Elspeth Reeve has good analysis at the Atlantic Wire. I had a big problem with Rush Limbaugh playing this clip over and over on his show yesterday. There's some kind of political point to be be made about they way some people become dependent on government or unrealistic about what government can or should do, but there's an emotional level, below the rational mind, that this video/audio can reach, and when someone repeatedly plays it, as Rush did, it seems as though he's trying to stir up racial fears.
Decent people whose rational minds would reject explicit racial material can be emotionally manipulated. They get their fears stirred up. If this is what Romney supporters think they need to do to get their man elected, I hope they fail. And, frankly, I think they will fail. If people in the middle — like me — get the impression that fear of black people is supposed to be the reason to vote for Romney, we're going to vote for Obama. That's the America I believe in. I think I'm right about that.
September 28, 2012
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«Oldest ‹Older 401 – 600 of 710 Newer› Newest»Ann, I read your linked article, and I don't find myself persuaded at all.
The woman in the video is indeed a silly woman. Are we not allowed to point this out because she also happens to be black?
And, yes, there are some vile commmeners on blogs. Some of them post here. It reflects badly on them, and on no one else.
exiledonmainst said...
Explain why he lied.
Stupid masculine ego, maybe? He wanted to sound more fit than he is?
These are good reasons if you or I did this, not a big issue, but Ryan, in his position, took a big risk in making this lie. Why take such a risk?
It's unReasonable to derive great insights from Ryan's error about his running time while enthusing for a ticket that features a VP who's a proven plagiarist.
But I take heart in the fact that even ARM seems embarrassed to push AA's laughable "racist" line.
Let's be fair to Prof Althouse for a moment.
She has stated she is an undecided voter. If so, she may have something in common with other undecided voters. If so, we Romney supporters / Obama opponents ought to pay attention to her concerns. Rather than rant at her thinking, let's try to understand it.
If racial appeals -- or the appearance thereof -- give pause to undecided voters, don't make them. Yes, it is paying homage to the culture of political correctness, but that culture is alive and well. Recognize that and be sensitive to it.
It would take a lot for Romney to lose my vote at this point (I am voting increasingly for him, not just against Obama). But, that's just me.
Let's not draw attention away from Obama's glaring weaknesses with even accidental inferences about race and class. Rush's behavior appears to have done that. Maybe we need to rant at Rush for taking risky liberties to make a point to which the choir already agrees.
Let's stay focused on the goal and pay attention to the concerns of those we need to convert.
"Considerable insight into Ryan's character is available to those that ask this simple question."
Simpletons ask this simple question. If you're not too big of a simpleton, you might ask why Ryan's Dem counterpart, Slow Joe, believed Americans watched FDR on TV in 1929. Considerable insight into Biden's intellect is available to those that ask this simple question.
I don't like Obama.. and when Althouse suggested it might be racist not to... I didn't get emotional over it... I tried to understand what she was getting at.
I dont think she meant it that way.
If racial appeals -- or the appearance thereof -- give pause to undecided voters, don't make them
Don't interview black people, got it.
Seriously, if independents are this stupid, they deserve the government they get.
Chip S. said...
It's unReasonable to derive great insights from Ryan's error
It was not an error, anybody who runs knows that.
oh Ann. I am now so very done with you and your "tiny thought" conclusions. I happen to be best friend to an obamaphone recipient. She's 63 years old, black, unemployed and has a sixth grade education (lots of life experience makes her a good friend, but not a towering intellect). She feels like the God-King singled her out, that he "reached out" to her, to "help" her so she could dump her pay-as-you-go cell plan. Now she plans to cast her first vote in any election ever, for Obama while high on his "hopium." Never mind she was laid off from her dead-end job because of the bad economy and she has resorted to augmenting her food stamps with trips to the food bank. It's those damn republicans who won't help Obama fix things! And now, Ann Althouse feels like she needs to send a message to people who would make this election about race, by making her own vote all about race. I am now so bored by Ann Althouse's opinions. If I wanted to see the world through the prism of race-hustling I could just join the dozens of fans watching Al Sharpton on that cable network, whatever it is, or watch Chris Matthews drool all over himself about the fearless leader. But read this uh, fecal matter? Nope. I'm done with this blog. If I want sharp wit there's James Taranto. Time much better spent. Or Volokh if I want law news. But Althouse? Never again. I think that when Ann speaks dust must come out of her mouth.
The black woman in the video is in on the scam. That Fluke character is in on the scam.
Now I have "Minnie the Moocher" stuck in my head.
HI-DEE-HI-DEE-HI-DEE-HI...
Thank you Ann. Yes, the debates should be a legitimate venue to find out if Romney is your choice
I dont know - if Obama does poorly and we air clips over and over again, it will be racist.
Geez.
Moms
Comrades, I must denounce myself.
I watched the Obamaphonelady video twice--just to make sure it wasn't a hallucination rising from the fever swamp of my deep, deep racism.
I have also watched--twice, for the same reason--that video of the Egyptian-American reporter lady spray-painting some pro-Israel poster on a NYC subway.
I have also watched several Debbie Wasserman-Schultz videos, from which I derived a shameful level of mirth and merriment.
So, comrades, I confess to you my regrettable hatred of African-American women, Islamic-American women, and Jewish-American women.
Hey, wait a sec--maybe it's that women keep showing up on video saying incredibly stupid things.
Also, there's the matter of Inga's comments. Come to think of it, there's also the matter of the post that begat this megathread.
Upon further review, I retract my confession.
"Why take such a risk?"
That's rich. Obama, on the Letterman show, stated he didn't know exactly what the national debt is. But the president professing ignorance of the debt he played a huge part in running up is unimportant to you. No, let's talk about Ryan's marathon times! Not Ryan's mastery of numbers and knowledge of economics - no, let's talk about marathon times.
"A Reasonable Man" is a most unsuitable nic for you. I shall begin addressing you as "Honey Boo Boo."
Nope. I'm done with this blog
Me too. I've lost all respect for her. Its like watching an alkie go back to the bottle. If racism is as serious a problem as Althouse claims, she wouldn't toss around the accusation so casually.
Fen's Law. For the last time here.
"These are good reasons if you or I did this, not a big issue, but Ryan, in his position, took a big risk in making this lie. Why take such a risk?"
Because it was a mistake?
You said it yourself... it's a stupid "lie" to tell. 100% going to be caught. So why do it? You don't have to like Ryan at all to think he's smart enough *not* to take that sort of risk.
My husband, today, told someone we'd been down in the South by Mindanao. Why did he "lie?" We were in Luzon. He was always and only in Luzon. I was briefly in Cebu. Did his brain pull up Mindanao instead of Manila? Probably. And next week he'll "remember" it was Manila and not Mindanao.
I've caught myself saying things that I thought... wait-a-minute, that can't be right. People do that, and unless they do it often or are senile, it's probably just a "data retrieval" mistake.
Why did Obama "risk" saying 57 states? What a stupid thing to lie about.
Gary Johnson wouldn't give out free phones. Nor would he lie about his marathon times.
Why care about the debates? That the debates somehow matter is what desperate Republicans say when they want to hang onto that last shred of denial, and hope their party isn't in the shambles that it is.
We need a real opposition party. Until the Republicans become so, they ain't gonna win the Presidency.
It was not an error, anybody who runs knows that.
Anybody who runs understands that he said "marathon" instead of "half-marathon". Oh nooo!
Anybody who reads understands why you ignored the part of my comment that mentioned Biden's proven mendacity.
420! Me! Me! Me!
VOTE FOR GARY JOHNSON!
oh damnit, Chip S., you made me #421
Bill Walker 63-year-old attorney, registered Republican who has run four sub-three-hour marathons since college, posted a simple question on a message board for LetsRun.com, a national online forum for runners. "In an Aug. 22 interview by Hugh Hewitt, Representative Ryan said he had run a marathon in 'two hour and fifty something,'" Walker wrote on the message board. "Does anyone know the marathon and the year?"
