Althouse: Racializing Romney.

July 31, 2012

Racializing Romney.

The press is.

80 comments:

shiloh said...: So? Do you have a problem? Or more likely you just want to spur more disingenuous sarcasm from your cons, which is quite unnecessary as they do that all on their own! :D; 7/31/12, 12:34 PM
Matt Sablan said...: I think my sarcasm is pretty genius, actually.; 7/31/12, 12:35 PM
Dose of Sanity said...: I think my sarcasm is pretty genius, actually.

Wait, is THAT sarcasm?; 7/31/12, 12:37 PM
shiloh said...: Well sarcasm can be other than racial, but it's a fixation at conservative blogs. Go figure.; 7/31/12, 12:38 PM
chickelit said...: Romney's already got Chicago Poles at the polls; it's proles on the dole he needs to extol.; 7/31/12, 12:38 PM
shiloh said...: chicklet little buddy, mittens won't be spending much time in IL.

solo estoy diciendo; 7/31/12, 12:41 PM
Anonymous said...: One of the reason I will vote for Romney is because he's white. Blacks do it for Obama. So can I. Romney is more likely to serve my self-interest as a white hetero man.

Obama is outspoken about his determination to serve the self-interests of women, blacks and gays. They will vote for him precisely for that reason. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

I dumped the notion that I'm supposed to be sacrificing myself in penance for the tribulations of women, blacks and gays a couple of decades ago.

The notion that there is something evil about white hetero men pushing their self-interest is dead. Cokie Roberts is not going to intimidate me with her race baiting.

Cokie Roberts, you can kiss my white ass.; 7/31/12, 12:41 PM
Matt Sablan said...: I'll be generous and say no.; 7/31/12, 12:41 PM
Anonymous said...: Shiloh,

Well sarcasm can be other than racial, but it's a fixation at conservative blogs.

So lefty blogs and commentators call "RACISS", then conservatives respond. You're now claiming there's a racial "fixation at conservative blogs"? Ha! Tone deaf much?

This is like Al Sharpton saying everyone else focuses too much on race.; 7/31/12, 12:43 PM
Nonapod said...: So along her truly bizarre line of thought, a bunch of white voters (who theoretically were on the fence about Romney) will decide to vote for him because he went to Poland. Because Polish people are white or something? Good lord. What a complete and utter moron.; 7/31/12, 12:44 PM
shiloh said...: st, no biggie as many voted for Dutch because he was a movie star w/nice hair lol.

Hey, it was probably a better reason than Bush being more likely to stop and help change your tire than Gore. Whereas neither probably ever changed a tire in their life! I digress.

And so it goes ...

>

btw, Betty White believes in white power, yet she's voting for Obama! :); 7/31/12, 12:46 PM
LordSomber said...: By the media's own logic, wouldn't Obama's snub of Poland also be racist?

Honestly, the mainstream media talks to its audience like they're a bunch of 9-year-olds.; 7/31/12, 12:46 PM
heyboom said...: Sarcasm is a fixture at conservative sites as butthurt is a fixture at liberal sites.; 7/31/12, 12:47 PM
shiloh said...: hey

Re: butthurt, Althouse cons have been whining 24/7 the past (4) years.

Hey :-P at least their consistent, which is all I ask for.

take care; 7/31/12, 12:49 PM
DADvocate said...: Cokie Roberts. I wondered what happened to her. Her coverage during the Clinton years is one of the reasons I left the Democrats (she was as stupidly pro-Democrat then as now).

She must be pretty old now. Dementia's setting in.; 7/31/12, 12:50 PM
Matt Sablan said...: "Hey, it was probably a better reason than Bush being more likely to stop and help change your tire than Gore. Whereas neither probably ever changed a tire in their life! I"

--> Bush could fly a jet. Pretty sure he could figure out a tire.; 7/31/12, 12:50 PM
coketown said...: Racism and insinuations of racism are not things to take lightly. Okay guys?; 7/31/12, 12:52 PM
Michael K said...: Cokie Roberts has perfected her method of looking reasonable while spouting the leftist nonsense that her husband would spout if she let him out of the house.

I wonder how many people realize that she is a member of an old Democrat elitist family and her brother is a powerful Democrat lobbyist. So much for looking reasonable.

