120 Comments

1. Michael J. Totten:

What would Marcus say if Condoleeza Rice were the Republican nominee and conservatives accused liberals of racism and sexism for supporting a Democrat?

Oct 9, 2008 - 10:42 pm 2. Colette:

He’d just call her an Uncle(Aunt?)Tom. She wouldn’t be considered an authentic black candidate. People like this Marcus get to define color how they want to. Anyone who challenges them is a racist, even if they are African American.

Oct 9, 2008 - 10:57 pm 3. David Thomson:

Shucks, please allow me the opportunity to play the role of devil’s advocate. Why are so many Democrats discriminating against Eskimos? Sarah Plain’s husband and children are all part American Indian! Don’t these red skin people count? If not, why not? How many people know that John McCain’s adopted daughter Bridget is dark skinned? Also, Asian-Americans rarely, if ever, are considered “victims’ deserving the advantages of affirmative action policies. What’s going on? I am getting very confused.

Oct 9, 2008 - 11:02 pm 4. ChuckO:

Two thoughts for the genius Marcus:

1) Clearly, it is you who are racist. If you refuse to concede that Obama’s background, and his refusal to be open and honest about it, are not legitimate areas of inquiry and criticism, and if you see any such inquiry or criticism as being racially motivated, then your capacity for rational thought has been swallowed up by your raging bigotry.

2) They’re not theories, they’re facts. There’s no doubt that Obama had significant involvement with Ayers, Rezko, Wright, ACORN, etc. Furthermore, it’s not guilt by association, but guilt of association. It’s not that Obama is somehow complicit in the words and deeds of the upstanding citizens with whom he fraternizes; it’s the fact that lacks the basic, common sense judgment to realize that these people are toxic.

Oct 9, 2008 - 11:30 pm 5. California Dreamer:

Roger and ChuckO, you are using Big Words with a person (Marcus) who only has a Small Word Vocabulary. Please stop wasting your breath and bits on the lowest common denominator of a thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening thread.

Better to discuss the statement “We’re nearing the end of a bloody political campaign.” In the bright light of a fine Friday morning tomorrow, we still have 25 days to go. I submit that 25 days is A Long Time. Many things can happen. Old video might surface, college transcripts may be found, the Green Bay Packers could be registered to vote in Virginia, and Tina Fey may be upstaged by the Real Thing–on NBC no less.

It ain’t over ’til the plump female sings.

Oct 10, 2008 - 12:02 am 6. bogie wheel:

According to Reverend Wright, that would be “CondoSKEEZA Rice.”

As bad as the savaging is that Pres. Bush has taken over the past eight years, I somehow suspect it rather pales against the savaging that black Republicans and independents have taken from the left, including those who are supposed to be their brothers and sisters, for far longer than that. Dr. Rice and Clarence Thomas have taken a lot of public hits. Larry Elder wrote a column about the constant hate mail he gets. Hang out at some black-authored political blogs and you can learn a whole new vocabulary from the commenters … nice, uplifting words like “coonservative.”

This is the inevitable result of identity politics … one very ugly mad tea party, with semantics that are reminiscent of a Lewis Carroll story. “Black,” “feminist” and “racist” mean exactly what the leftist elite say they mean, no more and no less.

At least when conservatives say that a person’s character, values, and ideas about government are the most important qualifications for inclusion in the conservative movement, they are being truthful. That IS what matters most … not race, not gender, not any of the other outward signifiers.

Do ideas matter to leftists? As one candidate puts it, You Betcha. Enforcing ideological purity is done with the torch-and-pitchfork ferocity of a band of angry peasants chasing Frankenstein’s monster into the murky forest. Ideas matter. Except when skin color or having a vagina matters more. Except when these don’t matter as much as the ideas. Which of course are only authentic coming from a person of Certified Victim Status. Or one who has ranted (or, in the case of Ayers, bombed) his/her way into the trust circle of those with Certified Victim Status. On and on the mad tea party goes.

If the ‘bats and ‘bots won’t be honest with themselves about why they are voting for Obama, I really don’t expect them to grasp why others are not voting for him, or to believe even the most clearly stated of reasons that have nothing to do with race.

“Know thyself,” as the old saying goes. If you fail at that, your chances of truly knowing anyone else are radically diminished.

Oct 10, 2008 - 12:17 am 7. LYNNDH:

Yeah, I am getting very tired of being labeled a racist because I am a white, male, Republican, not voting for BO. Everything is now “code words” for racism. On O’R tonight on Fox had a segment. Just how bad will it get when BO is elected?

Oct 10, 2008 - 2:21 am 8. teejay:

I’m also very tired of being labeled a racist because I’m a white female, not voting for Obama – by blacks here in NC who are voting for him simply because he is black. When asked why they’re voting for him, their answer, almost every time is, “We need a brother in the White House.”

NC is traditionally a Republican state, but I’m a bit worried this year because of this attitude. Not to mention, some questionable voter registration I’ve been hearing about…

Oct 10, 2008 - 2:33 am 9. Barry Dauphin:

The avalanche seemed to relate to the Ayers issue. Lots of things have been discussed concerning the candidates from economics to foreign policy, but the creatures of the night swarmed over Ayers. If it wasn’t orchestrated, it was a good imitation of orchestration. It also resembles, pardon me, typical commie tactics. That is amusing because of what views Ayers has held and the means by which he has expressed those views. And, judging by his cutesy relationship with Hugo Chavez, he’s still the same old girl he used to be (apologies to the Eagles).

The times are quite risky. The country is in a panic over finances. We would be in a panic, even if it weren’t election season. Panics can be used to justify all kinds of “change”, even radical change. Although there are a number of grown ups in the sphere of Obama (e.g., Robert Rubin and Larry Summers), there are a lot of unknowns as well. A landslide electoral win and a 60 seat majority in the Senate is a lot of clout. When Reagan ran, some were scared about whether his plan would work and whether he would be too bellicose, but people knew what he wanted to do. What exactly does Obama want to do, other than win the White House?

Oct 10, 2008 - 3:54 am 10. gm1000:

Apparently 100% of black Americans are going to vote for Obama insuring his win

racist behavior i’d say

Oct 10, 2008 - 5:10 am 11. TexasDude:

Can’t supporters of Obama just come out and say that they can’t vote for a honkie, a white bread candidate?But, we all know hat blacks men like their white chicks, so we know that Palin is OK, just that whitey McCain is the problem!

Oct 10, 2008 - 5:11 am 12. hermie:

Harry Reid made the racist accusation, regarding Franklin Raines, one of the architects of the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac implosion. The books were cooked. The Congress knew they were cooked; but he got away with multi-millions.

Martin Luther King longed for the day when we would look at the content of a man’s character, rather than his skin color. A crook is a crook, no matter what color he is. However, the Dems have decided that the color of a man’s skin is more important than the content of his character. Which is why Rangle, Conyers and Jefferson will remain in Congress, and Raines will find a place in the Obama Administration.

Oct 10, 2008 - 5:20 am 13. Michael Smith:

Predictable, wasn’t it, that the first use of the “n” word would come from an Obama supporter.

Oct 10, 2008 - 5:33 am 14. Larry J:

All these claims about racism boil down to an attempt to impose prior restraint on free speech. I refuse to allow them to box me in. I oppose Obama because he is unqualified, inexperienced, and has bad policies and judgment. He has never accomplished anything significant in his entire life. He has no meaningful executive experience. He is without a doubt the least qualified major party candidate for president in my lifetime and perhaps in our country’s history.

Now tell me, what part of that is racist? Call me a racist to my face and thing will get very unpleasant very quickly.

Oct 10, 2008 - 5:39 am 15. Mikey NTH:

Good news-you win. Bad news-you have to do it.

And that is a problem I have with Sen. Obama as a candidate. Since he left school, I don’t think he has taken a difficult task to a successful conclusion. Once you are president you are it for four years, and no, you cannot vote ‘present’.

Oct 10, 2008 - 6:12 am 16. hermie:

Unfortunately, I’m an Illinois resident, and I’ve had Obama as one of two of its’ far-Left Senators.

Obama was a cypher when he ran for the US Senate. He had nothing to show for his years in the statehouse, and someone who was supposedly a ‘leader’, his name rarely was mentioned when it came to issues of state finances, taxes, spending, etc. When it did, it was usually to prop up the Daley Administration.

As a US Senator, he claims credit for a lot of things, but there is nothing to show that he actually put any effort into it.

He has skated by on his looks, charm and oratory, but he has never shown leadership.

Oct 10, 2008 - 6:50 am 17. Neo:

If the current polls become reality, I wonder just how the Marcus’s of the world will react when a President Obama is subjected to the same level of scorn that President Bush has had to deal with.

It isn’t just the war that makes people hate Bush, and it won’t be just Obama’s blackness that will have people hating him. Give ‘em a year or so into his term and the Black community will be trashing Obama too, but perhaps that will be because Obama is white too.

