August 28, 2012

Who's playing the playing-the-race-card card?

It's hard to tell who, if anybody, is playing the race card. (That's done subtly, if it's done by anybody worth taking down for doing it.)

But lots of people are playing the playing-the-race-card card.

I just want to be the first person to play the playing-the-playing-the-race-card-card card.

80 comments:

Issob Morocco said...

Time to fold that hand. Bad economic stewardship hurts everyone.

damikesc said...

After Chrissy's outburst --- why do ANY conservatives ever appear on MSNBC?

He's worse than O'Reilly ever has been and the ratings are still pure crap.

There is, legitimately, no benefit in appearing there and no harm in not.

Anonymous said...

I maxed out my race card buying dog whistles.

Fprawl said...

How many years will it be before another African American (don't quibble about half white) will be the nominee for the Democratic Party?

Just asking, trying not to 'card'.

damikesc said...

How many years will it be before another African American (don't quibble about half white) will be the nominee for the Democratic Party?

It won't be rare.

How often will they win? That will be the bigger question.

If a black President is above criticism lest one be a racist --- best to not have a black President at all.

No political figure should be above criticism.

Jason (the commenter) said...

At the Coalition March on the RNC yesterday, they had speakers literally saying Republicans hate black people, Hispanics, and Muslims. There's no need to look for people subtly playing the race card when it's being done so openly.

Tim said...

Fprawl said...

"How many years will it be before another African American (don't quibble about half white) will be the nominee for the Democratic Party?"

damikesc said...

"It won't be rare."

Actually, given America's demographics, and Obama's manifest failures (presuming defeat and no opportunity to rehabilitate his reputation in office), Obama might be the last Black president for quite some time.

Hispanics most assuredly want their chance, and since most Black politicians climb not much higher than mayor of an urban city these days, and urban cities fairly consistently fail to send mayors to governors' mansions, Black hit a political cul de sac.

The next non-white president will be a Hispanic governor or senator; from which party I cannot say.

Tim said...

"Blacks hit a political cul de sac," I meant to write.

Andy said...

If It Walks Like a Duck and Talks Like a Duck: Racism, Bigotry and the Death of Respectable Conservatism

Yeah, it's really hard to figure out who is playing the race card. It's all a big mystery. Althouse is stumped.

Brian Brown said...

Andy R. said...
Yeah, it's really hard to figure out who is playing the race card. It's all a big mystery.


It isn't a mystery.

See dum-dum, the people assuming that blacks are on welfare are the racists.

Guess who is assuming blacks are on welfare?

Roger J. said...

Race card/class card/gender card--meh

Its all about dividing the country into competing groups.

Not a good outcome for the body politic IMO.

TWM said...

Everything is so much simpler in Matthews' and Andy's world. It's all black and white.

TWM said...

BTW, Matthews may indeed think there is racism in this, but you also have to remember that crying racism is ALL they have. If that doesn't work anymore. If people stop believing it and stop running from the accusation, they are doomed as a political party.

Andy said...

The Racializing Influence of Romney’s Welfare Ad
Part of this racialized turn in the campaign involves Romney’s welfare ad earlier this month—an ad that questionably accused Obama of ending welfare for work requirements. While that charge may seem race-neutral, there is a long-standing and strong association in white Americans’ minds between welfare and “undeserving” African-Americans (see here and here). According to Jonathan Chait, then, “the political punch of this messaging derives from the fact that white middle-class Americans understand messages about redistribution from the hard-working middle-class to the lazy underclass in highly racialized terms.”
...
The figure below shows that there was almost no relationship between racial resentment and the opinions of people who did not see the ad. But among those who saw it, racial resentment affected whether people thought Romney will help the poor, the middle class, and African-Americans. Moreover, seeing the ad did not activate other attitudes, such as party or ideological self-identification. It only primed racial resentment.


I wonder how long until the next RNC chairman offers an apology for the racial strategy that the Republicans employ to win elections.

Tank said...

Ha ha.

Andy R, whose first reaction to everything is to call the other side a bigot or a racist wants to have a serious discussion about who plays the race card.

Whoooieeee. Funny.

Ya can't make this stuff up.

TWM said...

"I wonder how long until the next RNC chairman offers an apology for the racial strategy that the Republicans employ to win elections."

You keep wondering about apologies. First it was from Christianists over religion and now Republicans over racism

But I hate to break it to you, apologies are not coming. Conservatives are tired of apologizing for made-up hurts. Fake victims who cry wolf. It's a new world, kid, get used to it.

Brian Brown said...

It is so funny that andy r somehow believes "We can test that expectation thanks to some unique experimental data collected last week by YouGov. " is representative of anything.