I expect the campaign to get far more ugly as the realization sinks in that Obama is going down big time. The left did not learn its lesson in Wisconsin with Walker. The voters do not respond to the sort of stuff that Trumka is peddling.; 7/31/12, 12:53 PM
Rabel said...: So, was Obama pandering to the Aryan voters when he gave his 2008 speech in Berlin?; 7/31/12, 12:55 PM
chickelit said...: I'm beginning to see Beltway journalists--the white ones at least--as somehow beholden to fear. Fear that their neighborhoods or workplaces or what have you out there in DC will somehow be engulfed in turmoil if they don't play along now. Now they are deparately trying to project that across the nation.; 7/31/12, 12:57 PM
Sorun said...: "One of the reason I will vote for Romney is because he's white."

I voted for Mondale in 84 because he's a Minnesota Norwegian like me. I wanted to get in on the whole identity politics thing, since I don't have many opportunities for it.

Pretty silly in hindsight. Voting for Mondale, that is.; 7/31/12, 12:59 PM
TMink said...: Racism is a fixture of the left. It is a balm for failed ideas and mental dullness. It is the trump card of the uninformed. it is the heuristic of the intellectually dim.

Conservatives eschew racism, progressives use it as their cynical bogey man.

Trey; 7/31/12, 1:03 PM
Colonel Angus said...: It takes projection on a galactic scale to conflate Romney visiting Poland with pandering for the white vote.

Then again its NPR.; 7/31/12, 1:03 PM
traditionalguy said...: The funny part is the misplaced confidence among the old Dems that all racist charges put the GOP on the defensive and divide the northern independents from the candidates of rural southern white GOP.

Those were the days. Total clout that shifted the burden of proving non-racism to the white voters.

But that world is gone with the wind. And she can blame Obama and Deval Patrick for wearing out its power hold over the electorate.; 7/31/12, 1:06 PM
FleetUSA said...: Parody

News just in: Romney has a black great aunt.

MSM: Racist history in Romney family hides black great aunt.; 7/31/12, 1:09 PM
virgil xenophon said...: @Michael K/

Yes. One of my more delicious moments was watching Cokie squirm one Sun Morn on ABC when she still had the gig. The subj of the various pronounciations of "New Orleans"
came up and she bagan to relate that where she grew up it was pronounced "Or-yenz" (without the "r") then, suddenly realizing she'd also have to explain that that part of town (Uptown New Orleans) was the "silk stocking Dist" where all the upper-classes/professionals lived (because everyone was discussing the class-based origins of the pronounciations) and that it wouldn't look good for one professing to be "one with the people" to admit of her blue-blood upbringing, she quickly steered the conversation to another topic before she had to reveal the "horrible truth." The discomfort and consternation on her face was so visible and her efforts to avoid were so patently blatant (to one knowledgeable of New Orleans) that I took IMMENSE pleasure in her hypocritical predicament.; 7/31/12, 1:12 PM
yashu said...: Sure, visiting Poland is a dog whistle.

To be transmitted to Vladimir.; 7/31/12, 1:12 PM
Colonel Angus said...: It's probably just as well for Obama that this ridiculous race baiting nonsense is largely confined to the leftist echo chambers of NPR or MSNBC because I think a large chunk of the electorate is sick and tired of the race issue at this point. For a President that was supposed to usher in a new era of racial healing, he's as much a failure in that regard as everything else in his Presidency. It will certainly be a brighter day when he's turned out in November.; 7/31/12, 1:16 PM
Quaestor said...: DADvocate wrote:
She must be pretty old now. Dementia's setting in.

She's certainly much too weathered to bee going by the handle "Cokie", a named that'd be shop worn on unpaid summer intern let alone on a gal pushing 70.

Why is it that women tend to hang on to their schoolgirl nicknames far, far into adulthood? Time was a Becky or a Debbie would mature into a Rebecca or a Deborah. Today we have women who demand deference as the hard-nosed professionals they deem themselves to be, and yet insist on being called Didi.

And it's only going to get worse. A whole bunch of Kimberlies hit the ground in the 70s. It's bad enough to be named for a slave labor diamond mine, but to be a Kim or a Kimmie with an LL.D? Now they're naming girls after food products. The other day I met a chick called Brie. I asked her if she had a brother called Stilton... that one flew right over her head.; 7/31/12, 1:18 PM
virgil xenophon said...: ***I meant without the "L"--sorry; 7/31/12, 1:20 PM
Carnifex said...: @LordSomber

Don't be fooled. They DO know their audience...hence shiloh.

Shiloh... if iot'd racist for wjite people to vote for Romney because he's white, is it racist for black people to vote for Zero because he's black?

Since I know the leftist answer is that it's impossible for a black person to be a racist, this was a rhetorical question.

