Althouse: Today's chimpanzee news.

February 20, 2009

Today's chimpanzee news.

"Wednesday's Page Six cartoon - caricaturing Monday's police shooting of a chimpanzee in Connecticut - has created considerable controversy. It shows two police officers standing over the chimp's body: "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill," one officer says. It was meant to mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill. Period. But it has been taken as something else - as a depiction of President Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism...."

243 comments:

1 – 200 of 243 Newer› Newest»

Tibore said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/20/09, 10:30 AM
Tibore said...: Heaven forbid anyone ever compare a President to a chimpanzee!; 2/20/09, 10:31 AM
Bob said...: MEMO
From: The Publisher
To: All Newspaper Staff
Subject: Simians

Effective immediately, all comparisons of human beings to monkeys or apes is strictly forbidden. This policy shall remain in effect until President Obama leaves office. Violations of this policy will be dealt with severely.

Sincerely,

The Publisher; 2/20/09, 10:31 AM
Darcy said...: Exactly, Tibore. And Obama wrote the stimulas bill, did he? This is absurd and...a little frightening, really.; 2/20/09, 10:33 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: This is clear racist tripe. Why do they say a chimp wrote the stimulus bill? Obviously, the comparison is to Obama.

Why? The same reason George Allen called a dark-skinned guy with a camera "macaca."

Comparing dark-skinned people to monkeys is the oldest of racist slurs.

But watch the right wing defend it!; 2/20/09, 10:36 AM
KCFleming said...: Any criticism of BHO is a thinly veiled expression of racism.

That was the case during the election, and is moreso now.

But for the record let me state that President Obama is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever seen in my life.; 2/20/09, 10:37 AM
Palladian said...: "But it has been taken as something else - as a depiction of President Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism...."

Isn't everything a thinly veiled expression of racism these days? In fact, there are so many people walking around with thin veils that America is either turning into a Muslim nation or the biggest Unification Church wedding ever.

O racism, my nascent bride! When may I lift up thy thin veil and consummate our union with a deep and unveiled kiss?; 2/20/09, 10:38 AM
Unknown said...: Why do they say a chimp wrote the stimulus bill? Obviously, the comparison is to Obama.

Obama wrote the stimulus bill? I thought it was K-Street lobbyists.; 2/20/09, 10:38 AM
Smilin' Jack said...: Racism aside, I just don't get the cartoon. What connection is there, amusing or otherwise, between the stimulus bill and the chimp shooting?

Anyway, Obama should get used to being compared to a monkey. Not because of his race, but because of (1) his effectiveness as president, and (2) his ears.; 2/20/09, 10:39 AM
Palladian said...: The first thing AlphaLiberal thinks about when he sees simians is African Americans. That tells you something.; 2/20/09, 10:39 AM
George M. Spencer said...: "But I've been bit and I've been tossed around by every she-rat in this town. Have you, babe?

Well, I am just a monkey man
I'm glad you are a monkey woman, too."

Darryl doesn't seem to mind singing the song with Mick.; 2/20/09, 10:39 AM
Palladian said...: "Obama wrote the stimulus bill? I thought it was K-Street lobbyists."

I thought Pelosi and Reid wrote it? Anyway, the cartoon doesn't work because chimps are much smarter than Pelosi, Reid or Obama.; 2/20/09, 10:40 AM
Anonymous said...: And don't call your elected representative to register your opinion, either. They might send out an armed response: One must not question authority.; 2/20/09, 10:40 AM
Unknown said...: Clearly, the NY Post started salivating when the whole chimp-rips-face-off story came out, because they knew it gave them plausible deniability for awhile while they made thinly veiled references to Obama the Chimp.; 2/20/09, 10:43 AM
tim maguire said...: AlphaLiberal also apparently thinks Obama wrote the stimulus bill. He must not follow the news much. (That's not a K-Street lobbist joke or snark, simply a factual observation that the bill did not originate in the White House.)

Of course, just because AlphaLiberal is the best the liberals have to offer doesn't mean he's not an idiot. The bar is not set very high over there.; 2/20/09, 10:43 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: Any criticism of BHO is a thinly veiled expression of racism.

Oh, fuck you. There is no basis for saying that.

A black man is compared to a monkey and you don't think that's racist?

How about when that black guy was dragged to death behind the pickup in Texas? Was that racist?

Or when black men were lynched. Was THAT racist?

Do you think there's any racism anywhere?; 2/20/09, 10:44 AM
MadisonMan said...: I think it would have been a better cartoon if Boehner et al. were doing the shooting.

But who can deny what it refers to: (1) The crazy chimp in Connecticut; (2) the old canard that a million monkeys pounding away on a typewriter will eventually write Hamlet; and (3) that the stimulus package has all the hallmarks of (2) -- except Hamlet has not been produced.

It does destroy a joke to have to explain it. Still, there seem to be many who are still looking for a way to be insulted. I think they could better spend their time doing productive things.; 2/20/09, 10:44 AM
garage mahal said...: We can't even compare chimpanzees to blacks anymore? WTF.; 2/20/09, 10:45 AM
JAL said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/20/09, 10:46 AM
Anonymous said...: Can I still listen to Peter Gabriel?; 2/20/09, 10:47 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: Right. The chimp wasn't meant to be Obama. Uh huh.

You might be dumb enough to believe that, but most people aren't.; 2/20/09, 10:47 AM
JAL said...: AL still thinks the macaca comment
was a racial slur.

And that Palin actually said she didn't know Africa was a country.

And that she could see Russia from her house.

And that Robert Byrd was 6 years old when he ran around wearing a sheet.

It's going to be a long four years.; 2/20/09, 10:48 AM
Unknown said...: As Tibore's link shows, someone actually bought the domain name "bushorchimp.com" and created a web site around it.

Well, I just checked. Someone bought "obamaorchimp.com", too. According to About.Com, the web site used to say this:

Welcome to the Barack Hussein Obama or Chimp Website
After watching Senator Barrack Hussein Obama's legendary 2004 Democratic Convention speech, I realized he looked like a chimp. This website is intended for humorous amusement and exploring Obama's resemblance to our primate ancestors.

But today, the web site is gone. BushOrChimp.com, still around. ObamaOrChimp.com, gone.; 2/20/09, 10:48 AM
Jason (the commenter) said...: I bought a year long subscription to the New York Post yesterday (an e-subscription). I'd never purchased a paper for anything other than packaging material in my entire life, I don't even like newspapers, but this one actually has interesting articles. I can't wait for the media to unfairly attack someone else.; 2/20/09, 10:48 AM
PatHMV said...: AlphaLiberal... please tell me how it's ok for President Bush to be compared to a chimpanzee on a regular, repeated basis, but it's racist to compare President Obama to one. We've been calling our politicians monkeys for a long, long time. To stop now, simply because President Obama is black, would be the truly racist thing. So yes, YOU are the racist, not the editorial cartoonist.; 2/20/09, 10:50 AM
JAL said...: Well, no AL, actually, since many of the people I hang out with know that Pelosi and Reid and the other monkeys in Congress wrote the bill, it didn't occur to me that this was supposed to be President Obama. (I don't think the cartoonist was thinking that either, but I'm not a mind reader."; 2/20/09, 10:50 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: Okay, conservatives, so macaca* was not a racist slur and comparing a black man to a chimp is not racist slur.

Is there anything that you would believe is racist? instead of just denying every slur, beating or lynching is racist, is there any action or statement you would think is racist?

*From Wikipedia entry on "macaca."

Macaca[1] is a pejorative epithet used by francophone colonialists in Central Africa's Belgian Congo for the native population.[2] It may be derived from the name of the genus comprising macaque monkeys. The word macaque has also been used as a racial slur. The macaque's genus name, Macaca, is a latinization of the Bantu (Kongo) ma-kako,[3] meaning "monkey".; 2/20/09, 10:51 AM
Unknown said...: There is, however, an Obama or Chimp blog.

