Yes, it was a racist email/joke, but I didn’t even take it that way when I first read it. My immediate reaction was that it was an attack on the president’s mother and that it was a cruel thing to say.
So, here’s the joke:
The subject line of the email, which [U.S. District Court Judge Richard] Cebull sent from his official courthouse email address on Feb. 20 at 3:42 p.m., reads: “A MOM’S MEMORY.”
The forwarded text reads as follow:
“Normally I don’t send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine.
“A little boy said to his mother; ‘Mommy, how come I’m black and you’re white?'” the email joke reads. “His mother replied, ‘Don’t even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you’re lucky you don’t bark!'”
Richard Cebull has served as chief judge for the District of Montana since 2008. His excuse is fairly straightforward:
He admitted that he read the email and intended to send it to his friends.
“The only reason I can explain it to you is I am not a fan of our president, but this goes beyond not being a fan,” Cebull said. “I didn’t send it as racist, although that’s what it is. I sent it out because it’s anti-Obama.”
I think it’s more instructive to take him at his word than to suggest he’s really some giant racist. He liked the joke because it was cruel. And he wanted to be cruel to the president because he doesn’t like him. I think a lot of us can relate on some level. We certainly shared enough cruel jokes about George W. Bush. What makes this different is that it’s a joke about something the president cannot control. It’s a joke about his absent father, whose absence touched Obama so deeply that he wrote a book called Dreams From My Father. It’s a joke about his mother and her sexual morality, and that’s about as personal as you can get. Finally, although I didn’t even notice it at first, it compares black people to dogs, and interracial couplings to bestiality.
A joke like this is a Rorschach Test. Everyone will react differently or see something slightly different in it. What should be uncontroversial is that it’s not the kind of joke that should be endorsed by a sitting federal judge, even in private correspondence. I don’t know that it’s an impeachable offense, but it would get most people fired or suspended from their jobs, especially since he sent it on a government computer.
And, yes, Dubya appointed this guy.
it’s not even a funny joke.
my favorite Bush joke is the one where Condie goes in to tell Junior how the war’s going.
“It was a tough day, Mr. President. 10 Brazilian troops died.”
Bush goes into hysterics, wailing and beating his head on the desk. “OH GOD NO! NOOOOO!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!”
This goes on for awhile, and Condie’s getting worried at his extreme reaction. He finally settles down, looks at her and asks “How many is a brazillion?”
Thanks, I’ll be here all week. Try the veal.
Breitbart is claiming he’s dead.
I won’t believe it until I see the body.
His outfits are not known for accuracy in reporting. That’s for sure.
According to MSNBC, the LA Coroners office confirmed it to them.
Death by vitriol?
And it’s contagious, too!
Natural causes? Like naturally you need a functioning liver?
Asshole
“And, yes, Dubya appointed this guy.”
I wouldn’t expect any less.
Well, this type of joke is standard fare in my neck of the woods. Why should anyone be surprised that just because someone is a federal judge that they would view things any differently than your standard, working class bigot?
Well in Ireland Judges are expected to be above politics even if they are appointed by a particular Government or (partly) be cause of political affiliations. A remark like that – even if only interpreted as anti-Obama – would be sufficient to warrant a resignation, if not an actual dismissal which is difficult under our constitution. Is a high profile Democrat supposed to feel they will get impartial justice if they appear before George Cebull’s court? Has he even issued an apology to Obama and his family?
No doubt that Candidate Man-on-dog would also see some humor here.
Just saying that the book is called “Dreams from my Father”
thanks. I’m not operating at 100% lately.
It is just a vile joke. You have to be pretty sick to find it funny.
I wonder about the trials in which he was the presiding Judge. Is there any recourse for parties who feel that they may have been treated unfairly given his now outed prejudice?
I’m finding it pretty difficult to get worked up about this.
I mean sure, he’s an a-hole, and the joke is vile and unfunny. But that doesn’t mean he’s not able to maintain impartiality on the bench. I have what most people would consider pretty radical political opinions, but I think I can still remain impartial when necessary.
I guess there is some impropriety regarding him sending it from his official address, but outside of that, this gets a big ‘meh’ from me.
a racist judge…who knew?
not a shock
Booman,
I like you, but this
is the usual BS white people like to give to other white people that really sticks in my craw. I know what you are trying to say, but this is what I posted to my FB page on this story:
Usually, I filter what I say to some of my FB friends who I also work with, but this time, I just wanted to put anyone of my friend white or black (but yea primarily whtie) on notice (particulary since I’ve inadvertenly seen a email from a white co-worker I consider a really nice and cool person).
I was racist when I was young. I was raised in and lived in the South, I was white, and no one had ever tried to get me to be NOT racist.
One of the things that brought my awareness of racism up was the fact that the humor of the racists … wasn’t. It wasn’t funny. At all. It was disgusting, cruel, mean spirited, and finally NOT FUNNY. I began to see that the racists had no sense of humor, just a litany of codes about denigrating anyone not themselves.
If you want to identify a racist — check out his jokes. Unfunny, cruel, denigrating and mean. This describes the racist.
Rush Limbaugh comes to mind.
Conservative humor is mostly an oxymoron. It goes with their attitude of kiss up and kick down.
Mallard Fillmore — nuff said.
Unfunny humor is actually better, from a political perspective, than actually funny humor.
Anyone can laugh at an actually funny joke that has a conservative theme, but to grimly bark out “Ha ha ha!” at the appropriate moment in response to something that isn’t actually funny does much more to express and demonstrate your group identity.
Oh I hear that dog whistle loud and clear. Miscegenation = bestiality. It’s beyond racist.
As well as a sly reference to being an SOB.
Given the number of sophomoric, redneck, no-nothing judges in this state, it comes as no surprise that there are similar low life occupants of the judiciary elsewhere.
Ack! “know-nothing”
Once upon a time, a judge caught like this would have the shame to resign.
What it does show is that his dislike of Obama is visceral not rational.
That’s what I was thinking. One can think of multitudes of much better people than this psycho who have resigned for far less. People in his position often cared about their own dignity and perceived integrity. Ironically enough, this guy is the one with the morals of a junkyard dog.
So the point is that Obama’s mother, no doubt drunk or on crack, conceived Obama by fucking a dog. That’s the point of the “joke”. It has obvious racist intent, but that’s almost the least of the problem. This US judge hates the US president to the point of psychopathy. He has no self-awareness or personal dignity. He is clearly without judiciousness, and so is completely unfit for the bench.
This is the kind of thing Obama can’t push back against on his own. The rest of us need to make this a major campaign for judicial and congressional investigation, maximum penalties, and resignation. This judge claims he found the so-called joke “touching”. That might be the creepiest part of all. Surely even our broken system is not required to retain an insane judge for life.
I think the point of the joke is that a white woman who has sex with a black man – even her lawfully-wedded husband – is someone of such low sexual morals that she would have sex with numerous men and even animals at a party.