I find it sad yet still amusing to see how the bigfoot Washington press corp tries to pussyfoot around the stunning outbreak of virulent open racism in our country. ‘Do you think maybe that these teabag people might harbor a little racial animus towards the president?”
Let me just say, ‘Fuck that.’ Here’s Limbaugh, prince of the GOP, with a lead-in by the racist Lou Dobbs of CNN.
If you think that isn’t race-baiting, then you’re hopeless. Maybe we all thought we were past this. After all, the country elected a black president. But the Republican Party isn’t past it at all, and they aren’t doing shit to stop this. Quite the contrary.
At least I can give this guy some props (h/t Kos) as he tries to talk reason to his tribe:
Look, I think it’s important to talk about black male violence, or at least as important as it is to talk about any other important social trend. I don’t think we should be squeamish about discussing it in a responsible and fair-minded way, despite what the politically correct say. But good grief, Limbaugh is up to something wicked. He’s plainly trying to rally white conservatives into thinking that now that we have a black president, blacks are rising up to attack white kids! Christ have mercy, what is wrong with these people?
I won’t have anything to do with it, not even tangentially, which is why I took down the post. I can’t see this as anything other than Limbaugh deliberately trying to whip up racial fear and loathing of the president. This goes far, far beyond tough criticism of Obama. Does that man Limbaugh have any idea what rough beast he’s calling forth? […]
It’s undeniably true that black males, as a group, are disproportionately responsible for violent crimes today (and blacks are disproportionately victims, too). This is important to talk about. This means something. I hate the kind of political correctness that demands we pretend not to see what we see. But as far as I’m concerned, if the Limbaughs of the world are going to be doing this kind of thing, and trying to blame, with no logical grounds whatsoever, a black president for black-on-white violence, and if they’re going to do this in an increasingly hysterical atmosphere of protest against that black president, I don’t want to talk about these things at all. Now is not the time. With this kind of inflammatory rhetoric, they are quite simply tearing the country apart.
You want to know who does a lot to help young black males stay out of trouble? ACORN… You morons.
Here’s the conservative strategy post-Nixon. Race-bait to pull in the die-hard segregationists, South or North. Use abortion as a wedge to pull in Catholics, especially urban ethnic Catholics.
The move was simple. Get the working folks voting the way that corporations wanted them to vote. Then tell them that government doesn’t work for them; therefore, government can’t work for them.
Presto. FDR coalition shattered. Reagan coalition created. But to sell Reagan they had to soft-pedal the racism in the national media. And they did; you wouldn’t believe how reasonable formerly segregationist Republicans were on McNeil-Lehrer and other shows. They had power; they were working behind the scenes on vouchers and scuttling busing and gutting affirmative action (Clarence Thomas, in fact). As long as they had power they were subtle and purged the GOP of folks who didn’t think like them.
Now that they are out of power, it’s non-stop hissy-fit because their base is eroding. The economy is that bad. And the harder to gin up the anger, the more extreme they become. Now what exactly are all the 70- and 80-year-olds who listen to Rush gonna do?
It is only a matter of time until these folks are irrelevant. But we are going to have to throw them a few anvils – healthcare reform, climate change, financial industry regulations, and the big kahuna, EFTA. If we can prevent the healthcare industry, the fossil fuel industry, the financial services industry, and most employers from sabotaging that legislation, there will be a new coalition that includes working folk again.
Did you see The Daily Show’s recent piece on ACORN? I’ll look for a link to it.
http://www.boomantribune.com/?op=displaystory;sid=2009/9/16/115220/410
Thanks for that – I haven’t had a full-on belly laugh in a long time…
Limbaugh, Beck, and others on Fixed News and hate radio are doing everything they can to incite violence against anyone who doesn’t share their color and their beliefs. It goes way past any reasonable First Amendment protection. The bitter, hate filled venom that they spout every day amounts to inciting to riot, even sedition. Sooner or later, there will be violence. And then they’ll find some way to blame the victims. It was bad enough before, but now that Obama is our President it has gotten an order of magnitude worse.
And yes, black on white violence is deplorable, but what amazes me is that there isn’t more of it. The steady drumbeat of disrespect and discrimination that most black folk suffer every day, from the snide remarks to the hateful stares to deliberate interference and discrimination, is enough to make anyone go postal. I admire their self-restraint.
And as bad as black on white violence is, it doesn’t hold a candle to white on black violence. Any black man, and especially any young black man, who gets pulled over by the cops for any reason, or no reason at all, runs about a one in three chance of getting shot to death.
As far as I’m concerned, black on white violence is a ways down the concern ladder.
So, I’m sure Limbaugh will point to this as an example of how it’s open season on African Americans now that we have a black president. I’m sure he’ll give it lots of attention.
Cracker Barrel Attack: Tasha Hill Beaten In Front Of Daughter, Called Racial Slurs
A possible hate crime. Ya think?
Hmm. Cracker barrel. Indeed.
Didn’t know black people went there. That’s even a bit too white for me and I’m from Iowa!
I’m sure Rush will be right on it and will leap to the obvious conclusion that Uncle Joe Wilson is setting the tone for white crackers all across Cracker Barrel Land and it’s getting out of hand. Time for Uncle Joe to stand up and stop this cracker madness!
And I’m sorry for the victim. That sucks.
I just clicked on SFGate, the San Francisco Chrnonicle’s web page, and sure enough, the racists are out in force.
I haven’t read comments there in a long time because they tend to be very juvenile and racist–boy are they racist–just click on a story about Oakland and it’s “thug” this and “criminal” that and the outright hatred of black communities is amazing (most of the posters are probably not from San Francisco Bay Area–they are probably sitting in Texas bitching about Nancy Pelosi).
Anyway, just went there to look at comments on an ACORN story and wow is there some righteous racism going on.
They see black folk and they think criminal, low-life, lazy, un-American. Now they are emboldened by the right-wing hate coming from the top of the GOP.
Why Obama and his fellow ConservaDems want to give in to these racists fools, and serve up sacrificial offerings to Limbaugh and Beck, e.g. turning our allies like ACORN or Van Jones over to the enemy, is amazingly foolish and wrong.
Joe Miller won. His party supports him unequivocally.
The fighters for racial justice on the left, like ACORN, lost.
Their putative allies in the Democratic party sold them down the river like an old field slave so that Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck might be nicer to them in the future.