The thread went viral. The day after Walker posted his question, Runner's World writer Scott Douglas started examining it. Turns out Ryan never ran a marathon in that time; a campaign spokesman was forced to walk back the comment.
"I just wanted to know," Walker said in an interview posted Wednesday on LetsRun.com. "If he had really run a marathon in that range, I would be impressed because I know the effort that goes into a sub-three-hour marathon. But, if he was lying or really stretching the truth, I thought that would be significant since he had just been nominated to run for Vice-President on the Republican ticket."
Walker says he is a registered Republican, but will be voting for President Barack Obama in November.
In the same way that some people looked at Clinton's cheating at golf others look at Ryan's cheating at running.
Fen - ! She's just kidding!! It's all a big joke! Don't leave!!! don't leave....
Bill Walker is a bozo. And so are you, Honey Boo Boo.
"Anybody who runs understands that he said "marathon" instead of "half-marathon". Oh nooo!"
So that was it.
God, An Original A-hole said...
Gary Johnson wouldn't give out free phones. Nor would he lie about his marathon times.
This sounds like two good reasons. Damn that Reagan and his free phones.
Honey Boo Boo, I suspect you are a typical male runner, with narrow chest and pencil arms and you are jealous of Ryan's awesome bod, because you couldn't last 5 minutes doing his daily workout.
That's quite trivial. But you have revealed yourself to be a petty and trivial male, so I suspect it's quite close to the mark.
Fen..
Quiting is not a winning move.
When you quit.. they win.
Honey Boo Boo, I doubt that you could outrun Sarah Palin on a marathon.
woot1
Let's not draw attention away from Obama's glaring weaknesses with even accidental inferences about race and class. Rush's behavior appears to have done that. Maybe we need to rant at Rush for taking risky liberties to make a point to which the choir already agrees.
Let's stay focused on the goal and pay attention to the concerns of those we need to convert.
Sounds like a great plan!
Except for one teeny tiny thing:
It is never enough, and/or never good enough.
There is nothing you can do to satisfy those who "feel" (instead of think) like our hostess.
They will always presume the Republican/conservative/rightie is operating from a position of racism, and demand that you prove you aren't.
Synova said...
"Anybody who runs understands that he said "marathon" instead of "half-marathon". Oh nooo!"
So that was it.
God it is easy to mislead those who want to believe.
This is the statement from Ryan issued to Runner's World by a spokesman after he lied.
Ryan said of his marathon experience:
"The race was more than 20 years ago, but my brother Tobin—who ran Boston last year—reminds me that he is the owner of the fastest marathon in the family and has never himself ran a sub-three. If I were to do any rounding, it would certainly be to four hours, not three. He gave me a good ribbing over this at dinner tonight."
Note: NO mention of a half-marathon.
"This is what you did before, made an ass of yourself, and appears that you haven't learned since."
Ditto that.
It is really, frankly, extremely disappointing that someone supposedly educated and among the cream of the intellectual crop in this country would make a decision on who to vote for for president with reasoning as pathetic as that. To paraphrase, "other people said something so therefore I'm not going to vote for that candidate". You'll just vote for the other one regardless of whether he trashes the country or not. Yeah, that's a smart, well-reasoned method of choosing leadership for the U.S. Perhaps you "people in the middle" are a lot stupider than many people have given you credit for. Really, really pathetically disappointing to read drivel like this from someone with your level of education and intellect. Can the Democrats count on your continuing stupidity in the future along the same lines? Are you really that easily manipulated? If you are, you're not worthy of the Founding Fathers' faith in you. And God help us all.
@Fen-
Fen's Law. For the last time here.
Crawling back to the fen, Fen?
Just like Grendel's mother...
Susan B. and Elizabeth must be rolling in their graves. A smart, well educated, widely -read, feminist woman making the argument that she is unable to control her emotions and vote in a rational manner.
Fen is leaving?! Woo Hoo!
Honey Boo Boo, tell me about the marathons you've run. Really, I'm sure you could beat Ryan to a pulp.
Not that that is at all germane to the Presidential election and the issues facing this country, but your panties are sure in a wad about it, dearie...
"God it is easy to mislead those who want to believe."
Just so.
Glad I missed most of this.
I will ask a different question.
From the perspective of making a political point, is what Rush did useful? Did it help Romney? Did it serve any useful purpose whatsoever?
It is unsurprising that out of about 35,000,000 black people in the United States there is someone who makes a statement like this. Certainly there are thousands of blacks who might make a similar statement. The world is home to many who will say strange or ignorant things. They are not limited by race, class, education or wealth, though the nature of their ignorance may vary.
This woman was not representative of anything which makes a surprising or useful political point. She's not a typical voter or person or black person. She's a curiosity.
Using her to make a point may or may not be racist, though if she is presented as some generalization it's certainly close. But there is no doubt that the presentation is stupid and pointless.
Plus at the level of one precise and unique human being, it is unfair to the woman, who is essentially non political and is being used.
I'm disappointed in Althouse, I expected more from her. I believe that whatever the color of the New American the ad featured, what the conservatives are lamenting is the metastisizing cancer of dependency and entitlement that threatens to consume us today. One must ASSUME Rush is focusing on color to believe his motives are racist - one must not have listened to his show for very long to believe that. It isn't black people that conservative whites fear, it's what has happened to the inner city due to the grand plans of the Planners that scares them. With all the damage the left has done to minorities, you have to be entirely brainwashed by them to think any challenge to that patronization is driven by racism rather than outrage at what we as a nation have done to all poor Americans. Refocus Ann, don't let your guilt drive your vote...
I'm disappointed in Althouse, I expected more from her. I believe that whatever the color of the New American the ad featured, what the conservatives are lamenting is the metastisizing cancer of dependency and entitlement that threatens to consume us today. One must ASSUME Rush is focusing on color to believe his motives are racist - one must not have listened to his show for very long to believe that. It isn't black people that conservative whites fear, it's what has happened to the inner city due to the grand plans of the Planners that scares them. With all the damage the left has done to minorities, you have to be entirely brainwashed by them to think any challenge to that patronization is driven by racism rather than outrage at what we as a nation have done to all poor Americans. Refocus Ann, don't let your guilt drive your vote...
Just what racism Althouse will abide not?
And by "Althouse" there I specifically don't know what I mean.
By that I mean you dear commenters/dingus.
@Gahrie-
It's human nature to choose leaders in an emotional way. It always has been. Nothing Susan B. or Elizabeth or any other dollar-coin whore can say or do will change our basic constitution. We have a deep visceral need to see, in he (or, I guess, she) who represents us, all that we aspire for in every way, or at least as much as we can get.
If we went for the coldly efficient candidate, we'd have elected Ross Perot back in 1992, and the country would be in nearly-perfect shape by now.
This realization has no doubt come to Romney over the past two weeks. Expect to see a kinder, gentler Romney from now on... one who empathizes with the 47% while secretly loathing them. It won't work because it won't be genuine; it'll just be another calculated business optimization that the public will see right through.
Wow - so I just watched the video. I hadn't heard or seen it yet. It’s really quite unremarkable. Must be the white guilt kicking in - only thing I can figure. Of course I didn’t watch it over and over again. Maybe this causes the desired effect…?
yashu said...
(You don't think Rush would play this just as many times if it was a cracker, a white person, saying exactly the same things?)
****
Actually, Rush did repeatedly play a similar clip, of the white "Pony Tailed Guy" who in 1992 claimed that "we" the people would become "the children" of the President, and as such, he wanted to know how the president would meet our needs.
Sp please...none of this racism crap, Miss Ann.
Also, VERY disappointing to see Law Prof Althouse drag a red herring past us claiming that we're all creatures of emotion.
If that were true, almost none of us would make it past the age of 18. We would all have killed each other.
Isn't the POINT of Western Civilization that we put Reason in the driver's seat, despite our emotions?
