Another Democrat Senator shown to be a racist

[1bad65]

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid apologized Saturday for making racially insensitive remarks about Barack Obama during the presidential campaign.

Journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann reported the remarks in their new book, "Game Change," which is scheduled to be in bookstores Tuesday.

The authors quote Reid as saying privately that Obama, as a black candidate, could be successful thanks, in part, to his "light-skinned" appearance and speaking patterns "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."

"He [Reid] was wowed by Obama's oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama -- a 'light-skinned' African American 'with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,' " Halperin and Heilemann say.

"Reid was convinced, in fact, that Obama's race would help him more than hurt him in a bid for the Democratic nomination," they write.

In a statement to CNN, Reid said, "I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words."

"I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African Americans for my improper comments."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/...eid/index.html

Let's see if the guys who jumped on Rush Limbaugh for racist comments he never even made will condemn these racist remarks and call Reid a racist like they did to Rush. MasterKiller and BoulderDawg, this means you guys.

I'm sure Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton sure as heck won't.

[Drake]

I for one condemn the remarks. Wtf was he thinking? This is one spot the dems deserve to lose. There's no room for it in modern government.

[BoulderDawg]

Let's see if the guys who jumped on Rush Limbaugh for racist comments he never even made will condemn these racist remarks and call Reid a racist like they did to Rush. MasterKiller and BoulderDawg, this means you guys.

Really? I guess you have proof I jumped on Limby for comments he never made. The truth is that I don't have too. There are plenty of things he has said.

Well guess what? Obama is light skinned and does not speak with a negro dialect....shocking isn't it! I mean to actually tell the truth about someone concerning his race!

Yell this to the rafters as far as I'm concerned. The only ones that seem offended by it are the neo teagbaggers. Most black people are not outraged or concerned about it. However the one thing that does upset them a great deal is to have white racists tell them what they should be offended about.

[dimethylsea]

I for one condemn the remarks. Wtf was he thinking? This is one spot the dems deserve to lose. There's no room for it in modern government.

There is absolutely no reason to believe Reid was talking about his own personal feelings on race, but rather was making a very realistic and cynical analysis of the American public's view on race.


Let's face it.. we got one of the smartest presidents in decades precisely *because* he is black. A white guy who was as smart and articulate as Obama is would be fighting the perception of "an intellectual elitist". Look at "folksy doksy" Sarah Palin. Or Dubya come to that.

Because Obama is darker than middle America he was able to cast his educational achievements as "the American dream made manifest". If he were a white guy he'd have to find another angle to downplay (rather than emphasize) his intellectual abilities in order to appeal to the electorate that finds powerful minds intimidating.

Reid made those comments in private and not only was he not wrong to do so, he was spot on.

If Obama fit the typical stereotype of a West African/Caucasian mix whose ancestors had been here since slavery days and spoke like Jesse Jackson would he have been nearly as electable? No. Not even. Too many rednecks in middle America fearing "that there n**ger runnin' fer President".

If he were a WASP he would come off like Gore (hey guys! Mr. Spock is running for President!).

We got a very very smart Pres elected this last election precisely because he was "black enough, but not TOO black". Reid did nothing more than say (in private) what most clear-eyed political junkies know is true.

I voted for him, and was glad to get an opportunity to vote for a quality mind, unlike Dubya or someone who would put an idiot like Palin on his ticket.

[Drake]

Why not explain what negro dialect is, then? How is it negroes are expected to talk, then, seeing as Obama doesn't use it? Bill Cosby? Is that negro dialect? Colin Powell? Is that negro dialect? PLEASE explain to me what negro dialect is. Racist.

Well, fortunately Sen Reid, for the brief remainder of his now sunk career, will not have to worry about people who are too dark ruining his party's prospects.

BD, you are a racist, and in a permanent state of denial about it.

[dimethylsea]

Why not explain what negro dialect is, then? How is it negroes are expected to talk, then, seeing as Obama doesn't use it? Bill Cosby? Is that negro dialect? Colin Powell? Is that negro dialect? PLEASE explain to me what negro dialect is. Racist.

Horse hooey! The "Negro Dialect" is basically a Southern American accent when spoken by someone who looks black. The "Negro Dialect" is how *I* talk when I'm feeling maudlin or drinking a bit (and I'm white).. because.. hey.. I'm from Tennessee.

Martin Luther King. Jesse Jackson. All classic examples of that accent. I love listening to an articulate example of that accent precisely because it's "home-like".

If you want an example of "Negro Dialect" and how Obama can "turn it on" when he wants (like one would expect from a skilled orator).. check out this clip..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv6EAaoFNno

The "oops I slipped" moments.. lovely work.

[BoulderDawg]

Martin Luther King. Jesse Jackson. All classic examples of that accent. I love listening to an articulate example of that accent precisely because it's "home-like".

