June 16, 2014

The New Republic finally put its racial smear of Scott Walker up on its website.

Here's the scurrilous hit piece, "The Unelectable Whiteness of Scott Walker," which I first saw in my iPad on Saturday. The article went up Sunday evening, after I'd posted about it 3 times Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening, and Sunday morning. My posts:

Saturday afternoon: "Look at the new New Republic cover, smearing Scott Walker for his 'toxic strain of racial politics.'" This post displays the cover, with what I read as a strangely sexualized headline "Scott Walker Is So Hot Right Now"* and the puzzling sub-head "Too bad he owes his success to a toxic strain of racial politics." I noted that headline inside at the article itself (which is also the headline on the TNR website now) was "The Unelectable Whiteness of Scott Walker." Sub-head: "A Journey Through the Poisonous World That Produced a Republican Star." I read the article and opined that TNR had nothing racial to say about Walker himself. Walker built his political career in the Milwaukee area, and the article is mostly about the racial demographics of the place and 2 talk radio hosts who are popular there.

Saturday evening: "... I almost feel as though I am bullying The New Republic at this point." The article was still not up, and I took that as a digital-age failure for TNR's editor and publisher, Chris Hughes (who, as the co-founder of Facebook, had seemed as though he was going to make TNR very digitally sharp, which was why I subscribed, and why I got early access via iPad).

Sunday morning: "When is it considered acceptable, in polite company, to refer to the excessive 'whiteness' of a public figure?"
Why did the editors of The New Republic — that venerable journal — think it was acceptable to title an article "The Unelectable Whiteness of Scott Walker"? 
I did not give the typical conservative answer, which would be: Because it's liberal, and liberals can and will do to conservatives what conservatives can't get away with doing to liberals. That old rule of thumb is reasonably apt, but I don't think it is generally acceptable among liberals to use "whiteness" as the key word in an attack. I have a different answer, which you can read at the link.

Also, the Sunday morning post ends with a clipped out passage that I believe is intended to float the rumor that Scott Walker is a closeted homosexual:
Walker had an easy smile and impressive 1980s mullet, and he played on the football team, but his friends would apologize if they swore in his presence, and he wasn’t much for chasing girls. “He was a very nice-looking young man, always very neat in appearance,” says Neill Flood, the town’s fire chief, whose daughter was a year ahead of Walker in school. “He was the kind of guy who liked everyone, and everyone liked him. There was never any physical attraction for Scott, girls being all over him.” On Scott’s prom night, his mother recalls, he, his date, and some friends stayed up very late talking politics.
The girls hung "all over him," but "There was never any physical attraction for Scott"? He was "very neat in appearance" and not "much for chasing girls"? He spent prom night — a classic time for sexual adventures — talking about politics? I'm going to write a separate post on this topic, because I remember when the NYT tried a move like this when John Roberts was nominated to the Supreme Court.
______________________

* I'm told "so hot right now" may be an allusion to the movie "Zoolander."

85 comments:

The Crack Emcee said...

I can't keep up with the conservative's conspiracy theory mindset. Speculating on what "may" be going on in people's minds. I think you talk yourselves into believing what's not there. Point blank:

Nobody said, or implied, Scott Walker was gay.

I've read everything and don't see a shred of evidence that's in there.

And testy doesn't equal testicles.

Good Morning.

I need coffee,...

The Crack Emcee said...

Also - when you count Ted Nugent as your friend, have said David Duke has legit ideas, hired a staff that's continually busted for racism, and can't get the simplest things done for blacks in your state after a lifetime in politics:

You cannot charge anyone to be "smearing" you as a racist.

Matt Sablan said...

To answer this question: "When is it considered acceptable, in polite company, to refer to the excessive 'whiteness' of a public figure?"

The answer: Whenever it hurts a Republican or help a Democrat, at least, per the cynic in me.

I saw "so hot right now," not to mean physically attractive, but like how a song or clothing style could be hot.

tim in vermont said...

The irony is, and I never saw the movie, but only read the book, is that The Unbearable Lightness of Being was unrelentingly anti communist and was especially scathing toward the kitsch of socialism, the easy, thoughtless belief that it was "noble," maintained in spite of all evidence that it was evil in practice. Kind of like Slate.

tim in vermont said...

"I've read everything and don't see a shred of evidence that's in there."

Not a smidgen, right Crack?

And yet semiotics is a time-honored area of academic study that was initially proposed by the philosopher John Locke in 1689, if I can trust Wikipedia.

Humperdink said...

This is a room service post for our resident racist historian and scholar, enlightened on all-things black and white. And he showed up early to dominate.

Translation: this post will soon enter the death spiral.

The Crack Emcee said...

Matthew Sablan,

"The answer: Whenever it hurts a Republican or help a Democrat, at least, per the cynic in me."