Nothing Susan B. or Elizabeth or any other dollar-coin whore can say or do will change our basic constitution
Really?
Ever hear of the 19th amendment?
Google bias is pretty harsh on Emotional.
You try it.
Some awful associations.
It is never enough, and/or never good enough.
There is nothing you can do to satisfy those who "feel" (instead of think) like our hostess.
There's nothing you can do to satisfy those who have made up their minds. I am thinking of those who are undecided. Isn't it their votes we're looking for?
From the perspective of making a political point, is what Rush did useful? Did it help Romney? Did it serve any useful purpose whatsoever?
Exactly.
Damn that Democratic Congress and their free phones!
FiFY.
David said...
This woman was not representative of anything which makes a surprising or useful political point. She's not a typical voter or person or black person. She's a curiosity.
************
Man, it takes a lotta chutzpah to make that kind of argument, when every single lone shooter in a remotely political context is tarred and feathered by Dems and the MFM as "right wing"!!
"Plus at the level of one precise and unique human being, it is unfair to the woman, who is essentially non political and is being used."
I'm not at all fond of "stupid human tricks" videos of any sort because I think they're mean, but I have to say... I thought she was AT a Romney counter-protest, (I'll take as bad rumor that she was paid to be there,) so... political by her own choice... just to nit-pick your last statement.
Other than that? I'm pretty used to the media choosing the most repulsive and least persuasive possible representatives of what might be termed "my" point of view.
But really... is the well educated, privileged, and white Sandra Fluke any less silly?
So what will you be watching for in these supposedly all-important debates...
Which candidate has the better policy proposals, principles, and ideas for the country?
-or-
Which candidate can better empathize with the difficulties of the "American people"?
Underestimate the importance of #2 and YOU LOSE.
In any case, how can a man with a $250M fortune and a $10M+ annual income and a 14%-ish tax rate possibly empathize with the general population of America.
No. Way.
He's done. It was over the moment Romney was picked as the candidate.
Exactly, God. How could they have been so blind?
ObamaPhone lady represents the base motivation of some people who vote for Obama.
Free stuff.
That she's African-American is only relevant because that's what's been peddled by the Democrats (and especially Obama) to the African-American community; vote for us, you get stuff for free.
These are the birds coming home to roost. Because once your community has been getting free stuff for generations, the only way to ensure the community stays engaged is by promising yet more free stuff.
They'll turn us all into beggars 'cause they're easier to please.
Interesting that the Obamaphone site was scrubbed after this video went viral. I would love to see the original.
The video itself cannot be racist.
It's a document of fact, unless it was scripted.
Therefore, can playing the audio or the video be considered racist?
Or would certain mindsets and commentary about the content of the video be considered racist?
Inga, I said I don't give out much personal information online - but here's a big tidbit: I too work in healthcare, in an inner-city hospital in Milwaukee. (No prizes for guessing which one.)
I see people like the woman in this video all day long. (And no, they are not all black, not by any means.) Yes, they all think the "government owes them." They've grown up believing that. They are so dependent they can't imagine another life.
Is that freedom? Is that happiness? Are they not slaves by another name - relying entirely on "The Big Massa" to feed and shelter them? The only difference is that they don't have to work in return.
But work - even menial work - gives one self-respect and a sense of contributing. Take that away, and you have people with no sense of purpose and no way out of the crappy neighborhood and crappy culture they find themselves in. And when people like Polly Williams do try to come up with a way of getting people out of that hellhole, via school choice, the liberals fight her tooth and nail.
It's vastly upsetting to me, because I don't see people who are pleased with "simple things," the bits and pieces liberals throw to them like you throw dogs table scraps. I see people whose human potential is being wasted - and smug white professionals who live in safe white neighborhoods and associate only with white people are the ones applauding and condoning such waste. It sickens me.
In any case, how can a man with a $250M fortune and a $10M+ annual income and a 14%-ish tax rate possibly empathize with the general population of America.
Class warfare!!!!!! 11!!!
You can't spell empathetic without pathetic.
Underestimate the importance of #2 and YOU LOSE.
Which is why Obama is toast. He's playing faction against faction, and I'm pretty sure everyone gets that now.
Deciding to name myself the unmiseryindex is what I do.
How hard it is for a rich or covetous man to enter heartily into the kingdom of patriotism.
- "Founding Father" Henry Laurens, 1789
It’s really quite unremarkable... Of course I didn’t watch it over and over again. Maybe this causes the desired effect…?
Are you sure you are not talking about My Dinner with Andre ;)
EMD exclaimed...
Class warfare!!!!!!
It's always class warfare, you idiot. Class warfare is the bread-and-butter of politics.
Finally...god and Enga hook up....
Chip, the website where one applies for the phones is Obamaphone.com.
No it's not. Let's debunk this here and now.
I have to check again to see if I read the comment correctly.
Did a law professor at a major university REALLY say that her decisions are based on emotion and not reason?
You can't spell empathetic without pathetic.
Nor Romney without money.
Well, almost...
The Truth Team has claimed the Obamaphone lady is a liar.
"DIscount services provided by telecom providers"
The part they conveniently omit is the cost is offset by taxes and fees on other phone users.
Nor Romney without money.
Well, almost...
No, that works.
However, just like videos are inherently racist ... money is inherently evil. RIght?
Class warfare is the bread-and-butter of politics.
I do not feel any animosity towards the poor. In fact, I'd love to help the poor. I fail to see how demonizing the rich helps the poor.
I see that the old "cruel neutrality" flag is being waved now, in self-defense.
You know what's cruelly neutral? A coin flip. A spin of a roulette wheel. A roll of the dice.
While AA's post is random, it's not neutral, b/c reason stands on one side in this election and emotion on the other.
Isn't it you who is associating this moocher with her race? I assure you most conservatives don't care about the color of her skin, but the content of her character.
Underestimate the importance of #2 and YOU LOSE.
Apparently, he doesn't give two shits about my children or their children. What's another trillion in debt?
Exiled, I worked in Milwaukee for 30 years, never outside of Milwaukee. I saw the same groups of people you did an yes work is essential. It's not enough to get out of the cycle of poverty though as the jobs pay so little. What harm would a cell phone do? It may help a working mother keep tabs on her kids while at work, call fo Doctor appointments, call for job interviews with higher pay, or call to talk to a career counselor.
I like what Physchiatrist said, I don't think it was at all racist, it was realistic. I don't think a handout will solve the problem either. I worked with women who worked double shifts just to get by, leaving kids at home alone for hours.
@EMD-
...money is inherently evil. RIght?
Of course not, bonehead. That much money, however, is quite nearly unelectable, absent an enormous talent to connect with the emotions of the electorate.
Romney is not empathic. So he will lose. You Republicans will get the result you wanted. Next time, the Republicans ought to play to win. But to do that, they need to build a real opposition party first.
Even if you had some flinching reaction against Rush, why would that make you vote for Obama?
I would vote for a ham sandwich before I'd vote for Obama.
Just pick another ham sandwich.
I'm sure there's a socialist candidate on the ballot in WI. Vote for the socialist to send Obama a message that he's not left enough yet.
How hard it is for a rich or covetous man to enter heartily into the kingdom of patriotism.
- "Founding Father" Henry Laurens, 1789
9/29/12 12:08 AM
And yet the original asshole is voting for Johnson - a libertarian.
I have never noticed a strong libertarian distaste for wealth.
An original asshole proves - once again- he's not a very bright. Another dolt with a view of the world taken from bumper stickers.
@EMD-
I do not feel any animosity towards the poor. In fact, I'd love to help the poor. I fail to see how demonizing the rich helps the poor.
You are so saturated with class warfare that the idea of "helping the poor" immediately evokes the idea that the rich are "demonized". Why are these two notions so connected for you?
The fact is that you're just a trained monkey, EMD... like everyone else.
I've realized tonight that it is wonderful when a trained monkey like Althouse questions her training, accepts it, and then wonders what to do with her newfound consciousness...