Sho nuff!!!!!!

[BoulderDawg]

I remember being in grad school at Georgia State University. I was walking to class and this very old black guy came up to ask for directions. He had a very strong dialect that I could barely understand even though I had lived in the south all of my life....."Gots ta see mah chillins"......I want to see my children.

I remember thinking, after I gave the guy directions, that the same white cracker power structure in the south that would laugh at this guy is also the same one that probably denied him an education growing up.

[mawali]

That kind of speech is representative of a certain type of speech pattern/accent/class of those originally form the South!
It only tells you the type of individuals Reed is accustomed to associate with in his past so his assumption were that anyone who is "black" according to the USA census directive(s) version, automatically uses a "negro dialect".

[Drake]

I remember being in grad school at Georgia State University. I was walking to class and this very old black guy came up to ask for directions. He had a very strong dialect that I could barely understand even though I had lived in the south all of my life....."Gots ta see mah chillins"......I want to see my children.

I remember thinking, after I gave the guy directions, that the same white cracker power structure in the south that would laugh at this guy is also the same one that probably denied him an education growing up.

It's a southern accent, moron. They all talk like that.

[dimethylsea]

It's a southern accent, moron. They all talk like that.

The more educated a Southerner is.. the more likely it is that they will be able to drop the accent or modify it to something less "country" and neutral/Mid-western/Standard.

Ebonics (so-called) is part of the cultural heritage of Africa-Americans and many people not of color speak in a similar fashion down he'ah.

Similarly lots of blacks who migrated northwards for economic opportunity and less prejudicial environments were still somewhat segregated in their neighborhoods and kept the accent as they moved north, even though it might be generations since their families lived in the South.

Double negatives, swallowing one's "Rs" and other things are the way we (southerners) talk, and it's also often the way black folk (a generation ago we'd say "colored folks") talk depending on their personal preference, educational level, and degree of emotional sympathy with certain parts of African-American history and culture.

The fact that Obama is "black" but doesn't have that "Southern" feel (unless he wants to) helped him out ALOT in the elections.

It's alot easier to vote for someone if they don't ring the guilt/fear meter to ten when they speak.

All Reid did was discuss the issue in private candidly. The only reason he's apologizing is because it's politically neccessary. I doubt Obama gives a rat's ass. He's a intellectual and a technocrat.

[Luk Hop]

............... He's a intellectual and a technocrat.

Thank you for the entertaining read. You hypothetically assume that Obama is an intellectual technocrat.

He is apparently a very intellectual person concerning the long sought after but never achieved utopian society that technocrats like him are constantly dreaming of.


http://www.merriam-webster.com/

Main Entry: 1uto·pi·an
Pronunciation: \-pē-ən\
Function: adjective
Usage: often capitalized
Date: 1551
1 : of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a utopia; especially : having impossibly ideal conditions especially of social organization
2 : proposing or advocating impractically ideal social and political schemes <utopian idealists>
3 : impossibly ideal : visionary <recognised the utopian nature of his hopes — C. S. Kilby>
4 : believing in, advocating, or having the characteristics of utopian socialism <utopian doctrines> <utopian novels>


Main Entry: tech·no·crat
Pronunciation: \ˈtek-nə-ˌkrat\
Function: noun
Date: 1932
1 : an adherent of technocracy
2 : a technical expert; especially : one exercising managerial authority


Is this an example of Obama's extraordinary intellectual prowess as a technocrat that you speak of?

Obama's Green Jobs Program: $135,294 Per Job

http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhi...135294-per-job


"......Yes, but getting these jobs is burning a hole in the national wallet. The problem is that even advocates like Obama concede that these programs are not very cost-effective in creating jobs.

Obama says the grants will create 17,000 cleantech jobs. Well, get out your calculator. $2.3 billion for 17,000 jobs equals $135,294 per job. (And that’s not including the eventual interest on this deficit spending). Those green jobs had better pay well over six figures to justify that expense.

Not to worry, the administration has a plan to solve this, too. It wants Congress to approve another $5 billion for “tens of thousands” more green jobs...."



I suppose time will tell. However, is not time telling us such when we use the Obama administration's own time-line for the effectiveness of such an intellectual technocracy as is being currently displayed?



.".....The announcement was rather obviously timed to counter the news that the nation lost 85,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate stayed at 10% — bad news for an administration that once promised to hold unemployment to 8% by the end of 2009......."

[Drake]

The more educated a Southerner is.. the more likely it is that they will be able to drop the accent or modify it to something less "country" and neutral/Mid-western/Standard.

Ebonics (so-called) is part of the cultural heritage of Africa-Americans and many people not of color speak in a similar fashion down he'ah.

