2018 mid-term election

Distracted1 said:
I agree to a point. The use of the word may or may not have been a deliberate "slip". I am not one to jump into a camp that presumes that word is automatically racist. However, I think picking such a debatable word choice to assert racism on behalf of a Republican opponent will only serve to fire up his base, and is probably a mistake. I think "my side" is making that same mistake in varying degrees throughout the country this election cycle.
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The word ISN'T automatically racist. If Gillum was White or Asian or Native American, no one would have thought twice about it. But Gillum is an African American. And there is a long dark history of of the comparison of simians to Blacks. DeSantis is either racially insensitive and oblivious, which just makes him stupid. Or he's blatantly signalling the redneck bigots.

Gillum can't and isn't focusing on this probable racism. Others might, but he and his campaign isn't.
 
Slings and Arrows said:
No he didn't! That's not what he said. His comment never used the phrase "electing his opponent."

Recommended course work: Reading Comprehension 101.
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He said "electing a socialist agenda". I looked. Is the "socialist agenda" running? For which party. Or perhaps you're saying that Gillum's not a socialist (your friends at Fox and Breitbart will be coming for you if that's the case).


You can argue (not too successfully but you can argue it) that "monkey up" was a stupid slip of the tongue. He was clutching for a phrase because he probably wanted to say "**** this up" and switching in "monkey". That argument might have legs but then you have to wonder why "monkey" of all words?

But to argue that he wasn't referring to his opponent? You know, the one that the right is accusing of being a socialist? That opponent? To argue that he didn't say "if you elect my opponent" because he said "electing a socialist agenda" is really pathetic.
 
Assuming that there will be clear evidence that Russia messed with the actual voting system (voting machines, voter rolls etc.) in the Midterms -
what consequences will that likely have?
 
Slings and Arrows said:
No he didn't! That's not what he said. His comment never used the phrase "electing his opponent."

Recommended course work: Reading Comprehension 101.
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You think it wasn't about the upcoming election, in which the choice is between him and his opponent?

You are seriously suggesting that this "monkeying up" comment wasn't about the choice that voters will make this November and hence had nothing to do with his opponent in that race?

If you had said that he made an unfortunate choice of words, a choice which unintentionally suggests racism, I would've likely bought it. But to claim that your "reading comprehension" skills allow you to conclude that this wasn't a reference to his opponent at all is simply pathetic. Of course it was a reference to his opponent. That was, after all, the real point of the speech. Vote for me rather than him.
 
Slings and Arrows said:
No he didn't! That's not what he said. His comment never used the phrase "electing his opponent."

Recommended course work: Reading Comprehension 101.
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Yes, reading comprehension 101. He is clearly saying that electing his opponent would support a socialist agenda and that this would be "monkeying" things up.

I'd be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this, if he hadn't first explained that his opponent is "articulate", a strange things to say in this context, but perfectly understandable under the racist mindset.
 
Ah, we've hit the "But our guy who models himself after a white supremacist president and helped run a racist Facebook group isn't the only guy who said the word "monkey" ever, so context doesn't matter" portion, only a day late.

Nice try, GOP fans, but nobody says "monkey this up". "Monkey around", "Monkey wrench", and the like have plausible deniability that "Monkey this up" does not, because those are actual phrases. Also, again, your party is lead by a pack of obvious white supremacists, which really hurts your credibility on the whole "We're not racist!" thing.

Now quit trying to exile people for being Hispanic.
 
Bogative said:
Someone took the time to compile a list of politicians and pundits racially bullhorning terms such as "monkey business", "monkeying around" etc.

A few names of note:

Barack Obama
Dick Durbin
Jay Carney
Josh Ernest
Chuck Schumer
John Kerry
Bernie Sanders
Robert Byrd
Adam Schiff

Looks like the Dems are no longer hiding from their long history of racism and are now embracing it fully.
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You just don't get that this "The Dems are the real racist" B.S. is making people here laugh at you?
 
dudalb said:
You just don't get that this "The Dems are the real racist" B.S. is making people here laugh at you?
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Well, they do seem to be the only ones who hear these racist dog whistles.

Meanwhile, Gillum himself is in the middle of an FBI investigation:

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Tallahassee Mayor and Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum has been scrutinized in a federal investigation that “centers around the city’s community redevelopment agency, which steers private and public money to revitalization and infrastructure projects.”

Lobbyist Adam Corey, a longtime friend of Gillum’s, is at the center of the probe, which has seen several rounds of subpoena’s served to the Tallahassee City Hall.