What's now just normal presidential electoral politics that must be immune from criticism was once denounced as corruption when practiced at the local level:
The most notorious political boss of the age was WILLIAM "BOSS" TWEED of New York's TAMMANY HALL. For twelve years, Tweed ruled New York. He gave generously to the poor and authorized the handouts of Christmas turkeys and winter coal to prospective supporters. In the process he fleeced the public out of millions of taxpayer money, which went into the coffers of Tweed and his associates.
I never realized what a vulgar anti-Hibernian that Thomas Nast was, drawing all those vile cartoons. Over and over again. Over and over, whipping up the Anglo-Saxon crowd's latent hatred of the Irish.
What harm would a cell phone do?
What harm could a car do?
Or a house?
Listen, I have no problem with safety net that helps the truly needy, and the Obamaphone lady may well fit into that category. We already provide most of those services, albeit rather poorly in some of the most neediest places in the country.
The problem is WE DON'T HAVE THE MONEY to continue on this path. TAXING the absolute shit our of anyone making over $250k won't put a dent into the deficits nor the debt, and it certainly result in a growth-oriented economy.
We need growth. 1.7% is not going to cut it. We are dangerously close to another recession, which would devastate the people you feign concern about even more. Growth = jobs. More growth = better jobs.
We live in a open market society (for the most part.) I hate to break it to all the bleeding hearts in here, but some people will never ever be equipped to succeed in our system. There will be winners and losers and that sucks.
The biggest losers, however, will be the generations left to clean up the massive shitstorm of debt we've accumulated.
Taxpayers spent $1.4 billion on Obama family last year, perks questioned in new book
Expect that to double in Obama II.
You are so saturated with class warfare that the idea of "helping the poor" immediately evokes the idea that the rich are "demonized". Why are these two notions so connected for you?
Who doesn't pay their "fair share"
Who is not being patriotic by paying more taxes?
"I've never met a plumber who made more than $250k" - laughing Joe Biden
Romney is a vampire!
Please.
What EMD said.
@Chip S.-
Over and over, whipping up the Anglo-Saxon crowd's latent hatred of the Irish.
Yes, but eventually even the Irish are accepted.
I'm a retired ne'er do well and I don't have time to listen to Rush Limbaugh, let alone get excited about what's on his show. How does a college professor have the time to listen and take the trouble to get wound up about it?
Read some Thomas Sowell and watch some of this stuff and then think again:
http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=mpg&mpid=84&load=7420
http://www.runawayslavemovie.com/
And then listen to the very end of Rush's show from today. Listen to Tim's story there. Then maybe we can talk about this as informed individuals.
Accepted, you say? Look at what NBC did to Conan.
And no, Jimmy Fallon doesn't make up for that.
Wait, God is voting for Gary Johnson?
We have more in common than I thought.
Yes, but eventually even the Irish are accepted.
Given the Kennedy clan, I'm wondering if that was a wise idea. Even though my in-laws are Irish. (Actually, especially since my in-laws are Irish.)
They did more good when they were mopping the master bedrooms on Beacon Hill:-)
@EMD-
Yes, you nimwad.
Have I not said that enough?
VOTE FOR GARY JOHNSON!
It's the only choice that won't leave you feeling like you just had a unprotected drunk anal sex romp with a $10 Tijuana street whore.
Stop with the whore talk already.
unprotected drunk anal sex romp with a $10 Tijuana street whore.
And you have intimate knowledge of this feeling?
...and a blackout. Should add some weed in there too, since we're talking Libertarian and all...
The original a-hole knows all about whores. It's the only way he can get laid.
Really, who would screw that fat, nasty old perv for free? Only a mentally disturbed person.
Inga, would you prefer:
1. Jezebel
2. Streetwalker
3. Hussy
4. Painted Lady
5. Ho
6. Prostitute
7. Fallen Woman
8. Harlot
9. Hooker
10. Strumpet
11. Tramp
12. Working Girl
13. Concubine
14. Courtesan
15. Floozy
16. Lady of the Night
17. Call Girl
18. Trollop
19. Wench
20. Minx
21. Slut
22. Tart
23. B-Girl
24. Scarlet Woman
25. Moll
Althouse said...
If this is what Romney supporters think will work for their guy, I hope they are wrong.
Wasn't it Obama supporters who PAID this woman and her Obama Phone to go to Romney's rally?
Courtesan sounds kinda high fallutin, so I guess I will go with working girl.
And my advice for any whores who get it on with the original a-hole?
Make sure you have a drool cup handy.
Oh fluke, my entire comment (previewed) disappeared. Merde! So here's a substitute (going by lazy memory).
dennisr2 @11:14, you have a point… up to a point.
With a campaign consultant or political commenter/ pundit hat on (as it were), you or Althouse may be right that the "appearance" of a "racial appeal" in Limbaugh's show hurts the Romney campaign, when it comes to centrist undecided voters. Even though I disagree that Rush made a racial appeal, there's obviously at least an "appearance" of one (since Althouse claims to see it).
In other words, one is vulnerable to such an interpretation, regardless of intent, because the race card is such an essential part of the Obama campaign. Like it or not, Romney supporters have to beware and outflank the inevitable (cynical and mendacious) race card play.
But Althouse wasn't speaking from such a perspective. She claimed that her own vote, for or against Romney/ Obama, may well be swayed by what she heard on this particular Limbaugh show. That's something else. I might or might not agree with your criticism of Rush, and what you think is necessary (or necessary to avoid) in order to persuade undecided voters. But to assert that what you yourself perceive as the "appearance" of a "racist appeal" on a particular Rush Limbaugh show might be criterion enough for you to vote for Obama instead of Romney… sorry, but that's something else.
One is a POV I might find astute or persuasive when it comes to campaign politics. The other is a POV I can't respect at all when it comes to someone's own judgment re what's actually, really at stake in the 2012 election-- what determines their own vote.
I've always liked "strumpet" and "minx."
Class warfare is the bread-and-butter of politics.
No, it's not. Never has been. Before the Enlightenment, it was religion. Before that, it was your ancestry if you weren't a peasant, otherwise who held your lease.
After the Enlightenment, it was supposed to be about ideals of universal rights. Then came along a couple of German Philosophers and things have been screwed up since.
Always, you are Always.
That's pretty good, Ann. Almost had me there with your "I'm so easily manipulated and so emotionally weak that a radio talk show host can cause me to vote for a man whose party and policies are driving this country to ruin" joke. I'm laughing. HAHAHAHAHA! See?
Even though I disagree that Rush made a racial appeal, there's obviously at least an "appearance" of one (since Althouse claims to see it).
I have to wonder how many undecideds are listening to Rush on a daily basis?
They're not going to hear the supposed 'racist-ness' of the video if they're not hearing it on Rush, right?
Much ado about nothing.
Except for a pearl-clutching Madisonian.
Ach, now he's going to blame the Germans.
Class warfare is the bread-and-butter of politics.
One side tends to butter their bread more often than the other ...
In the end, in Obama's World, the Human Resources department will decide who's been naughty and nice.
Depending on which boxes have been checked.
And, of course, which have chosen voluntary deductions to the proper worthy causes.
I also found it a bit funny in her defense she equates listening to Rush with reading the NYT.
As if they are supposed to be the same type of product.
Inga, I'm of Czech and Polish descent. I blame the Germans for everything!
Well, when I'm not blaming the goddamn Russians.
These "centrist undecided voters" fascinate me. What, exactly, is their inner monologue?
Gee, I dunno. Sure, the economy's in the shitter, and Obamacare sucks, and the debt-to-GDP ratio is ridiculous, and there's that crony capitalism stuff, and Afghanistan's circling the drain, and there seems to be a nontrivial prospect of nuclear war in the Middle East. All that's true.
But, Osama's dead. And I might get a free phone if I can't find work soon.
And that Romney guy put his dog on the roof of his car.
