HRC = Racist? Obama = Sexist? WTF?

[BPSCG]

Obama = sexist and condescending because he tells HRC she's "likeable enough"?
Clinton = racist because she observed that LBJ, not MLK, got passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act?

They're trying to kiss and make up, and I frankly think this is being blown way out of proportion by the media, the talking heads, and both candidates' political operatives, but WTF? Since when do Dems attack each other over race and sex?

If HRC gets the nomination, do black voters stay home because she dissed Obama (no way they'll vote for the Repub, no matter who he is)?

If Obama gets the nomination, do women stay home because he dissed HRC?

 

[Kerberos]

If HRC gets the nomination, do black voters stay home because she dissed Obama (no way they'll vote for the Repub, no matter who he is)?

Racist.

 

[Undesired Walrus]

I'm quite tempted to leave the planet if Hillary becomes President, but her quote was taken out of context faster than an 13-year old's penis is taken out of his trousers whilst watching Eyes Wide Shut.

 

[John Bentley]

I predict that if Obama gets the nomination, and especially if he gets elected president, any criticism of him in any shape or form will be twisted into a racist comment.

 

[ravdin]

I'm quite tempted to leave the planet if Hillary becomes President, but her quote was taken out of context faster than an 13-year old's penis is taken out of his trousers whilst watching Eyes Wide Shut.

Now that's an analogy I haven't heard before. Are you a 13 year old Kubrick fan?

 

[Undesired Walrus]

I was a horny 13 year old who enjoyed certain scenes from Eyes Wide Shut.

 

[BPSCG]

Racist.

At least I'm not a sexist...

 

[Trakar]

Personally, if either of them win the Democratic nomination, I will either find a third party candidate to support, or not vote for president in this year's election. But then I guess being a registered Independent, your statements don't really address me, but only Democratic party loyalists. (again, other than a few largely rhetorical, ideological talking points, I really don't see any major differences between HRC/Obama and any of the major RNC candidates)

 

[Brainster]

David Brooks explains it pretty well:

Both Clinton and Obama have eagerly donned the mantle of identity politics. A Clinton victory wouldn’t just be a victory for one woman, it would be a victory for little girls everywhere. An Obama victory would be about completing the dream, keeping the dream alive, and so on.

Fair enough. The problem is that both the feminist movement Clinton rides and the civil rights rhetoric Obama uses were constructed at a time when the enemy was the reactionary white male establishment. Today, they are not facing the white male establishment. They are facing each other.

All the rhetorical devices that have been a staple of identity politics are now being exploited by the Clinton and Obama campaigns against each other. They are competing to play the victim. They are both accusing each other of insensitivity. They are both deliberately misinterpreting each other’s comments in order to somehow imply that the other is morally retrograde.

Live by the sword, die by the sword.

 

[dudalb]

The Irony is if you take a hard look on their positions on issues,the differences between Hilary and Obama are minor.
Maybe that is why I just can't get excited about favoring one over the other.Both have negatives as a Presendential candidate,although IMHO the Dems will really have to screw up to blow this election no matter which they nominate.

 

[BPSCG]

I'm quite tempted to leave the planet if Hillary becomes President, but her quote was taken out of context...

I don't even see how it's racist. Simple fact: Yes, MLK inspired people to fight racism, but it was LBJ, as president, who twisted arms to get the 1964 Civil Rights bill passed. HRC was really trying to put herself in the same league as Johnson, suggesting she would be as effective in pushing for civil rights as he was. Nothing she said in any way diminishes (I almost said a"denigrates") what King did. What the is racist about that?

[History Derail]

LBJ wasn't quite the civil rights giant he's been portrayed as being. He was an ardent "states rights" senator as majority leader in the 1950s, and succeeded in diluting civil rights legislation that Eisenhower had proposed. He commented at the time that "The Negroes are getting pretty uppity..."

And a greater percentage of Democratic senators voted against the 1964 civil rights bill than did Republicans. Illinois Republican senator Everett Dirksen did a lot of work, along with Hubert Humphrey, to get the bill passed.

And of course, Johnson wasn't the only president to take the lead on civil rights. In 1957, the Little Rock, Arkansas, schools refused to allow black students to enroll, in defiance of the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown v Board of Education. Governor Orval Faubus refused to use the Arkansas National Guard to enforce the law, whereupon Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal control and sent the 101st Airborne Division to assist them in allowing the black students to be enrolled.

