I'm reading "VA Dems Are Getting Desperate: Powhatan County Dems Post Blatantly Racist Cartoon of Winsome Earle-Sears" (Twitchy).
Blatantly racist????
How is it even racist at all?
When a particular person is drawn — as an individual and not as a stereotype — it is not racist. It's important to be able to continue the art of cartooning and to treat black public figures the same way as other public figures. We need to be able to keep making fun of power-seekers and power-holders, whatever race they happen to be. The charge of racism here is wrong and dangerous.
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93 comments:
Everyone I don't like is a racist.
Winsome Sears is 5’10”. Abigail Spanberger is 5’6”
Cartoon leans into racist tropes. No more kings and no more masters.
The default setting for white women is racist. Same goes for Black women though...
Big lips on a black person = racism? Still, this is basically accurate art for her and many black people.
Her portrayed shortness of height suggests a "lack of stature" and would be considered body shaming if used for leftist female.
The yammering and interruptions apply to a speaking style or personality trait (see Gore sighing in 2000 and Hillary grinning in 2016).
Wasn’t there a similar tantrum over a cartoon of Serena Williams having a fit at the US open. Any depiction of black rage or upittyness is deemed racist.
Eva Marie said...
Winsome Sears is 5’10”. Abigail Spanberger is 5’6”
Cartoon leans into racist tropes. No more kings and no more masters.
I was about to look up the actual heights of the characters.
I would start with Democrat Media just being dishonest shitheads.
The only reason to call this blatantly racist is because that is what Democrats would have done and fuck Democrats.
I won't discuss racism, but rather the political race for VA gov.
I think it is sad. I think the R has zero percent chance of winning. The state has shifted so much in 20 years.
The R is not a great candidate, rather mediocre, IMO. The D is what used to be an establishment R in VA.
The R's only hope, and I doubt this happens, is that Black Ds either don't turn out as greatly or some of them flip to vote for "their" person.
Sad that is how the R might win, but that is where we are, IMO.
Also, I feel that some of the R/C internet/X/online voices are gaslighting us, telling us R's will win all 3 VA races. I hope I am wrong, but I fear D's win all 3 top of the tickert VA races. I fear NJ gov goes D, and I fear NYC goes "The Original Red".
We are fucked, I fear.
Cheers.
I find the naivete refreshing. In a cynical world, it's endearing to find someone who thinks that we can possibly have a society where anything at all involving a non-white person won't somehow invoke allegations of racism no matter how ridiculous and unsupported by the facts those claims might be.
That ship, as they say, has already sailed.
This is Winsome Sears. She doesn’t look anything like that caricature. She didn’t behave that way either. The exaggerations of her appearance, her stature, and her behavior were in the manner old time Democrats would use to describe someone who is ‘uppity’.
https://www.ltgov.virginia.gov/media/governorvirginiagov/lieutenant-governor/about/images/Lt-Gov.jpg
The charge of racism here is wrong and dangerous.
Then the campaign is weak and unprincipled for caving in and withdrawing the attack, right after the criticism was made.
We reposted an online political cartoon that some people thought had racist overtones. That was certainly not our intent. We have deleted it out of respect to anyone who took it that way.
Spanberger was obviously a mediocre mind at best and that showed at the debate.
Winsome Sears is not mediocre in any way. She is clearly talented and exceptional.
This is more about meritocracy/mediocrity than about race. Women desperately celebrate mediocrity. They revere mediocrity. That is why they hold up untalented clods like Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Kamala Harris who are successful because of immutable characteristics rather than effort and achievement.
Any woman like Winsome Sears who can stand on her own and actually accomplish things without her husband is going to be rabidly attacked by Democrats and Democrat Women is specific.
Althouse deserves praise for her stance against charges of racism as a political tool. Unfortunately, it comes about 20 years too late.
Only leftists can play the race card against any kind of real or imagined criticism. I recall a certain rodeo clown who got banned after wearing an Obama mask. No one complained when he had worn a Bush mask.
When I was a kid I used to see these cartoons a lot. Little African native in a grass skirt hoopin and hollerin while the good looking, tall white looks on with exactly that look. The cartoonist should have put one of those safari pith helmets on Spanberger and it would be perfect(ly disgusting)
I don't think the cartoon is racist for noting that one of the candidates is black, nor is it out-of-bounds for using caricature to try to score political advantage, by making Sears look short as if she's an angry short person.