Gosh, I just don't know what's the best way to vote!
Odd how no one ever studies if there's any similarities between "Human Resource Managers" and "Fossil Fuel Resource Managers".
Bet it's not a null set.
Gee, I dunno. Sure, the economy's in the shitter, and Obamacare sucks, and the debt-to-GDP ratio is ridiculous, and there's that crony capitalism stuff, and Afghanistan's circling the drain, and there seems to be a nontrivial prospect of nuclear war in the Middle East. All that's true.
But, Osama's dead. And I might get a free phone if I can't find work soon.
And that Romney guy put his dog on the roof of his car.
Gosh, I just don't know what's the best way to vote!
What should I watch on TV tonight ... The Voice or America's Got Talent?
Your very rationality is itself a complex mix of emotion. I've read enough brain science
This is not science, but philosophy.
Since we are part of the system we hope to characterize, our perspective and discernment of that system and its constituents parts, including human beings, is permanently constrained. In particular, we are incapable of distinguishing between origin and expression.
Oh fuck, now we have reached 500 comments and I promised to watch the video at this point. So here it goes... I approach it with the understanding that it is about some crack whore and the phone that Obama gave to her.
Sorry, Ivana, I mean "crack courtesan".
Okay, it begins...
"OBAMA!"
"So you got an Obama phone?", the English-speaking recorder asks.
Now the working girl... no, it just don't work, Uma, sorry... now the lady that the Republicans have been calling a crack whore is speaking some language that is definitely not the King's English.
"Everybody dat minority got Obama-phone."
And I'm thinking:
Everybody WHO is a minority over in the Middle East got Obama DRONE.
Oh my, she's still speaking and I'm lost.
Is foostams one word? Without a "d", nor a "p"?
"Romney he sucks. BAD!"
That was English. Sorta. Got the point across, at least.
Wait... now it's "foolstams"?
Oh no! Now it's over!
What spectacular fodder for those who want us to vote Romney simply because he is not Obama. Here, right here on YouTube, is a bona-fide Obama devotee. She got a payoff that she feels came directly from the dude at the top. And she is a fucking mess. Yulva doesn't like the word, but she epitomizes "crack whore". This is who you are chumming with if you vote for Obama.
I can understand why Rush loves it.
Limbaugh loves it because he is a misogynist. The desperation of this crack whore turns him on, in a way. By repeating her utterly despondent remarks, he exposes what bad shape she is in, and demonstrates his powerful masculine status as a radio superhero.
I guess he needs to use Misogynist Rush to make up for the failings of Oxycontin Rush.
I feel sorry for the crack whore, though.
If some government program gives her a phone and that makes her life a little better, then so be it.
After watching the video, though, I feel a sudden visceral need for emergency antiviral medication.
Ctmom4 told me there is a website claiming the phone we provide poor people are being called Obamaphones and now my attitude has hardened even worse. I wish this whole thing had not been brought to my attention.
This is a lie. Our phones. Obama is claiming to give the phones that WE give. He has claimed our program as his own and put his name on our preexisting program which is yet another tax by another name for bill-paying phone users. He has stolen our gift, that was taxed out of us. He has switched tags at the gift table. He's an asshole for doing that. By asshole I mean that sphincter thing where poop comes out. And if you vote for him you are voting for more of this. And voting for more of Limbaugh pointing these out.
Chip S, don't forgot:
"Rush played a video of a dumb black woman over and over today!
It's Romney's fault! What is he going to do to win me over?"
Yes, we all bow to the superiority and acute reasoning powers of a Madison academic.
Ann, to quote John McEnroe:
"You cannot be serious!!"
If some government program gives her a phone and that makes her life a little better, then so be it.
Why? Seriously. Enable much?
Chip you give them too much credit.
This is what they're thinking.
Is it election day already? Wow that was fast. Who's running anyway?
What am I supposed to do?
Think? It beats nervous twitching.
Asshole, I have taken addicts who asked for money for food into Micky D's and asked them what they wanted and every time they walk out.
Do better.
"If some government program gives her a phone and that makes her life a little better, then so be it."
But VOTE FOR JOHNSON!!! 'CAUSE HE'S ALL ABOUT GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS!
The VD has rotted the a-hole's brain. Or maybe it's just senility.
You say you vote "emotionally" but you can look at the picture of that poor man Ambassador Stevens' dead body being dragged through the streets of Benghazi and then vote for the man who was responsible for his safety who nonetheless jetted to Vegas hours after learning of his death because of some content on Rush Limbaugh's (who's not an actual candidate in this race, btw) radio show? Um, yeah -- no. This is what psychologists call rationalization and what everyone else calls "making excuses."
But since this is your flimsy argument, and although I don't listen to Rush (so I didn't hear the show), if it was on the radio -- how was it racist unless Rush emphasized the fact that she was black and linked what she was saying to the fact that she was black? Do you rationalize that because you happen to know the woman is black that made an audio clip of her played more than once "racist," or are you implying that you could tell from her "voice" that she was black? If it's either, that pretty makes you the racist one.
PS -- that woman is being paid $11 an hour by SEIU to protest at different Romney events. How does that hit you "emotionally?"
Asshole, I have taken addicts who asked for money for food into Micky D's and asked them what they wanted and every time they walk out. Do better. 9/29/12 1:13 AM Yep. Same experience here. Nobody -nobody- is going hungry in America, unless they forgo food for themselves and their children for other pleasures - such as drugs or drink. Fact.
@exiledonmainst -
You can still feel empathy for the poor woman who got a phone from a government program and feels good about it, and yet be totally VOTE FOR GARY JOHNSON and Live Free or Die! and all that...
Empathy does not limit your political options.
Empathy is a natural human emotion.
Try it sometime. It might help you overcome your failings, which we all have...
@Hank DeCat -
...that woman is being paid $11 an hour by SEIU to protest at different Romney events. How does that hit you "emotionally?"
Better than working as a whore.
If god needs antiviral medication and some government program can get it for him and it makes his life better then so be it.
God needs to pony up so government won't have to. What kind of god lets the taxpayers buy his medications?
AND empathy will get your throat cut by the wrong desperate person.
Asshole, you've never worked in a methadone clinic, have you?
Thanks to Chip Ahoy's mention of ctmom4's mention, I googled "obama phone" and found this odd site.
It must have been put up by a humorist, b/c it's got a passage that's at least comparable to lesser Evelyn Waugh:
Some people claim that the government is using taxpayer’s money to run this program, however, the claim is false. Universal Service Fund (USF) which is administers by Federal Communication Commission along the Universal Service Administration Company (USAC), pays for the Lifeline phone assistance program.
The Universal Service Fund (USF) was created back in 1997 by Federal Communication Commission in order to achieve the goals set by the Congress under the Telecommunication Act of 1996. According to the Act, telecommunication service providers are obliged to contribute a portion of their interstate and international telecommunications revenues.
They're not tax revenues, they're mandatory contributions!
Wasn't "Universal Service Administration Company" the MI-6 front that James Bond always claimed to be working for?
Here are the rules about working in a methadone clinic:
Don't get attached.
Don't give anyone money.
Don't let the patients know where you live.
Be very careful walking in the parking lot near closing time.
a-hole, you want to toss this woman a cell phone and feel like you're a great humanitarian...horseshit, you phoney. Like I said, liberals (and you are one - you don't appear to understand what a libertarian is) throw blacks scraps from the table and flatter themselves that they have "empathy."
You just want to keep her in her ghetto, where you won't have to see the poor people. I see them every day. They are not being helped by the likes of you, a-hole.
Better than working as a whore.
The CDC would agree. Go Obama!
wyo sis: my guess is that the a-hole needs the government to pay for his Viagra.
@exiledonmainst -
You are manipulating what I said into something i did not say. I do not want to toss this woman a phone. All I am saying is that she took advantage of an existing government program and she obviously feels good about it, regardless of whether she is getting paid by SEIU or whatever.