If I cared what Coke head Roberts thought, I'd commit suicide. (not a suggestion Shiloh, just what I would do)

Ps.

the more the left uses the racist card the less effective it becomes...keep playing it morons.; 7/31/12, 1:23 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: I want to tell you something because this kind of fits. Sort of. A little bit, but I cannot wait for a thing to fit better.

Fox was so irritating. Choppy crap hurting my ears so I had the thing on mute. I glance up. They played Elizabeth Warren delivering the original 'you didn't build that yourself' video that went viral and started this.

Twice they played it so I got a double dose.

On mute. I must say, Elizabeth Warren is spectacular.

I urge you to watch her on mute.

I fell in love with the woman right there. I mean it. Her hand and body motions border on proper ASL, there are many elements that could be actual words. It makes me suspect ASL a second language, or perhaps the 1/32 Amerind gene shining through so brilliantly. She's incredibly specific. Her sign is much more clean than I see in many deaf people. She's like a signing machine. Machine-like precise gesticulations. She's awesome. It is no surprise to me why she was selected to speak at the DNC convention. It makes perfect sense to me. But on mute.; 7/31/12, 1:24 PM
Carnifex said...: Cokie Roberts covering TEOTWAWKI.

This is it! The end of the world! Women and minorities hardest hit!; 7/31/12, 1:25 PM
virgil xenophon said...: "...a brother named Stilton..."

BWAAHAHAHAhahaha!!!!!!!!!; 7/31/12, 1:27 PM
virgil xenophon said...: @Chip Ahoy/

"Machine-like precise gesticulations."

LOL. Upon reflection, SO very, very,true. Right on tgt! And yes, with her, "mute" IS the way to go!; 7/31/12, 1:33 PM
Carnifex said...: Col. Angus

Sir, you old hating rebel...I think I love you :-)

(maybe love is too strong a word.)

ps. Pardon the typos, my fingers went dyslexic there for a minute.; 7/31/12, 1:33 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I wonder what was candidate Obama doing in Germany in 2008?.... In Roberts mind.; 7/31/12, 1:36 PM
Known Unknown said...: Cokie is 69 years old.

At some point, haven't you made enough mistakes?; 7/31/12, 1:41 PM
Roger J. said...: playing the racist card works for a small bunch of the electorate--other than that it a loser. That dog wont hunt.

of course Mr Obama could run on his record--oh wait.; 7/31/12, 1:55 PM
edutcher said...: The reason they are racializing the Romster can be best explained in the current top headline on Yahoo! News:

The prediction models look dismal for Obama. Can he still win?

PS I see bathtub swabbie's finally come out in the light. Still without a decent rebuttal, I see.; 7/31/12, 2:01 PM
Cedarford said...: I'll sort of buck the herd and say that Romney did go to Poland, not for the foreign policy connoussiers - but to help turn out the white ethnic vote.

And he went to Israel to get big bucks Zionist Jewish donors and moderate but very pro-Israel voters square with the idea that he is more pro-Israel than Obama is.

And the London Olympics, despite the Brit Snit that ensued Romney's remarks? Won't matter if in the end, the judgement is that Romney's honest observations and the Brit media reports were correct. That is, at the end of the Games, they do admit they had big problems with ticket sales organizing, with security holes needing to be plugged by emergency use of Brit troops, and people stay away because of fear of traffic gridlock problems the Brits never adequately addressed.; 7/31/12, 2:06 PM
Colonel Angus said...: The prediction models look dismal for Obama. Can he still win?

The only thing Romney should be hammering from now until November is the economy and jobs. That's it and its his election to lose. Forget abortion, gays, Chik filet, Iran and whatnot. Economy and jobs.

Romney may be a 'bad candidate' but I think we have reached a relative point in our political leadership where bad is highly preferable to ridiculously incompetent which is what we have now.; 7/31/12, 2:14 PM
KCFleming said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/31/12, 2:16 PM
KCFleming said...: Snookie + 30 IQ points = Cokie Roberts

Inane blather about politics and friends instead of sex and friends.; 7/31/12, 2:17 PM
edutcher said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/31/12, 2:20 PM
edutcher said...: Colonel Angus said...

The prediction models look dismal for Obama. Can he still win?

The only thing Romney should be hammering from now until November is the economy and jobs. That's it and its his election to lose. Forget abortion, gays, Chik filet, Iran and whatnot. Economy and jobs.

Romney may be a 'bad candidate' but I think we have reached a relative point in our political leadership where bad is highly preferable to ridiculously incompetent which is what we have now.