You seen AlphaLiberal, it's really not that hard. If people really want to compare Obama to a chimp, they just do. Outright. At least until the Secret Service comes calling.; 2/20/09, 10:52 AM
SteveR said...: Some of my best friends are chimpanzees.; 2/20/09, 10:54 AM
Joe said...: AlphaLiberal, were you even more outraged by the cartoons depicting Condi Rice as an ape? And as a slave? (There was no thinly veiled reference going on.)

I think the cartoon in question was tacky, unfunny and inaccurate. But, as I did with the Condi cartoons, I just roll my eyes, move on and thank God I live in a country where you can do such things and not get shot. (I was actually much more angry at the censoring of the Islamic cartoons, even though most weren't funny either.); 2/20/09, 10:54 AM
Darcy said...: AlphaLiberal: Do you get that Obama didn't write the stimulus bill? Do you think that most people can grasp that?; 2/20/09, 10:54 AM
KCFleming said...: I, for one, welcome our new Democrat leaders.

They are indeed the best and the brightest, maybe of all time. And Obama's actions have thus far been superb, every single one, every step of the way.

No other President in history has been so successful so quickly. His opponents should be jailed. His every utterance must be collected for all time, perhaps in a small book to be issued to every citizen, wisdom to be savored as we serve the people.

Please take all my money.

Love,

Pogo; 2/20/09, 10:55 AM
Unknown said...: The real question is: did the chimp in the NY Post cartoon have a blue scrotum?; 2/20/09, 10:56 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: It was Obama's bill. The "writing" was done by all kinds of people, staff and Members, on the Appropriations Committees. Pelosi "wrote" it as much as
Obama did.

All you guys are accomplishing here is to reinforce the well-earned reputation of conservatives for being racist.

You earn that reputation by treating every racist incidence with denial and this bizarre view that all racism has been eliminated.

And, note, there is not one African-American Republican member of Congress. There's a very good reason for that. The Republicans are openly racist (see: "Southern Strategy."); 2/20/09, 10:56 AM
Palladian said...: Obama's only half-black so is it ok to compare the white part to a chimp?; 2/20/09, 10:56 AM
Henry said...: UPDATE: In deference to the ignorant and easily offended, Wednesday Page Six cartoon will be changed to show Nietzsche standing over the body of God. The caption will e revised to say: "What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent?"; 2/20/09, 10:56 AM
Unknown said...: Barbara Walters said on The View yesterday that the cartoon was definitely racist because the chimpanzee in the cartoon was a black
chimp. Now if the cartoon had depicted a white chimp, that would have been 0k.; 2/20/09, 10:58 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: Darcy, that's a lame and dumb excuse. It was Obama's bill. It was written at his direction and under his purview.

AlphaLiberal, were you even more outraged by the cartoons depicting Condi Rice as an ape? And as a slave?
I've never heard of those. What major daily newspaper ran them?

Modern American conservatives: making excuses for racism.; 2/20/09, 10:59 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: Here is the question ducked by the cons:
Is there anything that you [a conservative] would believe is racist?

Extra points for real world examples.; 2/20/09, 11:00 AM
Darcy said...: PatHMV is right. AL just assumes because there is a chimp in the cartoon and the cartoon is mocking our government, that it is supposed to be Obama. That is racist.; 2/20/09, 11:00 AM
Joe said...: macaca only became a slur after the fact. Nobody had a clue what it meant since it's French slang. That said, many Republicans, myself included, didn't defend Allen and felt that racist or not, someone with this little common sense was simply yet another asshole.

There are several Spanish words I could use to insult someone, but they'd have no efficacy until someone stood up and defined them. Even more interesting, several would have no efficacy amongst Spanish speakers unless they were from the eastern half of Venezuela--for one you have to be from the southeast portion of the country bordering the Amazon. Based on this, I think it very possible for someone to learn pejorative words without understanding their meaning.; 2/20/09, 11:01 AM
Original Mike said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/20/09, 11:01 AM
AllenS said...: Black people are chimpanzees? I thought they were jungle bunnies.

I'm kidding!!!; 2/20/09, 11:02 AM
Original Mike said...: But who can deny what it refers to: (1) The crazy chimp in Connecticut; (2) the old canard that a million monkeys pounding away on a typewriter will eventually write Hamlet; and (3) that the stimulus package has all the hallmarks of (2) -- except Hamlet has not been produced.

AL, for one.

Very early on I had hope that, if nothing else, an Obama presidency would pull the rug out from under the lefts flinging the charge of "racist" around like so much feces. Boy, was I wrong.; 2/20/09, 11:03 AM
jayne_cobb said...: Apparently Alpha has never heard of Howard Cosell.; 2/20/09, 11:04 AM
rhhardin said...: The nation is run by monkeys.; 2/20/09, 11:04 AM
PoNyman said...: @Joe: naguara; 2/20/09, 11:04 AM
MadisonMan said...: I agree with PatHMV. Not being able to call all politicians monkeys, or apes, or snakes, or asses, is racist.

Alpha, your outrage does not ring true; it has all the hallmarks of someone saying Look at me! I know when other people are outraged and I'll take steps to help them!

I wonder what Obama thinks of the cartoon.; 2/20/09, 11:05 AM
Unknown said...: AlphaLiberal said: And, note, there is not one African-American Republican member of Congress. There's a very good reason for that. The Republicans are openly racist (see: "Southern Strategy.")

News Flash for AlphaLiberal: the Republican National Committee's Chairman is Michael Steele, an openly Black man.; 2/20/09, 11:06 AM
Anonymous said...: Who are these conservatives who are supposedly denying that lynchings were racist?; 2/20/09, 11:06 AM
Original Mike said...: Oh, no. I said "boy".; 2/20/09, 11:06 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: Newsflash for Martha: Steele is not in Congress.; 2/20/09, 11:07 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: MadisonMan:

So now you claim that it's common to compare politicians to monkeys.

OK. Show us a sampling of other cartoons or comment comparing politicians to monkeys.; 2/20/09, 11:10 AM
Smilin' Jack said...: AlphaLiberal said...
Here is the question ducked by the cons:
Is there anything that you [a conservative] would believe is racist?

Extra points for real world examples.

That's easy: Candidates from underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply; 2/20/09, 11:10 AM
PatHMV said...: Darcy, I think the chimp may well be intended to be Obama. My point is that it's not racist even if so.

I'm not defending, AlphaLiberal, the "macaca" slur or anything else. I'm still waiting for YOU to explain why it's ok to compare President Bush to a chimpanzee, but not ok to compare President Obama to one.

Did you condemn Jane Hamsher for painting Joe Lieberman in blackface?

As for your silly question about what major newspapers printed racist monkey and gorilla images of Condi Rice, the debate is not over whether they were published in major media, but over whether you agree that the liberals who created such images are racists for doing so, and whether the fact that liberals did so taints all liberals as racists.

Now, I think you're a racist because you're obsessed with race, and because you judge a depiction of a white president as a chimp as appropriate but a depiction of a black president as a chimp as vilely racist. I see "President as chimp" and find both offensive but entirely within the normal scope of political diatribe in this country. Your different treatment of them, based SOLELY on the color of President Obama's skin, is what makes you a seriously nasty racist.; 2/20/09, 11:10 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: Racism is now deeply ingrained in the Republican DNA:

Following the 2004 re-election of President George W. Bush, in which few African Americans voted for Bush and other Republicans, Ken Mehlman, the Chairman of the RNC and Bush's campaign manager, delivered several speeches at meetings with African-American business, community, and religious leaders in which he apologized for his party's use of the Southern Strategy in the past. When asked about the southern strategy that used race as an issue to build GOP dominance in the once Democratic South, Mehlman replied, "Republican candidates often have prospered by ignoring black voters and even by exploiting racial tensions," and, "[B]y the '70s and into the '80s and '90s, the Democratic Party solidified its gains in the African-American community, and we Republicans did not effectively reach out. Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong."