The phone program exists. Is to recognize that it exists, and that this particular person feels that she got a benefit from it... is that somehow un-libertarian? To me it seems to be just the truth.
The Obama DRONE program also exists. It has impacted many lives in a terrible way, and we probably won't see those effects on YouTube, though we can read about them in general terms.
I feel empathy for the poor woman. I feel empathy for the innocent drone-strike victims. I AM NOT IN A METHADONE CLINIC where I might have to be much more reserved with my emotions to do my job and to care for the addicts in my charge (...and, by doing so, would be another form of empathy...).
THE MIDDLE
I'm in the middle, of a huge hurricane
And I see both sides, as being the same
The left and the right merely go round and round
While I skitter and run, to find solid ground.
From my little, lump in the sand,
I scream and I holler, how mighty I am.
A feather in the wind will change the course,
of this massive hurricane force.
The feather took me to a fool's dream,
As the hurricane sucked me into, its scheme.
Asshole, last word on this sub-thread, I really doubt you have empathy, and that you believe pity to be the same thing is really sad.
Here are the rules about working in a methadone clinic:
Don't get attached.
Don't give anyone money.
Don't let the patients know where you live.
Be very careful walking in the parking lot near closing time.
9/29/12 1:25 AM
Yep, Mark, those are the rules. Anybody who has any experience with addicts knows they are wise ones.
But dopes like a-hole (and Ann) sit in nice white neighborhoods and blubber about how "mean" conservatives are. I've lived in urban neighborhoods for most of my adult life. I can't tell you how irritated I am by these people.
@Mark-
You win, then.
I'm trying to figure out how Obama got the FCC to create that free-phone fund way back in 1997, when he was just a freshman Illinois state senator.
That guy really is a pragmatic problem-solver of the first rank.
I suppose if they were called "Clinton phones" everybody would think they were just for phone sex.
It's not fear of black people, it's the idea that this person represents the insidious goodies that government holds in it's tentacles for those people to be charmed by. If her price to vote for Urkel is a free phone, then how far will government under while being led from behind will stoop to in order to secure that voting currency. Votes are the governments currency for without the vote or a vote that is bought like this, then government can't stand as it is now.
Inga said...
Keep it up Rush.
Does your brown nosing have no limit? Much less your tiresome ability to be a giant weight to piggy-back on other peoples ideas. You aren't a very good thinker. You aren't even a thinker. You're just a foolish tool that gets used like a blunt instrument. Without polish or finesse. Just a cheap tool.
Professor, I am deeply disappointed in you. Your thinking seems a bit shallow. Where did this woman (and others who speak of Obama's stash) get the idea that they were getting free stuff from Obama? Did he or his spokespeople discourage that thought and explain that he didn't start the program or did he tacitly encourage it for votes? Why does he escape blame for using this woman as much as you blame opponents for criticizing her. Please read the articles that Economist Thomas Sowell has been writing over at American Spectator. The series has been called Obama versus Obama. Look especially for Part IV from today,9/28/2012.
Like Mark said, you need to define terms precisely:
You have empathy for people who have been through the same travails you have been. My mother died of cancer, and when I hear people say their mother has terminal cancer, I immediately empathize, because I know - exactly - what that feels like.
But can I -or you-empathize with people trapped in the ghetto? I can't - I can sympathize, I can try to imagine what it's like. Maybe you can, too. But that's not empathy.
And pity is a far different emotion. You're feeling bad for people who are inferior to you. "Oh, those poor things..."
Ah, I see now that the "strange little site" w/ the url obamaphone.net was substantially redesigned shortly after the free-phone-lady video went viral.
This is what it looked like before all the hubbub.
Yes, it's a small thing. But it's also a telling thing.
Obama provides phones in the same manner that he killed bin Laden: Somebody else does the work and he takes the credit.
No doubt it's racist to point that out. I denounce myself once more.
Does your brown nosing have no limit? Much less your tiresome ability to be a giant weight to piggy-back on other peoples ideas. You aren't a very good thinker. You aren't even a thinker. You're just a foolish tool that gets used like a blunt instrument. Without polish or finesse. Just a cheap tool.
Shame's paradise is a refuge in hatred.
White man's guilt makes a world of need.
Ms. Althouse voted for Obama and then spent some entries explaining her vote. I voted for McCain and Palin and it goes without saying, I was quite disappointed when I noticed how she voted. But I have always found her analyses thought-provoking and incisive, and thus continued to visit her site.
But this time, I am truly confused with her. Or I might say, this time she has lost me. She is almost threatening that if those who are against Obama play their cards like Rush, she and a horde of like-minded voters in the middle will turn their backs on Romney and vote for Obama.
Okay, so all votes are emotion-based, but what she advocated defies logic and common sense somehow. That she will vote the other way because she does not like how Rush handled that one particular issue?
Needless to say, I myself do not agree with everything coming out from Rush, but by and large I find him reasonable, logical, courteous, realistic, and not least, entertaining to listen to. I suppose because I can identify with him emotionally?
@exiledonmainst-
Alright.
Still, these terms of "empathy" etc... were originally brought up in the context of politics.
If "empathy" is, as you say, strictly that which we have experienced ourselves and can thereby recognize in others...
while "pity" is feeling bad for those in an inferior position...
Then what is Mitt Romney to most of America? The son of the CEO of a huge corporation and Governor of Michigan? The man worth $250M? The man with... what is it?... SIX gorgeous homes? The man whose income last year was in the EIGHT digits?
Does Mitt Romney experience empathy for the general "middle-class" American?
Or pity?
Or neither?
Now I ask the same question about Rush Limbaugh and the woman in the video...
What does Rush feel when he watches the video of this desperate woman?
Empathy?
Pity?
Nothing?
Or something darker and more sinister, like disdain? Contempt?
Or perhaps that she is less-than-worthy of existing in Rush Limbaugh's America?
Listen to what Rush says and you can decide for yourself.
Okay, so all votes are emotion-based, but what she advocated defies logic and common sense somehow. That she will vote the other way because she does not like how Rush handled that one particular issue?
You have to understand Ann's limitations.
She expressed on her blog that she lied as a child that she knew something she didn't. Then, on another post, she defended herself as having NOT personally attacked a professor, when she had, and she expected everyone to suck it up.
Now she is touting her power of her "middleness," as if she is anything other than something to be manipulated.
I think Ann has a deep seated insecurity. She wraps it up in knowledge, and protects herself with agreeable men, to protect herself from her contradictory narcissistic and nihilistic ways.
To wit: she argues about the power of the center that she is in, and perhaps even feels she is a personification of.
Then she argues how horrid both parties are.
Ann missed her calling. Instead of playing submissive to the Blogging Heads folks, she should have been a dominatrix. Perhaps Meade fills the role of servant well enough for her, slowly painting her house. I hope he got some sex for that.
Does Mitt Romney experience empathy for the general "middle-class" American?
Who cares?
Really?
Does "middle-class" America trust Obama any more?
Althouse can have her vapors, but that's what it comes down to.
Who do you trust?
Damn--2:30 in the morning and have waded thru 500 posts. Gotta tell you Professor: This was not your best effort. Pretty shoddy thinking.
@Mark-
Didn't you leave already?
Anyhow:
Who do you trust?
What, dear Mark, is an American to do if the honest answer to this question is...
NEITHER!
Not Obama. And not Romney.
Seeings as they are both just figureheads, puppeteered by giant conglomerations of individuals and groups seeking to control from behind-the-limelight. And "control" is the operative word.
Who do you trust?
Seriously?
That's why I'm voting for Gary Johnson. I trust him and agree quite well with his Libertarian philosophy.
But most of all, this two-party orgy of mistrust has got to end. You might wish to make your contribution to it, and thereby to America's deterioration and ultimate destruction, but I won't.
Althouse once remonstrated me that we live in a two-party system and I should learn to deal with it. Fuck that, I say. She's rarely wrong, but Althouse was then. I'm jumpin' ship away from the madness.