Oct 10, 2008 - 7:30 am 18. Webrider:

Yeah, “Marcus” could never give credit where credit is due. Frankly, I bet that if Colin Powell ran on EITHER party’s ticket, he would get elected hands down. Why? Because he is a proven leader with a history of thoughtful efforts about major problems, not reacting to whatever the polls say in the last fifteen minutes. In other words, he’s what Obama is not. He is a leader with executive experience who has shown he can make a decision and stick with it due to his principles, not fear.

Oct 10, 2008 - 7:32 am 19. hermie:

Neo:

There will be scorn as well as laughter, but the MSM will never report it. The burning pictures of a President Obama will never make the pages of the NYT, unlike those of President Bush which were somehow ‘newsworthy’.

Oct 10, 2008 - 7:45 am 20. Mike A.:

Nikki Fink wrote an article, linked on Drudge, about how South Park had an episode with Spielberg and Lucas raping Indiana Jones. She said that it was racist. Racist has no meaning any longer. My dog is racist; my cat is racist; my computer is racist. See? It has no meaning any longer other than it means that you disagree with the Left.

Oct 10, 2008 - 7:52 am 21. SilentWatcher:

I’m black, and I’ve been called a racist just cuz I don’t agree with the pro-Obama politics of a white guy I know. The level of moonbattery on the Left is astonishing! They have poisoned the well of political discourse to such an extent that no one can have a civil conversation with them. They all seem to be so reflexively post-modern that words have no meanings other than the ones they gave them to make their point. So, what did I do when the guy called me a racist? I told him that I rejoice and revel in the name because I know he used it to force me to a groveling apologetic response to his charge. No surrender, no retreat.

Oct 10, 2008 - 7:54 am 22. Vinny Vidivici:

Larry J boils it down for me.

A vain, aloof President Obama would make a particularly poor leader at this juncture of history, and would likely be a one-term president. My concern is what gets left in his wake that we won’t be able to fix once he’s gone — the bureacrats, federal judges and supreme court justices with lifetime sinecures.

We already have enough people at the State Department, in our intelligence agencies and in our judiciary working against this country’s interests. Imagine the all naive, needy, one-worlders populating an Obama administration.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:10 am 23. Clint:

“It augurs terribly for the national mood if McCain actually happens to win in November.”

And even worse if Obama wins.

The disruption if McCain wins will last a few weeks. If Obama wins, we’ll hear these bogus racism charges every time Republicans oppose Obama on anything.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:11 am 24. davidingeorgia:

Mr. Simon, you say, “It augurs terribly for the national mood if McCain actually happens to win in November.” – it augurs pretty darn terribly for the nation if Obama wins, on that and a number of other levels…

secondly, why does the “racist” nonsense never come up when, election after election after election, blacks vote for any black candidate they have a chance to vote for by margins usually exceeding 90%? why don’t black voters get asked about being bigots when their voting patterns are *much* more suggestive of it? (yes, this is a rhetorical question).

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:15 am 25. formertucsonan:

I would urge Marcus (and others like him) to consider that there may be reasons to oppose Barack Obama other than the color of his skin.

But they won’t understand that because the reason they’re voting for Obama is the color of his skin. You know, social justice and all that.

If Obama’s father had been a Swede named Magnusson would he even be on the ticket? I think not.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:15 am 26. Vinny Vidivici:

On the bright side, charges of ‘racism’ will soon be as meaningless charges of ‘fascist’ — generally recognized as a rhetorical ploy used in the absence of sound argument, or to dismiss or silence an opponent. Very liberating.

Come to think of it, I think we may have arrived there already.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:16 am 27. LSD:

SilentWatcher:

Your comment illustrates that people like Marcus presume that folks agreeing with Roger’s blog are typically white. This prejudice is not supported by evidence, it only reveals his own bias and his mean little spirit.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:17 am 28. AlanR:

Yet when 99% of African Americans vote for an African American candidate running against a non-Africn American candidate in a democratic primary or general election no one notices. Look at election results from Boston, Chicago or Philadelphia. You’ll find that white ethnic voters are far more likely to support an African American candidate than African American voters are to support a candidate of another race. And if the candidate of another race is a republican, the bias and discrimination is complete. But this isn’t racism. What would you call it?

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:17 am 29. David Ross:

To those who keep posting that blacks are voting for Obama because they’re black: I won’t call you racist, but I *will* call you ignorant. You clearly have no contact with the average black person. I’m calling you out, idiots.

Blacks voted overwhelmingly for Kerry and for Gore before him. You have to go back to Eisenhower to find a Republican whom blacks supported. Frickin’ Senator Robert “The Dragon” BYRD would get 90% of the black vote.

The only effect Obama has on black support is on black *enthusiasm*.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:18 am 30. Webutante:

Radical racists aren’t willing to hear what you’re saying, Roger, and that’s part of the hard times ahead.

Heard someone say recently that this may be the first presidential election in history that the winner demands a recount.

Thought that was funny in a time that a few good laughs are as hard to come by as winning stock.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:25 am 31. Jonathan Silber:

The ideology that, over the last fifty years, has truly harmed the American Negro, is not racism, but liberalism.

By way of one example, consider that Negro families remained intact until the sixties, when welfare handouts and other Liberal policies of paternalism, treating grown men and women like helpless children, began to disintegrate the families.

And the mortal threat to the great traditions of American liberty, law, along with the prosperity they make possible, is not Islam, but again, Liberalism.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:28 am 32. rosie:

We have spent the past six months listening to how racist we are. It will absolutely not end if Obama is elected – because he is the racist.

If you are tired of being called a racist – vote for McCain. We’ll hear the same screed for a while – but at least it can’t possibly go on the entire Presidency.

It is time to get on with the business of cleaning up the House and the Senate – Obama is a “rascist” distraction.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:31 am 33. srlucado:

Obama’s career has been predicated on the notion that any criticism of him is racist.

He has gotten where he is not by playing “the race card” but by playing the entire race deck, counting on it to stifle any investigation or critique of his views and alleged achievements.

And let’s face it, it’s worked.

Scott

P.S. Not everyone is fooled. Check this out, a young black who’s also voting Republican:
http://mx.youtube.com/watch?v=KxhYampIl7A

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:31 am 34. Paul:

Racism is just one category of bigotry.

Bigotry is basically failing to see individual humans and only their identity group, and judging them as inherently inferior to oneself and the group to which one belongs.

By far the most blatant bigots in my day to day experience are “liberals” and their absolute vicious hatred of Republicans and conservatives(and white people-Western civilization in general. The Nazis or Jihadis hatred for the Jews is no more intense.

Liberals believe the ridiculous notion that they are tolerant and more highly evolved and thus they give their “justified” hatreds a pass.

We all see the tone at Daily Kos and DU. That is the face of murderous and genocidal hatred, no different than any other in history….people drunk with the notion of their own superiority and infallibility and enraged at the presence of “the other”.

Naturally these people project racism and bigotry like crazy.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:35 am 35. Jbl:

FLinging accusations of racism is what people do when they cannot respond to issues. It cheapens the charge in general, though, and makes a mockery of genuine racism. And it’s what the left does. Vilification is a tactic.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:39 am 36. Jbl:

“Blacks voted overwhelmingly for Kerry and for Gore before him. You have to go back to Eisenhower to find a Republican whom blacks supported. Frickin’ Senator Robert “The Dragon” BYRD would get 90% of the black vote.”

By the same token, Republicans disliked John Kerry and Al Gore just as much (and for many of the same reasons) they dislike Obama. It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with policy. But things are terribly heated this time and for that I blame the press. Their over-the-top bias for Obama and disdain for 1/2 the country is inflaming the situation. Talk about chickens coming home to roost. The press has a lot to answer for, in all of this.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:41 am 37. Chad:

It’s worth mentioning too that this is mostly a “brand label” problem. Republicans are naturally racist because Democrat mouthpieces keep calling them that. Just as capitalism is bad, Christianity is bad, etc. Demo spokespeople get out there and pound the point home, over-and-over again, until their constituents fervently believe it and most of the rest of us are stuck defending a false position.

Unfortunately the only real cure requires Repub office holders to stop thinking that playing nice does anything.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:41 am 38. Mike_K:

Roger, the conservative blogs are being flooded with previously unknown commenters who furiously support Obama and attack McCain-Palin. It is no coincidence that Axelrod’s career in PR had a heavy emphasis on “astroturfing,” the phony response to issues supported by the opponent of Axelrod’s clients. See here, for example. In the spring primary season, even Mother Jones magazine was complaining about Axelrod. Of course, they are in bed with him now.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:45 am 39. Bugs:

For what it’s worth, I would LOVE to elect an African-American president. Thank back on all the years of slavery, of the Civil War, of the failed promise of Reconstruction, of Jim Crow and the Civil Rights movement. It would be a brilliant vindication of our country, our Constitution, and our way of life if we finally put a black man (or woman) in the White House. I’d love to be part of that history, if only by casting one of the votes that made it possible. That alone is *almost* enough to make me cast my vote for Obama.