You are a strange bird. Not white, but able to see the perspective - the conservative perspective, anyway. Here's the problem:

I just gave you good reasons to put the cynic in you asleep, and you're ignoring them to go with the they're-only-doing-it-to-hurt-Republicans line - is that logical?

You KNOW Scott Walker "works closely" with Ted Nugent - is that reported by Nugent because "it hurts a Republican" or because it's the truth? The David Duke endorsement - is that because "it hurts a Republican" or because Walker said it?

I just can't fathom a mind that finds it so difficult to see the obvious,..

bleh said...

Crack, please elaborate on your David Duke accusation. Give us the context. Because I am sure that you're full of shit and attempting to unfairly smear Walker.

Crimso said...

I see The New Republic still has a problem with its writers just making shit up. Granted, a little more obliquely this go around. A little.

Bob Ellison said...

I count birds among my friends, and birds have body temperatures around 100 degrees, so I am offended, on the birds' behalf, by the "so hot" comment.

Also, some of my best friends are bacteria. "Toxic strain" is offensive.

Michael said...

Well, it appears that Crack has been annihilated in debate by a black commenter who not only is a better writer but smarter. Crack defaults immediately to the slur which is characteristic of his "method" by calling the black commenter an "uncle Tom." To which the commenter replies with grace and incisively undermines that frail rhetoric.

I suppose we all knew the day would come. All but one, that is.

Anonymous said...

Jay-Z Sexbot says:

Powering Up....

Hello, Jay-Z.

Um. You're a dude.

Yes I am. I'm a white dude. I'm a white dude who wears Dockers and waters my lawn three days a week.

I was specifically programmed for the ladies...

Well, I bought you, and you're mine.

The Jay-Z Sexbot ain't supposed to bang that way, it's in the licensing agreement.

I got 99 problems and your licensing agreement ain't one. Take off your pants.

How 'bout we roll and find ourselves some real bitches, man...

Jay-Z, I paid in full: you're my ho, you're in my crib, I'm wearing a bow-tie. Bend over the bed, please.

This is not in my programming...

Pretend we're in prison and you're my cell-bitch. All of you rappers know about prison, right?

Man, if you call the Company I'll have them give all of your money back. Some more, even.

I'm happy with my purchase.

Man, if you want chocolate you could get yourself the Denzel Washington Sex Robot, he's a class act, that dude.

If I wanted to fuck Denzel Washington I would've bought Denzel Washington. Now bend over the bed. I want to pop a cap in your ass -- I believe I said that right.

You better hope the real Jay-Z don't find you...

I don't think the real Jay-Z comes to Wisconsin much.

Oh God, I'mma gonna get fucked in the ass AND I'm in Wisconsin?

And I don't have a Bentley. These things even out...

The Crack Emcee said...

Everybody sees the same thing, but few are willing to say it openly because you want to hope it's not true - from The National Review:

"As Walker was garnering applause from the lunch crowd, the aides he had in tow were getting less positive feedback. Though operating on friendly turf, they acted skittish, guarded, and unfriendly. An event organizer complained that the governor’s team was dismissive and difficult to deal with, and that she found it nearly impossible to get Walker on the phone with his host."

There they are again - those assholes he's hired. Can't be missed:

"Since Walker rose to national prominence when he faced down the unions in 2011, Republican donors have admired his steeliness, his calm, and his quiet resolve. But they have privately wondered whether he has the star power and political judgment necessary to succeed on the presidential level. This event offered a small sample size, but maybe the donors also need to wonder about his team. After all, Walker was less than 40 miles from Trenton, where the man who just six months ago seemed to have an inside track for front-runner status in the fight for the Republican presidential nomination had his fortunes reversed by his own aides."

And that's also what's been happening here - and only Walker's responsible for who he hires,...

The Crack Emcee said...

Michael,

"Well, it appears that Crack has been annihilated in debate by a black commenter who not only is a better writer but smarter,…"

Two things:

1) You're on the wrong thread - not too bright.

2) Any Tom will get you to say this shit, but you're already going for the praise because Smithee (love that Tom name - is he wearing penny loafers?) decided Randall Robinson isn't his cup of tea.

Fine - if that's all it takes, he wins.

Now go blow him,...

campy said...

"Translation: this post will soon enter the death spiral."

Translation: this post is in its death spiral.

FTFY

Tank said...

The Crack Emcee said...

I can't keep up with the conservative's conspiracy theory mindset. Speculating on what "may" be going on in people's minds. I think you talk yourselves into believing what's not there. Point blank:

Nobody said, or implied, Scott Walker was gay.

I've read everything and don't see a shred of evidence that's in there.


As a group, black people are more bigoted against gays than any other group. It is not surprising that you do not see the evidence.