But it's delicious to see the Democrats hoisted on their own petard from the War on Noticing: Accusations of being racist because they portrayed race, now that's funny right there. More, until they choke on it, please.
Garbage media working for a company stooge
It resembles the allegedly racist cartoon of Venus (or Serena?) Williams when she was fussing disputing a tennis ref's calls a few years back. That cry of racism worked better because ... different times, plus the physical-ness of the athlete -- the narrative was it compared her to an animal. (I think.) All this identify politic nonsense. Oh you know... you live in Madison and worked as a tenured professor in higher ed. Not everybody played that game. Some of us were hurt by it. Still are. (*boo hoo. lol.)
https://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/tennis/serena-williams-cartoon-by-mark-knight-slammed-as-racist-ng-b88956807z
When a particular person is drawn — as an individual and not as a stereotype — it is not racist. It's important to be able to continue the art of cartooning and to treat black public figures the same way as other public figures.
Let me know when you’re prepared to apply this rule to conservative cartoonists mocking specific black politicians, e.g., Maxine Waters. If it’s racist to mock Waters, or Cory Booker or Hakeem Jeffries, then it’s racist to mock Clarence Thomas or Winsome Earle-Sears.
I grow weary of racism.
The distasteful bigotry is in the false juxtaposition of stereotypical temperaments between a blonde white woman and a black woman. A calm plea “May I speak” against a ranting and raving black woman, when in fact Sears politely but pointedly asked Spanberger for a response while the latter stood in abject silence, presumably believing she didn’t have to answer her opponent in order to win statewide election.
The cartoonist couldn’t have captured it better despite its falsity: that’s what white privilege looks like.
The cartoon says Sears was ranting and wouldn't allow the opponent to speak. She was calm,deliberate and Begging for a response. The left are despicable.
Winsome Sears is getting the Clarence Thomas treatment from the left. The Republicans seemingly put her out at DEI bait, just as black Thomas was the DEI guy to "fill the robe" of black Thurgood Marshall. The rejection of Robert Bork and (manufactured) Anita Hill controversy targeting Thomas marked the start of the Democrats strategic lawfare era.
(I do not count Watergate as the start, as the Republicans of that era folded their cards.)
Political Junkie @9:37 has the correct take. Unfortunately, Glenn Youngkin was a fluke. He was the right candidate poised to take advantage of a key misstep. The GOP in Virginia, and, I suspect, NJ, have abandoned these two states and have not mounted serious campaigns in a decade. It was completely the opposite, when I moved here 30 years ago.
As far as the "racism" in the cartoon, had the parties been reversed, it would be screamed at as "RACIST!!!!" on every network for a week.
"That stove is hot! Don't touch it!"
Spanberger was dodging the questions about murderous atty generals and transgender criminals
Winsome is a much better candidate than george allen as good as cuccinelli
Short people should complain about all the height bigotry in that cartoon.
You're belittling her as an angry black midget.
While you draw Spanberger like she's Taylor Swift. Bitch, please!
Is this a political cartoon about the governor debate, or about the MTV music awards?
I'll pass on whether its racist to shrink Winsome Sears and have her jumping up and down. But you're going to drop 30 or 40 years from your candidate and make her hot, blonde, and tall? You Nazi fucks.
I agree with others… the real problem with the cartoon is that it does not reflect what happened.
Joe Bar said @9:26…
“Political Junkie @9:37 has the correct take.”
I can’t wait!
Nothing "racist" about it. Stupid and dishonest, but that's par for the course.
Their internal polling must be terrible
I love how everyone understands the game now…
Critical Diversity Theory
The cartoon does not show open racism, open hatred or endorse violent fantasy, but that doesn't matter. Republicans took umbrage and got the Dems to cave. The Dems get free publicity and a thousand times more people will see the cartoon.
Stereotypes exist for a reason. When media has to show the opposite of every stereotype, it comes off as phony. The angry Black woman is a real thing, but from what I've seen, Winsome Earle-Sears isn't one.
Republicans should not mimic the least admirable tactics of the Left. Criticize the characterization, but don't go for the lazy racist BS.
If Winsome Sears was the Democrat and Spanberger was the Republican, the outcry would be ringing in our ears for the next six months.