As tempting as that would be for historical reasons, however, I don’t think I can ignore the personal, ideological, and policy-related issues that have been brought up about this candidate. I have a fair idea of what four more years with a Republican president would be like. (Sheer hell.) But being basically conservative, I tend to prefer the Devil I know. Obama, associate of radical preachers and former domestic terrorists, urban “community organizer,” undistinguished Senator from Illinois, advocate of “Change” – as another PJM article says, he’s still an enigma. To me, at least. That this enigma comes packaged in a dark skin doesn’t really matter.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:46 am 40. C Smith:

For a fun counterfactual, consider if Senator Obama had opted for a military commission and served a few years.
He’d have a trivial vehicle for saying ‘Yeah, there was a no-kidding radical period in my life. I changed course.’
Instead, as with Senator Kerry in 2004, the Court of Public Opinion is set to judge a man based upon associations with ideologies that seem at odds with the core of US values.
It is sadly true that there are some who will make DNA-based decisions at the ballot box (X/Y chromosome and skin-tone), and it would be dishonest to deny that.
It is also true that this is a minority of population, and there are plenty of sober folks who simply disagree with Senator Obama’s associations and voting record, all smooth salesmanship and centrist dives to the contrary.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:48 am 41. Jaybo:

Alan R wrote, “Yet when 99% of African Americans vote for an African American candidate running against a non-Africn American candidate in a democratic primary or general election no one notices. Look at election results from Boston, Chicago or Philadelphia. You’ll find that white ethnic voters are far more likely to support an African American candidate than African American voters are to support a candidate of another race. And if the candidate of another race is a republican, the bias and discrimination is complete. But this isn’t racism. What would you call it?”

I asked that question re the primary votes and Clinton, to a black editorial writer after reading his piece on the myth of monolithic Black voters when he argued that blacks support Obama over McCain due to policy not skin color. After his condescending response that race and gender factors come into play when policy difference are marginal, he said “if you don’t understand that what does it make you?” No surprise that he implies racism to stop a discussion in its tracks.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:52 am 42. Amy:

I agree with Michael at the top. I’d vote for Condi in a HEARTBEAT.

For the record, I am a white middle-aged female who will not be voting for Obama for a myriad of reasons…NONE of which has to do with skin-color. In fact, I believe it would be very hard to call me racist…one of my very best friends is a black man who I trust with a key to my house and my beloved dogs when I’m away. Several other good friends who I intereact with socially on a regular basis happen to be black…not that I notice their skin color any more. Can Michael say anything similar about circumstances in his life?

People are people, and some people are underqualified or have the wrong attitudes for the job they seek and should not be hired precisely for those reasons. THAT is why I will not be voting for Barack Obama for POTUS. I believe Michael and those like him who are dishing out the racist crap he’s trying to serve conservatives are the real racists, and are subconsciously trying to augment their guilt by supporting Obama and projecting their ugly worldview onto everyone else.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:56 am 43. Amy:

(corrected for typo in post above)

I agree with Michael at the top. I’d vote for Condi in a HEARTBEAT.

For the record, I am a white middle-aged female who will not be voting for Obama for a myriad of reasons…NONE of which has to do with skin-color. In fact, I believe it would be very hard to call me racist…one of my very best friends is a black man who I trust with a key to my house and my beloved dogs when I’m away. Several other good friends who I intereact with socially on a regular basis happen to be black…not that I notice their skin color any more. Can Michael say anything similar about circumstances in his life?

People are people, and some people are underqualified or have the wrong attitudes for the job they seek and should not be hired precisely for those reasons. THAT is why I will not be voting for Barack Obama for POTUS. I believe Marcus and those like him who are dishing out the racist crap he’s trying to serve conservatives are the real racists, and are subconsciously trying to augment their guilt by supporting Obama and projecting their ugly worldview onto everyone else.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:58 am 44. jdubya:

“Apparently 100% of black Americans are going to vote for Obama insuring his win”

Not 100%. I’m not. Unfortunately, a vote for Obama is widely seen in our community as a litmus test for one’s being Authentically Black, which I submit by that definition (said definition intrinsically understood by US) Obama is not. Nonetheless, in the desperate search for validation of one’s identity, here, skin color and allegiance to it trumps all.

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:00 am 45. kelly k:

“It might even contain an element of projection.” Do you think?

Middle-class blacks are furious at the suggestion that they are only voting for Obama because he’s black. “I’m voting for him because of his policies!” But the suggestion that whites (or anyone else) are voting against Obama’s policies is met with derision. “You’re only voting against him because he’s black.”

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:00 am 46. John Dubya:

Marcus has convinced me to vote for Obama.

It would serve him right to HAVE to serve 4 years in a position he isn’t qualified to handle. Obama has never had a real job with real responsibilities, why not oblige him with his worst nightmare? I predict he’ll not last 6 months before going AWOL.

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:01 am 47. Sioux Lady:

As a brown lady, I’ve been the target of racists so I know it when I hear/read it. I do not hear racism in voter opposition to Obama. Marcus is a fool. I would not vote for an American Indian with Obama’s history and lack of qualifications for the presidency.

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:07 am 48. Miklos Hollender:

Internet comments and blog posts and forum posts and other opinions don’t represent shit, to put it a blunt way. There is a huge bias in it from a statistical point of view: normal, moderate people and fanatical idiots aren’t equally likely to write comments or posts or whatevers AT ALL.

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:09 am 49. Raoul Ortega:

And just think. The Marcuses and other BDS types who’ve given us eight years of referring to the President as Chimpy McBushitler, Evil Lying Idiot, are not only about to install one of their own as President, but require the rest of us to not use their own tactics in opposition. Sounds to me like Zero Derangement Syndrome might not be a bad way to lay the groundwork for future elections.

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:10 am 50. Matthew O'Brian:

If Obama were to win, I wonder how the Obama worshipers will take it the first time President Obama gets strung up and burned in effigy next to a burning American flag as nearly every other American president has been done in recent years by disgruntled people simply practicing their right to free speech.

Will they scream racism then?

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:13 am 51. Moesart:

What about the racists that discriminate against McCain just because of McCain’s skin color?

Why is that permissible?

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:14 am 52. kelly k:

Sioux Lady, I’ve noticed your comments in various columns, and I’d like to say how much I enjoy reading them. They are always calm and intelligent. It’s nice to have your perspective.

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:17 am 53. A Gee:

As an African immigrant, I appreciate the fact someone with African parentage is close to be the President of the United States. This really makes me proud to be a citizen of this great country. It shows that given the right conditions anyone has a chance to achieve great things. But I don’t feel obligated to vote for him just because he has black ancestry. I don’t vote for him because I don’t share his views on the role of government in people’s lives and his lack of candor about his past associations and work.

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:19 am 54. Allie:

I wish I could vote for Obama. The color of his skin elicits sympathy for the underdog in me. But I am judging him by the content of his character, and have decided not to vote for him.

Hmmm…content of character vs. color of skin. Didn’t somebody once say something about that?

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:20 am 55. david levavi:

There is racism aplenty at work in this campaign but it all works in Obama’s favor.

Consider the African American vote that tilts 90% plus for Obama. Not racist?

Then there is the absence of any mention of race in discussing the current financial crisis. At the heart of corruption was the notion that African Americans would be better integrated into the American mainstream and less restive if they had a stake in America. Home ownership without credit was the policy to accomplish that goal. And activist organs of the far Left like ACORN used the tried and true coercive methods of Jesse Jackson and like poverticians to force banks to give loans to poor, AKA, black folk. Barney Frank preemptively remarks on this, complaining that criticism of Fannie and Freddie are veiled racist attacks on poor Blacks.

Finally there is the Pathologically twisted white liberal vote to consider. I live in the most liberal district in the nation. Walk down the streets of the Upper West Side and you’d imagine the neighborhood is as mixed as can be. Plural to a fault. Black people and white people mix freely and amicably wherever you look.

But the impression is false. The superliberal Upper West Side is lily-white. The people of color on the street are the service classes who don’t live anywhere near the Upper West Side. They’re the doormen and the handymen and the store-cashiers and the child-care and elder-care employees who wipe the noses and the arses of the liberal residents and allow them to enjoy their liberal fantasies in comfort and luxury. If the same statistical measures were used to measure racism in housing on the Upper West Side as are used to measure racism in employment in businesses or enrollment in schools, the Upper West Side would be condemned for apartheid.

But Upper West Siders are voting overwhelmingly for Obama. They like Black people. See how pleasantly they smile at the cashier making change for them . Do they ever fail to say hello and exchange a friendly word with their doorman? Don’t they treat their babysitter and their housekeeper as practically a member of the family? Don’t they give up their seat on the bus for an elderly or pregnant Black woman? They just don’t happen to live with Black people or socialize with them.