Matt Sablan said...

"You KNOW Scott Walker "works closely" with Ted Nugent - is that reported by Nugent because "it hurts a Republican" or because it's the truth?"

-- And? Politicians work with lots of people, and some of them are not good people. The current president has worked with a guy who would've killed a lot of people if he were competent, just as an example.

If Walker were a Democrat, we wouldn't be having this discussion. He MIGHT be all these terrible things, but we'd barely care if the politics were different. It is hard for me to get emotional when I know that my emotions are just being played.

Curious George said...

"The Crack Emcee said...
Also - when you count Ted Nugent as your friend, have said David Duke has legit ideas, hired a staff that's continually busted for racism, and can't get the simplest things done for blacks in your state after a lifetime in politic"

What crack failed to mention is that Walker condemned Duke for his past involvement in the KKK.

crack's a fucking loser who cannot address the core cause, which is not that he is black and America's racism is holding him back, but that his is just a loser. He looks at the problem everyday in the mirror.

tola'at sfarim said...

"but I don't think it is generally acceptable among liberals to use "whiteness" as the key word in an attack. "
i thought 'old white men' was the preferred term these days. A trifecta of sexism,ageism, and racism rolled into one pat phrase

MadisonMan said...

and can't get the simplest things done for blacks in your state after a lifetime in politics:

Would that be racist, to do things only (my word, not yours) for blacks? Or is it something they are "due" because of the past.

Sitting around waiting for the Government to do something for you is just another kind of slavery. Maybe you're not being beaten daily, or raped, or starved, or losing your children, but you're dependent on something/someone else for your own well-being. If you want something done, do it yourself. If you can't do it, and the methods for getting around the blockades are insurmountable, then do something else.

B said...

Crack said: I can't keep up with the conservative's conspiracy theory mindset. Speculating on what "may" be going on in people's minds. I think you talk yourselves into believing what's not there.

Is this the least self-aware thing ever written or is Crack trolling us right now?

garage mahal said...

I see The New Republic still has a problem with its writers just making shit up

I finally read the piece. What parts are they making up?

Michael K said...

It would be helpful to highlight crack's comments somehow so I can skip by them more quickly.

Curious George said...

The Crack Emcee said...
Also - when you count Ted Nugent as your friend... You KNOW Scott Walker "works closely" with Ted Nugent"

Now reality:

"The governor met Ted Nugent during an NRA convention in Milwaukee years ago when he was Milwaukee county executive," said Tom Evenson, spokesman for Walker's state office. "Other than that, our office has not had involvement with him."

TosaGuy said...

You should remove the comma in your tags between iPad and Journalism.

TMink said...

Wisconsin is the 12th whitest state in the union.

Trey

FleetUSA said...

The Dem campaign mode is to hurt in anyway possible any possible Rep candidates for higher office. The higher the office the more dog whistles and innuendo are chosen. The Dems consider Scott Walker top of the class for obvious reasons.

Whereas the Rep mode is to attack on actual factual lies and and documented misdeeds.

Patrick Henry was right! said...

Why would anyone encourage and support racism against white people??? Oh, that would be you, Professor, with your support of Crack.

Maybe you should ask him if there are any non-racist white people? If not, should you support someone on your blog you thinks you are a racist?

Your blind spot here is so odd for a law professor at a public university.

Shanna said...

* I'm told "so hot right now" may be an allusion to the movie "Zoolander."

Probably. That was the first thing I thought of.

Larry J said...

Here's an exercise for the reader:

It's 2007 and a magazine publishes a hit piece on an obscure senator who has presidential ambitions. The piece is titled, "The Unelectable Blackness of Barack Obama."

What would be the reaction to such an article? Why is it any less racist to write an article about Walker's "unelectable whiteness"?

The Crack Emcee said...

Matthew Sablan,

"If Walker were a Democrat, we wouldn't be having this discussion."

Really? If he was a Dem, and his staff was repeatedly busted for dissing whites and denying them services, no one would care?

And he was doing it while hanging with Farrakhan who was bragging they "work closely" together?

And he said he thought Robert Mugabe had some "legitimate ideas"?

Come on, Sablan. I can understand the effort to be even-handed, but there is a line,...

Michael said...

Crack

Again, a demonstration of your shallowness. You will not go back to the other thread where you were trounced but will accuse me of not being bright. You know, I actually knew he had not commented on this thread since there were only three or four comments here.

"Now go blow him". Another example of your deep thinking and linguistic skills.

Even your bullshit is childish.

Anonymous said...

That party at Althouse's...

Michael said...

Crack

Again, a demonstration of your shallowness. You will not go back to the other thread where you were trounced but will accuse me of not being bright. You know, I actually knew he had not commented on this thread since there were only three or four comments here.

"Now go blow him". Another example of your deep thinking and linguistic skills.