“In 2013, the community redevelopment agency (CRA) voted to give $1.3 million in taxpayer money to help a Corey-associated restaurant project, the Edison,” according to the Tampa Bay Times. “Gillum voted with the rest of his fellow city commissioners — who sit on the CRA — to fund of project. At the time, Gillum’s vote raised eyebrows because of his close association with Corey. One year later, Corey served as the treasurer of Gillum’s mayoral campaign.”
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I find this particularly eye-opening:

The meeting was arranged while Gillum was on vacation with Corey and another city lobbyist in Costa Rica. The trio, along with their significant others, spent their vacation in a $1,400 per night villa, which Gillum insists that he paid for personally.

“The mayor paid cash for all of he and Mrs. Gillum’s expenses,” Gillum’s chief of staff Jamie Van Pelt told the Tallahassee Democrat. “After publication, he clarified that Gillum paid cash for his portion of the villa, but used a credit card for all other expenses.”
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Paid untraceable cash?
 
Some people would not hear a Dog Whistle if it sounded next to their ears because they have partisan noise filters on.
Just like they wear blinders so that they don't see that Trump is showing himself to be an authoritatrin would be dictator every day.
But I guess Dictatorship and the end of Democracy is a small price to pay for Tax breaks and a couple of Supreme Court Justices.
 
Mumbles said:
Nice try, GOP fans, but nobody says "monkey this up". "Monkey around", "Monkey wrench", and the like have plausible deniability that "Monkey this up" does not, because those are actual phrases.
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"Hey, hey, we're the Monkees
And people say we monkey around.
But we're too busy singing
To put anybody down."

For some strange reason, suddenly I've got a huge craving for a bowl of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream.
 
Slings and Arrows said:
"Hey, hey, we're the Monkees
And people say we monkey around.
But we're too busy singing
To put anybody down."

For some strange reason, suddenly I've got a huge craving for a bowl of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream.
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Mumbles was trying to say that "monkey this up" is not a common phrase compared to "monkey around". What are you trying to say?
 
Imhotep said:
Mumbles was trying to say that "monkey this up" is not a common phrase compared to "monkey around". What are you trying to say?
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He's making fun of dogs that bark for some reason when a guy blows a little metal device, because he thinks the dogs are imagining things, since he himself does not hear a whistle, and therefore it couldn't be that.
 
LSSBB said:
He's making fun of dogs that bark for some reason when a guy blows a little metal device, because he thinks the dogs are imagining things, since he himself does not hear a whistle, and therefore it couldn't be that.
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Devilishly deconstructed.
 
dudalb said:
Some people would not hear a Dog Whistle if it sounded next to their ears because they have partisan noise filters on.
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Apparently you are unaware of what a dog whistle (a literal one) is. If you can hear one sounded next to your ears, you are not a human. The whole notion of a figurative dog whistle is supposedly nobody hears it except racists. Hence my amusement at liberals hearing them everywhere.
 
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I think a few basically decent people are in denial about what the GOP has become under Trump. They just don't want to see what their party has become. They keep making excuses and acting like Trump actions are no big deal.
 
I really can't tell if it was a dog-whistle, or just someone who was thinking "**** things up" and caught himself before the f-word, substituting "monkey," as in meddling, screwing with a good thing, experimenting, etc. -- all the meanings of "monkey with."



If deliberate, the guy's a scumbag. If inadvertent, while mentally scrambling for a word to replace ****, it may mean nothing at all.


It is odd, however, that he first described his opponent as "articulate." When used alone, it implies that being articulate is out of character (i.e., that black people usually aren't), and hence is a backhanded compliment. When used as praise or recognition, one normally says, "articulate, cogent, and persuasive" or some other conglomeration of adjectives.
 
Brainster said:
Apparently you are unaware of what a dog whistle (a literal one) is. If you can hear one sounded next to your ears, you are not a human. The whole notion of a figurative dog whistle is supposedly nobody hears it except racists. Hence my amusement at liberals hearing them everywhere.
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The key word being "literal". The perfect analogy would be the lack of needing one...
 
Brainster said:
Apparently you are unaware of what a dog whistle (a literal one) is. If you can hear one sounded next to your ears, you are not a human. The whole notion of a figurative dog whistle is supposedly nobody hears it except racists. Hence my amusement at liberals hearing them everywhere.
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Ok, the metaphor isn't entirely apt. It's suggestive, but doesn't work.

So what?

I'm willing to buy that his phrase was unfortunate, perhaps he didn't mean a racial slur. But comments about the appropriateness of the metaphor really have nothing to do with anything. You and I know what is meant by dog whistle.
 
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