When all else fails, Repugs resort to racism

[TexasTiger 13,028]

They just can't help themselves...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15403071/

[TitanTiger 20,511]

I've gotta say, I've seen the ad in full and I don't buy the racism charge...and I plan to vote for Ford. It's a stupid commercial lacking in taste, but not racist.

[TexasTiger 13,028]

I've gotta say, I've seen the ad in full and I don't buy the racism charge...and I plan to vote for Ford. It's a stupid commercial lacking in taste, but not racist.

I believe it doesn't trigger it in you b/c it's not in you. There are still alot of people in the South, and elsewhere, who get upset over the prospect of a black man with a white woman. The ad is aimed at those people, not you.

[TitanTiger 20,511]

I've gotta say, I've seen the ad in full and I don't buy the racism charge...and I plan to vote for Ford. It's a stupid commercial lacking in taste, but not racist.

I believe it doesn't trigger it in you b/c it's not in you. There are still alot of people in the South, and elsewhere, who get upset over the prospect of a black man with a white woman. The ad is aimed at those people, not you.

Interesting thought. I hadn't considered it that way. Still not sure if I think it was 'aimed' at them for that reason...but I could definitely see some dumb rednecks getting that out of it anyway.

[TexasTiger 13,028]

I've gotta say, I've seen the ad in full and I don't buy the racism charge...and I plan to vote for Ford. It's a stupid commercial lacking in taste, but not racist.

I believe it doesn't trigger it in you b/c it's not in you. There are still alot of people in the South, and elsewhere, who get upset over the prospect of a black man with a white woman. The ad is aimed at those people, not you.

Interesting thought. I hadn't considered it that way. Still not sure if I think it was 'aimed' at them for that reason...but I could definitely see some dumb rednecks getting that out of it anyway.

In a race this tight and polls showing typical Republican voters to be far less motivated than usual, efforts are being focused on the margins, IMO.

[MDM4AU 336]

They just can't help themselves...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15403071/

That would be equal to someone saying that everytime Jessie Jackson or Sharpton play the race card that it's "Dims Play race card when all else fails. They just can't help themselves"

That's the problem with politics today. Everyone wants to blur the lines enough to help their Team (Donkeys or Elephants). America will suffer until we wake up.

[Tiger Al 0]

They just can't help themselves...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15403071/

That would be equal to someone saying that everytime Jessie Jackson or Sharpton play the race card that it's "Dims Play race card when all else fails. They just can't help themselves"

That's the problem with politics today. Everyone wants to blur the lines enough to help their Team (Donkeys or Elephants). America will suffer until we wake up.

Apples to oranges. The ad is paid for and, ostensibly, approved by the RNC, not the individual candidate.

[quietfan 233]

I found this part of the article particularly interesting:

Corker himself called the ad “distasteful” Tuesday, telling MSNBC-TV, “I think it ought to come down.” Meanwhile, Bill Cohen, a former Republican senator from Maine, criticized it in an interview on CNN as “a very serious appeal to a racist sentiment.”

But Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said Tuesday that he saw nothing wrong with the ad.

“After the comments by Mr. Corker and former Sen. Cohen, I looked at the ad, and I don’t agree with that characterization of it,” Mehlman told NBC’s Washington bureau chief, Tim Russert...

“I think that there is nothing more repugnant in our society than people who try to divide Americans along racial lines, and I would denounce any ad that I thought did,” said Mehlman, who addressed the NAACP last year, apologizing for the Republican Party’s race-tinged “Southern strategy” during the 1970s and ’80s.

“I happen not to believe that ad does,” he said, adding that even if he wanted to pull the ad, he couldn’t.

Even though a woman’s voice discloses that “the Republican National Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising,” Mehlman said the RNC was not, in fact, responsible. He said the ad was produced by an independent group contracted by the RNC, with whom he is prohibited from communicating.

“The way that process works under the campaign reform laws is I write a check to an independent individual and that person’s responsible for spending money in certain states,” he said. Beyond that, he said, the RNC is out of the loop.

So even though the candidate himself (Corker) finds the ad distasteful and even a former Republican senator from Maine finds it an "appeal to a racist sentiment", the chairman of the Republican National Committee sees nothing wrong with it. I would think the National Committeee ought to listen to local candidates before running ads on their behalf. [Of course, one wonders if Corker found the ad "distasteful" before it drew media criticism and national attention.]

And in some sense this is almost the opposite of MDM4AU's Jackson/Sharpton analogy. If Jackson, Sharpton, or any individual on either side gets too outrageous, the national party suffers embarrassment and usually seeks to distance itself from irrational extremism. Here the local candidate (who, incidentally, should understand local attitudes much better than Mehlman) wants to distance himself from the racial implications while the national party is the one allegedly playing the race card.