It is also cute Andy R hears "racial resentment" and pretends to know what it means or does not mean.

Conclusion: Andy R is not that bright and easily misled.

Tim said...

The Failed Hat Mannequin linked to:

"For the most part, I’ve tried to be restrained.

Although conservatives accuse those of us on the left of thinking..."



Well, I'm glad he tipped me off the waste of time this would have been. All conservatives know no one on the Left actually "thinks."

Emote, yes. Believe, yes. Feel, yes.

Think?

Not so much.

If at all.

bagoh20 said...

Barack Obama is the moment we jumped the shark on Race in the U.S.

Matt Sablan said...

Man. I wish I'd known that implying the president was illegitimate was inherently racist. It would've made 2000-2008 so much easier to understand; people were just racist against Bush. Heck, the whole monkey thing makes sense. Racists just hated Bush.

I'm also glad to know that carrying a weapon at a polling place and trying to intimidate voters is in no way intimidating. Some Klansman was saying he'd wear a sheet and go to the inner city to scare off some Obama voters, I told him that was wrong. Clearly, though, Tim Wise is right -- nothing wrong with drumming up some racial hatred! Maybe we should arm that Klansman too, since there's nothing wrong with carrying weapons at polling places.

Though, I don't understand why Wise sees anything wrong with people thinking Obama might enslave people; Biden made the same accusation about Republicans, so, you know, I guess it's a wash. Or maybe Wise didn't notice that and forgot that Biden's pretty racist.

Apparently, when more people vote, fewer people vote. Or something, judging by Wise's teachings on voter ID.

I don't have time to click through every link Wise has there. But, on a quick skim, he seems to be... hyperventilating, let's say. There may be some actual, honest-to-God racism in there. The problem with Wise is the same problem the left has with all accusations of racism. They never just let the accusation stand about actual racism.

They let the racism accusations get jumbled into politics. Instead of focusing on the actual racism, they try to inject it and use it like a bludgeon on matters unrelated to race, then to twist non-racist things into racism.

Maybe Wise has a good argument hidden in there. But his presentation is terrible.

Brian Brown said...


I wonder how long until the next RNC chairman offers an apology for the racial strategy that the Republicans employ to win elections.


Don't worry, when Obama loses you have the canned "America is a bunch of bigots & racists" response at the ready.

That will make you day much easier.

Matt Sablan said...

... that racializing study? Where they didn't try to find out a lot about the people they were polling, then asked them if Romney is a secret racist?

Yeah. Science.

Matt Sablan said...

I wonder why we never see these "Is this ad secretly racist" studies about Democrat ads.

CWJ said...

Andy linked to Tim wise - self described "antiracist essayist". Yep, got to keep that good old racism alive lest he runs out of things about which to write.

Too many people have a personal stake in keeping racism alive. Stealing Paul Zrimsek's line, they're reduced to maxing out their race card buying dog whistles.

BTW, who would describe themselves as a "pro racist essayist"?

Andy said...

... that racializing study? Where they didn't try to find out a lot about the people they were polling

Why would they need any information on individual characteristics if they are using random assignment?

Andy said...

Do the group of conservative commenters here ever acknowledge that something is racist, or that racism is a problem in the United States?

damikesc said...

Andy, can you just link us to media matters rather than link to a dunce who does that? Would be convenient.

Anonymous said...

OK, I'll bite: What's the correct, non-racist way to criticize the undermining of TANF work requirements?

bagoh20 said...

If Obama had anything...anything else, do you think his side would be talking about race when their guy is a 1/2 black, raised by whites, poseur. If you looked at his life and didn't know his race, you would never guess he was Black until he got political ambition and decided to sucker the people who fall for that kind of thing.

Imagine if this President was successful and he and his supporters were proud of his record. He could pretend to rise above race like he seemed to in 2008 when he at least had promise. Clearly his supporters are admitting that the promise is gone.

Matt Sablan said...

Also, I think it is interesting: "Hey, did people who see an ad somehow get more favorable opinions about the person putting out the ad?" If so, clearly, it is because, racism!

"Interestingly, the ad did not appear to further racialize the perceived consequences of Obama’s policies, either. This is probably because racial attitudes are already linked to Obama, and a single political ad isn’t enough to significantly strengthen an already strong relationship."

-- Or, here's a thought, maybe that means the ad isn't racializing anything? I know, crazy.

Not only that, here's a note about the "racial resentment" metric: "To be sure, this does not mean that everyone who scores high on this measure is unsympathetic to African-Americans or racially resentful."

So, the key thing they are measuring? May not even measure what they want to measure. This is bad science.

