Just heard Jimmy Carter on NBC, proclaiming that most of the negative positions against Obama's politics are the product of racism against a black man.  I was sorta shocked.  :o

Seems to be a very convenient way to explain his majority party's failures.  "Hey they don't like the President cause he's black".  ::)

Very odd.  I'm pretty sure the President does not see it that way.  And it does not explain why Repubs have fought similar proposals under "white" presidencies too, like his.

More evidence as to why Carter was such an ineffective lightweight when he had the job.

And he blamed Bush for being a poor Foreign Leader, well I'm sorry Mr. Carter, but you made us boycott the Olympics and you didn't resolve the Iranian Revolution. Sure you had the Israel/Egypt Peace Treaty...but that's it!

Don't take the speck out of someone's eye when you have a plank in yours!

And he blamed Bush for being a poor Foreign Leader, well I'm sorry Mr. Carter, but you made us boycott the Olympics and you didn't resolve the Iranian Revolution. Sure you had the Israel/Egypt Peace Treaty...but that's it!

Don't take the speck out of someone's eye when you have a plank in yours!


Well I won't bust Carter over the Olympics debacle (although I think he was wrong with that), and the Iranian Revolution was something that no President was going to stop, short of questionable all-out military action since the Shaw was a real pr*ck and needed to be ejected anyway.

But simply saying "objections to Obama are due to racism" is the lazy man's approach.  And that's how Carter came off on TV today, blaming the objections on racism.  My opinion, his comments did nothing to help the president's cause and if anything, harmed it.

Well I won't bust Carter over the Olympics debacle (although I think he was wrong with that), and the Iranian Revolution was something that no President was going to stop, short of questionable all-out military action since the Shaw was a real pr*ck and needed to be ejected anyway.

But simply saying "objections to Obama are due to racism" is the lazy man's approach.  And that's how Carter came off on TV today, blaming the objections on racism.  My opinion, his comments did nothing to help the president's cause and if anything, harmed it.


watch the "Tea Party" protest videos on youtube, and it's pretty hard to come to any other conclusion than racism at this point.  He's probably have been better off just calling them all lunatics.

Well, they don't like the president because he's black.

And they don't like Jimmy Carter because he's Jimmy Carter.
::)

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-09-15-joe-wilson-rebuke-Obama-House_N.htm

Former president Jimmy Carter, speaking at a town hall at his presidential center in Atlanta on Tuesday, said Wilson's outburst was an act "based on racism."

is this a different quote than the one you heard lyricBoy?  because you know what?  If his comment was just directed at Joe "Windbag" Wilson, than yeah, I think he's totally in line.  Obama's opponents have been playing the whole "secret muslim/birther" angle quite a bit, and it's a very discreet way of showing a complete lack of respect for the office of the presidency.  They don't feel he's the president, can't possibly be the president, so they don't have to respect him.  You could say the same about Bush in 2001, but there at least there were questions about how he came into office.

Jimmy Carter.... right again.  I think history will be much kinder to him than his contemporaries, but that tends to be the way with those willing to speak unspoken ugly truths.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-09-15-joe-wilson-rebuke-Obama-House_N.htm

Former president Jimmy Carter, speaking at a town hall at his presidential center in Atlanta on Tuesday, said Wilson's outburst was an act "based on racism."

is this a different quote than the one you heard lyricBoy?  because you know what?  If his comment was just directed at Joe "Windbag" Wilson, than yeah, I think he's totally in line.  Obama's opponents have been playing the whole "secret muslim/birther" angle quite a bit, and it's a very discreet way of showing a complete lack of respect for the office of the presidency.  They don't feel he's the president, can't possibly be the president, so they don't have to respect him.  You could say the same about Bush in 2001, but there at least there were questions about how he came into office.


Well what I heard on the NBC news was your typical TV sound bite.  I have subsequently seen Carter quoted as saying that Wilson's outburst was based on racism.  Could be that NBC misrepresented the statement in its entirety.

Nevertheless racism is an easy charge to make, kinda like "how often do you beat your wife" sort of statement.  As far as I can tell, I have not seen any quotes attributed to Wilson that would lead me to believe he is racist (ie, using racial epithets etc).  And if there were such quotes available, you can be sure that they'd be plastered all over the headlines as they well should be.

When Jesse Jackson was accused of being antisemitic, we had the "Hymietown speech".  We've seen a number of black pundits write articles proclaiming that "Obama is not black enough". We have a number of quotations of Lyndon Johnson using the N-word.  Nixon was caught on tape making remarks about Jewish people, as I recall.  All of these examples come with recorded evidence of racism.  But where are the quotations of today's right-of-center politicians using racial epithets?  There are more cameras and microphones around than ever and one would think that with such an allegedly widespread racist conspiracy, somebody woulda had loose lips in front of a mic.