You frequently post pictures illustrating the point of your comments, Ann.
Today, for example in the fashion post, and the organized posts.
But you did not post the cartoon, oy a link.
We're you afraid of being called racist if you did?
I agree with you, I don't see it as racist. Also agree that any pol should be fair game and we should not be gentler on anyone because of skin color.
John Henry
Cartoon caricatures are fair games in politics, however, Ms. Althouse, surely you realize how such a cartoon would have been described by the mainstream media were the party labels reversed in this case?
On a different aspect of this particular race, there was a media photo going around about the last VA debate between Ms. Spanberger and Winsome-Sears that seemed to try to make people think Spanberger is African-American. I saw it attached to two different stories about the debate. I actually had to Google the Congresscritter to verify my own memory.
I think the Virginia Democrats are racist for keeping Jay Jones in the race. If he was a white man, they'd be a lot rougher on him.
That NR article is brutal.
I think the problem with the cartoon is Spanberger's "May I speak?". The problem was that she refused to speak.
That Cartoon shows spangleberger in good light. In reality, the nose should be much larger and the face more masculine.
The "May I speak?" balloon coming from the woman who went viral for refusing to answer any questions is priceless.
Now if they drew her wearing a sombrero, that would be racist.
The most dishonest thing about the cartoon was Spanberger saying, "May I speak?"
Winsome-Sears was practically begging her to speak on some of the most important issues, and Abby abjectly refused to say a mumblin' word.
Rehajm, I'm sorry about your pal, but when the time comes, you have to do the right thing, and you did the final act of honor and devotion for your friend.
It's racist because the left taught us it is, ipse dixit, for the last 30 years...
Winsome Sears is 5’10”. Abigail Spanberger is 5’6”
Actually I think Spanberger is taller. She appears taller on the debate stage. You probably have those numbers reversed.
CDT refers to Diversity as a color judgment, class bigotry. Diversity is an artifact of the nominally secular Pro-Choice religion that denies individual dignity and value. Can Democrats abort the baby, cannibalize her profitable parts, sequester her carbon, and have her, too? Diversity pinned on their asses is good, but be wary of its evolution following a progressive path and grade.
It's not racist, but those are the rules as established by Democrats. On the bright side, the charge of racism has been leveled so many times at so many different targets the slur has been rendered meaningless.
We know how this goes--if the races and parties were reversed, Dems would have automatically condemned the cartoon showing a black Democrat like that yelling at a white Republican.
The cartoon is well within the tradition of caricature, where some features are exagerrated for effect. It was a great tradition when honored by both sides. After decades of Dems yelling racist racist racist well here we are.
I'm happily voting for Sears but there's no way she's going to win. I live in NoVa and while I love it here overall, it's a Dem/Lib/Progressive/nutcase encampment. Sears being an okay *candidate* at best (though a deeply impressive person), the electoral weight of the NoVa blue, and weeks of early voting that mute any ill effects of backlash from the debate or the Jay Jones murder fantasies add up to a GOP loss. Throw in DOGE, the government shutdown and (claimed?) shutdown-related RIFS, and it's game over man. It's gonna be a miserable four years.
(Fwiw I was annoyed by all the Sears interruptions, it has to be expertly applied and not a nonstop wall of sound.)
False charges of racism, and the nonstop redefinitions of the term, have deprived the word of it's emotive force.
"Woe to the cartoonist who dares to satirize a black person."
The democrats built this world.
I don’t think the cartoon is racist, nor do I think 99.9% of the crap Dems label as racist is racist.
It’s unfortunate when the right uses the unsavory tactics of the left. It was pretty shocking that Spanberger didn’t answer. Nevertheless, she and the AG “shooter” will be elected. Blue Virginia has had enough sanity for now.
Surely, there is a black hole... whore h/t NAACP to be inferred from the published signals of leftist origin and fidelity.
We're lurching into "a ban on depictions of Muhammad" territory. But, we're still playing by the rules created by the left. No caricature, no "depictions," no portrayals of a member of an oppressed minority. How simple can they make it? And no blackface. And pay no attention to uneven enforcement.
The most important aspects of the cartoon is that it’s neither accurate nor witty.