However prominent Republican and conservative commentators denounced Mehlman for his apology, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity among them.; 2/20/09, 11:12 AM
PatHMV said...: AL, did you seriously just ask MadisonMan that question? This thread is FILLED with links to Bush=Chimp. Hell, it was so common the right wing developed the term "chimpyMcBushHitler" to parody your deranged leftist side's obsession with the comparison.; 2/20/09, 11:12 AM
PatHMV said...: I do hope Eric Holder is proud of us for this thread, at least.; 2/20/09, 11:12 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: I'm still waiting for YOU to explain why it's ok to compare President Bush to a chimpanzee, but not ok to compare President Obama to one.

Please point out where I did that. Or, where any major newspaper did that.; 2/20/09, 11:13 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: ...because you judge a depiction of a white president as a chimp as appropriate...

Again, please point out where I said this.

Lie much?; 2/20/09, 11:14 AM
TitusFreezeFrame said...: The cartoonist gay cartoons are lovely too.

You know we want to marry sheep, in bed with animals, all that stuff.

I don't know any gays that want to marry a sheep or fondle; 2/20/09, 11:14 AM
Darcy said...: Thanks for clarifying that, PatHMV. And good points.; 2/20/09, 11:15 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: As for your silly question about what major newspapers printed racist monkey and gorilla images of Condi Rice, the debate is not...

You're trying to change the subject and put libs on the defensive.

You guys are comparing a leading conservative newspaper to what some individuals put on the web.

And you are trying to say I'm responsible for what every liberal has put on the web.

All in the name of deflecting attention from a clearly racist act.; 2/20/09, 11:16 AM
PatHMV said...: So AL, you're saying that it was racist of many Democrats to portray President Bush as a chimpanzee?; 2/20/09, 11:17 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: By the silence, I conclude there is no action a modern American Republican would describe as "racist."

It's all good for conservatives.; 2/20/09, 11:17 AM
Original Mike said...: So now you claim that it's common to compare politicians to monkeys.

Oh, good grief. It's common to portray anyone who you feel is incompetent as a "monkey".

You really work hard at this outrage thing, don't you AL? You get an A for effort.; 2/20/09, 11:17 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: O Mike, if it's common why are you unable to provide examples?

It's not common where I'm from.; 2/20/09, 11:18 AM
Der Hahn said...: African-American devotion to the Democrat party gets them ....

Nancy Pelosi - D, House Speaker - white

Harry Reid - D, Sen Majority Leader - white

Stenyer Hoyer - D, House Majority Leader - white

Robert C. Byrd - D, Senate President pro tempore - white

Dick Durbin - D, Sen Assistant Majority Leader - white

Charles E. Schumer - D, Vice Chair of the Democrat Senate Conference, - white

Barbara Boxer - D, Senate Chief Deputy Whip - white

The only non-white member of the current Democrat House and Senate leadership appears to be House Majority Whip James Clyburn.; 2/20/09, 11:19 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: I think Alpha Liberal is turning into Michael who is dumber than a chimp.

Does saying that make me a racist?; 2/20/09, 11:19 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: The first step in dealing with a problem is to admit it exists.

To conservatives there is no evidence of any racism in America. that's why Bush and other Republicans gutted federal efforts to reduce racism.

And that's all just a big steaming pile of crap.; 2/20/09, 11:20 AM
Anonymous said...: (Hmmmm, blogger 'ate' my last comment)

The OUTRAGE is a good distraction from anger over the stimulus bill and that housing turkey...note I use 'turkey' and not ape, chimp, etc.

Well played, outragists, well played, with the distractery.

*Being of the macaca variety of person, I, uh, can't remember what I thought about said controversy. No, wait, I thought the whole thing seemed silly. Dumb to use the term, dumb to make a big deal of it, and dumb for the blogs I was reading to get into such a lather about it. Really, those blogs love to instruct fellow browns that certain other browns are less 'authentic' because they support the wrong party. See, they screech (oops, monkeys screech), see, you are a coconut! An oreo! You inauthenticated-voter-for wrong-parties, you!

**Coconuts, turkeys and oreos. Time for lunch yet?; 2/20/09, 11:20 AM
PatHMV said...: AL, I'm getting tired of debating a racist pig like you, but for the sake of completeness, once again, the issue we're trying to get you to take a position on is whether specific imagery is in fact racist, or whether you adopt a convenient distinction in your mind between images drawn or made by lefties and images drawn or made by those on the right.

So: Jane Hamsher's portrayal of Joe Lieberman in blackface. Racist?

Depictions of George Bush as a chimp. Racist?

Depictions and characterizations of Condoleeza Rice as a gorilla or any other non-human primate. Racist?

I'm not trying to argue which is more prevalent, I'm trying to determine whether, as a baseline, you agree that those images by people on the LEFT are racist (and Jane Hamsher's not just some random whacko lefty).; 2/20/09, 11:21 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: No, AJ, just an apologist for racism.

Again, is there any evidence of racism you can point to?; 2/20/09, 11:21 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: PatHMV, I'll answer your questions if you agree to answer my question about what would qualify to a conservative as racist.; 2/20/09, 11:22 AM
PatHMV said...: Plenty of conservatives see plenty of evidence of racism in this country, AL. I live in Louisiana, and see very nasty versions of it, both from white and black people, from Democrats and Republicans. Conservatives tend to want to look at ALL racism, not just the racism you want to use as a political tool. And we're skeptical of the use of government to force changes in people's attitudes. You're a disgusting political hack, AL, and your casual use of such a serious charge as racism does deep harm to this country.; 2/20/09, 11:23 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: Oh, fuck you.; 2/20/09, 11:24 AM
MadisonMan said...: O Mike, if it's common why are you unable to provide examples?

I found one, and it's really very interesting: Business English lessons for Adults who aren't native speakers. It's surprising how animal imagery permeates the language, and I can see how a non-speaker could be left scratching their head.; 2/20/09, 11:25 AM
Unknown said...: AL -- I frequently refer to my (white) daughter as a monkey, when she is squirming around and won't sit still.

Or when she rips the face off one of my friends.; 2/20/09, 11:25 AM
KCFleming said...: I sing the Obama electric;
The armies of those who love him engirth me, and I engirth them;
Their praise is of one voice; I go with them, respond to them,
And serve them, and charge them full with the charge of the Soul.

Was it doubted that those who deny his greatness conceal themselves;
And that those who defile Obama are as bad as they who defile the dead?

The expression of Obama's face balks account;
But the expression of a well-made man appears not only in his face;
It is in his limbs and joints also, it is curiously in the joints of his hips and wrists;
It is in his walk, the carriage of his neck, the flex of his waist and knees—dress does not hide him;
The strong, sweet, supple quality he has, strikes through the cotton and flannel;
To see him pass conveys as much as the best poem, perhaps more

I sing the Obama electric; all failing that do defile; 2/20/09, 11:25 AM
PatHMV said...: AL, I can't speak for all conservatives. I already said I don't defend the macaca comment.

As for myself, well, I had a co-worker once who refused to by Pampers because the waistband had pictures of black babies as well as white babies on them. That was racist of him. Denying someone a job because of the color of their skin would be racist.