Being a bad candidate doesn't necessarily mean a bad POTUS, anymore than being a good candidate (ahem...) insures a good POTUS.

For the most part, the Romster is staying on message - It's still the economy, and we're not stupid - and that's good.; 7/31/12, 2:21 PM
Colonel Angus said...: Being a bad candidate doesn't necessarily mean a bad POTUS, anymore than being a good candidate (ahem...) insures a good POTUS.

That is of course an excellent point and I stand corrected.; 7/31/12, 2:30 PM
Carnifex said...: Orthopedic shoes?; 7/31/12, 2:35 PM
Unknown said...: Breitbart! Ha Ha!; 7/31/12, 2:42 PM
Alex said...: shiloh, Jake - FOAD.; 7/31/12, 2:45 PM
Michael K said...: "people stay away because of fear of traffic gridlock problems the Brits never adequately addressed."

What in the world were the Brits thinking to put the Olympics in London ? Red Ken already started banning cars from Central London. That's one reason Boris is the Mayor now. I suspect the empty seats are there because nobody wanted to fight that traffic. If only they had decided to hold most events somewhere else, like Bristol or Birmingham. Greater London is the area of the UK with a positive GDP.

The other cities could sure use some jobs. Of course, that might require literacy.; 7/31/12, 2:54 PM
Michael K said...: Greater London is the ONLY area of the UK with a positive GDP.

Accidental delete.; 7/31/12, 2:55 PM
Unknown said...: shiloh, Jake - FOAD.

Alex has anger issues. This site can't be good for him.; 7/31/12, 3:01 PM
Known Unknown said...: What in the world were the Brits thinking to put the Olympics in London ?

Because Manchester is so peachy.

They are playing soccer games in Cardiff ...; 7/31/12, 3:02 PM
Alex said...: jake - no I have a problem with vicious racists like you polluting this site.; 7/31/12, 3:03 PM
Richard Dolan said...: Cokie has a point, but not exactly the one she wanted to make. Romney's trip is (obviously) part of his campaign; and the point of the campaign is to convince enough voters to choose him rather than the other guy. So who is the intended audience for this aspect of the campaign (meaning who does Romney think might still be persuadable in making the choice)?

Cokie says white voters, and particular the so-called ethnic Reagan Democrats. Well, yes, that would be, e.g., suburban Detroit. If the Republican candidate can't persuade them, he's not likely to do well. You could just as easily look at it in terms of who the Romney campaign is not making a pitch to -- the Dem base, basically, which is anchored by 90% of black voters.

If you want to look at it purely as a matter of campaign tactics, racializing Romney also necessarily racializes Obama, because the electorate is polarized along those lines. Cokie and others in the media think that calling attention to the racialized divisions in the electorage is a big negative for Romney, because it supposedly tags one side as bigots and the other side as angels. But it only resonates that way with the Dem base. Everyone else has a more complicated relationship with all that mutual racializing, and doesn't see the (many) racial divisions in America as automatically conferring virtue (or vice) on either side.

It's strange that the most partisan Dems (Cokie is clearly in that crowd) don't believe in Obama's best line -- not red states (white voters) and blue states (non-white voters), but the United States (Americans in this together). They'll be astonished when Romney steals that out from under Obama too.; 7/31/12, 3:10 PM
chickelit said...: Alex emoted:
shiloh, Jake - FOAD

The Badger, the Mole, and the Rat are losing their patience for the perennially cross resident of FOAD Hall.

~The Wind in the Bellows; 7/31/12, 3:22 PM
Unknown said...: jake - no I have a problem with vicious racists like you polluting this site.

I'm sorry you're such an angry man. This site can't be good for you.

Feel free to ignore my comments if they make your blood boil. You can always retreat to the comfort of your bubble. Okay, little guy?; 7/31/12, 3:29 PM
Joe said...: Is it not most likely that Cokie Roberts really does see the world in racial terms and is simply projecting onto others her own racism.; 7/31/12, 3:36 PM
Jay Vogt said...: . . .Cokie asserts, " And I think that getting those ethnic voters excited is really what Romney has in mind here. It's more for the folks at home -- the descendents of the people that he will be speaking to -- in Poland."

Yea, that's it. Cool strategist that Mitt is, he's figured out that if he captures every single Polish-American vote in New York and Chicago ( the two largest P-A populations in the country; each with just over 200k), he'll only lose New York and Illinois by 4 or 5 percent.