Here's a clip from the debate. Sears has adopted the Trump tactic of interrupting early and often, which I find really annoying. But kudos to the debate moderator to keep going after Spanberger, who refuses to drop her endorsement of Jones for his death texts.
And wow, when Sears answers her question? She's really good. Spanberger won't look at her or respond. Spanberger gives "robotic" a bad name. I've seen robots with more humanity. Take lessons from C-3PO on how to speak.
Spanberger is a simulation of an Automaton Intelligence (AI)?
It is odd that they drew Spanberger asking "May I speak?" when her biggest flaw was standing in silence when asked about men in girls' locker rooms.
I'm old enough to have eaten in a Sambo's restaurant with the original decorations. You know why they aren't around any more, don't you?
I grew up in Alabama in the 1960s. Let’s just say that caricature of a black woman is familiar. Democrats drew the cartoons during my childhood, too. That was the least of their offenses.
So, a cartoon of a black Republican with huge lips, a giant obese behind, carrying watermelon and pulling up with her pants belted around her thighs instead of her waist to a KFC ... racist, or not?
The Democrat Party advocated for slavery in the United States.
It is not even a debate about whether that party is the party of racists. If you're a Democrat ... you are a racist, or at minimum OK hanging out with them.
If I were Sears' campaign manager I would just run that 15 seconds where Sears is asking "Abigail" to answer the question as a repeating ad.
Interesting that they show Spanberger interacting with Sears when she instead made a pretense of ignoring her. She didn't ask to speak, she just smiled in a superior way and looked away.
Ok. This will be a blatantly racist comment in support of the “blatantly racist” characterization of the cartoon. Avert your eyes if spring-loaded to taking offense:
Anyone who has seen any of the thousands of videos of a black woman going off the rails will see plenty in the cartoon that resonates with our frequent experiences with the “community”. The shrieking blah blah blah blah arm waving wild eyed interruptions and neck-snapping and repetition of words and phrases …particularly the neck-snapping are consistent with how we so often see things in airports, on airplanes, the Waffle House, Live PD, Maxine Waters, the View, Popeyes, Carnival cruise vessels, WNBA games, and DEI training sessions.
We have shockingly few Condoleezza Rice and Harris Faulkner figures.
It was a blatantly racist cartoon as is this contribution to the blog.
- Krumhorn
I see you didn't include the cartoon, which kind of says you're aware that it really is racist.
It showed Sears as an ungoverned spoiled brat child compared to the adult and much taller Spanberger. If someone had done that cartoon with Romney in the white role and Obama in the black, it would have been widely panned as racist, so yes, the charge is entirely correct here
the rules written and enforced by the left require that this cartoon be deemed as racist. Ann, you know damn well this is racist.
Sorry Ann, the game isn’t played that way. Democrats started it and now they a to live with it. Alynsky style.
While I agree with Althouse in principle, the counterpoint is put nicely in one of the X posts quoted in the article: "If the parties were reversed it would be on every MSNBC show and Mainstream News Cycle from now until Election Day with requests for every Republican in office down to dog catcher to denounce it . . ." Goose, gander, some assembly required.
where Sears is asking "Abigail" to answer... !!!!
why do I recall = a lady's maid.
Sexist, maybe, racist, no. But if I were a paid (or unpaid) political shill I’d certainly say otherwise.
Winsome is such a great name.
Gander, meet goose
“The charge of racism here is wrong and dangerous.”
No, it’s just boring. Nobody pays attention to that “charge” anymore, it’s everywhere, and racism isn’t the bugaboo it used to be.
And then there was the racist sign:
Yes, except with Sears, every racial stereotype (facial features, hair, anger, language, etc.) is accentuated - blown up, really - by the cartoonist. Scamburger actually looks much better in the cartoon than in person. In person, she looks like an ill-tempered Afghan Hound.
The "May I speak?" line refers to the Democrat's claim that Winsome-Sears interrupted and badgered Spanberger throughout the entire debate, and that Spanberger did make that request in the debate.
She didn't want to speak when it mattered.
Those are some mighty big lips and bulging eyeballs. Also the black woman is depicted as being about half the size of the white woman.
If you think the charges are wrong and dangerous, you might be living in a bubble.
but many leftists are racists. It's worth pointing out.
The Powhatan Dems thought it racist enough that their chairman withdrew it and apologized for having published it.
