I don’t get the Republican sense of humor:
Jason Thompson, the son of former [Wisconsin] Gov. Tommy Thompson, was caught on video Sunday suggesting at a Republican event that voters this fall could send President Barack Obama back “to Kenya.”
“We have the opportunity to send President Obama back to Chicago – or Kenya,” Jason Thompson, an attorney at Michael Best and Friedrich, said during a fall brunch hosted by the Kenosha County Republican Party.
Jason Thompson’s comment about Obama prompted laughs from the crowd, with one woman jokingly adding, “We are taking donations for that Kenya trip.”
For years, a fringe group of Obama critics has promoted the discredited “birther” argument that the first-term Democratic president was not born in the U.S. Though Obama’s father was Kenyan, the White House released Obama’s birth certificate last year showing he was born in a Hawaii hospital on Aug. 4, 1961.
Also speaking at the Kenosha event were Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brad Courtney. The video was taken by a Democratic Party operative and posted at BuzzFeed Politics early Sunday evening.
I don’t think Jason Thompson is a secret birther. But that just makes his joke stranger for me. I see it as a racist joke. The only alternative would be if he were taking a tongue-in-cheek shot at his own party’s nutters. But the context really argues against that interpretation. Do Republicans think “Go Back to Africa” jokes are actually amusing?
It’s funny because it’s racist. It’s sort of like trolling on the internet. You don’t get anything out of it because you agree with it; your enjoyment comes from knowing how much it drives people you don’t like batty.
I’m reminded of the time I went to pro wrestling event and the drunk next to me yelled “Go back home!” over and over at any wrestler who wasn’t WASPy-looking.
Question: Do Republicans think “Go Back to Africa” jokes are actually amusing? Answer: Yes.
Probably, but I’m not so sure (not saying you’re wrong, just that my grasp of the Republican concept of humor isn’t very good.)
Whether they find the jokes amusing or not, they’re sort of like the “So much for global warming!” tic they have to insert after every report of a snowstorm. It’s more of a political-tribal genuflection thing than anything else.
During the 60’s the one thing noted by nearly every organizer, fellow travelor or long term visitor to the South was the lack of humour in the racists. The South has a looooooong tradition of humor from Mark Twain (Missouri) to Faulkner (some of his stuff is hilarious, but more as an insider joke) to Jeff Foxworthy.
But what is notable is without exception that I can remember, ALL of those people were or attempted to be consciously not racist. It doesn’t mean that they always succeeded, but they tried. To quote Dean Faulkner (I knew her when I was at Ole Miss): “I may be racist, but I don’t have to act like it.” She had a deadpan face that concealed a razor sharp wit. You bled to death before you realized you’d been cut.
But the real racists? The Klan, the Council, the racist politicians (Thurmond, Barnett, Helms, etc)? They had no sense of humor at all.
The current R’s seem to me to have no sense of humor. At all. Their jokes are not funny. Not even in a slasher, burned earth kinda way.
How about throwing spears and stuff as well. No code to that is there?
It is really racist R tribalism at its worst. To be fair like minded people who I know thought shrub was an ignoramus and laughed about it (when not crying about the damage he did.)
In wars you always have terminology that dehumanizes the opposite side. We have called oponents Rebs, Krauts, Japs, Gooks, Ragheads, etc. So what’s different than Kenyan?
About as subtle as a dog turd in you coffee. And I can hear the chorus now:
There go the libruls playing the race card again. Jeez, they just don’t have any sense of humor whatsoever. What is wrong with them?
But the kicker is that they’ll continue to wonder why only nutty non-whites will vote for them.
It’s empowerment humor to them. Feels sorta like hugging your gun.
racist mofo.
a chip off the old block
File it all under Disrespect.
It’s, “You Lie!”
It’s the President pictured with a bone through his nose. Or remarks about him and Michelle and the girls “trashing up the White House”. Because sitting around in your sock feet eating popcorn is an unspeakable act.
It’s apparently acceptable to the Teabaggers and other Republicans to use racist slurs, demeaning language, and hateful words when discussing or even addressing the President. It’s okay because he’s blah. And uppity.
The dog whistles are so loud that even the dogs cover their ears. It’s born out of the frustration of having a President who isn’t a white man and who is smarter than most everyone in their party.
It sets me on fire, though. I think that shit is despicable and they should be called on it every single time.
Going to make the win that much sweeter…
I found this interesting story in the Kansas City Star, the Koch Brothers one of Romney’s big supporters want to end Farm Subsidies.
The Kochs aren’t finished. Win or lose in November, they plan to start a new fight. They are organizing dozens of business and grassroots groups to build support for eliminating all corporate and agricultural subsidies.
Read more here: http://midwestdemocracy.com/articles/heroes-or-villains-koch-brothers-largess-stirs-controversy/#sto
rylink=cpy
Wisconsin Republican lawyer Thompson’s comment was not a birther joke. President Obama wasn’t born in Chicago, he worked in Chicago. It was a straight out and out “Go back to Africa” joke-plain old-fashioned racism.
Like father like son.
It sometimes seems to me that GOP ideology/world views can be summarized thusly:
The rich ones want to pay no taxes whatsoever — without losing any meaningful government protection of their own interests.
The rank-and-file want to be able to hate minorities vocally and openly without being called racist — without losing any meaningful government protection of their own interests.
Do Republicans think “Go Back to Africa” jokes are actually amusing?
Seriously, in how many counties in this country would this comment not “prompt laughs from the crowd” at ANY GOP monthly meeting? Think about it. I would guess that you would be lucky to get even a slight push-back about it in more than 5-10% of these groups. This stuff has metastasized to the point where there is no corner of this country in which it would not be met with big grins and chuckles all the way around in almost any circle of the white GOP constituency.
yes, they do. Because they are the party of racists.