Matt Sablan said...

"Why would they need any information on individual characteristics if they are using random assignment?"

-- To determine if they really had a random sample.

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Known Unknown said...

While that charge may seem race-neutral, there is a long-standing and strong association in white Americans’ minds between welfare and “undeserving” African-Americans

Where did this association come from?

I would argue that the media does African-Americans much less favors than any politician in this country.

bagoh20 said...

Andy's point is that although the President sucks, you're all racists. So there.

Colonel Angus said...

Yeah, it's really hard to figure out who is playing the race card. It's all a big mystery.

Actually nothing that individual linked to has anything to do with racism. As a matter of fact, it appeared to be a compilation of the similar kind of boilerplate conspiracy garbage the left flung at George Bush for eight years.

In other words, yawn.

Known Unknown said...

Do the group of conservative commenters here ever acknowledge that something is racist ...

John Thompson, ex-basketball coach at Georgetown?

Andy said...

-- To determine if they really had a random sample.

Are you talking about whether the sample adequately matches the population or if the treatment and control groups are similar enough that conclusions can be drawn about the treatment effect?

I was talking about random assignment, and you seem to be referring to random sampling.

Matt Sablan said...

"This likely stems from the fact that Romney favorability ratings are strongly related to thinking his policies will help the poor, the middle class, and blacks, but only weakly related to believing he’d help whites and the wealthy."

-- Clearly, Romney's policies that are viewed as helping blacks, the poor and middle class? Those policies are racist.

Matt Sablan said...

"I was talking about random assignment, and you seem to be referring to random sampling. "

-- If the sample isn't representative and random, it doesn't matter -how- you assign it.

Shouting Thomas said...

I'm in favor of summary execution for anybody who starts jabbering about "bigotry."

Bullet in the back of the head.

Matt Sablan said...

Not only that: We've yet to address the fact that the metric they want to use to measure ("racial resentment") is acknowledged as faulty. That's like trying to weigh something with a bad scale that, sometimes, gets it right. No one would let you use that sort of scale when it came to determining how much you owe for a pound of something. I see no reason to allow a non-scientific metric be used in an allegedly scientific way.

Colonel Angus said...

Do the group of conservative commenters here ever acknowledge that something is racist, or that racism is a problem in the United States?

Of course, when you have a bona fide case of racism that occurs. For example, the rednecks who dragged by black man behind a truck that are now on death row are racist. Criticising Obama's health care plan is not racist despite what Jimmy Carter believes.

Racism isn't a US problem, its a human race problem and isn't restricted to one race. Just ask a Darfurian.

alan markus said...

@ Tim:
The next non-white president will be a Hispanic governor or senator; from which party I cannot say.

This guy isn't a Governor or Senator, but this guy is being pegged as a "rising star":

San Antonio Mayor Castro to deliver Democratic Convention keynote

Not sure if America is ready for a President "Castro" though.

Known Unknown said...

Did everyone here get their Racial Code Words app update? So much more 21st century than a dog whistle.

Known Unknown said...

Racism isn't a US problem,

Andy needs to attend some European football matches.

Brian Brown said...

Andy R. said...
Do the group of conservative commenters here ever acknowledge that something is racist, or that racism is a problem in the United States?


Racism is a "problem" for guilty white liberals.

There is no institutionalized white on black racism in America.

There is institutionalized "minority" on white racism in America.

That's what you meant, right?

Wince said...

I wonder how long until the next RNC chairman offers an apology for the racial strategy that the Republicans employ to win elections.

Probably about the same time the Road Runner offers an apology for the Acme explosives blowing up in the Coyote's face.

damikesc said...

EMD, as Instapundit, if the onlynperso hearing the dog whistle is you...then you are the dog.

Anonymous said...

"The thing we adore about these dog-whistle kerfuffles is that the people who react to the whistle always assume it's intended for somebody else. The whole point of the metaphor is that if you can hear the whistle, you're the dog." -- James Taranto

YoungHegelian said...

I've said it in this forum before, and it bears saying again: racism is the prism through which the American post-Marxist Left sees American history. Just read Howard Zinn's histories or, for a higher quality example of the genre, read this.

The modern Left cannot abandon racial analysis any more than the Marxists could abandon class consciousness.

So, when you hear the Left drone on about racism, just imagine you're hearing a discussion about rape from a feminist who thinks that all heterosexual relationships are rape, because for the Left racism is in the warp & woof of American society, and has been since the Pilgrim Fathers set foot on Plymouth Rock.

Anonymous said...

It was pretty racist when Trent Lott said how much better things would have been if we'd elected Strom Thurmond President. No doubt he was forced out as the Senate GOP leader for some unrelated reason.

