by matttbastard
Shorter George Will:
“Uppity. N*gger.”
Yeah, um, 2008 called — it wants its racist dogwhistle back. For fuck’s sakes, George, put down the thesarus, stop wasting our time and Katharine Weymouth’s money and just say what you *really* mean. Oh, and you can choke on that goddamn bow-tie, too (sorry, MHL — your uncle is still tres cool).
Background:
(image originally uploaded by Barack Obama, posted under a Creative Commons license.)
by matttbastard
File under ‘uppity n*gger’:
As Liss points out in her must-read critique of the ad,
For those keeping score at home, the McCain campaign has, in its official adverts, obliquely called Obama uppity, a wild animal, a pedophile, and a sexist (on dubious grounds) this week alone.
And McCain, that maverick stalwart of fauxtegrity, put his personal seal of approval on each and every one of them.
by matttbastard
Shorter Verbatim Lynn Westmoreland:
“Just from what little I’ve seen of [Michelle] and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity… . Uppity, yeah.”
Thank you, Rep. Westmoreland (R, GA), for saying what you really mean.
Previously:
by matttbastard
Re: the recent McCain campaign ad labelling Barack Obama a celebrity (and not-so-subtly juxtaposing the junior senator from Illinois with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears), Adam Serwer (aka dnA of Too Sense and Jack and Jill Politics) believes that, contra yours truly and other commentators, the racial subtext of the advertisement isn’t actually miscegenation. Rather, he contends that the McCain campaign has constructed a Nixonian paean to white resentment provoked by the undeserved success of an uppity person of colour:
The Britney ad is a result of the ongoing meme in this election that Obama’s success, like that of “overpaid black athletes,” is an affront to hardworking white people everywhere. The ad never mentions Obama’s race as the source of his celebrity, but it doesn’t have to — it’s been part of the campaign long enough for the point to be implicit. In short, this ad is Geraldine Ferraro’s attack done “right,” in the sense that it does not directly implicate the McCain campaign as exploiting racial tensions.
The McCain campaign’s apparently race-neutral approach, and its subsequent accusation that the Obama campaign is playing the race card, is a well-thought-out strategy — it is pure Nixon. In his recent chronicle of conservative political history in The New Yorker, George Packer describes Pat Buchanan’s plan for exploiting political divisions, particularly ones of a racial nature. Buchanan’s assessment was that they could “cut the Democratic Party and country in half; my view is that we would have far the larger half.”
In a dispute about race, the McCain campaign knows it will end up with the larger half. For the most part, most white people’s experience with race isn’t one of racial discrimination. They can only relate to racial discrimination in the abstract. What white people can relate to is the fear of being unjustly accused of racism. This is the larger half. This is why allegations of racism often provoke more outrage than actual racism, because most of the country can relate to one (the accusation of racism) easier than the other (actual racism). For this reason, in a political conflict over race, the McCain campaign has the advantage, because saying the race card has been played is actually the ultimate race card.
Because of this advantage, dnA (it just don’t feel right to call the brother by his real name) further argues that, instead of tackling these racist attacks head on, “[i]t’s in the Obama campaign’s interest to keep the conversation on matters of policy, where it has an advantage not yet reflected in the polls”:
[Democrats] need to resist the temptation to engage in protracted battles with the McCain campaign about racism directed at their candidate, because the nation’s demographics and the circumstances of Obama’s rise make it difficult if not impossible to win the argument. Instead, they should attempt to focus the conversation back to policy questions. Democrats have a candidate who is sophisticated in his understanding of policy, and Republicans have a candidate who is still largely running on his biography as a war hero, whose only coherent and consistent remaining policy position is support for offshore drilling. Driving home that point will become increasingly difficult if McCain is re-energized by the presence of white voters who are themselves anxious about being seen as racist. From their point of view, Obama’s presence on the national stage is proof that any charge of racism on their behalf is frivolous. This is nonsense, but there’s nothing really that can be done about it.
As always, dnA’s points are compelling and well-thought out. He certainly has me thinking about how I’ve reacted to the calculated racism that has been–and continues to be–employed against Obama throughout the campaign. In other words, read the whole damn thing.
(photo: Barack Obama, Flickr, used under a Creative Commons License)
by matttbastard
“Uppity. N*gger.”
For fuck’s sake, Dana–stop wasting our time (and Katherine Graham’s money), cut the crap and just say what you really fucking mean (and, um, next time, try to get your facts straight, asshole).
Previously:
Related: ZOMG MISCEGENATION DOGWHISTLE:
There’s no reason to include Britney Spears and Paris Hilton in this ad. None. It hangs on the word “celebrity” being included, which means it could have just as well been Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Anyway, all the footage is from Obama’s Berlin speech, not the red carpet. This is absolutely meant to juxtapose images of white women with images of a black man.
First he takes teh White House, then he’ll take teh white wimmins…
(image originally uploaded by Barack Obama, posted under a Creative Commons license.)
by matttbastard
Shorter Rick “best surname EVAR” Moran:
“Uppity. N*gger.”
The real number one thing about Barack Obama that apparently creeps out Rick Moran?
Obama’s black.
For fuck’s sake, Rick–stop wasting our time (and the beer money Roger L. Simon and Charles Johnson occasionally toss in your direction), cut the crap and just say what you really fucking mean.
(image originally uploaded by Barack Obama, posted under a Creative Commons license.)
by matttbastard
“Uppity. N*gger.”
For fuck’s sake, Chuck–stop wasting our time (and Katherine Graham’s money), cut the crap and just say what you really fucking mean.
Attaturk has more on ‘Operation U-P-P-I-T-Y’.
(image originally uploaded by Barack Obama, posted under a Creative Commons license.)
by matttbastard
“Uppity. N*gger.”
For fuck’s sake, Jonah–stop wasting our time (and Murdoch’s money), cut the crap and just say what you really fucking mean.
(image originally uploaded by Barack Obama, posted under a Creative Commons license.)
by matttbastard
dnA’s broadcasting on the same frequency re: Ron Fournier:
You know, if there’s anything that can keep Barack Obama from being president, it’s the downright smoldering resentment some people feel at seeing a black person in a position of authority–let alone the position of authority.
It’s kind of like they way white sportscasters talk about black athletes–they hate the swagger, the confidence borne of jumping the extra hurdles America tosses in your path. Professional sports organizations have spent more than a century trying to cut that swagger and style out of the sport by changing the rules at every opportunity, so it’s no surprise that they’d do the same thing in politics.
So John McCain saying he’s doing “The Lord’s work in the city of Satan” is sincere and down to earth, while Obama joking about his charisma is “arrogant”.
Or, as Steve M rhetorically puts it, “[j]okes, Ron. Jokes. Or are only white people allowed to be ironic?”
(Must. Resist. Simple. Answer.)
Also see John Cole and Robert Stein, both of whom also heard Fournier’s whistle blowing loud and clear.
Elsewhere: Attaturk provides some other recent examples of thinly-veiled insinuations from mainstream pundits that Obama is just another uppity negro arrogantly oozes entitlement, while this Kos Diary from February 2007 (OMGWTFBBQ?! someone took the kid gloves off prematurely?!) screen-captures Salon with its slip showing (oops!):
So much for Bill Bennett’s backhanded post-Iowa compliments.
bastard.logic 