Even your bullshit is childish.

DanTheMan said...

>>Your blind spot here is so odd for a law professor at a public university.

The soft bigotry of low expectations.

bleh said...

OK, since Crack is ignoring the issue, I went ahead and found the Walker comment about David Duke having "legit ideas."

"The key is, we feel that in particular you are hiding behind these issues that are legitimate issues, but do not necessarily make you a legitimate candidate, any more than in the city of Milwaukee, if Jeffrey Dahmer were to stand up and talk about family values, he's not a legitimate candidate."

The Crack Emcee, ladies and gentlemen.

The Crack Emcee said...

Curious George,

"What crack failed to mention is that Walker condemned Duke for his past involvement in the KKK."

Yeah. When someone hangs with Nugent, denies blacks services, and says an admitted racist has "legitimate ideas" about what to do with blacks, things like dissing the KKK (what courage!) escape me.

"crack's a fucking loser who cannot address the core cause, which is not that he is black and America's racism is holding him back, but that his is just a loser. He looks at the problem everyday in the mirror."

Ahhh - the old we-know-America's-a-racist-country-against-blacks-but-there-are-no-white-racists-doing-anything line.

I refuse to entertain such Alice In Wonderland-based nonsense,...

The Crack Emcee said...

MadisonMan,

"Would that be racist, to do things only (my word, not yours) for blacks?"

Nope - racist problems beg for racist solutions.

"Is it something they are 'due' because of the past."

Yes - whites should be proud to fix this country for all. Instead, they're dug-in, to maintain the spoils of plunder for themselves. It's funny:

When reparations are mentioned, whites scream nothing can repay the debt - a debt they acknowledge, as long as no dollar amount or national responsibility are attached.

BUT, when it comes to what they could do, they think it's weird to do anything because it would "only" be for blacks - like whites letting themselves be seen in a different light (from being hateful anti-black racists) wouldn't help everyone.

It's madness.

"Sitting around waiting for the Government to do something for you is just another kind of slavery."

Man, you guys love to slag us - really? The Civil Rights Movement - which has continually moved this country to actually BE THIS COUNTRY - is just "sitting around waiting for the Government to do something for you"?

You guys are pathetic.

"Maybe you're not being beaten daily, or raped, or starved, or losing your children, but you're dependent on something/someone else for your own well-being."

If those are the options, we'll take the latter, thanks. EBT equals $6.00 of food a day. How generous of you after basically destroying 7 generations of your fellow Americans.

"If you want something done, do it yourself."

Reparations is what we want - and we're doing it without anyone else.

"If you can't do it, and the methods for getting around the blockades are insurmountable, then do something else."

Brain-dead, I tell you. Absolutely clueless. We're supposed to do what, with what? Whites took all the wealth, remember? What are we supposed to work with? Clumps of grass?

You're monsters to everyone but yourselves,...

Michael K said...

Walter Williams, "I am so old I remember when racists were white."

The Crack Emcee said...

Curious George,

Now reality:

"NUGENT: I'm contacted all the time, I work close with Ted Cruz who is a great patriot, a great statesman. I worked close with Scott Walker's team in Wisconsin when he took it away from the hippies and got rid of the [unintelligible] and got some freedom back in Wisconsin."

You shall know them by their arguments - and lies - Ladies and Gentlemen,...

The Crack Emcee said...

Basil,

"Maybe you should ask him if there are any non-racist white people?"

I've been on this blog for about 6-7 years, and you think Ann and Meade don't know my views? Why?

Because racists aren't capable of challenging their own outlook, even when a black holds a mirror to them, that's why:

It HAS to be me,...



Jupiter said...

Betamax,

I see you got my point about the sexbots. But it doesn't have to be a well-known person. It can be anyone. Your boss. Your ex. That cute guy in Econ 101. Just Google Glass(TM) 'em for a few minutes, and CopyBot does the rest!

tim maguire said...

B said...Crack said: I can't keep up with the conservative's conspiracy theory mindset. Speculating on what "may" be going on in people's minds. I think you talk yourselves into believing what's not there.

Is this the least self-aware thing ever written or is Crack trolling us right now?


I go back and forth, is Crack a demented racist idiot? Or is he a persona, like Betamax, Titus,or America's Politico? (Is it me, or are the performance artists starting to outnumber us mere commenters?)

Whatever he is, he is also boring with the aggressive repetitive thread hijacking. We all know what "Crack" thinks about everything, we all know what he will say about everything. So why is he still around saying it? Where's the value added?

I thought the point of the conversation killing moderation system was to weed out distractions like Crack. And yet here he is hijacking almost every thread.

Crimso said...

Well garage, you can start with the sub-head...

Birches said...

I thought of Zoolander too when I first read the "so hot" headline you posted a few years ago.