Similarly lots of blacks who migrated northwards for economic opportunity and less prejudicial environments were still somewhat segregated in their neighborhoods and kept the accent as they moved north, even though it might be generations since their families lived in the South.

Double negatives, swallowing one's "Rs" and other things are the way we (southerners) talk, and it's also often the way black folk (a generation ago we'd say "colored folks") talk depending on their personal preference, educational level, and degree of emotional sympathy with certain parts of African-American history and culture.

The fact that Obama is "black" but doesn't have that "Southern" feel (unless he wants to) helped him out ALOT in the elections.

It's alot easier to vote for someone if they don't ring the guilt/fear meter to ten when they speak.

All Reid did was discuss the issue in private candidly. The only reason he's apologizing is because it's politically neccessary. I doubt Obama gives a rat's ass. He's a intellectual and a technocrat.

Again, I hear it from blacks, whites, and asians. So why is it a negro dialect if it comes from the south? Saying negro dialect implies all black people speak a certain way, and unless you live in a bubble, like Reid apparently does, you cannot say that is true. Based on where they are from, I normally hear black people speak the dialect of where they are from.

To say there even is such thing a negro dialect is inherently racist, especially expressing it as a negative trait. Maybe he should also be glad Obama doesn't have negro lips? See where I'm going with this? It's racism.

[dimethylsea]

Again, I hear it from blacks, whites, and asians. So why is it a negro dialect if it comes from the south?

Because it's an integral part of African-American culture. It's woven into the Black church, into the style of preaching which in turn helped give rise to the oratory of the civil rights movement. It comes FROM the South, but when white Southerners moved north they tended to adopt the accent of the Yankees inside of a few generations. This was not generally true of African-Americans who were often segregated informally by poverty and so forth in the North (by law and custom in the South of course).

Saying negro dialect implies all black people speak a certain way, and unless you live in a bubble, like Reid apparently does, you cannot say that is true.

You are erecting a strawman to tear down. Negro dialect does NOT imply ALL black people speak a certain way.. it merely states the undeniable fact that this dialect and manner of speaking is deeply rooted in African-American history. Reid is not in a bubble, he was stating that Obama veers far from this element of Black culture (only to be expected.. he grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia.. both very far from the pivot point of river delta and the cotton fields).

Based on where they are from, I normally hear black people speak the dialect of where they are from.

Certainly you do.. but you aren't Southern (if you are correct me), nor are you black. Also you are in the military and that tends to strip people of their culture and give them the culture of "military". Read Snowcrash and Hiro Protagonist's musings on whether he is "Asian or African or Military".

To say there even is such thing a negro dialect is inherently racist, especially expressing it as a negative trait. Maybe he should also be glad Obama doesn't have negro lips? See where I'm going with this? It's racism.

Fascinating. So in your brilliance you want to call the American Dialect Society and the Dictionary of Regional American English racist?

Everyone get your political correctness guns handy... WIKIPEDIA IS RACIST!!!
"African American Vernacular English (AAVE)—also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular (BEV), or Black Vernacular English (BVE)—is an African American variety (dialect, ethnolect and sociolect) of American English. Non-linguists sometimes call it Ebonics (a term that also has other meanings or strong connotations). Its pronunciation is, in some respects, common to Southern American English, which is spoken by many African Americans and many non-African Americans in the United States. There is little regional variation among speakers of AAVE. Several creolists, including William Stewart, John Dillard, and John Rickford, argue that AAVE shares so many characteristics with creole dialects spoken by black people in much of the world that AAVE itself is a creole, while others maintain that there are no significant parallels.As with all linguistic forms, its usage is influenced by age, status, topic and setting. There are many literary uses of this variety of English, particularly in African-American literature.

[dimethylsea]

Thank you for the entertaining read. You hypothetically assume that Obama is an intellectual technocrat.

He is apparently a very intellectual person concerning the long sought after but never achieved utopian society that technocrats like him are constantly dreaming of.

As opposed to warmongering facist who lied to America to justify invading Iraq?

I'd rather have a compromising intellectual utopian than another Dubya.

But hey.. you'd rather have another one of THESE every decade or so right?


In your name then.. but not in mine!

You do realize the Nobel Prize Committee gave the Peace Prize to the Anti-Bush for the FOURTH TIME when they gave it to Obama?

Carter got it .. for opposing Bush about the war.

Gore got it.. after losing the electoral vote to Bush.

Then Krugman.. anti-Bush columns out the yin-yang.

Then Obama.

I'll take a utopian technocrat anyday over a warmonger thanks.

As long as Obama doesn't start any wars and manages to avoid killing tens of thousands of people he's going to go down in history FAR BETTER than his predecessor. That's why we elected him.. that's why he WON.

Now please whine about it some more. Your tears sustain me