I'm perfectly willing to admit their are racist elements lurking within the Republican party. You, however, are so politically wed to your liberalism that you can't even begin to admit that their is racism, both white-on-black racism and black-on-white racism, anywhere on your own side of the political spectrum. That's what makes you such a loathesome individual.; 2/20/09, 11:26 AM
TitusFreezeFrame said...: Pat if that is your real picture I would recommend taking it down.

Not attractive.; 2/20/09, 11:27 AM
rhhardin said...: The blacks as monkeys thing comes from facial structure originally.

People resemble monkeys quite generally, but that picked out one particular feature for use as a put-down.

Obama however does not have that feature; to compare him to a monkey would be to remark on his competence.

In WWII the Japanese were called monkeys, for some other reason; I'd guess from climbing trees or something.

As a tripwire of course you can use monkey and black for your own purposes; it's as if the resemblance of blacks to monkeys strikes Sharpton himself, leaving most people pretty baffled.

It's not the first thing you think of.

Imus's criticism of the Post is that they should know that monkey and black cannot be joined in today's society, even without the original insult anywhere in view, because of the news trucks and Sharpton. These are tripwire believers. Tripwires as truth.; 2/20/09, 11:27 AM
Original Mike said...: O Mike, if it's common why are you unable to provide examples?

Madison Man gave you one. I'll give you another. The incompetency of portfolio managers is mocked by claiming that monkeys throwing darts at a page of stock listings can produce a better portfolio. The Wall Street Journal actually did this awhile back. The monkey and humans played to a draw, IIRC.

You know this man. Give it up.; 2/20/09, 11:28 AM
chickelit said...: @Alpha Liberal: You sound like you have a chimp on your shoulder.; 2/20/09, 11:28 AM
Original Mike said...: MM has now given you two.; 2/20/09, 11:29 AM
college advisor said...: Dear Alpha

I'm an American of Hispanic descent born and raised in South Texas 48 years ago. Trust me, I've been on the receiving end of racism, veiled and otherwise, more than once. Trust me also when I tell you this issue is a mole hill, and you're wasting energy better left on fighting a real problem. Cartoons of chimps, cartoons of Muhammed with a bomb in his turban--both incite ridiculous squabbling.
I'm sure if we were to meet we'd agree on most things, I'm about as liberal as they come. But on this issue you come across as a caricature of the whiny, PC liberal that amuses conservatives and drive fellow liberals crazy. Please stop.; 2/20/09, 11:29 AM
chickelit said...: ...or a monkey on your barack; 2/20/09, 11:29 AM
Palladian said...: "I wonder what Obama thinks of the cartoon."

I would hope he doesn't have the time or spare mental capacity even consider thinking about such nonsense.

The country is dropping into the shitter and this garbage is what people are wasting their time being "outraged" about?!

AlphaLiberal is a political operative. Nothing he says and no "outrage" he expresses is on the level. He's doing his bidding and spreading misdirection. As MadisonMan says, it rings false. Because it is false.; 2/20/09, 11:30 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: A black man is compared to a monkey and you don't think that's racist?

It's as racist as when George Bush was constantly depicted as a monkey and referred to Chimpy.

Sorry Alpha but being black doesn't mean you're immune from criticism or parody.; 2/20/09, 11:31 AM
Original Mike said...: The first step in dealing with a problem is to admit it exists.

That's why we spend so much time on you, AL. We care.; 2/20/09, 11:31 AM
Palladian said...: "Obama however does not have that feature; to compare him to a monkey would be to remark on his competence."

Well, there are the ears. Isn't that part of why Bush was called a chimp?; 2/20/09, 11:32 AM
chickelit said...: @AL remember, the Koreans call us "pink-hairy-monkey-who-smells-like-milk".

Slough it off dude; 2/20/09, 11:32 AM
Anonymous said...: DeltaMinusLiberal, go to school. Learn something.; 2/20/09, 11:33 AM
KCFleming said...: The goodthinkful citizen knows in his heart that Obama is doubleplusgood.

Remember, Althouse readers, thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime is death.

A gram of soma is better than a damn.; 2/20/09, 11:33 AM
TitusFreezeFrame said...: Hi Palladian, give me a big hug you big lug.; 2/20/09, 11:34 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha X 1,000,000

What race-baiting ass holes.

The cartoon isn't even about Obama! The real racist has ts make a leap to even make that connection. Proof their own racism trumps whatever trace of satire exist within their withered souls. And even if it did refer to Obama, which it doesn't, it would still be funny. Funny because the tables are turned -- you can not depict a president as a monkey and then expect your own president to not be depicted likewise. Period. The right to complain about that is completely forfeit, no matter the race of the subject. Liberals wrote the book on this subject, give themselves awards for it.

Yes, Liberals, keep racism alive. It's all you've got. You get more stupid, mean, and humorless with each passing year.

I'll be laughing about this all week.; 2/20/09, 11:34 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: Look, Pat, it's the most childish argument to insult people who disagree with you. It's a typical tactic, to attack and not reason. That's what we have here: attacks and accusations on Democrats for unrelated racism.

I'll give you credit for admitting there is racism in America today, but you couldn't even answer the question. You couldn't name an action that you think is racist.

What we see all over this page is the typical excuse-making for racism in place of simply admitting how tasteless and racist the cartoon was.

It's a simple matter of fact that people who make excuses for racism are apologists for racism. The pattern on this page is repeated with every racist ct to hit the news: conservative racism apologia.; 2/20/09, 11:35 AM
Tank said...: This was on the Obama Biden website today (they took it down after NRO linked to it):

The real monkeys are the three Republican analyst that the Party has selectively placed in front of the camera to explain their wicked devices, Amy Holmes, Cook-eyed Ron Christie, and Michael sell-out Steele. If you notice how they talk and what they are saying leaves me with the impression that the only thing that is missing from their reporting is a monkey grinder.

The three of them are like wind up monkey dolls that are programmed to say and think like their Republican counter-parts..

Now, that's how you call someone a monkey.; 2/20/09, 11:35 AM
PatHMV said...: college advisor... thanks for your comments. I'm glad that not everybody on the left is completely insane.

Titus, trust me when I tell you that I'm deeply relieved to learn that you do not find me attractive.; 2/20/09, 11:36 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: Yes, Liberals, keep racism alive. It's all you've got.

Uh-huh.

Except for White House, Senate, House, Governorships, statehouses....

Except for that.

Dumb shit.; 2/20/09, 11:36 AM
Revenant said...: Obama however does not have that feature; to compare him to a monkey would be to remark on his competence

Yes, but pointing out that he's incompetent isn't racist. :); 2/20/09, 11:37 AM
TitusFreezeFrame said...: Pat we are still suffering from the consequences of looking at the picture.

For the love of God, take it off.; 2/20/09, 11:40 AM
Original Mike said...: Politicians referred to as monkeys this very day. Good find, rdkraus.; 2/20/09, 11:40 AM
PatHMV said...: AL, I agree its childish to continually insult those who disagree with you. So why do you keep doing it? I'm not the one who is trying to tarnish an entire political movement with the taint of racism. That's you. You can't argue over the merits of policies, so you scream "racists" at those who don't agree with your politics.

As for naming racist actions, I named 3. Is that not enough for you? How many would you like? Do you realize how stupid you sound?

Now you're saying that anybody who denies that something is racist once YOU have labeled it so is an apologist for racism, and thus racist themselves. We're not even allowed to DISAGREE with you.

Yes, it is indeed childish to call people names simply because they disagree with you.; 2/20/09, 11:42 AM
Henry said...: The Original Gorilla; 2/20/09, 11:45 AM
Unknown said...: Look, Pat, it's the most childish argument to insult people who disagree with you.

