The New Republic: More Cork Popping

The New Republic (John Judis, 10/29/08)

More Cork Popping

I mention the Bradley effect because I think, too, that McCain and Sarah Palin’s attack against Obama for advocating “spreading the wealth” and for “socialism” and for pronouncing the civil rights revolution a “tragedy” because it didn’t deal with the distribution of wealth is aimed ultimately at white working class undecided voters who would construe “spreading the wealth” as giving their money to blacks. It’s the latest version of Reagan’s “welfare queen” argument from 1980. It if it works, it won’t be because most white Americans actually oppose a progressive income tax, but because they fear that Obama will inordinately favor blacks over them. I don’t doubt that this argument will have some effect, but I suspect it’s too late and that worries about McCain and Republican handling of the economy will overshadow these concerns.

FOX News FOX Forum: Moment of Truth

FOX News FOX Forum

Moment of Truth

It had to happen.

Less than two weeks before we vote for a new president, a white woman says a black man attacked her, then scarred her face, and says there was a political motive for it.

Ashley Todd, a 20-year-old white volunteer for John McCain’s presidential campaign, says she was mugged at an ATM machine in Pittsburgh (my hometown) by a big black man. She further says he threw her down, then disfigured her by carving the letter “B” into her face with a sharp implement when he saw that she supported McCain, not Barack Obama.

Part of the appeal of, and the unspoken tension behind, Senator Obama’s campaign is his transformational status as the first African-American to win a major party’s presidential nomination.

That does not mean that he has erased the mutual distrust between black and white Americans, and this incident could become a watershed event in the 11 days before the election.

If Ms. Todd’s allegations are proven accurate, some voters may revisit their support for Senator  Obama, not because they are racists (with due respect to Rep. John Murtha), but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee.

If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting.

For Pittsburgh, a city that

Media Matters: KSFO’s Rodgers falsely claimed Obama “admits in one of his own books” that he would “stand with the Muslims” against “the Western world”

Media Matters

KSFO’s Rodgers falsely claimed Obama “admits in one of his own books” that he would “stand with the Muslims” against “the Western world”

Summary: KSFO’s Lee Rodgers falsely claimed Sen. Barack Obama “admits in one of his own books” that “in case of a confrontation between the Western world and the Islamic world, he will stand with the Muslims.” Rodgers’ assertion recalls a similar allegation in a chain email that has been previously debunked. As FactCheck.org documented, while discussing “my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans” in The Audacity of Hope, Obama wrote: “[T]hey need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”

Media Matters: Savage: “Why should a welfare recipient have the right to vote? They’re only gonna vote themselves a raise”

Media Matters

Savage: “Why should a welfare recipient have the right to vote? They’re only gonna vote themselves a raise”

Summary: On his radio show, Michael Savage asked: “Do you think a person on welfare has the right to vote? I don’t.” He later added: “Why should a welfare recipient have the right to vote? They’re only gonna vote themselves a raise.”

Think Progress: Gallagher on Powell’s endorsement: ‘Race is the factor I think that drives much of this.’

Think Progress

Gallagher on Powell’s endorsement: ‘Race is the factor I think that drives much of this.’

Responding to former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), right-wing talker Mike Gallagher declared on his radio show today that “race is the factor I think that drives much of this” because Powell is “enamored and in love with the concept of a black man being president of these United States.” Gallagher then suggested that Powell might not “have the intellectual capacity to, you know, make a distinction and realize the difference” between Obama and the “long list of black Americans who would make fine presidential candidates.” 

Earlier today, Rush Limbaugh claimed that Powell’s endorsement “was totally about race.” Powell, however, rejected such claims on Meet The Press yesterday, saying, “If I had only had that in mind, I could have done this six, eight, 10 months ago.”

NewsMax: Powell Is Wrong About Obama’s Muslim Past

NewsMax

Powell Is Wrong About Obama’s Muslim Past

Appearing on “Meet the Press” Sunday, Colin Powell claimed one reason he is endorsing Barack Obama is that fellow Republicans are spreading falsehoods about him.

Specifically, Powell claimed Republicans are spreading the claim that Obama is a “Muslim.”