Mad Magazine was always great at caricaturing famous people - exaggerating their individual, not group, traits. Turning everyone into Alfred E. Newman was a great equalizer. But even inside the covers, caricatures of Obama, Jesse Jackson, etc, were always recognizable, funny, but not racist.
Probably has something to do with the Jewish staff and postwar NYC Jewish-inflected culture there. Ridicule without hate. CC, JSM
I’m sick of every single TV commercial containing at least 50% blacks when only 13% of Americans are black. And they are in such completely unrealistic situations. Hey, people. Blacks and whites do not socialize as a general rule. Blacks are not generally in executive positions. Quit stuffing it down our throats. You are totally racist!
Any woman like Winsome Sears who can stand on her own and actually accomplish things without her husband is going to be rabidly attacked by Democrats and Democrat Women is specific.
See: Palin, Sarah
Regarding that rally sign about 'Sears not being allowed to use the white lady's water fountain', the most telling moments are the unscripted ones in cases like this. When that story broke, there was a video of some campaign worker taking that white lady aside and trying to explain to her why holding up a sign like that wasn't helpful to the candidate. She looked like an otherwise normal, elderly white lady, not necessarily even an AWFL, at least not the 'affluent' part. The worker was taking his time, but the lady was clueless. She absolutely wasn't getting it, not seeing why her sign was a problem, and also not amenable to being told to put it away. Sometimes it's a bit jarring to see how far out of touch otherwise seemingly normal people are.
Are we really still pretending like Sarah Palin was a viable canadite for VP? She did set the stage for the kind of canadite that the GOP runs today: reactionary and empty headed, often wrong but never in doubt. She appeals to voters who have more resentment than sense.
Yeah, the Democrats are the real racists. No doubt 90 percent of Black voters in VA will vote for her.
Really.
The D's are the real racists makes Conservatives feel good. But as political propaganda its worthless. How many black votes do you think you're picking up with this troll? Probably about as many who watch Fox News and listen to Glen beck.
The Tories in England have a black female leader. Do they really think blacks in the UK will vote for them? LOL. Who are the tories appealing to with this minority pandering?
But there's something about Tories/Republicans that makes them obsessed with thinking they'll nominate some minority and they'll win votes. Lots of Moderate Republicans begged Colin Powell on their hands and knees to run in 1996 and 2000. Who did they think that was going to please?
Republicans/Conservatives are like goofy loser who thinks the pretty girl is going to leave the High School QB if he just keeps doing her favors and giving her compliments. Blacks aren't just that into you Republicans.
Nope, not racist.
Now if there was a jar of peanut butter included, it WOULD have been racist.
Pardon me for not getting all wee-wee'd up over some saying this is racist when that term is applied so liberally by the liberals as their go-to insult.
Spanberger's inability to cut herself off from Jay Jones is like Kamala Harris' inability to cut herself off from Joe Biden. He's an anchor around your neck, dummy! He's going to drag you down, down, down.
Mark Robinson had a similar meltdown in North Carolina in 2024. I would be shocked if Jones wins his race. He went from a faceless guy running for attorney general, to that crazy fucker who is texting and making phone calls about how killing children is an effective political strategy. Why would you hang on to that albatross?
Is Spanberger an ice cold ice lady from Iceland who is like some evil white lady from a very racist book? Yes! Does she feel superior to Winsome? Yes! She hates Republicans. And she may (or may not) hate black Republicans the most.
To me its far more profitable to keep tying her in knots around her endorsement of Jay Jones. I would run ads detailing all his murderous texts, and I how Spanberger endorses him and continues to endorse him as the next attorney general for Virginia.
Are we really still pretending like Sarah Palin was a viable canadite for VP?
She was a fantastic veep and McCain was jealous of her popularity and unhappy about how powerful she was. I don't think anybody was going to stop Obama in 2008. I suspect Palin could have upended him in 2012, but she elected not to run. The Democrats were terrified of her. And they went after her family in an incredibly vicious and ugly way.
veep nominee
Every veep nominee in my lifetime was a non-event. Made little or no impression on me at all. Sarah Palin is the exception. She was sexy and incredibly popular, and the Democrats feared and mocked her and attacked her without mercy. Are you seriously trying to rewrite the past? What are you, a Commie?
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