In the movies and their TV screens Black and White Americans get along famously and that’s how Upper West Siders imagine themselves. Every white hero has a Black sidekick. Scientists, computer whizzes, physicians and executives of every kind are as often as not dark-skinned on screen. News programs, dramas, talk shows and commercials are full of Black people. What could be more healthy or soothing? Or less representative of everyday reality?

Moneyed, urban and suburban liberal whites voting for Obama are convinced hypocrites sold on their own delusions of altruism. They are voting for Obama to feel virtuous when they are anything but. Because they are in the sleazy habit of no-cost-to-themselves affirmative action. Because Obama is Black.

And that’s racism, plain cold and brutal. White liberal racism victimized Hillary Clinton. It is now victimizing John McCain.

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:23 am 56. docweasel:

Well, personally I’m concerned with the fact Obama is ahead in the polls with 99% of the black vote, obviously they detest whites and won’t vote for John McCain because he is a honkie bastard, but even more disturbing is the huge number of self-hating whites who won’t vote for John McCain just because he’s a peckerwood cracker whiteboy. So many racists /shakes head

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:25 am 57. geokster:

The propensity to call “racist” anyone who says anything negative about blacks or other other minorities has so poisoned the public dialogue that it is no longer possible to analyze problems to produce the best solutions.

To say that the vast majority of violent crime in this country is committed by blacks (often against each other), with a growing percent by Latinos (another protected minority) is to be labelled “racist”, despite the FBI statistics. As a society, we are called “racist” because of the huge proportion of the prison population that is black and Latino, even though they commit the bulk of the violent crimes.

But how can we determine how to correct this if we are not even allowed to look at reality?

I think there are two reasons that McCain is reluctant to hit Obama hard on the “financial crisis”, his “community organizing” which is a part of the reason for the bank meltdown, and ACORN, another major part of the reason for the crisis and also heavily into vote fraud.

1) Who make up the majority of the borrowers of all the “sub-prime” loans? What groups did the Community Reinvestment Act target for preferential treatment with sub-prime mortgages? Who did ACORN aggressively agitate and intimidate the banks on behalf of? Minorities. (But shhhhhh – it’s racist to say that.)

2) I saw on another blog that there are possibly 5 million illegal aliens with sub-primes. Besides being called “racist” if he aggressively brings up the real causes of the financial mess, McCain will have to face up to the fact that he has been the strongest proponent for unfettered amnesty for illegals outside of La Raza.

Liberals have been buying the votes of minorities for many decades with handouts and rhetoric, aided and abetted by pandering republicans in congress. But all their their policies have done in practice is to make them more dependent on the handouts instead of on what should be their greatest source of strength – themselves. Terrible schools run by Marxist unions are only one of many examples of how to easily keep minorities in “their place”, instead of empowering them.

Conservatives have the best programs that incentivize all people to stand on their own two feet and take care of themselves. Vouchers for parents to put the competition back into schools, support for capitalism, where anybody can make it regardless of melanin content, lower tax rates to allow all citizens to better care for themselves, and the list goes on and on. These types of policies applied evenhandedly give everyone a chance to succeed.

The group with the fastest rising rates of income and other measures before the introduction of Johnson’s Great Society were blacks, but it has been all downhill since then.

Somehow, despite their own lengthy “racist” past, the democrats have solified the allegience of the minority vote. By blaming whitey and the gringo for everything that is wrong with race relations today, they have built up a huge reservoir of animosity among minorities that will be hard to staunch. There have already been many veiled threats of race riots if Obama loses.

Too bad. The polarization of America is fast becoming complete, thanks to the left.

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:28 am 58. Buffy:

Mr. Simon, I hardly think you — of all people — can be called racist. Weren’t you a Freedom Rider in Mississippi in the 60s?

As Sioux Lady put it, Marcus is a fool.

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:30 am 59. JK:

Sad post Roger. Marcus is a strawman. No different than if dailykos (ugh) quoted an email from a stupid racist then wrote look how dumb these guys are. Obviously, the vast majority of McCain supporters are not racists. One minor question is: is the McCain-Palin campaign trying to incite an increase in the racist vote turnout?

To the posters here who are crying about reverse-discrimination: grow up.

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:53 am 60. David Ross:

david levavi (”Consider the African American vote that tilts 90% plus for Obama. Not racist?”) would be one of the idiots I was talking about above. Also, he can’t read.

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:55 am 61. Insufficiently Sensitive:

If the current polls become reality, I wonder just how the Marcus’s of the world will react when a President Obama is subjected to the same level of scorn that President Bush has had to deal with.

A President Obama will receive, not the savage relentless scorn directed by the MSM at GWB 24/7, but the same fawning adulation he got when he made his speech in Pennsylvania dumping the Reverend Wright.

And said adulation will continue for enough years that the groupthink in ‘news’rooms has a chance to be washed away by reality. Once the Chicago Bolivarian revolution has severely damaged the standard of living in the US, and imposed rulers over us in place of locally elected representatives (check out the enormous bloated unaccountable EU government for an example, or Hugo Chavez’s perversion of the once-democratic Venezuelan government and Supreme Court). Then the media will begin to wake up – and will be smartly suppressed by laws from on high against ’spreading lies’ or ‘hate speech’ or some new slogan of the day.

Obama’s campaign has already made several tries at such control of public speech. Don’t think it wouldn’t get worse if he is elected with a complicit Congress. Chicago political customs are like PC with serious fangs and claws.

Oct 10, 2008 - 9:58 am 62. Markus:

If the McCain campaign really pushes the envelope on Ayers, Muslim childhood, Wright, et al, the Obama surrogates will be that by exciting his base this way, they are putting Obama’s life in danger. Sullivan is already pushing this. I’m not sure how to respond or what to think. That would, in fact, be a catastrophe beyond words.

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:01 am 63. skrewi bu:

I have had a persistent thought: Obama is not a “black man.” He is a white man wearing a black man’s face and skin. He is a white man using a false black identity to his personal advantage. His upbringing by a white Marxist mother in white society and schools have combined with a natural speaking style that allows him to succeed at manipulating people by saying what they want to hear. Yet all of his associations over the years have had Marxist connotations. He is a radical white Marxist wearing a black man costume. Trick or treat! Scary, isn’t it?

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:02 am 64. Jim Treacher:

If Obama becomes president, is anybody going to be allowed to disagree with him for any reason? Or will that be “racist”?

This stuff is not a sign of confidence in your candidate, folks.

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:06 am 65. Stewart:

Roger, someone also going by the screen name “marcus” has been a poo-flinger on the ‘net since the usenet days. He would show up on the sci.space.* areas, and throw insults and accusations about. I’ve seen “him” on a few blogs since those days, until the host has to bring out the ban-stick. He’s just a roaming troll.

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:08 am 66. david levavi:

David ross:

…You clearly have no contact with the average black person. I’m calling you out, idiots…

What’s “clear” to you is plain false and presumtuous.

I spend most mornings in Harlem. My kids when they were much younger were members of Harlem Junior Tennis. The only white members at the time. No one who knows me would think to call me an idiot. And I would wager I am far better read in any subject than you can hope to be.

The overwhelming African American vote for Obama is plainly racist.

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:10 am 67. Stewart:

As I wrote my above, I see a “Markus” has posted. I ain’t talking about you. You make a valid point, which the “marcus”(no caps, no “k”) rarely if ever did.

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:13 am 68. NahnCee:

Do we think that Marcus himself is black or white?

And, isn’t his attack on Mr. Simon precisely the sort of “get in their face” attitude that Obama has asked his supporters to start doing?

I agree that things are going to get ugly after the election in November, but I think there’s every chance they’ll get ugly even if Obama is elected. The sort of aggressive entitled victimhood demonstrated by Marcus is the mantle that will be adopted by all the KosKids and MoveOn types, and I’m pretty sure they won’t be willing to wait too long for their pay-back.

At this point, it appears likely to me that there is a civil war coming to the streets of America that will make the Wall Street melt-down look frivolous.

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:15 am 69. Jamie:

David Ross, you’re certainly not trying to make the case, are you, that if Barack Obama had run in the 2004 primary, African-Americans would have voted overwhelmingly for Kerry? (Assuming that he had a few years’ more government service at that time – even the mighty Obama, who considers himself Presidential material after less than 200 days in the US Senate, wouldn’t have presumed to run for President with only State-level experience. Right?)

That the majority of African-Americans will vote on a partisan, not an ethnic, basis is surely true now, because Obama got the nomination. But before that, in primary season? How do you explain the Democrat vote then? Were they voting for Obama’s (nonexistent) history of accomplishments, his (unproven) leadership skills, his (ambiguous) statements of policy? Or were they voting for his melanin content?