This coming from the guy who backed himself up into a "fuck you" post. Then again, maybe "fuck you" isn't childish, because most children would get a nice clean slap across the face for that one.; 2/20/09, 11:45 AM
PatHMV said...: Meanwhile, AL, I note that you have yet to condemn ANY of the numerous examples of Democratic or lefty racism which have been provided for you thus far in this thread, or taken a firm position one way or the other on the racist status of comparing President George W. Bush to a chimpanzee.; 2/20/09, 11:47 AM
Matt Eckert said...: After this series of comments, you must realize that the mask has fallen and that Alphaliberal, Michael, and Luckyoldson are all the same person. Same comebacks. Same inane insults. Same attitude.

A small time two bit assistant professor in a community college.

Don't waste your time monkeying around with him.; 2/20/09, 11:48 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: This is clear racist tripe. Why do they say a chimp wrote the stimulus bill?

Why? Because the bill is a stinking pile of ape shit.

It could also be a very apt reference to the infinite monkey" theorem

"The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare."

Makes sense giving the caliber of intellectual prowess we seem to have in Congress.; 2/20/09, 11:49 AM
garage mahal said...: PatHMV
You seriously cannot see the the difference between comparing a white person to a chimpanzee and a black one? You can't be this stupid.; 2/20/09, 11:50 AM
Unknown said...: Don't waste your time monkeying around with him.

It's kind of fun going to the mat with the likes of them. They're like the speed bag you like punching around to get yourself ready for a real boxing match.; 2/20/09, 11:51 AM
Unknown said...: Damn, I mixed my sports metaphors there. Well, at least they're both combat related.; 2/20/09, 11:52 AM
Original Mike said...: @Henry The Original Gorilla

Another politician = monkey reference. I love the internet.; 2/20/09, 11:53 AM
Unknown said...: You seriously cannot see the the difference between comparing a white person to a chimpanzee and a black one?

Whether he does or not is irrelevant, because this editorial cartoon is not an example of the latter.; 2/20/09, 11:53 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: I posted this on Ann's new racism (denial) thread.

Just once I'd like to see a conservative response to a racist incident or problem that doesn't involve:

a) Denial and
b) Attacks on people raising the problem.

That's the conservative M.O. on racism, repeated over and over. Never do you hear solutions to racism, let alone acknowledgment of racist problems.

And, that's why I say conservatives are apologists for racism. Because that's the least and kindest that can be said. It would be more fully accurate to say that they are enablers of racism.

All we see on these pages is the reinforcement of the "conservative = racist" stereotype. Don't like it? Look inwards before you lash out.; 2/20/09, 11:54 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: It was Obama's bill.

Yes and it will hang around his neck like the proverbial porkchop around the neck of the ugly red headed stepchild on porch in appalachia..

There.....racism against red heads, red necks and ugly people.

Happy now >:-D; 2/20/09, 11:55 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: Meanwhile, AL, I note that you have yet to condemn ANY of the numerous examples of Democratic or lefty racism

I recall when Harry Belafonte called Condi and Powell house ni**ers and the response from left field was crickets chirping.

Then there was Lieberman in blackface and the liberals got a real kick out of that. "Hey, lets make the Joo Boy look like a darkie."

But that's ok if you're from the Left.; 2/20/09, 11:55 AM
Tibore said...: "AlphaLiberal said...
The first step in dealing with a problem is to admit it exists."

Yes. True. Very much so; 2/20/09, 11:57 AM
garage mahal said...: Whether he does or not is irrelevant, because this editorial cartoon is not an example of the latter.

Yea ok MCG. Who doesn't think of a 99% white 500 member body of congress as a single black chimp when they see the cartoon. Why do you guys even bother defending shit like this? There's not even an upside to it.; 2/20/09, 11:57 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: After this series of comments, you must realize that the mask has fallen and that Alphaliberal, Michael, and Luckyoldson are all the same person.

That's news to me.; 2/20/09, 11:57 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: And I only used insults after being on the receiving end of many, such as from that pretentious dipshit PatXYZ.; 2/20/09, 11:58 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: There's a very good reason for that. The Republicans are openly racist

And yet.....we have Michael Steel in charge of the RNC.

Go figure...so confusing isn't it?; 2/20/09, 12:00 PM
chickelit said...: I think Alpha acts too dumb sometimes to be played by Michael/Gene/Lucky; 2/20/09, 12:00 PM
Unknown said...: Who doesn't think of a 99% white 500 member body of congress as a single black chimp when they see the cartoon.

Well, me, for one. When I saw the cartoon I thought of a chimp.

Why do you guys even bother defending shit like this? There's not even an upside to it.

The upside is that it proves Eric Holder wrong.; 2/20/09, 12:01 PM
garage mahal said...: Enjoy the wilderness.; 2/20/09, 12:02 PM
Original Mike said...: Yes and it will hang around his neck like the proverbial porkchop around the neck of the ugly red headed stepchild on porch in appalachia.

Hey! I resemble that remark.; 2/20/09, 12:02 PM
Unknown said...: And I only used insults after being on the receiving end of many, such as from that pretentious dipshit PatXYZ.

Ah, he who accuses others of chidishness whips out the ol' third grade defense.; 2/20/09, 12:03 PM
Original Mike said...: Enjoy the wilderness.

Yes, that's pretty much where the country's headed.; 2/20/09, 12:03 PM
TitusFreezeFrame said...: It's Obama's bill that Republican governors are going to take.

This can not stand.

As I said before no republican governor attempting to run for president can accept this money. What happened to their principles?

Please write to our Patriotic Republican governors, who mostly reside in the most patriotic part of our country...the south.; 2/20/09, 12:04 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I don't think the artist intended racism. I think people thought that he must have because the cartoon was so unfunny that some figured racism could be the only motivation for drawing it. Me, I figure most political cartoons aren't very funny most of the time, so meh.; 2/20/09, 12:06 PM
dbp said...: A classic thread!

One brave liberal, who has never given any sign that he has ever changed his mind (or anyone elses)on any subject--trying in vain to change the minds of two dozen people, all of whom are clearly smarter...

Comedy gold.; 2/20/09, 12:06 PM
reader_iam said...: Holy, moley. Did you know that someone has compiled a Racial Slur database? It suffers from mission creep, but man oh man, there's tons of double meanings I've never even heard of.

Dang, language is a freakin' minefield! I'd resort to communicating in grunts ... but those have unfortunate connections, too.

***

By the way, Mead needs to change his handle forthwith. It's in that database as a slur, and thus referring to him by name makes us all sinners.

See to it, will you?; 2/20/09, 12:07 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: I recall when Harry Belafonte called Condi and Powell house ni**ers and the response from left field was crickets chirping.

I don't think he called them niggers, you lying sack of shit.

And I do remember people saying he obviously overdid it. Actors. They're kind of dramatic you, know, puss wad?; 2/20/09, 12:07 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Just once I'd like to see a conservative response to a racist incident or problem that doesn't involve:

a) Denial and
b) Attacks on people raising the problem.

See the thread on Burris when Reid was fighting his appointment.; 2/20/09, 12:08 PM
Original Mike said...: Who doesn't think of a 99% white 500 member body of congress as a single black chimp when they see the cartoon.

I'm starting to think they really believe this line they're pushing. Race must be on their minds 24/7.; 2/20/09, 12:09 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: ...we have Michael Steel in charge of the RNC.

You mean in that election where one of your candidates sent out a video of "Barack the Magic Negro?" And then all kinds of Republicans defended him and he was a contender in the final polling?

Wait, wait, don't tell me. "there's nothing racist about 'Barack the Magic Negro!'"

A. Deny all racism.
B. Attack anyone who points it out.; 2/20/09, 12:11 PM
Matt Eckert said...: What is really outrageous is that the monkey in the cartoon comes from Somalia so he must be a Muslim. Thank God this isn’t Denmark and we have freedom of expression.