Coincidently, an article in The Federalist also referenced Zoolander not too long ago.

I guess Zoolander one liners are so hot right now.

Curious George said...

"garage mahal said...
I see The New Republic still has a problem with its writers just making shit up"

I finally read the piece. What parts are they making up?"

Read this:

ver the past few decades, Walker’s home turf of metropolitan Milwaukee has developed into the most bitterly divided political ground in the country—“the most polarized part of a polarized state in a polarized nation,” as a recent series by Craig Gilbert in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel put it. Thanks to a quirk of twentieth-century history, the region encompasses a heavily Democratic and African American urban center, and suburbs that are far more uniformly white and Republican than those in any other Northern city, with a moat of resentment running between the two zones. As a result, the area has given rise to some of the most worrisome trends in American political life in supercharged form: profound racial inequality, extreme political segregation, a parallel-universe news media. These trends predate Walker, but they have enabled his ascent,"

This is bullshit. Walker has never represented the mostly white mostly conservative suburbs of Milwaukee, or "metro Milwaukee".

He was an Assembly person from Wauwatosa, which is mixed politically and racially. He was then Milwaukee County Executive, which includes Milwaukee (heavily Democratic and black, Tosa, and other mostly Democratic suburbs.

Curious George said...

crack, justbecause Nugent said it doesn't make it fact, but since you think it does try this on for size.

So let me clue all Althousian's in:

I know crack emcee very well. He hates white people, and he hates blacks that like white people. All he wants is white America to bail his lazy ass out.

There, own it!

Seeing Red said...

Hillary is awefully white......

Seeing Red said...

Scott walker's team.....

Before you try to get snarky, we have a president who finds out critical things from the TV instead of his team.....

Bob said...

Althouse

I think you misinterpret the quotation from Neill Flood, the fire chief.

You read him to say that girls were all over Scott but that he was not physically attracted to them.

I think he was saying that although he was a nice guy, and everyone liked him, he wasn't a guy that girls had a physical attraction for, by being all over him.

The former interpretation focuses on Scott's feelings -- he had no physical attraction to girls who were all over him, and is more suggestive of homosexuality. The latter focuses on the feelings of the girls around him, that they had no physical attraction for him. That just means he wasn't George Clooney.

Note that the earlier statement that he wasn't much for chasing girls is the writer's interpretation, not a quote from anybody.

TosaGuy said...

Curious George said:

"He was an Assembly person from Wauwatosa, which is mixed politically and racially. He was then Milwaukee County Executive, which includes Milwaukee (heavily Democratic and black, Tosa, and other mostly Democratic suburbs."

Precisely. However, this part of the TNR smear directly picks up on the trendy urban progressive meme of "all suburbanites are racist" regardless of the circumstances of why people live and work where they do.

As an aside, Wauwatosa in western Milwaukee County essentially is the new commercial, medical technological and shopping hub of the Milwaukee metro area. Downtown Milwaukee will remain the entertainment hub, but this inner ring suburb at the crossroads of the state's two busiest freeways is kicking Milwaukee's butt in major development.

MadisonMan said...

We're supposed to do what, with what?

I assume you have a brain. Observe. Find a need. Fulfill it. Make money off that.

This money-making tip comes to you gratis.

Birkel said...

Perhaps we need somebody with some minority parentage for TNR to be happy.

May I suggest Elizabeth "Fauxcahontas" Warren?

I hear she's 1/128th Cherokee.

Anonymous said...

@tim -- I think the point of the comment moderation system is that people were making comments targeted specifically at Ann's family. And, relatedly, the anti-gay animus was getting too much.

Ann *said* the point was to avoid hijacking, but that's clearly not the case.

If, while hijacking every thread to whine about your inadequacy and blame it on your race, you make sure to say that Ann and Meade are the only good white people you know (with John's pseudo-black goodness left unstated but implied) then you're fine.

Patrick Henry was right! said...

Crack, still waiting for you to name one non-racist white person.

crickets........

Anonymous said...

Crack says;

"When reparations are mentioned, whites scream nothing can repay the debt - a debt they acknowledge, as long as no dollar amount or national responsibility are attached."

I don't owe you anything, pal.

If anything, you owe me a debt. A thank you will suffice.

Anonymous said...

Crack says;

"You're monsters to everyone but yourselves,..."

Understand this. Killing and beating monsters is acceptable behavior. You're a hero if you destroy the monster.

Pay close attention because no one should say they didn't see this coming.

Crack's rhetoric is getting increasingly violent. In other threads he talks about ass kicking on two different occasions.

This man hates us and thinks us monsters. All sorts of evil can be justified if your opponent is a monster.

Alex said...