Shouting Thomas said...

Andy R. said...
Do the group of conservative commenters here ever acknowledge that something is racist, or that racism is a problem in the United States?


Will Andy ever get the burr out of his ass and quit bitching?

edutcher said...

The irony here is that this all started in '08 when Willie wanted to play it on Choom, but Choom beat him to it.

Fprawl said...

How many years will it be before another African American (don't quibble about half white) will be the nominee for the Democratic Party?

Just asking, trying not to 'card'.


About as long as it will be before they nominate yet another sociopath.

Andy R. said...

Do the group of conservative commenters here ever acknowledge that something is racist, or that racism is a problem in the United States?

Does Hatman think there's such a thing as black racism in this country?

dreams said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIoqqd-GpPs&feature=player_embedded

The sick and decadent liberal Democratic party. Totally corrupt as is the corrupt liberal media.

The American voters are going to give Obama a dishonorable discharge come November and I say good riddance to that sorry un-American, anti-American socialist/communist son of a "fellow traveler." As to Tom Brokaw .. what a total pile of pussy. A totally conventional liberal pussy.

Known Unknown said...

I thought Dennis Haysbert was a pretty good African-American President.

Michael said...

Hatman: Little mind game. I type the words "food stamps." Your first thought was.....

There, you see the racist right there.

rhhardin said...

X-card replaces theory by having another theory.

Andy said...

Hatman: Little mind game. I type the words "food stamps." Your first thought was.....

There, you see the racist right there.


I'm racist against grad students?

Shouting Thomas said...

Andy, do you do anything with your life except bitch about bullshit?

Any job skills?

Any interests?

AF said...

"I just want to be the first person to play the playing-the-playing-the-race-card-card card."

Are you kidding? That card is played all the time.

Matt Sablan said...

AF: But if you name it, you own it.

shiloh said...

C'mon, only 60+ posts at a con blog in a generic thread re: race.

Surely "you" can do better!

Christopher in MA said...

Ah, yess, Hat - "respectable conservatism." That's a synonym for "strange new respect." When Barry Goldwater was running for president, people like you wore buttons reading In your guts, you know he's nuts!, but when you found you could dragoon him into supporting gays in the military, old Barry was suddenly a wise statesman.

Ronnie Raygun - "the evil in the White House" according to that flatulent old drunken dogfucker Tip O'Neill - is now used by the left as a stick to beat the GOP: Reagan would never have done that! Why can't you teatards be bipartisan like Reagan?

And of course, I expect that when Romney becomes President, people like you will wail that the GOP is now the party of extremists, not like that sane middle-of-the-road George W.

Anyone bleating about respectable conservatism mean only that they want the GOP to remain a punching bag for the scum of the left.

Christopher in MA said...

Do the group of conservative commenters here ever acknowledge that something is racist, or that racism is a problem in the United States?

No problem, Hat. Would you like me to link to Harry Belafonte calling Colin Powell a house nigger? Or perhaps to Pat Oliphant's cartoons portraying Condoleeza Rice as Aunt Jemima? Or Garry Trudeau labeling her "Brown Sugar?" You mean racism like that?

Or are you under the mistaken apprehension that the party of Lincoln has any reason to apologize for over 100 years of Democrat racism?

Shouting Thomas said...

shiloh,

The wise ass act is boring.

Do you have anything to say that actually has, you know, content?

Known Unknown said...

Hatman: Little mind game. I type the words "food stamps." Your first thought was.....

There, you see the racist right there.


I'm only half-racist. I thought of my niece, who is white, but had 2 kids out-of-wedlock with a black guy who's no longer in the picture.

She's a nurse but does rely on some government assistance.

Wince said...

I wonder what Chris Matthews would say about the Russian Communists of the 1950s?

In the 1950s, the Russian newspaper, Izvestia, described J. Fred Muggs, as "a symbol of the American way of life", and said, "Muggs is necessary in order that the average American should not look into reports on rising taxes, and decreasing pay, but rather laugh at the funny mug of a chimpanzee."

Matt Sablan said...

Or Garry Trudeau labeling her "Brown Sugar?"

-- ... He really did that? ... wow. But that's OK. Just like we learned when Rice was accepted into Augusta, for some odd reason, some people don't get the same decency.

Bruce Hayden said...

"I wonder how long until the next RNC chairman offers an apology for the racial strategy that the Republicans employ to win elections."

I wonder how long until the next DNC chairwoman offers an apology for being the party of slavery, Jim Crow, opposition to Civil Rights laws, and the breakup of the Black family through government dependency? 200+ years of racist policies, and they claim to have the moral high ground.