I also wonder about Mehlman's claim that he has no control over the ad. I admit I don't know the particular campaign reform laws he refers to, but surely there is mechanism to provide the source of the money with oversight of some sort. If not, what prevents an independent ad maker from taking the money and spending it advertising for the other side, or producing an ad so obviously repulsive that it hurts the candidate. For example, if the "independent" ad maker produced an ad as blatent as, say, KKK members in their white sheets endorsing Corker and using the "N-word" to attack Ford, am I to believe the National Republican Party could do nothing about it after they hand over the check?

[MDM4AU 336]

They just can't help themselves...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15403071/

That would be equal to someone saying that everytime Jessie Jackson or Sharpton play the race card that it's "Dims Play race card when all else fails. They just can't help themselves"

That's the problem with politics today. Everyone wants to blur the lines enough to help their Team (Donkeys or Elephants). America will suffer until we wake up.

Apples to oranges. The ad is paid for and, ostensibly, approved by the RNC, not the individual candidate.

Still doesn't mean republicans as a whole are racists because SOME make a questionable ad. That is the point I'm making.

[quietfan 233]

Still doesn't mean republicans as a whole are racists because SOME make a questionable ad. That is the point I'm making.

OF course not, and I agree with you on that.

[Tiger Al 0]

They just can't help themselves...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15403071/

That would be equal to someone saying that everytime Jessie Jackson or Sharpton play the race card that it's "Dims Play race card when all else fails. They just can't help themselves"

That's the problem with politics today. Everyone wants to blur the lines enough to help their Team (Donkeys or Elephants). America will suffer until we wake up.

Apples to oranges. The ad is paid for and, ostensibly, approved by the RNC, not the individual candidate.

Still doesn't mean republicans as a whole are racists because SOME make a questionable ad. That is the point I'm making.

I didn't think TT was saying that ALL repugs resort to racism. I took it to mean he was talking about the ones involved in this ad as well as the audience the ad was hoping to resonate with. TT can clarify his meaning, though.

[AURaptor 1,126]

Where's the beef? Err... 'racism'??

I met a black guy at a playboy party? How the **** is that 'racists' ? Blacks don't go to playboy parties ? Blacks don't talk to white playboy bunnies ? WTF ??

(TitanTiger @ Oct 24 2006, 09:49 PM)

I've gotta say, I've seen the ad in full and I don't buy the racism charge...and I plan to vote for Ford. It's a stupid commercial lacking in taste, but not racist.

I believe it doesn't trigger it in you b/c it's not in you.

I believe it doesn't trigger any racists charge because there's no racism in it. Occam's razor and such.

More from the culture of divide and obscure, your DNC.

[TitanTiger 20,511]

Just saw on the news up here that the RNC has pulled the ad. They replaced it with one that goes after Ford's record, which is always fair game. The other ad was just stupid.

[AURaptor 1,126]

Just saw on the news up here that the RNC has pulled the ad. They replaced it with one that goes after Ford's record, which is always fair game. The other ad was just stupid.

If it's stupid and ineffective, it should be called 'stupid and ineffective'. It shouldn't be called racists when it's not. The Racism card is being called far, FAR too much these days, and everyone suffers the effects.

[Captain Liger 0]

The Racism card is being called far, FAR too much these days, and everyone suffers the effects.

Because it's conveinient and doesn't take any imagination to come up with something better.

Childish commerical? Yes. That's what I got out of the whole thing. Racist? Certainly not.

[TexasTiger 13,028]

They just can't help themselves...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15403071/

That would be equal to someone saying that everytime Jessie Jackson or Sharpton play the race card that it's "Dims Play race card when all else fails. They just can't help themselves"

That's the problem with politics today. Everyone wants to blur the lines enough to help their Team (Donkeys or Elephants). America will suffer until we wake up.

Apples to oranges. The ad is paid for and, ostensibly, approved by the RNC, not the individual candidate.

Still doesn't mean republicans as a whole are racists because SOME make a questionable ad. That is the point I'm making.

I didn't think TT was saying that ALL repugs resort to racism. I took it to mean he was talking about the ones involved in this ad as well as the audience the ad was hoping to resonate with. TT can clarify his meaning, though.

You made the point well. Apples to oranges. Jackson and Sharpton have never been elected to anything. We're talking about the Republican National Committee here. This isn't complicated.

[MDM4AU 336]

They just can't help themselves...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15403071/

That would be equal to someone saying that everytime Jessie Jackson or Sharpton play the race card that it's "Dims Play race card when all else fails. They just can't help themselves"

That's the problem with politics today. Everyone wants to blur the lines enough to help their Team (Donkeys or Elephants). America will suffer until we wake up.

Apples to oranges. The ad is paid for and, ostensibly, approved by the RNC, not the individual candidate.

Still doesn't mean republicans as a whole are racists because SOME make a questionable ad. That is the point I'm making.

I didn't think TT was saying that ALL repugs resort to racism. I took it to mean he was talking about the ones involved in this ad as well as the audience the ad was hoping to resonate with. TT can clarify his meaning, though.

You made the point well. Apples to oranges. Jackson and Sharpton have never been elected to anything. We're talking about the Republican National Committee here. This isn't complicated.

Just so I know where you are coming from:

A.) Do you honestly feel it is racist?