So this is the "smoking gun":

But what was most striking was the casual racism of many of the conversations. One anonymous e-mail, forwarded by Walker’s then–chief of staff, went like this: “THE NIGHTMARE ... ‘I can handle being a black, disabled, one armed, drug-addicted Jewish homosexual ... but please, oh dear God, don’t make me a Democrat.’ ” Another compares welfare recipients to dogs: They are “mixed in color, unemployed, lazy, can’t speak English and have no frigging clue who the r [sic] Daddys [sic] are.” This message was forwarded around by Walker’s then–deputy chief of staff, who remarked that it was “hilarious” and “so true.” Last year, Walker also fired two aides after reporters exposed offensive comments they had made on social media. His campaign’s deputy finance director, for instance, sent out tweets that included references to “half-breeds” and one in which she vowed to “choke that illegal mex cleaning in the library.”

So 2 racist asshats circulated an anonymous racist email and Walker fired them. Thus, guilt by association.

Alex said...

Basil... a white infant born right now is racist due to being born into white privilege!

Alex said...

Fortunately Crack is a lone nut, he couldn't possibly bring harm to himself or others.

Right?

The Crack Emcee said...

MadisonMan

"I assume you have a brain. Observe. Find a need. Fulfill it. Make money off that."

For who if no one hires you?

The Crack Emcee said...

Curious George,

"crack, justbecause Nugent said it doesn't make it fact,…"

Now we've got a new white tactic, and it's a doozy:

Change history to suit your tastes.

Nugent says he works closely with Walker - which Walker never denies, only jettisoning Nugent months later when his antics went too far for general consumption.

According to CG, that changes the story to Nugent's a liar.

Because that's the new story CG needs.

Because CG will never accept the truth.

Racist,….

Chuck said...

It has to be so liberating, to be a pro-gay marriage progressive. They alone get to toss around homosexualized epithets like "Tea Bagger," and derisive allusions to the sexual orientation of, say, a Scott Walker.

Makes me really want somebody to dig into Hillary Clinton's sexual orientation, no matter what the facts are.

Just to even the score; not because I need to know or that I even care.

Rusty said...

Crack's rhetoric is getting increasingly violent. In other threads he talks about ass kicking on two different occasions.

Impotence will do that to a guy.

bbkingfish said...

Thank you for bringing my attention to this article. It encapsulates perfectly what I would see as the weaknesses of a Walker national candidacy. He seems like a one-trick pony, and I think his candidacy would help to splinter the wingnut vote, and open the door wider for whichever of Christie, Jeb, Jerry Mahoney, or Romney the establishment finally selects. Walker would be a nuisance candidate, about a half-step above Herman Cain, or Michele Bachmann.

As to the concerns of our hostess and the commenters...

1.) I think the "whiteness" headline was supposed to be a cutesy allusion but is only dumb.

2.) Here is the offending "closeted gay" quote:

"“He was the kind of guy who liked everyone, and everyone liked him. There was never any physical attraction for Scott, girls being all over him.”

He was nice guy, everyone liked him, but the girls didn't chase him. Sounds like Scott had something like my high school profile.

But I can understand how a hyper-partisan Walkerite might think the detail (a direct quote from a named source, which disqualifies it as a smear) might detract from Walker's image as a proper Republican manly man. But, after six years of a wide swath of Republicaniana calling the President a closeted Muslim, I don't think anyone outside the base will be paying much attention to boo-hooing on this score by Walker supporters.

I don't see Ms. Althouse, or any commenters, call out any errors of fact in the McGillis piece, so I must assume the article is factually accurate.







Drago said...

bbkingfish: "...(a direct quote from a named source, which disqualifies it as a smear)..."

Huh?

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/05/28/americans-hate-karl-roves-hillary-clinton-healt/199479

http://mediamatters.org/video/2014/05/27/fox-hosts-amplify-new-karl-rove-smear-calling-h/199469

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/05/14/will-the-media-help-rove-smear-hillary-clinton/199306

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2014/05/13/brian-williams-jumps-defend-hillary-clinton-denounces-nasty-rove-smear-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/13/karl-rove-hillary-clinton-smear_n_5318942.html

Direct quotes from named sources cannot be construed as smears?

LOL

Fen's Law, over and over and over again.

bbkingfish, you better get with the lefties 'cuz they don't understand your axiomatic "rule".

John Cunningham said...

Crack Emcee pronounces Walker a racist because he can't get anything done for blacks. here's a radical thought--how about blacks getting off the porch and doing something for themselves? Crack obviously thinks that blacks are incapable of doing anything for themselves, and that it is up to the Demonrat Party to feed, cloth, and house them.

Bilwick said...

Uncle Crack, docilely hauling water for the "liberal" plantation as usual. He just loves Massa State, and Massa State, he just love Uncle Crack. Not one of them "uppity" types who think their lives belong to themselves and not to the thugocracy.