Now excuse me while I go fill up the bucket of urine where I keep my crucifix.; 2/20/09, 12:11 PM
traditionalguy said...: Hurray for free speech. When the mouth speaks you can tell what is in the heart, as the Joe the Plumber slip-up revealed Obama's real beliefs. You northerners may need to admit to your inexperienced in Racism Speech, like the story about the Chevy Nova not selling in Mexico until someone explained it to General Motors: in Spanish, Nova roughly translates, "Wont start and go". Well in Racist times in the South the best insults used by Whites about Blacks were "Monkey or Ape" implying a strong and dumb semi-human, a/k/a a "Jungle Bunny" and a/k/a a "Coon" implying that a person was a nocturnal thief. Now we've cleared that misunderstanding up, please erase this tape and watch your mouths. The NY post Editor was from Australia... how could he have known? The black citizens over 30 and raised in Southern States rightly react to that cartoon as a racial slur, because they survived by watching all white people very carefully for evidence of the old hatreds. And we need to watch Obama very carefully for evidence of the old Communist Manifesto, which is a far more dangerous hate speech calling for lynching all owners of property.; 2/20/09, 12:12 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: Ah, he who accuses others of chidishness whips out the ol' third grade defense.

I'd admit your point, actually, but there's so much of that type of stuff here, I've decided to go along and take it to ridiculous lengths, you slut.; 2/20/09, 12:14 PM
Unknown said...: Wait, wait, don't tell me. "there's nothing racist about 'Barack the Magic Negro!'"

Of course it's racist, which is why the person who originally coined it is a racist.; 2/20/09, 12:14 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Wait, wait, don't tell me. "there's nothing racist about 'Barack the Magic Negro!'"

That was making fun of the Left's soft bigotry of low expectations.

And to whoever thinks so, no way is AlphaLiberal also Michael or LOS. C'mon now.; 2/20/09, 12:16 PM
Palladian said...: "Please write to our Patriotic Republican governors, who mostly reside in the most patriotic part of our country...the south."

Jesus, please stick to the normal, off-topic nonsense that you usually write. Your sarcastic faux-outrage is even less amusing than your descriptions of your stools.; 2/20/09, 12:16 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: That was making fun of the Left's soft bigotry of low expectations.

You need some more work on your racism apologies. Also, you forgot part B: to insult. (Oh, maybe that was?); 2/20/09, 12:19 PM
TitusFreezeFrame said...: Palladian lets picket together. I am mad and I am not going to take it any longer.

Now give me a little hug you little chub.; 2/20/09, 12:20 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: Of course it's racist, which is why the person who originally coined it is a racist.

...but the guy who used it as part of his campaign to lead the Republican Party was not?

Or the guy who played it on his radio show?

This makes sense to you?

And, come on, you forgot the insults.; 2/20/09, 12:21 PM
Unknown said...: Enjoy the wilderness.

Oh, I don't know. The Dow is down another 200 points today, and in between other stories of doom and gloom, CNN is spending a boatload of time as I type this ripping Pelosi and her entourage for taking a luxurious junket to Italy right now. They're giving a friendly interview the Republican rep who made a name for himself by setting up a cot in his office, to let him rip on the Democrats himself. All the while, that little Dow ticker pasted in the bottom right corner.

OK, they just cut to commercial with a teaser about the risks of fast food or something or other. The Democrat bashing may be over. But if this keeps up, our proverbial 40 years might be shaved down to a single Congressional term before long.

Honestly, I could really go for a clone of the Clinton/Gingrich years right now.; 2/20/09, 12:25 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: You need some more work on your racism apologies.

No, that's what it was. The "magic negro" is not a new idea. It is a stock character.; 2/20/09, 12:26 PM
Unknown said...: ...but the guy who used it as part of his campaign to lead the Republican Party was not?

Are you conceding, then, that its original author was racist? I just want to be clear here.; 2/20/09, 12:27 PM
Unknown said...: (That sound you here is AlphaLiberal furiously surfing through the "magic negro" Wikipedia page and associated entries in hopes that he caan attempt a nominally informed response. Ultimately, knowing that alone will fail, he will search for "magic negro" on HuffPo or ThinkProgress to copy and paste the standard lefty distortion.); 2/20/09, 12:32 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: I don't think he called them niggers, you lying sack of shit.

Yes you're right Alpaha did didn't call them niggers. He referred to them as house slaves. And we all know house slave is a term of endearment.

Actors. They're kind of dramatic you, know, puss wad?

Thanks for living up to the image of throwing out ad hominems when you can't win an argument on its merits.; 2/20/09, 12:33 PM
Big Mike said...: I thought it was very well established that Barack Obama played no role in drafting the stimulus plan. Consequently the cartoon is lampooning the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, et. al. All white.

Is there ever a point where liberals grow up?; 2/20/09, 12:33 PM
traditionalguy said...: I suggest that you never agree to a false accusation against yourself. If you surrender to that, then you lose the accusers respect. But do genuinely act friendly and out going with everyone you encounter and Racisim accusations usually goes away in person to person interactions. But in the world of Politics the operable thought is that there are only two ways to have influence:(1) make people love you, or (2) make people fear you. And #1 is very unreliable with most people.(see, Jesus on Palm Sunday and then see Jesus on Good Friday morning); 2/20/09, 12:36 PM
Big Mike said...: Alpha at 11:35: it's the most childish argument to insult people who disagree with you. It's a typical tactic, to attack and not reason.

Alpha at 11:24: Oh, fuck you.; 2/20/09, 12:37 PM
Henry said...: One curious thing about the vision of the outraged is that they have so focused on the racial aspect they've overlooked the fact that if the chimp is Obama, the cartoon shows a dead president.; 2/20/09, 12:38 PM
TitusFreezeFrame said...: It's Friday everyone. The weekend is here. It is time for rejuvenation.

No more angry rants.

Let's celebrate the life that the Lord our Savior has given us.

I see a big group hug taking place very soon. Who's with me?; 2/20/09, 12:39 PM
Chennaul said...: Jesus, please stick to the normal, off-topic nonsense that you usually write. Your sarcastic faux-outrage is even less amusing than your descriptions of your stools.

Speaking of stools-clowns from the Obama camp, and Obama himself keep telling America to think of their economic recovery plan as a-

three legged stool.

Oh ya-this shit's got legs on it, they're right about that.; 2/20/09, 12:40 PM
ricpic said...: You've gotta give Alpha Lib credit, the Republican Party is slightly less anti-white than the Democrat Party, so whites have gone with the slightly less hostile party.

Blacks, on the other hand, lauded to the skies by both parties, have gone with the Democrats, who are more openly in line with black racism than the Republicans.; 2/20/09, 12:41 PM
MadisonMan said...: Middle Class Guy, if a byproduct of Obama's election and leadership is that Nancy Pelosi get tossed out on her can, I'm all okay with that. She can take Senator Reid with her.; 2/20/09, 12:42 PM
Unknown said...: Not only that, but the cops probably used lead bullets as well. So we've got racism, assassination fantasies, and environmental damage all in one cartoon. Damn, that drawing is just plain eeeeevil.; 2/20/09, 12:42 PM
TitusFreezeFrame said...: No Henry the outraged already mentioned the fact that the chimp, ie the president, was shot dead in the cartoon.

Fucking faux outrage liberals.; 2/20/09, 12:43 PM
Revenant said...: You seriously cannot see the the difference between comparing a white person to a chimpanzee and a black one?