Jeesh, think this stuff through wouldya.; 7/31/12, 3:37 PM
garage mahal said...: It's strange that the most partisan Dems (Cokie is clearly in that crowd)

Cokie Roberts has been routinely mocked for as long as I can remember by liberals. Typical D+ elite villager like Brooks, Dowd, Russert, Matthews, Gregory, etc etc etc. Everyone of them couldn't wait to proceed with the next shiny new Iraq war, with the exception of Dowd maybe. No friends of liberals, they.; 7/31/12, 3:38 PM
DADvocate said...: Aldous Huxley said the brain is a reducing valve. In Roberts mind, and in the minds of many liberals, everything is reduced to racism. Nothing else exists.; 7/31/12, 3:49 PM
Anonymous said...: Jake,

Alex has anger issues.

That's all right. You have logic and fact issues.; 7/31/12, 3:59 PM
Unknown said...: That's all right.

Ken confirms Alex's anger issues.; 7/31/12, 4:39 PM
Anonymous said...: Jake, be careful of Ken, he has guns and bullets, so he said last week and he's not afraid to use them.; 7/31/12, 4:43 PM
chickelit said...: Ken, be careful of Allie. She has a pet wussy and it may bite.; 7/31/12, 4:57 PM
Anonymous said...: That's right.; 7/31/12, 5:00 PM
Carnifex said...: Aaahhh. The old dagina ventata trick!

I love it when girls talk dirty. ;-); 7/31/12, 5:33 PM
Tim said...: "The Badger, the Mole, and the Rat are losing their patience for the perennially cross resident of FOAD Hall.

~The Wind in the Bellows"

Nice. Very nice.; 7/31/12, 5:39 PM
Colonel Angus said...: Brooks, Dowd, Russert, Matthews, Gregory, etc etc etc. Everyone of them couldn't wait to proceed with the next shiny new Iraq war, with the exception of Dowd maybe. No friends of liberals, they.

Pity for liberals that they are the face of what amounts to mainstream liberal commentary. When your alternatives are Maddow, Schultz or Olbermann looks like its liberal elites and total moonbattery.; 7/31/12, 6:03 PM
Jaq said...: "Greater London is the ONLY area of the UK with a positive GDP."

It was better without the "ONLY." The fewest words that will carry the meaning do the best job.; 7/31/12, 6:09 PM
Michael K said...: "It was better without the "ONLY." The fewest words that will carry the meaning do the best job."

OK; 7/31/12, 6:48 PM
Anonymous said...: Romney is racist for pointing out the cultural differences. Are the MSM anti-semites for downplaying the Israeli culture?; 7/31/12, 7:31 PM
tiger said...: Coketown said...
Racism and insinuations of racism are not things to take lightly. Okay guys?

Au contraire...

Have you, yes YOU, noticed how the MSM and many liberal blog writers say that EVERYTHING that Romney does is somehow 'racist/with racist undertones' and how seemingly ANY criticism of Obama is also 'racist/done with racist undertones'?

It's become a sad joke.

The 'race card' has been played so many times against Republicans and conservatives that it has lost its effect; I'm a racist because I don't like his policies? Yeah, right, fuck you, ya moron.

It's come to that.

The Left has NOTHING left to use to fight back against conservatives and Republicans except trying to invalidate any opposing views by using the 'racist' boogieman.

They are intellectually bankrupt and are the true racists because race is ALL they see; their treatment of blacks like they are retarded children proves this.

So 'racism' isn't to be taken lightly? You're right; REAL racism isn't but using the 'racism' claim as an answer to null any criticism against Obama doesn't work anymore and needs to be shown for what it is: a lie.; 7/31/12, 8:39 PM
Ken said...: Allie, the baby killer,

he has guns and bullets

As all responsible Americans do.

and he's not afraid to use them

What would be the point of having anything that you were afraid to use?; 7/31/12, 8:47 PM
Anonymous said...: Allie the baby killer? Are you fucking insane? Why yes I think you are.; 7/31/12, 8:58 PM
Ken said...: Allie, the baby killer,

Are you fucking insane?

I'm not the one bragging about a pet wussy.; 7/31/12, 9:02 PM
Anonymous said...: Ken,
What does my pun about a pet wussy have to do with anything you just said? Yes indeed you are insane.; 7/31/12, 9:06 PM
AlanKH said...: The left devalued the word "racist" more than Greece devalued the Euro.; 8/1/12, 12:11 AM
paul a'barge said...: The Press == propaganda organ for Democrats.

Call them by their name. Out loud.; 8/1/12, 1:19 PM