Who do you trust?
Not the Democrats. And not the Republicans.
So, Asshole, you say throw your vote away.
That's very tactical advice.
I'm voting for Romney because I think Obama has been a failure for four years, and will be a failure for four more.
Not Obama. So if I don't want Obamaa, that means I vote Romney. If both were equally bad, I'd go third-party.
They aren't.
I guess you can't do worse.
"White guilt is a powerful emotion."
Only if you've got the malady in the first place. None of my ancestors had anything to do with slavery, except the one who served in the 2nd Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, in the cause of helping stamp it out. I have nothing to apologize for in this arena.
I stopped commenting on the whole "empathy" thing. That's a truly stupid reason to vote for a President. "Pity" of course is worse.
FWIW, I believe this country would be a better place if Gary Johnson had a fair shot. As is, I'm voting for the RINO.
Let me try to understand this. So you're going to penalize Romney because of the people who support him? Is this the same Ann Althouse who was spit on and threatened for supporting Scott Walker? Who do you think those supporters are going to vote for, Ann? Do they represent the America you want to believe in?
The overwhelming majority of hatred in our political discourse these days comes from the supporters who bought into Hope and Change. And you, among all people should know that.
Obama's own vice president tells a black audience that Republicans want to put them in chains, and you're worried about the dog whistles you're hearing from a right-wing talk show host?
You believe in fairness and equality? Start by applying the same standards to Obama that you're applying to Romney.
@Mark -
No, YOU are throwing YOUR VOTE away by voting for Romney.
Your vote for Romney is a vote for system as-is, including all the corruption and all the cronyism and all the authoritarianism... and the outdated notion of the all-encompassing centralize nation-state.
You don't realize it, but voting for Romney is voting for a European-style Republic, with big taxes and a government that has got its fingers into absolutely everything. It is a vote against self-reliance. It is a vote against individualism.
Like the addicts at your methadone clinic, you operate in the world that you know. You recite the sound bite of "throwing your vote away" etc... Here's hoping that you realize that you are a trained monkey, just like the rest of us, and that you are able to accept that fact and thereby incubate your nascent self-determination...
THEY are all methadone addicts, huh, Mark? THEY are all just facades of humanity. YOU are not like THEM at all, right?
Having been there, I empathize.
Gbarto at 6:45. Again and again.
@Mark -
Consider that maybe, just maybe, YOU decide whether Gary Johnson gets a fair shot.
Not society. Not somebody else. Not the masses. YOU! You, You, YOU!
I'd say the same to Althouse too.
America is still a democratic republic. Individuals still determine our leaders by voting. In-di-fucking-viduals!!!
Do right, or fuck it up.
That advice applies to inner-city methadone druggies just as well as it applies to #1 blawg'ers and their commenters.
Asshole, now you are being incoherent.
Nothing worse than an incoherent asshole.
Vote however you want, for whatever reason you want. I think Romney will do a better job, so that's how I'm voting.
BTW, the whole "God" thing only works well with people who have really screwed up feelings about god. Otherwise, it's a minus if and when you actually want to change opinions.
I can list all the men Professor Althouse voted from 1976 to now: Carter. Carter. Mondale. Dukakis. Clinton. Clinton. Gore. BUSH. Obama.
I can do so, because she's revealed it in the past.
And logic tells me that a woman who has painstakingly voted in almost every election since reaching adulthood, isn't going to miss voting for a candidate this year.
So, yeah. BS about not voting for "either one".
All my ex-junkie friends tell me kicking methadone is much worse than heroin. Infinite incrementalism like being weaned from ignorance.
PS: Looking at that list of candidates, it tells you just how much of a religion liberalism is -- that for the apostasy of voting for a Republican POTUS ONCE in her adult life, Althouse gets placed on the right side of the Blogosphere.
I think I got about 60 votes for Romney last night, talking to Croatians, Poles, Latvians, and assorted other Eastern Europeans in NW Indiana. We talked about substantive issues--the economy, the coming tax wave, the terrorist attacks on US soil in the Arab world, and Obama stacking government agencies top-to-bottom with Lefties who re-interpret old rules and regulation to push the left-wing agenda. They realize that this may be the most critical election in US history. The US they gave up everything for is at stake. On Althouse, they talked about the Obama phone woman.
Althouse's vote for Obama--if it does come--should be offset nicely. The same for anyone dragged along into that Hell.
Darrell,
White ethnics do not have the luxury of voting purely out of fear of being labelled a racist, as the professor does.
She needs to meet real working people, and she will learn to reject the victim mentality.
It matters how and where the country is led. The professor will be affected too, living here, even if in Madison, Wisc. listening to Rush Limbaugh for entertainment.
"for the apostasy of voting for a Republican POTUS ONCE in her adult life, Althouse gets placed on the right side of the Blogosphere."
Gets placed? She put herself there.
As a "Madison conservative" she garners much more national attention than a lib lady law prof winding down her tenure years in a liberal law town.
Think: performance art, using your law school positition as a stage.
" Perhaps you "people in the middle" are a lot stupider than many people have given you credit for. "
The professor spent her formative years in Delaware, with a father who selected the family religion with an eye toward social climbing. She went to Michigan, and met an married a fellow East Coaster (NY.) Her children were born there, and only the job opportunity in Madison, Wisc. (a college town with diverse elite population.)
In short,
this is not the Midwest thinking represented here in these fears of being labelled a racist.
Her children were born there, and only the job opportunity in Madison, Wisc. (a college town with diverse elite population)
Her children were born there, and only the job opportunity in Madison, Wisc. (a college town with diverse elite population.)
brought them here.
"I'm looking forward to the debates. I might not vote for either of them.
Cruelly neutrally yours,
aa"
Please listen on the radio, and don't watch on tv.
You might not be able to overcome the continual exposure to seeing black skin, so that your unconscious fears would affect your vote.
(I wonder: do you add a few points to your black students tests if they're failing, so that you don't think they consider you a racist for evaluating solely on the relevant issues?)
Sorry to belabor the issue, but your mindset -- the fact you're willing to give these explanations in public -- fascinates me.
Oh Mary's back! Hello Mary. *waves* all sweetness and light as usual.
Mary, check out what I did tonight. Made a hummingbird feeder from a bottle. Want to see it? It's number four. No antique medicine bottle was harmed in the production of this feeder. It's very simple. Just wire. It's trying to look like a flower. A fuchsia.
The problem with intrade is ... It keeps selling contracts to the very end, so as it becomes obvious do to other factors that one candidate is going to win, suddenly you get a rush of contract to them and it becomes reactive rather than predictive.
"If people in the middle — like me — get the impression that fear of black people is supposed to be the reason to vote for Romney, we're going to vote for Obama. That's the America I believe in. I think I'm right about that."
Yep, this election is about your personal reconfirmation that you aren't a racist.
You are the moron that Obama Hopes you were, and will never Change.
I haven't heard of anyone dispute the authenticity of this tape. It is amazing that the woman behaves in such racial stereotypical ways. Nevertheless, the clip appears to be the truth.
Therefore, the conclusion is we should not show it?
So, the Obama campaign throwing say $1 million/day into intrade beginning Sept. 1--to give an air of invincibility to gin up the vote--would probably be a better use of campaign funds than TV commercials. Especially with the free publicity they get from the parasite media, reporting on the intrade "landslide".
Too easy to manipulate a "market" with such low daily dollar volume (avg. $1.5 million/day).
And cost free if the candidate does win. With Obama cornering the market on the stolen credit card number block because of lack of normal security on donations, it's a no-brainer.
Nope. I'm done with this blog
Hey, Fen's leaving and never ever coming back! I'd like to say I'm sorry to see him go.
But I can't.
I hear there is a tape out there with a white male Romney supporter sipping a gin and tonic at the club where they are holding a fundraiser for the candidate. He is shown telling his preppy white males friends that all rich whites support Romney because he will cut their taxes and allow them to move all of their wealth tax free offshore.