Of course, Eisenhower was a Republican, so you'll probably be dead three days before you hear either HRC or BHO praise his civil rights record.

[/History Derail]

 

[BPSCG]

Both have negatives as a Presendential candidate,although IMHO the Dems will really have to screw up to blow this election no matter which they nominate.

Okay, say HRC gets the nomination.

• Does she pick BHO as her running mate, sewing up the black and the female vote, and winning the election?
• Or does she pick BHO as her running mate, losing the election because the people who wouldn't work for a female boss, let alone have one for a president, added to the people who wouldn't work for a black boss, let alone have one for a president, added to the number of voters who wouldn't vote for either one based on the issues, results in an electoral landslide.
• Or does she not pick BHO as her running mate at all?

Frankly, I could see any one of those scenarios as plausible.

 

[Darat]

OK - I've come up with the ideal candidate for the next election -

A 1/4 hispanic, black, asian, white, one legged, lesbian, single mother with a squint - oh and throw in that she's got alopecia as well. Imagine watching everyone squirm when trying to say anything negative about her at all!

 

[SezMe]

I don't even see how it's racist. Simple fact: Yes, MLK inspired people to fight racism, but it was LBJ, as president, who twisted arms to get the 1964 Civil Rights bill passed. HRC was really trying to put herself in the same league as Johnson, suggesting she would be as effective in pushing for civil rights as he was. Nothing she said in any way diminishes (I almost said a"denigrates") what King did. What the is racist about that?

I agree (OMG! What's the world coming to ).

What concerns me is that this level of vitriol is between two candidates whose positions differ so little that you can't stick a dime between them. Which ever one wins, the campaign in the Fall promises to be really ugly. I don't look forward to it at all.

PS: Which is why - in small part - I'm an Edwards guy.

 

[corplinx]

I'm quite tempted to leave the planet if Hillary becomes President, but her quote was taken out of context faster than an 13-year old's penis is taken out of his trousers whilst watching Eyes Wide Shut.

That's exactly what I thought. Hillary was right when she talked about the "gotcha" syndrome in politics.

I like how Obama is the new face who doesn't play washington games but that's exactly what he has done in this minor fiasco.

Maybe some day the true believers in the Obama messiah will catch on.

 

[Trakar]

OK - I've come up with the ideal candidate for the next election -

A 1/4 hispanic, black, asian, white, one legged, lesbian, single mother with a squint - oh and throw in that she's got alopecia as well. Imagine watching everyone squirm when trying to say anything negative about her at all!

How about one that actually has a valid and detailed plan to take the country where it needs to go, and has a consistent record of working toward that goal?

 

[Undesired Walrus]

Maybe some day the true believers in the Obama messiah will catch on.

I am, however, a commited believer. I am, although, quite willing to accept my belief in this man is entirely bound in faith.

But, I cannot vote in the United States, so don't you flag wavers worry!

 

[Undesired Walrus]

All this said, it would be quite comical if McCain rose from the ashes, winning a landslide in the midst of all the democratic squabbles, fights and rainbow rhetoric, and became the greatest President America has ever known.

 

[BPSCG]

What concerns me is that this level of vitriol is between two candidates whose positions differ so little that you can't stick a dime between them.

Frankly, I wouldn't mind seeing the vitriol level get ratcheted up a little. Hell, I'd be delighted if they would start hacking at each other with broadswords, leaving the Dems with a Dennis Kucinich-Al Sharpton slate in November.

In other words, if the Dems want to kill each other so the Repubs don't have to, who am I to say them nay?

Ronald Reagan spoke great wisdom when he said the 11th commandment was, "Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican."

PS: Which is why - in small part - I'm an Edwards guy.

Ah, you like the class-warfare guy. The ambulance chaser who got rich by telling people, "Let's you and him fight," "him" almost always being a big corporation with lots of money. Now he wants to get to be president the same way: "Let's you and him fight."

 

[SezMe]

Uh-oh, Beeps, looks like Obama has declared a truce. We'll see how the Nevada debate goes tonight. Claws or paws. Every political junkie wants to know.