When I say “they,” you should understand that I’m using a statistical generalization, not intended to apply to any particular African-American. Each individual (and counting the vote and considering the rights of each individual, rather than each group, is the essence of the Republican party, and why I am one) is free to choose his candidate. But the fact is that in the primaries, virtually all African-American Democrats supported Obama over more qualified, more experienced candidates. In a year when Democrats should have been able to elect a table lamp, electability wasn’t a big consideration. So… why Obama?

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:17 am 70. K T Cat:

Roger, the kind of accusations you’re receiving will never stop even if Barack is elected. Spend some time reading blockprof.com and you’ll see how it works. Over at blackprof, they catalog every anti-black racist activity in the US. There are always some going on, so there is never a lack of topics for them to pursue. These examples are held up as proof positive that America is racist.

If you try to determine national mortality statistics by attending a seminar on shark attacks, you will conclude that the #1 cause of death in the US are sharks. That’s about where you are now with racism. Because you can find factual examples of racism in a nation of 350,000,000 the conclusion is that we’re a racist nation and that your underlying motivations are based on racism.

You were a racist to these people as soon as you opened your mouth. Maybe before that.

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:19 am 71. nlcatter:

“”"What would Marcus say if Condoleeza Rice were the Republican nominee and conservatives accused liberals of racism and sexism for supporting a Democrat?

what?

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:23 am 72. castocreations:

SilentWatcher…good for you! That is exactly why they use that word. It’s an attempt to bully and intimidate. It ticks me the heck off. I don’t care what color a person is … I am against “the messiah” because of his IDEAS and lack thereof. It has nothing to do with the color of his skin.

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:23 am 73. David Hinz:

Racism in this election has been the sole province of the Obama Campaign. From day one they have made it the central theme — using white guilt as a weapon — claiming the American voter is racist if he/she does NOT vote for Sen Obama — all the while counting on 95% of the black vote to blindly follow Sen Obama for no other reason than that he is black.

Someone asked what would have happened if Condi Rice had been on the Republican ticket (something I was advocating more than a year ago)? The answer is simple — she would have been branded an “Uncle Tom” and been subjected to the most disgustingly racist innuendo imaginable from the left. She would have been labeled a “token” and a “sellout” and the caricatures of her would have been everywhere.

When all of your past associations have been with radicals and Socialists, and your vision for America is far, far different than what the American voter could stand to vote for, you have no choice but to attack the questioner — to make all questions an attack — and a racist attack at that.

Sen Obama is far and away the worst presidential nominee of either major political party in history, but he stands to be elected because he has instilled fear in the hearts of anyone who would dare to question him. Sounds like a lot of third-world dictators to me…

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:31 am 74. allswell:

Well, David Ross has spoken so we should all just go back to our caves and cower. I love people who are so arrogant that everyone who disagrees with their flawed logic is an idiot. Have you ever thought that the 90% vote for Democrats is the result of race mongers (Sharpton, Jackson, and every liberal in the congress) convincing the black community that Republicans are all members of the Klan and want to keep the black man down? I’m just gald that smart people like David Ross are here to keep me updated on how idiotic I am.I’m sure he’ll be up for chairman of his neighborhoods “Racism awareness board”. Unless he’s white.

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:34 am 75. ny nick:

Mr. Simon,

Welcome to the world of Hillary supporters. We’re so used to be called racists that it barely registers, at least with me, anymore.
Obama’s rabid fans are quick to label any criticism of their leader as racially motivated. To them, the guy is infallible. Nothing, by definition, can be his fault. Mistakes are the fault of either others around him (see the gun control memo he said he never saw, was filled out by a low level staffer and misrepresented his views, never mind his handwritten notes were found on the margins), or the fault of racist conspirators (see Rev. Wright or bitter, gun crazy religious people). His fans assume racial animus in nearly every comment. Call him a product of the Chicago Democratic machine and you might as well be wearing a white sheet over your head. Hillary’s 3AM ad wasn’t questioning his leadership skills; it was about a black man hiding in your bushes. That last one was the subject of an Ed/Op in the NYTimes! The funny thing is that once Obama is president (I don’t see any way he loses), many of these people will eventually sour on him. They will see what I see. A man who’s only overarching them is his relentless ambition. His association with Bill Ayers should be seen for what it is. Nobody I know thinks Obama approved of the activities of the Weather Underground. Ayers introduced him to the right people. Important people in the Chicago Democratic Party. He says now he didn’t know about his history but that’s a bald face lie. Ayers and his wife were trying to incite a race war, his wife holds a Masters Degree in African American Studies. Are we to assume the turbulent ’60’s were left out of her course work? Obama knows he can lie about things like this because his fans will forgive him any sin and the media will never dig into the Ayers connection for fear of what they might find. The same pattern is repeated throughout his political career. He was a member in good standing of the Rev. Wright’s Trinity Church for over twenty years. The association with the church helped him politically in his district but as soon as it became a liability, he tossed the church and the pastor under the bus. He is a man who will say whatever he thinks the audience in front of him wants to hear. If the audience changes, so does his position. He was going to filibuster the FISA bill during the primaries because Hillary had come out and said she would support the measure. He called her support “troubling” and “irresponsible” and yet, a few short months later, when Hillary was out of the race, he not only didn’t filibuster the bill, he voted for it. He even used the same justifications he called “troubling” and “irresponsible” when Hillary made them. We should ready ourselves for three phrases that will be used often by Obama when he assumes the office of President.

“It’s not my fault”

“It’s their fault”

“You’re a racist”

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:35 am 76. Terry Johnson:

“””What would Marcus say if Condoleeza Rice were the Republican nominee and conservatives accused liberals of racism and sexism for supporting a Democrat?

what?”

Hi, nicatter. Just sit nice and calm and read it again….what don’t you understand ?

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:50 am 77. Brahma:

Can you imagine the non-PC howling if Republicans had a ticket participant who was a half-majority, neophyte on the national stage, proudly proclaiming a non-mainstream (albeit recognizable) perspective, that was generating a high energy, polarizing public response… oh wait, never mind…

Oct 10, 2008 - 11:00 am 78. cardeblu:

Ah, but it is a matter of color, at least for me.

First, he’s too GREEN (”behind the ears,” that is–heh). The man simply does not have the experience whatsoever to be leader of our country. Maybe next time, but definitely not now.

Second, for whatever reason, republicans have been designated RED, and democrats are supposed to be BLUE, but Obama is just far tooooo PINK for me.

Third, while I absolutely love the color BROWN (very earthy and neutral), I’ve seen, read, and heard too much from the Left that makes me think of “Brownshirts,” whereas I prefer “Browncoats.”

Fourth and finally, I believe Obama/Dems/Left carry too many WHITE flags in the face of our current WoT.

Oct 10, 2008 - 11:25 am 79. Sensible Voter:

I cannot emphasize enough that my NOT voting for Obama has nothing at all to do with his skin color and EVERYTHING to do with his ideological viewpoint AND his choice of past associations and his unwillingness to admit they influenced who he is today. And the fact that he is a democrat… that, too.

If people are SO INDOCTRINATED that they can’t understand the simple concept that I am entitled to my honest to goodness personal viewpoint and that viewpoint doesn’t automatically make me a racist, then they are STUPID. Those kind of mindless robots probably couldn’t even chew their own food without the assistance of the handbook they hand out at your M.A. (Marxists Anonymous) meetings. You can quote me on that.

I can just hear them now – when their moms call down into the basement to tell them, “Come on up, dinner is ready. I made you your favorite. And put on a robe this time!”

And they call back up, “Shut Up Mom! You’re A Racist!”

Oct 10, 2008 - 11:31 am 80. hermie:

If they can’t prove racism, they simply raise the bar.

The accusations of ‘Code words’ is just part of a pattern of ‘dumbing down’ the definition of racism. Put a picture of a black man in an ad? Why that’s ‘racist’. Point out that someone bankrupted his company with sahdy accounting, and he happens to be black…that’s ‘racist’.

Look at big city mayors like Fitzpatrick of Detroit. He committed perjury in a trial for illegally firing police who were looking into a scandal involving him. His actions cost the city millions of dollars they already didn’t have. Obama embraced him as a ‘great mayor’ (until it was time to ‘distance himself’), but the most galling thing was there were those who wanted him to step down and face punishment, and they had the ‘racism’ card thrown in their faces.

Oct 10, 2008 - 11:37 am 81. Webrider:

“Look at big city mayors like Fitzpatrick of Detroit.”

Uhh, that would be Kwame Kilpatrick.

Oct 10, 2008 - 11:55 am 82. A Clay:

The question I have for Marcus is “What if Obama wins then fails miserably as President?” Are there race implications? If we elect him having ignored his race, it is of course a reflection on the man, not the race. However, if we elect him in part because of his race (and given Obama’s frequent injection of race into the campaign and the big deal the media makes about him being the African American candidate), will we be able to fully separate this failure, should it occur, from race? What then?

It is far safer to vote based on ideology, and the ideological differences between the two tickets is clear enough that race should not be an issue. But if McCain wins, let the racist anti-white slurs begin…

Oct 10, 2008 - 12:14 pm 83. hermie:

Webrider:

Fitzpatrick, Kilpatrick, Patrick, all those Irish guys are alike.