“I’m also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say, and it is permitted to be said; such things as, ‘Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim,'” Powell said.

He quickly continued: “Well, the correct answer is, He is not a Muslim. He’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian.”

But Powell’s statement is wrong. By Obama’s own admission he was not always a Christian. By his account, he became a Christian in his late 20s after meeting the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. in Chicago.

Obama was also raised, at least partially, as a Muslim during his childhood.

The facts are indisputable on this score.

Barack Hussein Obama was born to a Muslim father, with the same name, from Kenya.

After his father divorced his mother, a secular humanist, she remarried, this time to a Muslim man from Indonesia. The couple moved from Hawaii to Indonesia.

While there Obama attended two separate schools and was registered at both as a Muslim student.

As such, he studied the Quran and prayed with Muslim students. According to family members, he attended mosque with his father, albeit infrequently.

…

Of course, Powell is right, any American of any faith should be able to become president or hold any position the U.S. government has to offer.

But the issue raised by many thoughtful Republicans and others is not whether Obama is a Muslim — but why Obama feels it necessary to hide his past ties to the Muslim faith and, as Pipes claim, to “lie” about his past association with it.

Considering the media went to great lengths to make Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith an issue in the GOP primaries, and Sarah Palin’s faith has been heavily scrutinized, thinking Americans want to know why Obama’s past and faith are off limits.

Think Progress: Limbaugh repeats Powell accusation: ‘IT WAS TOTALLY ABOUT RACE!’

Think Progress:

Limbaugh repeats Powell accusation: ‘IT WAS TOTALLY ABOUT RACE!’

Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh said that the only reason Gen. Colin Powell endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) was because they’re both African-American. “Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race. OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed.” On his show today, Limbaugh went a step further and shouted his accusation against Powell:

Let me say it louder, and let me say it even more plainly. IT WAS TOTALLY ABOUT RACE! The Powell nomination — or endorsement — totally about race.

Watch it:

 

Nashville Post Politics: Lil’ O’Reilly Is Back

Nashville Post Politics

Lil’ O’Reilly Is Back

(Editor’s note: Because even dog whistle politics can be funny!)

Washington Independent: Fox News Racism Says Powell Will Endorse Obama

Washington Independent

Fox News Racism Says Powell Will Endorse Obama

OK, never mind what I said about Lawrence O’Donnell.

Fox News has an item about a possible Colin Powell endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama that relies on absolutely nothing but race to justify the speculation.

Under the headline “Hip-Hop Dancing Colin Powell Fuels Speculation He’ll Endorse Obama”— yes, you read that correctly! — Fox “reports” the following:

The normally staid former U.S. secretary of state and chairman of the Joint chiefs of staff performed an impromptu hip-hop dance alongside well-known rap stars Tuesday following a speech at a festival in London celebrating African-American music and fashion.

His address at the “Africa Rising” celebration inside London’s Royal Albert Hall fueled speculation that an endorsement of Barack Obama is imminent.

Fox provides absolutely no evidence that Powell “fueled” anything.

It quotes from a Powell speech at Royal Albert Hall that simply expresses pride in his African-American heritage. And for good measure, the “report” contains this line, which would never in a million years be written about a white politician:

“Colin Powell has his dancing shoes on, fueling speculation that he’s gearing up to do the Obama Two-Step.”

Yeah, it had to be a two-step.

Basically, Fox News viewed a black man expressing pride in being black and figured he’d endorse the black presidential candidate.

I don’t really know what you’re supposed to say about this crap except that it’s racist. First the“terrorist fist-jab” on-camera incident and now this.

Media Matters: Cunningham: “I think there will be 100 cities burning if Barack loses. Yeah, that’s what the black intelligentsia says”

Media Matters

Cunningham: “I think there will be 100 cities burning if Barack loses. Yeah, that’s what the black intelligentsia says”

 Radio host Bill Cunningham stated: “I think there will be 100 cities burning if Barack loses. Yeah, that’s what the black intelligentsia says.” Cunningham also asserted that “Flavor Flav, 50 Cent, and Diddy” are “really in charge of the [Obama] Inaugural [Ball].”