Do the group of conservative commenters here ever acknowledge that something is racist, or that racism is a problem in the United States?

I think that a lot of Republicans will admit that the Democrats are inherently racist, and demonstrate this continuously in their racially decisive politics.

harrogate said...

Great topic, actually. It has become very common to play the playing-the-race-card card. Sometimes it is done in good faith, but all too-often it's a tactic for sheilding.

Christopher in MA said...

Or Garry Trudeau labeling her "Brown Sugar?"

-- ... He really did that? ... wow. But that's OK. Just like we learned when Rice was accepted into Augusta, for some odd reason, some people don't get the same decency.


Technically, Trudeau put the words into the mouth of his W character, thinking he was doing a funny riff on W's habit of giving people nicknames. But yes, he did call her "Brown Sugar."

Tim said...

@ Alan Markus:

"This guy isn't a Governor or Senator, but this guy is being pegged as a "rising star":

San Antonio Mayor Castro to deliver Democratic Convention keynote"


He'll most very likely not be elected president straight from the mayor's office of San Antonio; he'll most very likely have to be Governor of Texas or US Senator from Texas first.

Is it possible?

Sure. Much more likely than another Black politician becoming president before a Hispanic politician becomes president.

But still, not very likely without working in a larger office first.

Tim said...

"I think that a lot of Republicans will admit that the Democrats are inherently racist, and demonstrate this continuously in their racially decisive politics."

This is, of course, objectively true.

Liberals and Democrats know it is true, and thus project their racism on Republicans to ensure their base (and themselves, too) is both distracted by the failure of liberal Democrat policies to deliver on behalf of racial minorities (as if fostering dependency and undermining accomplishment through affirmative action *really are* the tickets to success in America) and energized to vote for those who have never delivered anything but multi-generational ignorance, dependency and poverty.

Liberal Democrats cannot confront this reality without acknowledging the terrible, corrosive, killing price their racism has imposed upon racial minorities in America.

damikesc said...

I wonder how long until the next DNC chairwoman offers an apology for being the party of slavery, Jim Crow, opposition to Civil Rights laws, and the breakup of the Black family through government dependency?

The current one won't apologize when nailed, red-handed, misquoting newspapers.

Ah, yess, Hat - "respectable conservatism." That's a synonym for "strange new respect."

You forgot "doddering, out of touch George HW Bush" --- who suddenly transformed into a man of great vision and depth when he was no longer in office.

Matt Sablan said...

George W Bush won't get strange new respect until the current crop of liberals are dead and buried. There was just too much hate and vitriol, too much identity tied up in "This man is not just wrong, he's evil."

John McCain gets the envious position of being on the receiving end of Strange New Respect twice in his life though!

MadisonMan said...

If you could post a blog post referencing this one that would be great because I'd rather comment on a comment on a blog post referring to a blog post talking about playing the playing the playing race card card card than commenting just on a blog post talking about playing the playing the playing the race card card card. Or maybe you can just blog about another person linking to this blog post. That would be even better.

And now that I've commented here, I'm halfway there.

Michael said...

Shouting Thomas: You know, of course, that Shiloh is a B-team Garage.

dreams said...

"You can tell this was a dog whistle because different groups of people heard it totally differently. CBS’s Jan Crawford noted on Twitter that there were “two reactions to his birth certificate joke: reporters gasped–and a crowd of thousands laughed and cheered.” The crowd heard the straightforward meaning: It was a joke and an applause line. The watchdogs of the press heard the whistle, and so did other lefties. To judge by this MSNBC clip, and this one, it drove them into a mad and wonderfully entertaining frenzy. . . The thing we adore about these dog-whistle kerfuffles is that the people who react to the whistle always assume it’s intended for somebody else. The whole point of the metaphor is that if you can hear the whistle, you’re the dog."

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/08/lets-get-this-party-started.php

What a sick and decadent liberal media and Democratic party! Sick, decadent, totally corrupt and dishonorable!

Tom Spaulding said...

Andy-

When are gay men going to apologize for all of the shitty reality, food and fashion shows they host or appear on?


Thanks.

furious_a said...

AndyR: If you're the one hearing the dog whistles, that means you're the dog.

"respectable conservatism."

You know, when Bob Michel and Bob Dole were the Minority Leaders in their respective chambers.

Do the group of conservative commenters here ever acknowledge that something is racist...

Sure, Al Sharpton incites the Crown Heights lynching and Fredy's Fashion Mart arson murders and y'all give him his own show on MSNBC.

Although I must admit I do miss the old Rev Al's silk-print track suits...and the medallions were like salad plates!