Oct 10, 2008 - 12:21 pm 84. MikeD:

The comments of someone like Marcus, like those of his other cohorts on the left should, and generally are, simply ignored by intelligent beings. They have nothing worth listening to, but they still show up to pollute the arena. These are the clowns that cry about freedom of speech , are the first to abuse it, and would be the first to deny it to anyone who disagrees with them. If I were you Roger, I would simply delete the garbage they spew. It is your site and you have the right. Or talk to Jeff Goldstein, his site has recently discussed the use of a “trollhammer”. Apparently it is effective.

Oct 10, 2008 - 12:42 pm 85. Obama’s Radical Muslim Outreach–In Private, Of course « Blog Entry « Dr. Melissa Clouthier:

[...] for those who are going to cry racism, which is just outrageously offensive, I submit that you read this. Americans deserve to know what people and what ideas shaped the candidates philosophy. Since Obama [...]

Oct 10, 2008 - 12:51 pm 86. Israel:

If the lefties think that the righties are going meekly into the night after an Obama victory, they are completely delusional. My observation is that the right has had it with the hate and the mockery of the left. Pile on the frustration of watching a totally biased media go into the tank for Obama and listening to congressmen lie and shirk any responsibility is a recipe for intense blowback.
The left is already angry and has had eight years to build up a pretty huge well of hatred. They won’t need much to jump off the cliff should McCain win.
The current financial situation may be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel back. Imagine how angry that stockholder was when he punched out the CEO of Lehman Bros at the gym. What was that guy thinking? “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore?” Is that going to be an isolated incident?
I’m avoiding talking politics at the face-to-face level with anyone except those friends that I know share my beliefs. I’ve already had one unpleasant incident and I don’t want a repeat.
I know that I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be a public face that some lunatic could attach personal hatred to.
I want to believe that I am totally wrong and will be relieved that I am in the post-election years aftermath. Hope for the best, plan for the worst!

Oct 10, 2008 - 1:23 pm 87. hermie:

Maybe you can just flag a comment with a ‘Troll Alert’ (A picture of Andrew Sullivan in a fool’s cap?). That way, if we see the flag we can just scroll past the comment.

Oct 10, 2008 - 1:26 pm 88. ny nick:

“The comments of someone like Marcus, like those of his other cohorts on the left should, and generally are, simply ignored by intelligent beings. They have nothing worth listening to, but they still show up to pollute the arena. These are the clowns that cry about freedom of speech , are the first to abuse it, and would be the first to deny it to anyone who disagrees with them. If I were you Roger, I would simply delete the garbage they spew. It is your site and you have the right. Or talk to Jeff Goldstein, his site has recently discussed the use of a “trollhammer”. Apparently it is effective.”

Look, liberals don’t have an exclusive when it comes to ignorance. There’s plenty of vitriol and idiocy to be found on both sides of the aisle. If we ban those with whom we disagree for the sin of disagreeing, we end up with an echo chamber. The two sides move farther apart as they have their opinions reinforced rather than challenged. In that world, nobody wins. Neither side can govern effectively. There is nothing wrong with vigorous debate.

Oct 10, 2008 - 1:31 pm 89. Palimpsest:

When someone suggests – or accuses – a McCain supporter of racism you should ask them to provide any real reason why either republicans or libertarians would vote for someone with Obama’s background if Obama was white. I’ve asked this of several Obama fans I know (who, I admit, have never come right out and accused me of racism). When I put the question that way, they tend to back off. They see the point.

If there are people who for racist reasons won’t vote for Obama it means that they do prefer a person with his political beliefs but can’t get themselves to vote for him because he’s black. Clearly, this refers to Democrats rather than Republicans.

Any logical analysis of the “won’t vote for him because of race” argument leads to the inescapable conclusion that the arguer feels that there are tons of racists in the Democratic party.

Oct 10, 2008 - 2:31 pm 90. kelly k:

“There is nothing wrong with vigorous debate.”

Not only is there nothing wrong with it, but it’s necessary. However, having someone screeching, “You’re all morons and racists and puppy-murderers and I hate you!” isn’t debate. Trolls are useless, and all they do is derail the actual discussions. They need to be booted.

Oct 10, 2008 - 2:54 pm 91. Lifeofthemind:

All of the incitements to violence that I have heard in this campaign have come from the Obama camp. They ran into a house that was at peace and frustrated that their fantasies of revolution from the ’60’s were not being met proceeded to start a fire and then pour gasoline on it. The techniques are out of the Alinskyite guidebook and other Marxist manuals for urban warfare, such as those of the Tupamaroes.

When this is over anyone who has suffered harm or been threatened with harm should sue and clean out Axelrod and Ayers and Obama and Wright and their funders such as Pritzker and Soros. The foreign backers are another issue. That becomes a national security issue in which domestic dissent has been cultivated as a form of covert warfare. The First Amendment does not restrict the government from responding to the threats from foreign sources. The domestic abuses are best handled as civil actions.

Oct 10, 2008 - 3:00 pm 92. Anita Hope:

Sen. Obama has achevied the goals he set out to achieve from the 1st entry into the political arena. Use whomever he needs to, “black or white”, get them
fighting each other so as not to see the real me and what I am truly about, “A SOCIALIST”, THAT WANTS CONTROL”. Once in office he will be a strong
dictator and many of his followers, black & white will be either at his feet or pushed aside. We need to spend the next few weeks strongly discussing his
plans as they will affect all of us, color or otherwise. The working class will become his working ants and he will destroy any path that does not build a strong fortress to protect his followers and his family. Prior to him, we as Americans had really started to get closer, the nation was honoring Dr. King as
one of our greatest and I think he would be so very heart broken to see what Sen. Obama has done causing such division to rear it’s ughly head. As stated
above, Colin Powell and other great leaders of color have been such good activist and I am sure they too are shaking their heads regarding what is happening to again devide this country. The dangers facing us becoming a Socialist Country will hurt the poor, the middle class, and even some of those
in the wealthy group that do not follow his doctrin for the future. China’s cheap labor will be what he will develop on our shores and we will be in deep dodo…

Oct 10, 2008 - 3:40 pm 93. David Ross:

Okay, try this on:

The majority of the Republican base, in fact ALL of the Republican base (I’m not including their leadership) opposes quotas for affirmative action.

That rules out, immediately, 80% of the black population. (You’ve very probably read, or at least heard about, the 1994 book which explains this.) Of the remaining 20%, most of them are related to members of the 80%.

The Republicans are not going to get more than 10% of the black vote. Ever. Period. End of story.

Blacks are not racist for recognising this. They vote for a division of spoil according to their rights as equal citizens. They vote Democrat.

Oct 10, 2008 - 4:00 pm 94. qrstuv:

David Ross,
You write as if affirmative action is obviously and clearly a good thing.

You might want to read a book by Thomas Sowell. He did a nice empirical study of affirmative action in various parts of the world.

The net effect of AA policies is this:
1) Things get better for a small portion of the minority group — that portion of the group that is better off than the rest of the group. The truly disadvantaged remain that way. This is observed fact.

2) Group identity becomes more important that individual qualities. This is inference.

3) Other “groups” come along and demand their “fair” share of handouts, so that again individuals do not matter. This is observed fact.

4) Tension between groups increases increases because group identity is all that really matters. This is observed fact.

Signed,
A Classic Liberal (you might want to read about that too)

Oct 10, 2008 - 4:26 pm 95. Nancy Reyes:

The real prejudice is the class prejudice: there is plenty of racial prejudice in working class Democrats, but they would vote for a black if he agree with their positions. Instead, they are being ridiculed and demonized.

Is it a coincidence that Greek/British social climbers like Huffington and now the class snob Tina Brown are running blogs that support Obama?

Yet no one blinks when their upper class British prejudice is mirrored in blogposts…

Oct 10, 2008 - 5:21 pm 96. Markus:

Thanks, Stewart. Yes I should point out, Markus is not Marcus.

Oct 10, 2008 - 5:26 pm 97. abdul7591:

A few years back I, like a lot of conservatives, was excited by even the theoretical possibility that Condi Rice might run for President. I would have voted for her in a nanosecond. I know what’s in my heart and no Afro-American demagogue like “Marcus” can intimidate me with bogus accusations of racism. As far as I am concerned black people who are voting for Obama mainly because he is black have neither the moral authority nor the IQ to lecture anyone about racism, not even David Duke. David Duke may be a scumbag, but he is no worse than the likes of Marcus. The problem with thugs like him is that, whether out of terminal stupidity or a simple lack any human decency, they never not stop to consider one of the most critically important principles affecting race relations in America: Being fair to black people as a matter of general moral obligation is one thing; putting up with ignorant, hate-filled black fools is something entirely different.