Thank God, the liberals are racially sensitive enough not to show this racist tape. They know that the boost it will give to Obama is not worth the damage it would do to race relations in America. They know that the truth will not set us free.
Plus, in that tape, they are all wearing top hats and monocles.
Obamaphone
Ding-a-ling-ling-ling-ling-ling-ling-ling!
Boo-ba-doo-ba-doop!
Boo-ba-doo-ba-doop!
Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring
Obama phone
Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring
Obama phone
I've got this feeling, so appealing,
for us to get together and sing. Sing!
Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring Obama phone
Ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dobama phone
It grows in bunches, I've got my hunches,
It's the best! Beats the rest!
Cellular, modular, interactivodular!
Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring Obama phone
Boop-boo-ba-doo-ba-doop!
Ping pong ping pong ping pong ping pabama phone
It's no baloney, it ain't a p(h)ony
My cellular Obamular phone!
Don't need quarters, don't need dimes,
to call a friend of mine!
Don't need computer or TV,
to have a real good time!
I'll call for pizza. I'll call my cat.
I'll call the White House, have a chat!
I'll place a call around the world, operator get me Beijing-jing-jing-jing!
(Soprano Sax Solo)
Yeah!
Play that thing!
(Piano Solo)
Whooo Hooo!
Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring
Obama phone
Boop-boo-ba-doo-ba-doop
Ying yang ying yang ying yang ying yobama phone
It's a real live mama and papa phone,
a brother and sister and a dogaphone,
a grandpa phone and a grammaphone too! Oh yeah!
My cellular, Obamular phone!
Obama phone, ring ring ring!
(It's a phone with appeal!)
Obama phone, ring ring ring!
(Now you can have your cake and eat it too!)
Obama phone, ring ring ring!
(This song drives me Obamas!)
Obama phone, ring ring ring!
Boo-ba-doo-ba-doop-doop-doop!
Apologies to Raffi.
Here are the original lyrics.
God, An Original A-hole said...
...money is inherently evil. RIght?
Of course not, bonehead. That much money, however, is quite nearly unelectable, absent an enormous talent to connect with the emotions of the electorate.
Sure, just like President Punahou, the guy who buys his arugula and Waygu steak at Whole Foods, like everybody else, who throws like a girl and rolls over when one of his appointees is murdered.
exiledonmainst said...
Yes, but eventually even the Irish are accepted.
Given the Kennedy clan, I'm wondering if that was a wise idea. Even though my in-laws are Irish. (Actually, especially since my in-laws are Irish.)
They did more good when they were mopping the master bedrooms on Beacon Hill:-)
No, but they did better than anyone else when they were winning the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the Indian Wars, building the railroads and the cities of this country.
Listen to that song at your own risk.
It's an earworm.
It was the ringtone on my young niece's cell phone for a long time...that's the first time I heard it.
Take a look at today's Washington Post -- under the head "Dwawing the line along Route 15" -- for another racial stereotype photo.
Bob Gleason
If you look at the obamaphone.net website today, they have changed it to an out-of-the-box web design...no more "ring me laytah on the mobile" Obama-buddy, blue-red, consistent graphic brand identity design.
It's still called Obamaphone though.
Decent people whose rational minds would reject explicit racial material can be emotionally manipulated.
With respect, Ann, it is you who is letting sentiment rule your actions. You are also making a presumption without evidence that white people will let this tape dictate who they will vote for.
Who's being the racist here?
I want to know the race of the person who made the flier for the debate event that was held on Thrusday.
Yes, it said Thrusday on the poster.
Ignorant [insert appropriate racial epithet here]!
Am I emotionally racially and genderly manipulating y'all with my burka hot babe icon?
I heard this quote recently--was it here? A woman is a life support system for a pussy.
Doesn't a burka-draped hot babe say exactly that?
Only lift the burka when you want to plow the field.
Is it raaaaaacist to appeal to such primitive drives in visually commenting on that miserable and mysterious middle eastern islamic cultcha?
Click refresh (F5) on the obamaphone.net website and it will cycle through some default pictures at the top of the page, having nothing to do with Obama or phones. Or bananas for that matter.
A lovely spring tree...an ocean shore...a chessboard with raaaacist stereotypical chink chesspieces.
As a black woman this kind of thing disgusts me. EVERYTHING is not racist. Do you know what real racism feels like? Do you know what it feels like to have your husband being called a n----r, colored, or boy in 2012? Do you know what it feels like to know there are towns in America today that you are not welcome? STOP calling everything racist, it's like the boy who cried wolf.
I am new to this blog but it seems as if the blog owner voted for Obama last time and she plans to again. STOP pretending as if you are the "independent undecided" voter. You are voting for the president again, because he is black. That is affirmative action on steroids! Vote for him because you believe he has governed well the last four years. Vote for him because you believe he is a good commander in chief and CEO of the US economy. But you are seriously going to vote for him because of a clip on Rush?
Then you say the GOP is trying to incite ugly fears about blacks in their base. Again as a black woman let me tell you something, racism isn't limited to a political party. Harry Reid and Joe Biden both made remarks about the president being a clean, articulate, light skin black without a negroe dialect. Chris Mathews was so impressed that Obama could speak that he said "oh I almost forgot he was black."
Highlighting this clip is not about racism, maybe you could call it classism. It's a difference in ideology. The D's want to give people stuff, the R's want to show pepole how to get and retain stuff. If the GOP is afraid of black people why is Mia Love getting support from R's and racist threats and hate mail from dectractors? Why does Allen West have ANY supporters? It's IDEOLOGY.
And why exaclty is your vote based in emotion? I think people like you shouldn't be able to vote. You want to determine who our next president is based on how he makes you "feel"? I don't want the president to make me feel anything, I leave that for my husband. I don't want him to have a beer with me, I don't want to watch a football game with him, I want him to GOVERN effectively. I base my vote on logic and reasoning.
Mitt Romney is not responsible for what Rush Limbaugh plays on his show. I remember when CNN demmanded from John Sununu some kind of repudiation of Trump because he was a "birther." I don't get this? Is Obama ever asked to repudiate his supporters? Has he EVER been asked to send back money that Bill Maher has donated? And you talk about the Romney campaign as if it is being covered. If I depended on cable news for campaign coverage, I would only know of his "gaffes."
Peggy Noonan and David Brooks BOTH voted for Obama, I wish you people would STOP pretending as if you were impartial.
Fen said...
Nope. I'm done with this blog
Me too. I've lost all respect for her. Its like watching an alkie go back to the bottle. If racism is as serious a problem as Althouse claims, she wouldn't toss around the accusation so casually.
Fen's Law. For the last time here.
Why?
If you leave the stupid people win.
Letting stupid people win runs counter to evolution.
Besides. ets run this racist sucker up over 600.
Is it racist to share this picture of a dark-skinned Egyptian god, Anubis, holding a weapon, menacing the Statue of Liberty?
It's black...and part human and part animal.
Has Anubis come to feast on the rotting flesh of our dead culture?
So Ann riffs on how Rush manipulates listeners emotionally, feels emotionally violated herself, and then makes a blog post that she knows will draw a highly-emotional reaction. Which it does.
Very well said CouponMom...unfortunately your comment will fall on deaf ears. Like you I'm black and I don't see anything racist in repeatedly playing the tape of an actual event that occurred.
I used to comment frequently on this blog but I've come to realize its simply a waste of time.
Perhaps the rotting flesh of the corpse of our freedom.
Rusty, I'm trying to help us cross the line (600 posts). That's because I'm an achievement oriented cracker. It's SWPL.
Nice to hear from you again CouponMom, keep coming around.
Well said CouponMom. Please stay. I enjoy your contributions.
Woo hoo! I got #600!
I had to post that to start a new page.
All right...who's on board to take this sucker to 800?
Does Blogger have a limit?
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