The major difference is the amount of whining that happens after the fact. :); 2/20/09, 12:43 PM
Big Mike said...: Alpha, I think most of us are sick and tired of

Liberal == good

Conservative == bad

Republican == racist

I'd be really surprised if I haven't hired, mentored, promoted, and wrangled out-of-cycle raises for more black men and women than you have. Because as a Republican I cannot begin to imagine anything less relevant than skin color. The only people who care about skin color are liberals and the KKK. You are not in good company.; 2/20/09, 12:44 PM
Chennaul said...: Shock the monkey to life
Shock the monkey to life

Cover me when I run
Cover me through the fire
Something knocked me out' the trees
Now I'm on my knees
Cover me, darling please
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know when you're going to shock the monkey

Fox the fox
Rat the rat
You can ape the ape
I know about that
There is one thing you must be sure of
I can't take any more
Darling, don't you monkey with the monkey
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey

Wheels keep turning
Something's burning
Don't like it but I guess I'm learning

Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey

Cover me, when I sleep
Cover me, when I breathe
You throw your pearls before the swine
Make the monkey blind
Cover me, darling please
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey

Too much at stake
Ground beneath me shake
And the news is breaking

Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey

Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey to life

Here's the vid-

Peter Gabriel

Oh look! It even has a macaque in it-this thread is now complete.; 2/20/09, 12:45 PM
Original Mike said...: Is there ever a point where liberals grow up?

When they become conservative?

"If you're 20 and not a liberal, you have no heart..."; 2/20/09, 12:45 PM
TitusFreezeFrame said...: Personally I am outraged by the fake outrage of the liberals over this benign cartoon.

Now lets focus on our chakras.; 2/20/09, 12:46 PM
Franco said...: The cartoon IS racist. Both cops are depicted as dumb white guys with big (polish?) noses and no chins. White cops aren't the only ones who shoot people, why isn't at least one of those cops black?; 2/20/09, 12:47 PM
Franco said...: The cartoon IS racist. Both cops are depicted as dumb white guys with big (polish?) noses and no chins. White cops aren't the only ones who shoot people, why isn't at least one of those cops black?; 2/20/09, 12:48 PM
Anonymous said...: AlphaLiberal --

"I don't think he called them niggers, you lying sack of shit."

Lying sack of shit, meet house n**r.

Black News

Salon

Pardonus

Belafonte, Oct 2002, quoting Malcolm X:

"There was two kinds of slaves. There was the house Negro and the field Negro. The house Negroes, they lived in the house with master, they dressed pretty good, they ate good 'cause they ate his food and what he left... In those days he was called a 'house nigger.' And that's what we call him today, because we've still got some house niggers running around here."

Belafonte used the quote to characterize both former and current United States Secretary of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, both African-Americans, as "house slaves" for serving in Bush's cabinet...

Rice: "I don't need Harry Belafonte to tell me what it means to be black."

Now watch AL dance around Belafonte not using the actual word and after that, explaining how it's different from not drawing O's face on the chimp (you know, indirect).; 2/20/09, 12:49 PM
Shanna said...: But who can deny what it refers to: (1) The crazy chimp in Connecticut; (2) the old canard that a million monkeys pounding away on a typewriter will eventually write Hamlet; and (3) that the stimulus package has all the hallmarks of (2) -- except Hamlet has not been produced.

Thank you, MM, because I was thinking the only reason to use a monkey would be to make the shakespeare joke, but it never even occured to me someone was trying to compare a stimulus bill to Shakespeare. That makes a hell of a lot more sense.

It was still idiotic. My coworkers are convinced this is abject racism. I'm kind of ambivalent, but whatever it is it wasn't funny.; 2/20/09, 12:57 PM
reader_iam said...: Well done, Oligonicella--and fast.

Wonder if AlphaLiberal will apologize for his mistake--oops! sorry, should speak in Alpha's own language: for being a lying sack of shit.

Hoist, meet petard (or should that be reversed?).; 2/20/09, 12:57 PM
reader_iam said...: I thought that cartoon was awful in a number of way, by the way, and I suspect the editor is on his way out, sooner or later. Just realized that I never said that here (though I did elsewhere).; 2/20/09, 12:59 PM
Palladian said...: "I thought that cartoon was awful in a number of way, by the way, and I suspect the editor is on his way out, sooner or later. Just realized that I never said that here (though I did elsewhere)."

It wasn't a very good political cartoon.; 2/20/09, 1:04 PM
KCFleming said...: Thank you, Obama. Thank you because I am joyful. Thank you because I am well. No matter how old I become, I shall never forget how we received Obama just days ago. Centuries will pass, and the generations still to come will regard us as the happiest of mortals, as the most fortunate of men, because we lived in the century of centuries, because we were privileged to see Obama, our inspired leader. Yes, and we regard ourselves as the happiest of mortals because we are the contemporaries of a man who never had an equal in world history.

The men of all ages will call on thy name, which is strong, beautiful, wise and marvelous. Thy name is engraven on every factory, every machine, every place on the earth, and in the hearts of all men.

Every time I have found myself in his presence I have been subjugated by his strength, his charm, his grandeur. I have experienced a great desire to sing, to cry out, to shout with joy and happiness. And now see me--me!--on the same platform where the Great Obama stood a year ago. In what country, in what part of the world could such a thing happen.

O great Obama, O leader of the peoples,
Thou who broughtest man to birth.
Thou who fructifies the earth,
Thou who restorest to centuries,
Thou who makest bloom the spring,
Thou who makest vibrate the musical chords...
Thou, splendour of my spring, O thou,
Sun reflected by millions of hearts.; 2/20/09, 1:14 PM
Buford Gooch said...: Dearest Professor Althouse,
Please get a smarter left wing stooge than Alpha Liberal.; 2/20/09, 1:17 PM
TitusFreezeFrame said...: I thought the cartoon was terrific and really made it's point.

There is no need to second guess it or now say it is a bad cartoon.

It is an amazing cartoon.; 2/20/09, 1:22 PM
ricpic said...: By Delonas standards this cartoon gets a B. But day in and day out he hammers our new Marxist-Democrat overlords and highlights the massive legal theft they commit against the taxpaying everyman. THAT'S what this attack is about. They desperately want to get him and get all opposition. Note that the attack was on the Post as well as Delonas.; 2/20/09, 1:23 PM
KCFleming said...: I'm with Palladian, Titus.

Best to return to your specialty, loaf-pinching. On that, you have no equal.; 2/20/09, 1:24 PM
traditionalguy said...: The new Attorney General may have a point after reading so many comments last week denying the War of the Southern Rebellion had anything to do with slavery, and now reading so many denials of the very existence of racisim. Why not discuss it. It very certainly did exist, and it hurt a lot of your cousins. Maybe we need to laugh about it together and celebrate that its gone. Do you remember the Greek mother in My Big Fat Greek Wedding? She still feared everyone was secretly a Turk out to kill her family. The whites need to help heal the Black's past memories . Not that we haven't done alot of that already.; 2/20/09, 1:26 PM
Anonymous said...: There is an old theory about human origins that posits a negroid racial origin from gorillas, a caucasoid racial origin from chimpanzees and a mongoloid racial origin from orangutans.

One thing apparently most Americans of all races agree on is that this is not what they believe their 3 million year old ancestor resembled.

I do think any ape comparisons are more threatening and nerve wracking to most people when made about blacks than about White people. So anything close will set off the PC police.

I think the reason for that is in part because many people DO think the black race is more apelike, more primitive and less civilized. They just don't feel comfortable with those thoughts.

Too be honest I do think Whoopi Goldberg looks more like an ape than does Elizabeth Hasselbeck. In fact WE ALL DO.

In fact most Americas don't feel comfortable at all with the theory that all humans and Travis the chimp had a common ancestor 5-8 million years ago.

Or that we humans evolved away from Travis' people by natural selection in a Godless, amoral and pointless universe.

But in this case it is interesting that the mania of moral outrage is focused on this cartoon/cartoonist and NOT on the batshit crazy woman who owned the chimp or the politicians who are creating an economic nightmare with these spending bills.