Oct 10, 2008 - 5:43 pm 98. Swen Swenson:

Oh, you can find this sort of sentiment among folks with a much broader audience than some commenter on a blog site. Bob Ewegen, “deputy editorial page editor of The Denver Post”, has suggested that anyone who votes for McCain is a racist. In print. At the Denver Post. Where do you suppose that folks like Marcus got this?

Oct 10, 2008 - 6:35 pm 99. Rose:

It’s not about racism. It is about fundamental honesty.

It’s also about activists and agendas, hidden and otherwise, mostly hidden.

But mostly, it’s about another kind of prejudice – hatred of Republicans.

Oct 10, 2008 - 7:27 pm 100. whiskey:

After Jeremiah Wright, Goddamn America, KKK of A, the entire congregation eating it up, Obama’s ties to Farrakhan, Michelle Obama’s thesis about wanting Black Separatism, OJ Simpson and the racist Black Jury, Obama’s well known hatred (in his own book, in his own words, no less) for White People …

I could CARE LESS about being called Racist.

That word has ceased to have ANY MEANING. Might as well call me a Gnostic Heretic, or an Albigensian.

Yes, Obama will be the first Hip-Hop President, complete with Jay-Z soundtrack, and pursue his open hatred of Whites. I’m sure reparations for slavery, so working class Whites can send more money to Oprah and Will Smith, will be first on his agenda.

He’s a fricking disaster. His ENTIRE CAREER has been nothing but race-baiting of Whites, to a racist, and scapegoating Black audience in South Central. That’s it. Flavor Flav would make a better President.

I’m sure Obama will do to America what Marion Barry, and Kwame Fitzpatrick, did to DC and Detroit. God help us all, particularly the enemy. White people. Who last I looked, made up 75% of the population.

Oct 10, 2008 - 7:51 pm 101. Cobra:

David Thomson writes:

>>>”How many people know that John McCain’s adopted daughter Bridget is dark skinned?”

I’ll name you at least two. Karl Rove and Tucker Eskew. Working for the Bush Campaign in the 2000 South Carolina Primary, they used this information to do a “push-poll” whisper campaign against John McCain.

>>>”Rove invented a uniquely injurious fiction for his operatives to circulate via a phony poll. Voters were asked, “Would you be more or less likely to vote for John McCain…if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?” This was no random slur. McCain was at the time campaigning with his dark-skinned daughter, Bridget, adopted from Bangladesh.

It worked. Owing largely to the Rove-orchestrated whispering campaign, Bush prevailed in South Carolina and secured the Republican nomination.”

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080128/banks

So what you had only EIGHT YEARS AGO, was a case where a WHITE candidate, John McCain, was defeated in a political primary ostensibly, for the race of his adopted daughter, and the tactics of ruthless conservative operatives.

Forgot about that one, huh?

That’s why I find it laughable when people claim that Black Republicans are so “electable”. There have only been 5 African-American Senators, and 4 African-American governors (only 2 of whom were elected) in American History.

Of course, there’s gonna be a little history made on November 4th IMHO.

–Cobra

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:14 pm 102. Minerva:

Since the 2004 convention, before he was even elected to the U.S. Senate, I have heard Obama’s name praised to the point that it has become tiresome. So from now on I will just refer to him as “Rama.”

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:39 pm 103. Fen:

Marcus: “Could you just simply say “I’m not going to vote for a nigger!” and get it over with it.”

Marcus and his ilk played this race card with the mortgage industry, insisting that opposition to reducing credit restrictions for inner city residents was based in racism. Now we see the result, a near global economic collapse. What’s next? Will the saddle us with an affirmative action hire as President and likewise denounce all cynicism as racist? Can we at least get credit for paying Reparations for Slavery with our own 401k’s?

And I find it hysterical that people like Marcus are so racist, devolving into the thing they claim to despise most.

“All of these bogus guilt by association theories are ridiculous.”

Ayers is a Marxist who says the public education system should be exploited to instill marxist ideology. You guys want to talk about the economy, so explain why Obama is lying about the depth of his association with such a man.

Oct 10, 2008 - 8:58 pm 104. Pinkie Ann LeBrainne:

I have red hair, fair skin with freckles, and blue eyes. When will MY people be elected to the highest office in the land? How long must I wait? I’ve been called names (oh you can just imagine!), denied opportunity (the PTA ladies never let ME play Mary in the school Christmas play), and had boys totally ignore me because all they cared about were blondes.

But I will blindly vote for the first Redhead to achieve a party nomination, because that’s all that matters—-right?

Oct 10, 2008 - 10:04 pm 105. Pragmatic:

It is certainly not racist to oppose Obama because you also oppose his policies. It is also not racist to oppose Obama because of character issues. However, when attention is directed to #2 at the expense of #1, particularly during an economic crisis like the one we are in now, well, it rings a bit hollow. You guys can get red in the face at such a suggestion, and level a personal attack at whoever makes it, but the reality is that the Rev. Wright and Ayers controversies come across as attempts to play to a particularly ugly base at a time when most people would rather see energy directed at policy matters. (Newsflash: we have seen the cartoons, jokes and “concerned emails” floating around the internet).

And, sorry, Fen: at 8:58 p.m. You are proving my point. “Affirmative action hire as President”? If this is the best conservatives can come up with, I don’t predict good things in November. And as an aside: I think you might want to research the percentage of CRA loans that found their way into CDO’s, or the percentage of “inner city” residents in foreclosure in the worst performing real estate markets such as Las Vegas, SoCal, Phoenix, Miami. I don’t particularly like the guy either, but as much as it would comfort some to think it is so, LIBOR has not blown out because of Barney Frank.

Oct 11, 2008 - 6:09 am 106. Cobra:

Roger L. Simon writes:

>>>”But however you describe it and whatever occurs, the one thing we don’t need is imputations of racism where it doesn’t exist. Marcus, my friend, abandon your prejudices. This is not what you think it is.”

Just on a whim, Mr. Simon…have you read any of the responses to THIS post?

California Dreamer: Oct 10, 2008 – 12:02 am

“Roger and ChuckO, you are using Big Words with a person (Marcus) who only has a Small Word Vocabulary”

TexasDude: Oct 10, 2008 – 5:11 am

“Can’t supporters of Obama just come out and say that they can’t vote for a honkie, a white bread candidate? But, we all know hat blacks men like their white chicks, so we know that Palin is OK, just that whitey McCain is the problem!”

Jonathan Silber: Oct 10, 2008 – 8:28 am

“The ideology that, over the last fifty years, has truly harmed the American Negro, is not racism, but liberalism.”
(note: Jim Crow existed within the past 50 years)

This is what the anonymity of the blogosphere lends to the social discourse. Take a heaping of attrocious American Racial History, add a cup of vitriolic talk radio, mix in McCain/Palin rally “code words” with unfiltered keyboard access and you get this result.

Why you’re actually SURPISED about this is the surpise in and of itself. This is just another national moment, like the civil rights marches, MLK’s assassination, the OJ Simpson trial, the Simi Valley verdict and Hurricane Katrina where America’s race mirror is held up to her face.

Do you like the reflection, Mr. Simon?

–Cobra

Oct 11, 2008 - 9:36 am 107. Cobra:

that’s “surprised” and “surprise”

Oct 11, 2008 - 9:39 am 108. Matthew O'Brian:

Good grief. Sorry, Cobra. You blew any credibility you might have had when you likened the OJ Simpson trial to the civil rights movement, assassination of Martin Luther King, and Hurricane Katrina.

Oct 11, 2008 - 10:56 am 109. Anita Hope:

Saw a movie on cable last night called “HURRICAIN”, A TRUE STORY OF HURRICAN CARTER. It needs to be seen by all as it truly presents what is bad in
our society on the racial issue and what can change with co- exhistance when we learn to care for each other and fight bigotry from both sides of life with honesty. In case you have never heard of Hurricain Carter, check out Google for Ruben “Hurricain Carter”. He is the fiber of what Dr. King was fighting for…and please, never use Dr. King’s name in connection with “o j simpson” , Dr. King represented the good,o j represents the evil/ bad in man.

Oct 11, 2008 - 12:12 pm 110. Cobra:

Matthew O’Brian and Anita Hope:

Sorry to disappoint you. I WILL bring up OJ because it was a national moment on race relations in America.
It’s not a comparison of OJ Simpson to Dr. King, of course–there’s NO comparison. But let’s get something straight here…

White conservatives did NOT like Dr. Martin Luther King. J. Edgar Hoover illegally WIRETAPPED Dr. King with the permission of the US Justice Department. Rev. Jerry Falwell and other white conservative leaders denounced him. Southern white conservatives engaged in STATE SPONSORED (the state police sherriff’s departments and even National Guard were often involved in the beatings) Domestic Terrorism against the non-violent freedom riders and civil rights marchers, whose only cause was to get equal justice for African-Americans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW1i-R39AAk

Now, as reprehensible as OJ Simpson is, here you had a world televised case where a famous African-American was on trial for his life, and actually WON. OJ Simpson bought the same kind of “equal justice” that rich whites had availed themselves of for 200 years. And to tie the two together, remember who the Key Prosecution Witness was?

