the wake of the 2004 election that it must turn its despair upon religious believers, it is doomed as a national party. ......
What is the point of me bring these thoughts from 2004 back up? The point is this current craziness also seems to be a slam on many Americans (for instance us racist southerners as we are often portrayed) . THis nonsense is read down here and elsewhere. Welcome to the internet world!!! Newsflash it has increased since 2004
Regular people (aka voters) read Obama supporters saying that McCain is sending race based messages to us by having Paris Hilton in a commercial and now learn that that even that talking about how thin Obama is some JIM CROW like code.
What are they the voter thinking? They are thinking (1) are these people nuts , (2) do they actually think this way of me and that I am racist , and most important for you Obama supporters (3) Do I really want to buy into this for FOUR LONG YEARS.
Be concerend about number 3. Picking a President is a very personal choice for many because the President is in your face 24/7 through the news, Late night TV, and popular culture.
I would suggest this current tact is not productive.
Update see Obama Supporters Have Evidence of McCain's Racism
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