To date (amongst the politicians) I hear LOTS of "they criticise the President because he is Black" and zero "The President is black and thus does not belong in office".  The introduction of race accusations (at the politician level) appears indeed to be single-sided, and it is fundamentally a symptom of the Democrats' inability to manage and use their overwhelming numerical majority in the Federal government to pursue whatever agenda they would like to pursue.

The Democrats took power due to their unified rejection of Bush II.  However, now that the boogie man is gone, the Democrats find that they indeed do not have a unifying set of policy objectives and so we see the current quagmire.  Card check, health care, flagrant deficit spending proposals... all are facing huge opposition from the Blue Dogs.  The next intraparty fight is Afghanistan and we'll see the Dems split aling similar lines, the net effect which will be to weaken the President.

I do concede that in the general population, there are plenty of card-carrying Dems and Repubs who hate the idea of a black president.

There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.

....But where are the quotations of today's right-of-center politicians using racial epithets?  There are more cameras and microphones around than ever and one would think that with such an allegedly widespread racist conspiracy, somebody woulda had loose lips in front of a mic.




I do concede that in the general population, there are plenty of card-carrying Dems and Repubs who hate the idea of a black president.



Just because they have learned to behave in public doesn't mean that they have changed their attitudes.

There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.


Then this list would seem to include:


Robert Gibbs - Obama's press secretary who stated that the President does not feel the opposition to his programs is based on the color of his skin
President Obama - Who I imagine would have taken issue with Gibbs' comments if he did not agree with them
Dick Harptoolian - Former SC Democratic Party Chairman who (while stating that Wildon's outburst was asinine) defended Wilson as not being a racist after having known him for 40 years "across the aisle".
Michael Steele - The Black RNC Chairman who I imagine is being viewed as a "self loather" who has stated that his opposition to Obama's policies is not due to the fact that Obama (like Steele) is a black man


But keep on yelling "fire" in the crowded theatre.

Let's get back to Carter...

During his presidency he appointed exactly ONE black cabinet member, Patricia Roberts Harris who was Secretary of HUD/HHS.  Other Presidents were as follows:


George W. Bush appointed 5
Bill Clinton appointed 7
Barak Obama appointed 1 (so far)
Ronald Reagan appointed 1
George H.W. Bush apponted 1


Looking at Hispanic cabinet members, Reagan had 1, Clinton had 2, Bush II had 3, and I cannot find any record of Carter having an Hispanic cabinet member.

So if we would like to look at minority cabinet appointees as one indicator of racism, Carter ranks near the bottom of the pile of the recent presidents.  Hardly a record for bragging or finger pointing.  And by these stats one could accuse Obama of being racist too, although that would be a ridiculous proposition.

People who accuse Obama's opposition of racism without clear evidence do the President a disfavor.  They think that a black President cannot be taken seriously by the opposition, and as such they weaken the efforts of the very President they think they are defending.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-09-15-joe-wilson-rebuke-Obama-House_N.htm

Former president Jimmy Carter, speaking at a town hall at his presidential center in Atlanta on Tuesday, said Wilson's outburst was an act "based on racism."

is this a different quote than the one you heard lyricBoy?  because you know what?  If his comment was just directed at Joe "Windbag" Wilson, than yeah, I think he's totally in line.  Obama's opponents have been playing the whole "secret muslim/birther" angle quite a bit, and it's a very discreet way of showing a complete lack of respect for the office of the presidency.  They don't feel he's the president, can't possibly be the president, so they don't have to respect him.  You could say the same about Bush in 2001, but there at least there were questions about how he came into office.


Chucky,

I just saw some more footage on the CBS news this evening, and Carter's comments were not restricted to Joe Wilson's outburst, but to the opposition in general.

"I think that an overwhelming proportion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, he's African-American."

He followed up with other comments that made it clear he was not just zooming in on Wilson.

If these people like Carter would think for one more second before shooting off their mouths about racism, they would realize that their comments WEAKEN the position of President Obama.   It's the old "The white man has to help out the poor black man" syndrome.  I am fully confident that Obama does not want this kind of help and he does not need this kind of help.

While I'm sure many teabaggers are racists, to play the race card with this is just stupid.

Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are probably jealous they didn't say it first.

This is the kind of thing that pisses off so many people like me.

I could not care less if the President is black, white, yellow, red, green, blue, or maroon.  And I am sure that most of those protesting the President feel pretty much the same way.

And if you took a time machine and went back, most of the same people protested against "Clintoncare" as well.  But nobody then was screaming they were racists.  I know that I was against Clintoncare, just as I am against Obamacare.  And race has nothing to do with that.

And you see the same thing whenever taxes rise.  There have already been huge protests in California over the ever increasing tax burden being placed on the people, in addition to the ever increasing size of the State budget.  But nobody is screaming that the people protesting there are racists.

And in California, the same group protesting the State are also protesting the Federal taxes and budget.  But suddenly, they are racists.

Just admit it, the President's poll numbers are sinking fast, and more and more people are simply disatisfied with his performance and actions.  Even my brother-in-law is having second thoughts, and he is a life-long Democrat.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

In fact, just 12% of those polled believe the racist charges are true. 