It's a wonder with all his Mensa activities and economics studies that Crack has any time to write all these comments.

John henry said...

TRIGGER WARNING:REPLY TO CRACKPOST. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK:

We're supposed to do what, with what? Whites took all the wealth, remember? What are we supposed to work with? Clumps of grass?

That describes pretty much every immigrant group that came to or was brought to the US. It is the nature of immigration. The people who are doing well have no reason to leave their homeland. (Yes, I know blacks were brought against their will)

I mentioned the Chinese. They suffered similar discrimination to blacks yet as a group they do better than whites. What did they work with?

Koreans came here with nothing and now own most groceries in many cities.

Blacks of Caribbean ancestry, whose great-great grandparents were slaves do better than whites in the US and have for 100 years or more. What do they have that you don't? Nothing, I would suggest, other than attitude.

Irish, Eastern Europeans, Italians, Scandinavians ditto. They succeeded even though they started with nothing.

White's took your wealth. Kind of a funky argument that I doubt would stand up. Assume it is true, so what?

Create some more wealth. You are trying to do that with your music and I wish you good luck. Others will do it in other ways.

All wealth is created by individuals. You are an individual, go out and create some wealth instead of waiting for someone to give you some.

Time to grow up, Crack.

John Henry

Bilwick said...

"Crack's rhetoric is getting increasingly violent. In other threads he talks about ass kicking on two different occasions."

In that, he's mirroring the Left in yet another way. In the decades of being on the pro-freedom side of the barricades, I've watched the Left (which when I was in college largely consisted of scholars and intellectuals) get stupider and stupider. My own thesis is that this is the result of everyone having access to a computer, so that the Hive's Eloi can just check out the latest online talking points, and then regurgitate the party-line without any independent reading or thinking. So if you scan the comments on most pro-freedom blogs today, it's amazing the percentage of dumb comments from the Left. The libertarian blog "Tranterrestrial Musings" has, for example, an idiot calling himself "dn-guy," who's on the intellectual level of the banjo-playing kid from DELIVERANCE. Here we have Uncle Crack.

The increasingly violent rhetoric would also be characteristic of the contemporary Left. They started out with love-beads and pot, but end up wanting to bash heads. One of the blessings of "Il Dufe's" presidency is that they've pretty much come out of the closet about that, and can't pretend to be peaceful flower-children any more.

Bilwick said...

Uncle Crack, docilely hauling water for the "liberal" plantation as usual. He just loves Massa State, and Massa State, he just love Uncle Crack. Not one of them "uppity" types who think their lives belong to themselves and not to the thugocracy.

It's a wonder with all his Mensa activities and economics studies that Crack has any time to write all these comments.

John henry said...

TRIGGER WARNING:CRACKPOST REPLY

Re Crack's "clumps of grass"

In "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" speaking of Chinese productivity, Heinlein says "If two Chinese went to the far side of the moon today, tomorrow they would start trading rocks with each other. In a year both would be rich." (Quoting from memory)

The point being that people can and do start with nothing pretty frequently and wind up creating wealth in varying degrees from just getting by to billionaire level.

You could do it too.

Couldn't you?

John Henry

The Crack Emcee said...

Rusty,

"Crack's rhetoric is getting increasingly violent. In other threads he talks about ass kicking on two different occasions.

Impotence will do that to a guy."

Members of the group that's famous for raping innocent black women - so many no black American is really black anymore - would know that.

I bow before the big white dicks,...

tim in vermont said...

"For who[sic] if no one hires you?" - Crack

It is pretty clear that you did not understand the comment.

Alex said...

I think Crack snapped over the Trayvon thing. Did you notice before that happened he was sane?

Alex said...

Anyone catch Jason Riley on Medved just now? He's got a new book out basically destroying Crack's entire world-view.

Jason Riley - black hero.

Drago said...

Crack has already flatly stated that he does not care about black girls getting raped.

And he's bowing before "white dicks".

And he has nothing of substance to present regarding the false, but now thoroughly standard and predictable, accusations of racism against a white republican.

And the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

Blacks hardest hit.

Anonymous said...

Let me try to restate what TNR was actually doing: point out that Wisconsin was no more likely to produce a Republican that could win a national election than Massachusetts is capable of producing a Democrat that can do the same.

Is there a racial angle? Of course. If Ronald Reagan gets the same percentage of the white vote today as he did in 1980 he gets crushed. That's why the last Republican to win the White House did not come from Wisconsin, a state where very segregated Milwaukee has its only large population of nonwhite residents, but from Texas, which is much more integrated than Milwaukee, and where Bush was actually very popular with the state's black and Hispanic voters until he ran for president, and as such had the ability to convince moderate and independent whites that he would not go out of his way to alienate blacks and Hispanics. Which was, you know, exactly the opposite of what Reagan did in 1980 with aggressively courting segregationist Democrats (of which there was still a lot, this being barely 15 years since the passage of the civil rights act) who were furious that Jimmy Carter was not segregationist that they thought they were getting.