There are serious issues here but the issue of the cartoon and the racially paranoid outrage to it is not one of them.; 2/20/09, 1:32 PM
Big Mike said...: Original, my man. You bet. I was 20 in the 1960's and demonstrated for Civil Rights.

When I compare the situation back then with the situation today, I have trouble seeing what Blacks have to complain about. Yes, here and there one can still find people who don't like Blacks. Also people who don't like Jews. There are Jews who hate the goyim. There are people who despise people of Italian or Polish descent. There are people who still blame Germans and German-Americans for WWII. And, Good Lord!, how Blacks hate Asians.

And AlphaLiberal blindly hates all Republicans.; 2/20/09, 1:33 PM
the wolf said...: I think it's the chimp that should feel insulted.; 2/20/09, 1:37 PM
PatHMV said...: traditionalguy.... Cite me a single person in this thread who has denied the existence of racism in general. Please. Immediately. Otherwise, you should apologize.; 2/20/09, 1:38 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: No, that's what it was. The "magic negro" is not a new idea. It is a stock character.

True, Freeman. The symbolism also extends to other ethnicities as well. The noble north American Indian who provides deep insight on mystical and nature matters to the white man intent on raping nature. The calm buddhist who provides martial arts training to help out a troubled young man. Even in the latest Eastwood movie. The Hmong children redeem the Eastwood character and help him face his demons with the ultimate sacrifice.

It is a common common literary device used in movies and books for hundreds of years.

The allusion is that Barack will be that literary device to "save" the country. Nothing racist about it.

Just some movies off the top of my head that have this character

Karate Kid, Legend of Bagger Vance, Napolean Dynamite (magic black hooker) ....shoot even the Lone Ranger had his mystical ethnic sidekick Tonto.

There are plenty of examples of real racism out there in the world from ALL ethnicities. Don't get your panties in such a wad over a stupid cartoon that wasn't even racist. Maybe the artist should have included a typewriter at the chimps cold dead hands to force liberals to get the analogy. Some times you have to hit people over the head with a club.; 2/20/09, 1:47 PM
Leland said...: Look, all Travis did was rip a lady's face off. It's not like he's responsible for passing a trillion dollar spending bill. That cartoon was specist.

Bring back Chimpy McHitler! Oh wait, he is responsible for a trillion dollar spending bill too. Poor Travis, his species is being dragged through the mud.; 2/20/09, 1:47 PM
Original Mike said...: Some times you have to hit people over the head with a club.

Is that a cave man joke, DBQ?; 2/20/09, 1:49 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: Best to return to your specialty, loaf-pinching. On that, you have no equal.

Let the record show I agree with Pogo on this one. I will just add he'd be pinching himself.; 2/20/09, 1:51 PM
Matt Eckert said...: You know the way that crazy lady talks about Travis is a lot like the way Althouse talked about Obama before the election. They both deny the essential nature of the object of their affection. They see something that is not there.; 2/20/09, 1:52 PM
Unknown said...: Did anyone post links to racist cartoons about Condi Rice? I didn't see any soooo....
look here

There's other great examples of the racist left too. Fun for all.; 2/20/09, 1:55 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Is that a cave man joke, DBQ?

Why, yes it is. :-)

I am bigoted against cavemen.... well except for the cute ones on the Geico commercials. They look like they might be able to distinguish between Chardonay and Reisling.; 2/20/09, 1:57 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: And AlphaLiberal blindly hates all Republicans.

Ri-i-i-i-i-i-ight, because criticism is the exact same thing as "hate."

Unless it's a Republican doing the criticizing. Then it's "free speech". Got it.

I love you guys and worry about you being so narrow minded and vulnerable to your prejudices.; 2/20/09, 1:57 PM
PatHMV said...: Criticism is not hatred, of course. Calling someone "racist" based solely on one's own demented mind-set, however, is hatred rather than criticism.

The only racists I've seen so far on this thread are the whacko lefties like Alphaliberal.; 2/20/09, 2:00 PM
Shanna said...: Just once I'd like to see a conservative response to a racist incident or problem that doesn't involve:

a) Denial and
b) Attacks on people raising the problem.

I'll give you an example I haven't seen: Trent Lott. Remember the guy the republicans pretty much drummed out of leadership for making a comment people thought was racist? No Denials. No attacks. Just "This guy is an idiot and shouldn't be in charge anymore".

So stuff it.; 2/20/09, 2:10 PM
PatHMV said...: Excellent example, Shanna. Can't believe we all forgot that one.; 2/20/09, 2:14 PM
Darcy said...: PatHMV: Nice pic!; 2/20/09, 2:28 PM
PatHMV said...: lol... thank you, Darcy! That definitely makes me feel better. :); 2/20/09, 2:31 PM
Tibore said...: "@ said...
Did anyone post links to racist cartoons about Condi Rice? I didn't see any soooo....
look here"

Yes. I did. I linked to the Ted Rall and Jeff Danziger one in my 11:57am post. But, it doesn't matter who notes it; what's important is that it's noted.; 2/20/09, 2:33 PM
traditionalguy said...: Pathmv... I apologise for accusing people of rascism in general, and I do not want to fight with my friends. It was the intensity of the defense of a cartoon that I had immediately seen as 100% racist, and not even funny, that reminded me of the same intense denials last week that Secession from the United States and fighting a Civil War to the death could have been caused by a desire to protect the Slavery Institution. I guess I just need a week at re-education boot camp complete with cross burning lessons and noose tying handicrafts.; 2/20/09, 2:34 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: Well, Trent Lott did leave after making pro-segregationist remarks and that was good and fine.

But, there were plenty of denials and attacks around that one.; 2/20/09, 2:38 PM
PatHMV said...: traditionalguy, I don't want to fight with friends either, but there's a HUGE difference between not agreeing that a particular cartoon (or whatever) is racist and denying the existence of racism.

As I noted earlier, I've seen real racism. I see much less of it today than in my earlier years, but there's still more than we should have. But what I've found is that most actual racism tends to be soundly denounced by the vast majority of conservatives.

If you think the cartoon is racist, you're certainly entitled to your opinion. But what Alphaliberal and his cohorts are doing is saying that that is the ONLY possible interpretation, and thus anybody who disagrees is themselves an apologist for racism. I don't see any racism in the cartoon, and I don't ever presume racism, because I consider calling someone a racist a serious, grave, insult.

Would you call some a pedophile based on as little evidence as is in that cartoon? No. But racism has become far too easy a charge to hurl at people today.

There is real racism, and we should call out as racists those folks for it. We should call out country clubs only open to one race. We should call out those who use actual racial slurs. But we shouldn't lightly hurl out the charge based on stupid stuff, on matters which have MANY possible interpretations.; 2/20/09, 2:43 PM
theobromophile said...: Just once I'd like to see a conservative response to a racist incident or problem that doesn't involve:

a) Denial and
b) Attacks on people raising the problem.

Given that GOPers were called "racist" for saying that Obama is a socialist, I think we can agree that the first step is to determine if there is actually a racist issue, and then, if there is, to analysing and criticising it.

When I saw that cartoon, I thought it implied that Pelosi and Reid were idiot monkeys, or that the stimulus is a logical extension of Bush's TARP (hence the monkey reference). The most logical way to look at the picture is to correlate the monkey with a white person (not Obama), since Congress, not the President, wrote the bill.

This is only "racist" and unworthy of defence if you believe that logic has no place at a discussion about race. Some of us, rather rationally, disagree.

I'll throw in another example to add to Trent Lott: Imus after his "nappy headed 'hos" comment. Ann Coulter, columnist extraordinaire, devoted an entire weekly column to trashing Imus for that.

PS - PatHMV is a hottie... too bad he's taken. :(; 2/20/09, 2:46 PM