B.) Are you saying that because of the RNC involvement all Republicans should be viewed the same (ie guilt by association)

And again, before you get all sassy, I am just trying to find out where you are coming from on this

[TexasTiger 13,028]

They just can't help themselves...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15403071/

That would be equal to someone saying that everytime Jessie Jackson or Sharpton play the race card that it's "Dims Play race card when all else fails. They just can't help themselves"

That's the problem with politics today. Everyone wants to blur the lines enough to help their Team (Donkeys or Elephants). America will suffer until we wake up.

Apples to oranges. The ad is paid for and, ostensibly, approved by the RNC, not the individual candidate.

Still doesn't mean republicans as a whole are racists because SOME make a questionable ad. That is the point I'm making.

I didn't think TT was saying that ALL repugs resort to racism. I took it to mean he was talking about the ones involved in this ad as well as the audience the ad was hoping to resonate with. TT can clarify his meaning, though.

You made the point well. Apples to oranges. Jackson and Sharpton have never been elected to anything. We're talking about the Republican National Committee here. This isn't complicated.

Just so I know where you are coming from:

A.) Do you honestly feel it is racist?

B.) Are you saying that because of the RNC involvement all Republicans should be viewed the same (ie guilt by association)

And again, before you get all sassy, I am just trying to find out where you are coming from on this

I think it was intended to impact a certain sect of racist voters to motivate them to vote against Ford. I think the RNC involvement speaks to a history of GOP tactics that appeal to racist sentiments.

Of course, all Republicans are not racist. I'm not even implying that most are. But since Nixon's "Southern Strategy" one can trace a number actions on the part of the GOP apparatus that appeals to underlying racist sentiments.

[AURaptor 1,126]

I think the RNC involvement speaks to a history of GOP tactics that appeal to racist sentiments.

Oh, like Willie Horton? That baseless charge has been brought up so often, that it's blindly accepted as being 'racists' when it's nothing of the sort. It IS factual, though,and that's what bothers the Dems the most. Another small point that seems to escape the Dem's attention is it was Al Gore, and not George Bush 1 who first brought up Dukakis' revolving door furlough program.

On October 26, 1974, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Horton and two accomplices robbed Joseph Fournier, a 17 year old gas station attendant, stabbed him 19 times, and left him in a trash can. Fournier died from blood loss. Horton was convicted of murder, sentenced to life imprisonment, and incarcerated at the Concord Correctional Facility in Massachusetts. On June 6, 1986, he was released as part of a weekend furlough program but did not return.

On April 3, 1987 in Oxon Hill, Maryland, Horton twice raped a local woman after pistol-whipping, knifing, binding, and gagging her fiancé. He then stole the car belonging to the man he had assaulted, but was later captured by police after a chase. On October 20, Horton was sentenced in Maryland to two consecutive life terms plus 85 years. The sentencing judge refused to return Horton to Massachusetts, saying, "I'm not prepared to take the chance that Mr. Horton might again be furloughed or otherwise released. This man should never draw a breath of free air again." This was reported in the October 1987 Reader's Digest.

And for some odd reason, Libs like yourself omitt the race baiting ads that Democrats and the NAACP put out during campaign time. Examples like the daughter of James Byrd , the man who was dragged to death in Texas, asserting that Bush will do the same to blacks if elected President. (It was the Bush Justice Dept in Texas which put to death 2 and sentenced the 3rd animal convicted to life for that crime ) And then there was the ad which intimated that black churches would burn if Republicans were voted back into office.

Ahhh yes. The Democrat Party. The 'truth to power' people.

[Ranger12 46]

Yep, them ole' racist republicans. Damn them for putting minorities in more positions of power in the current presidential administration then any democrat ever had.

[quietfan 233]

Off topic slightly, but just an observation: I watched the ad, and if that woman was hanging out at a Playboy party, Hef's standards are slipping badly!

[TitanTiger 20,511]

Off topic slightly, but just an observation: I watched the ad, and if that woman was hanging out at a Playboy party, Hef's standards are slipping badly!

No joke.

[Ranger12 46]

Off topic slightly, but just an observation: I watched the ad, and if that woman was hanging out at a Playboy party, Hef's standards are slipping badly!

Well, he is like 80-something years old isn't he? His eyesight is probably shot.

[AURaptor 1,126]

Off topic slightly, but just an observation: I watched the ad, and if that woman was hanging out at a Playboy party, Hef's standards are slipping badly!

Well, he is like 80-something years old isn't he? His eyesight is probably shot.

Could be that Hef's using other means than just stunning good looks to choose his bunnies? ( Me thinks this may lead down a road best left untraveled )

[CCTAU 3,349]

Not racist. I thought the whole female thing (black or white) was to put emphasis on his character and the fact that he had taken money from porn producers. It was more about raunch than racism.

Now on the other hand, I'm not voting for him because he's raunchy. I'm not voting for him cause he's black. That is my right. Blacks do it every day and its called solidarity. White folks do it and its called racism. How is that racist?