Mark Fuhrman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrgZ87UGIzk

Now, there are some who would say that a perjurious, racist cop (turned paid Fox News Analyst) like Fuhrman shouldn’t have made any difference in the case, but he certainly mattered to MILLIONS of African-Americans like me. When a “man” like Fuhrman BRAGS about the same racist police brutality that has been leveled against blacks since America began, I would be derelict not to see him compared to the racist thug-cops that beat down my relatives who marched for justice.

I’m not exhonerating OJ by any means. I’m indicting a system that wants to turn a blind eye to a biased police attitude that unarmed black men like me face in the course of our daily lives.

Hurricane Katrina and race, Matthew? Really? Well, let’s pay a visit to Fox News again, and get the Sean Hannity “perspective”…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrhvkuzPMio&feature=related

Again, Matthew, my whole point is that I, like millions of other African-Americans see many of these national events through an entirely different prism than many of my fellow countrymen and women. So when I see and hear the attendees of McCain/Palin rallies, amped up by hate radio, with the notion that a black “terrorist” could soon be in the White House…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjxzmaXAg9E

…Roger L. Simon, do you get Marcus’ point NOW?

–Cobra

Oct 11, 2008 - 3:06 pm 111. Anita Hope:

CORRECTION ON SPELLING ABOVE, MOVIE IS “THE HURRICANE” AND RUBEN HURRICANE CARTER. SORRY

Oct 11, 2008 - 7:00 pm 112. Roger L Simon:

“Roger L. Simon, do you get Marcus’ point NOW?”

Sorry, Cobra, this old civil rights worker thinks you’re a reactionary. No sale at all.

Oct 11, 2008 - 10:03 pm 113. Cobra:

Roger L Simon writes:

>>>”Sorry, Cobra, this old civil rights worker thinks you’re a reactionary. No sale at all.”

Well, if I’m a “reactionary”, then what do you call the folks at the McCain/Palin rallies who yell out racial slurs, and shout “Kill him!”, “Terrorist!” and “Off with his head!”

As an “old civil rights worker”, you should be familiar with that kind of language, right? But, for some reason, you’re more concerned with the language and attitude of a poster to your blog, who actaully has the correct jist of the McCain/Palin entourage lately.

That tells me a WHOLE lot about your agenda than anything else.

–Cobra

Oct 12, 2008 - 9:46 am 114. cardeblu:

“Well, if I’m a “reactionary”, then what do you call the folks at the McCain/Palin rallies who yell out racial slurs, and shout “Kill him!”, “Terrorist!” and “Off with his head!””

Plants.

Oct 12, 2008 - 1:05 pm 115. Anita Hope:

Cobra, of course we can not see through your eyes, but can you openup to admit there are many whites that have always put their lives on the line trying to bring racial equality throughout the United States.If only both races would accept the past can only be changed if we stop all the racial name calling
and dig in together to correct those past ills. I do believe television has compounded the visual problems, but now we have a computer and I do think Roger L. Simon and his PJ.Blog site is helping all of us to get to vocalize what we feel and think, but name calling will never solve how you or I , a senior white women, feel about the biggots in this country. I was raised to respect all people, color was not a factor and never has or will be for me, however, I
cannot respect anyone that threatens the safty of our country and the freedom of all our citizens. I guess what I am trying to say, is look at a person”s
educational background, his associations throughout his life, his accomplishments that are real and important to bring us together as a nation,not con-
tinue to divide us.

Oct 12, 2008 - 2:56 pm 116. Mike G:

On one especially silly site I called Obama “Spock Obama” after one of the debates. The reference seemed clear enough– that he was cerebral, not “feel your painy” enough to win; but I wouldn’t necessarily call it an insult (is it an insult to compare him to Adlai Stevenson?)

Of course, people immediately called me racist. The funny thing was, no two of them could agree on what made it a racist comment. One said it was intended to reference the word “spook,” another that I was saying black people are alien to America, and so on. But they were all sure it was racist. (That Spock is both very bright and one of the good guys somehow never entered into it.)

Also of course… the very same people routinely descended to the crudest sexism against Palin. I know you’re shocked by that.

Oct 12, 2008 - 5:07 pm 117. lee:

It’s amazing how Cobra is proving the whole point of the article.

As an Asian, I’m not voting for Obama because he reminds of communist leaning Asian presidents who gets nothing done. Former South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun was Barack Obama of his time (minus the charisma). He made the campaign about a vague sense of change and rode anti American sentiments to power. He ended up leaving office with a 20% approval rating and Koreans replaced him with a moderate conservative.

OJ Simpson was guilty, and many minority groups consider him as a remorseless killer. I recall no one in my Asian community who were particularly offended that one of the police witnesses had a racist past (apparently), because the convincing DNA and circumstantial evidence rendered that a moot point. WE didn’t exactly sympathize with OJ on account of American’s racist past where bigoted white jury convicted innocent colored people. The OJ Simpson case and the LA riots dealt a blow to race relations for years.

Cobra is one of those sad people who parties like it’s 1950’s segregationist America everyday. A lack of visible African Americans in any arena is good enough for him to cook up conspiracy theories about white establishment in action. Sigh.

I’m Asian, and I can’t imagine myself voting for what passes as black politicians nowadays. Alan Keyes, BHO, Maxine Waters, Franklin Raines, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, etc. The black Detroit mayor was sacked because of infedility, then tried to play the race card. I’m certainly glad that white Americans reject most of them. It’s a bloody shame that Larry Elder, Thomas Sowell, and Colin Powell aren’t running for office.

Oct 13, 2008 - 12:52 am 118. hermie:

When Maureen Dowd made fun of Obama’s ears, she should’ve been fired by the NYT for making such a ‘racist’ remark.

Oct 13, 2008 - 6:35 am 119. Jeff:

I highly recommend that Mr. Roger L. Simon, as the founder of PajamasMedia and a Jewish person, get re-acquainted with history, especially with World War II and Hitler. Mr. Simon should read all of the books and watch all of the documentaries and get himself re-acquainted with that era again. It was a time when one ignorant powerful man preached a lot of propaganda, stirred up a lot of hate, and led an army that created the largest human massacre ever known to human history. It led to millions and millions of innocent lives lost. This was the biggest example of what ignorance and bigotry had accomplished and it is evident that human mentalities have not gone very far since that time.

Mr. Simon should get acquainted with that time period again because he will discover the true power of ignorance, hate, and bigotry. It is a very powerful force and only one result can come about with this powerful force – SUFFERING. At night, he should close his eyes and dig deep within himself and ask himself what he is truly using his power for. Is it for right or wrong, good or evil, truth or lies?

One man seeing right could be seen as wrong by others. One man looking to do good could be seen as evil by others. One man’s truth could be seen as lies by others.

Men like Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Hitler, and now Osama Bin Laden truly feels that what they did or is doing are right, in their own eyes. They also believe that their belief systems are good and are the only truth. They don’t stop to listen to what the world believes but only listen to what their own inner voices tell them. There is a lesson to learn about these men in that, the voices of the world could not be heard by them because their own voices were what ONLY mattered.

Oct 13, 2008 - 1:49 pm 120. Cobra:

Lee writes:

>>>”He ended up leaving office with a 20% approval rating and Koreans replaced him with a moderate conservative.”

Right now, George W. Bush has a 23% approval rating, which is lower than Nixon ever had. What’s your point?

Lee writes:

>>>” I recall no one in my Asian community who were particularly offended that one of the police witnesses had a racist past (apparently), because the convincing DNA and circumstantial evidence rendered that a moot point.”

I don’t know which Asian community you belong to, but Judge Lance Ito certainly had a problem with it. Especially the part when Mark Furhman used derogatory, sexist language against Ito’s wife.

>>>”"I love my wife dearly, and I am wounded by criticism of her, as any spouse would be,” Judge Ito told lawyers with the jury absent. His voice faltering and choked with emotion, the judge detailed his reasons for removing himself from making any decisions about the tapes. He said he was wounded by Fuhrman’s disparaging remarks about his wife, and that a reasonable person could perceive any ruling on the admissibility of the tapes as unfair.”

http://www.courttv.com/trials/ojsimpson/weekly/30.html

Lee writes:

>>>”Cobra is one of those sad people who parties like it’s 1950’s segregationist America everyday.”

Pot to kettle…you in YOUR post makes a point to tell the reader THREE times that you’re “Asian”, denounce current Black politicians (Franklin Raines?? Somebody’s been watching too much Fox News) and laud White Americans for “rejecting most of them.”

Jeff,

Great post my friend. People sometimes lose sight of the power that an angry mob can wield when whipped up into a rage. This is a scary time in America.

–Cobra

Oct 13, 2008 - 2:42 pm

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