And that is where the radio talk show hosts come in. A GOPer from a more diverse state with national aspirations would know better than to associate with someone like Belling.

And yes, from the depiction of his article, Milwaukee is uniquely segregated. The suburbs of major cities elsewhere in the country are actually becoming 1/4-1/2 minority, so for the WOW counties to be 97% white is unlike anywhere else in the country. Of course, the fact that upwardly mobile blacks are fleeing failed urban liberal centers like Chicago and Detroit looking for safe neighborhoods, good schools and plentiful jobs is a powerful validation of conservatism and indictment against liberalism. The problem is that where George W. Bush was able to make that case by surrounding himself with upper class suburban blacks (of which there are plenty in Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin) etc.

You have to realize that the battle IS NOT attracting the black vote (although to win you will HAVE to do better with the Hispanic vote than McCain and Romney did). Instead, the battle is to win 60% of the moderate and independent white vote. This article was why Scott Walker cannot do that. The problem is that only people who are already well versed in left-liberalism were capable of comprehending it. It was column written for people who are already well versed in the writings of John Judis and Ruy Teixeira, not for people who believe that blacks vote Democrat because they are affirmative action takers.

tim in vermont said...

So the whole "White Hispanic" and the invidious edit of the 911 call got him all riled?

As soon as I heard the term "White Hispanic" to describe a man who is nearly as black as Obama, his grandfather was black, I knew we would never get the truth about that case.

Humperdink said...

Sixth comment made at 7:31Am today:

Humperdink said: "This is a room service post for our resident racist historian and scholar, enlightened on all-things black and white. And he showed up early to dominate.

Translation: this post will soon enter the death spiral."

Ann Althouse said...

I agree that the "never any physical attraction for Scott" + "girls being all over him" combination is confusing, and maybe we need to follow up with Mr. Flood, but:

1. The writer of the article, who presumably extracted the quote, paraphrased it as "he wasn’t much for chasing girls."

2. The image of the girls being "all over him" signifies that the girls were attracted to Scott. I don't see any way around it, and that being so, the ambiguous "never any physical attraction for Scott" must point to my interpretation, that it was Scott who felt no attraction to the girls and not the girls who felt no attraction to Scott.

3. Other surrounding material indicates that Scott was a very attractive young man and that Scott pursued his interests in politics and religion.

Derve Swanson said...

The image of the girls being "all over him" signifies that the girls were attracted to Scott.
-----------
Ann, you've simply misread.

The man, with the daughter a year older than Scott, said that everybody liked him, but there was never any physical attraction for Scott, there was never girls all over him...

Get it?
"There was never any physical attraction for Scott, girls being all over him.”

Just like today. Who is attracted to Scott Walker? His wife.

Who doesn't get laid on prom night? The religious, Christian kids with far broader backgrounds about sex.

You simply misread the way the old man talks. His daughter liked Scott, nice kid. But there was never any physical attraction (like wow--what a hottie!) for Scott Walker, then or now. Never any girls hanging all over him.

attraction FOR Scott... not attraction BY Scott...

Please just admit, for once, that you have misread what the old Wisconsin fella said, how he said it. Your ear is not as fine tuned as you think.

Shame on YOU for suggesting that evangelical Scott Walker, the preacher's kid, is somehow being implied as a closet gay, with his older wife in a longstanding marriage and two sons. You really have no shame.

The Crack Emcee said...

Alex,

"I think Crack snapped over the Trayvon thing. Did you notice before that happened he was sane?"

Hey, Meade, check it out:

One of 'em wised up!

But not by listening to my words (I've told them this very thing a billion times) but, after months, our little Alex was finally able to put two-and-two together! What an achievement! Way to go, Alex!

(Shouldn't white accomplishments ALWAYS be celebrated with Rice Krispy cakes? I read that somewhere. Oh well.)

I tell you, my faith is NOT misplaced, and I'ma be sure to tell the others as soon as possible:

They may be slow as molasses, and hard to get along with, but some of these white folks got POTENTIAL!!!

Big E said...

Crack is whack. Walker never "endorsed" Duke. Walker refers to Duke as a neo-Nazi and compares him to cannibal killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

But, you won't see that in the myopic sources that you haunt.

e*star said...

I think you're missing that "whiteness" isn't even a bad word. "Unelectable" before "whiteness" is the operative word here. There exists whiteness who is cooperative with blackness, Asianness, what-have-you.

And Republicans are the ones who have a problem with being gay, here, so I find it funny you're considering this as a smear.