This is the kind of thing that pisses off so many people like me.

I could not care less if the President is black, white, yellow, red, green, blue, or maroon.  And I am sure that most of those protesting the President feel pretty much the same way.

And if you took a time machine and went back, most of the same people protested against "Clintoncare" as well.  But nobody then was screaming they were racists.  I know that I was against Clintoncare, just as I am against Obamacare.  And race has nothing to do with that.

And you see the same thing whenever taxes rise.  There have already been huge protests in California over the ever increasing tax burden being placed on the people, in addition to the ever increasing size of the State budget.  But nobody is screaming that the people protesting there are racists.

And in California, the same group protesting the State are also protesting the Federal taxes and budget.  But suddenly, they are racists.

Just admit it, the President's poll numbers are sinking fast, and more and more people are simply disatisfied with his performance and actions.  Even my brother-in-law is having second thoughts, and he is a life-long Democrat.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

In fact, just 12% of those polled believe the racist charges are true. 


The tone taken with this President is much more insidious than the tone taken with Clinton.  The challenges facing this President outscale the challenges that faced Clinton.  I bet you there are people doubting Obama who are also feeling a bit forgiving of bush when it is bush and his ilk who put us in this situation.  If the people running these protests want us to believe race is not a factor they should do everything to remove the racist poster carried by there fellow protesters instead of rallying around them. 

The tone taken with this President is much more insidious than the tone taken with Clinton.  The challenges facing this President outscale the challenges that faced Clinton. 

He is also taking the attempt to "reform" healthcare much further then President Clinton ever did.  So of course the harder that he is pushing, the harder those that are against it are pushing back.

It has nothing to do with race, it is just people opposed to his plan.

He is also taking the attempt to "reform" healthcare much further then President Clinton ever did.  So of course the harder that he is pushing, the harder those that are against it are pushing back.

It has nothing to do with race, it is just people opposed to his plan.


In some states the insurance companies consider pregnancy and domestic abuse "pre-existing conditions."  This is amoral greed and a people with self-respect would not allow a cabal of corporate elites to determine whether or not we get the vital care we need.  First it was "pre-existing conditions" that disqualified and applicant for coverage.  Now it is existing conditions that flag a beneficiary for cancellation.  Given the inhumanity and avarice of private insurance companies, the invectives against government-run healthcare simply carry no weight. 

Thanks to progress, it is no longer palatable to utter racial epithets or make blatantly racist statements. 

I have long said that to the hateful and retrograde minds in America, members of other races and ethnic groups are just dandy so long as they think and behave like rich white Republicans.  Clarence Thomas is okay, J.C. Watts is okay, Alan Keyes is okay, Thomas Sowell is okay.  Obama challenged the status quo.  He's not okay.

Propaganda works.  The status quo as promoted by FOX, CNN (yes, CNN), and right-wing talk radio has the upper hand in propaganda.  The sloganeering "teabaggers" didn't just show up out of nowhere.  The corporate powers, as promoted by the PR industry (of which the majority of the television news media is a part), has taken advantage of the fear, anxiety, and rage felt by the masses over the socioeconomic and infrastructural deterioration of the country and molded to the advantage of the filthy rich few against the own interests of the distressed masses.  Hence, you see economically disenfranchised people who would benefit from "the public option" screaming for blood against "the public option."

As for Mr. Carter's assertions, I heard John Fugelsang (I believe it was he) on the Stephanie Miller Show make a distinction between "racism" and tribalism."  What Carter might be referring to is closer to "tribalism" (one of us = good; not one of us = bad) than racism per se.  However, I do think Carter knows what racism looks like as a Georgia boy born in 1924.

He is also taking the attempt to "reform" healthcare much further then President Clinton ever did.  So of course the harder that he is pushing, the harder those that are against it are pushing back.

It has nothing to do with race, it is just people opposed to his plan.


Agreed.  Bill Clinton farmed the healthcare thing out to his wife Hillary.  That way Hillary was kept busy while Clinton attended to "other matters"...

Interestingly, back then I knew one of the people who were on one of Hillary's secret councils/committees on the health care thing in 1993.  These people were absolutely in a froth over how they were going to turn the whole system upside down and go to what is now known as "single payer".

The idea was quickly rejected by most of Congress, and President Clinton dropped it like a hot potato, because he knew if he held onto it, there would be no second term for him.  Note that then, like now, both houses of Congress were seated with Democratic majorities.

But the damage was done.  In 1994 we saw the "Republican Revolution" and both houses of Congress came under Republican control for the first time in 40 years.

He is also taking the attempt to "reform" healthcare much further then President Clinton ever did.  So of course the harder that he is pushing, the harder those that are against it are pushing back.

It has nothing to do with race, it is just people opposed to his plan.


But, as I said before




If the people running these protests want us to believe race is not a factor they should do everything to remove the racist poster carried by there fellow protesters instead of rallying around them.