Well played, fine sir:
U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, a Hebron Republican, compared Obama and his message for change similar to a “snake oil salesman.”
He said in his remarks at the GOP dinner that he also recently participated in a “highly classified, national security simulation” with Obama.
“I’m going to tell you something: That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button,” Davis said. “He could not make a decision in that simulation that related to a nuclear threat to this country.”
Although the McCain/Obama general election fight is bound to get ugly (and I really don’t think McCain himself will stoop to this sort of thing), part of me wishes the Republicans who can’t help themselves would just come right out and call him a nigger and lay it all on the table.
*** Update ***
And before the weak attempts to claim that the use of “boy” was just due to an age differential, let me point out that this casting call reject from O Brother Where Art Thou is 49 years old. Obama is 45.
More here.
*** Update #2 ***
Priceless. Now wingnut blogs are accusing me of being racist for using the “n-word.” The projection is astounding. A republican calls Obama “boy,” and an Obama supporter, someone who has contributed to his campaign and fully supports him (that would be me, wingnuts) notes that it will get uglier in the general election and that racists probably will start using the “n-word,” and I am to blame. It really is amazing.
And just so it is fully clear, I despise the “n-word.” Not, however, as much as I despise the people who use it to describe other human beings.
Josh
What makes it even better is that he’s named for the president of the Confederacy.
Mwangangi
Wow, that took longer than I thought (the whole BLATANT calling of ‘boy’ and such).
D0n Camillo
“He said in his remarks at the GOP dinner that he also recently participated in a “highly classified, national security simulation” with Obama.”
Guess it’s not so highly classified now, is it?
Jake
Some irony that this comes on the same day John Hope Franklin endorses Obama:
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6080163
If you don’t know who Dr. Franklin is, you should:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hope_Franklin
Dennis - SGMM
“Boy?” What the Fuck? So how long will it take the Clinton campaign to FAX that boy-talking motherfucker’s words to the supers?
Mortimer
I clicked through – what a mistake, but obviously some things never get old…
“I hear she hasn’t been this worried since a new Hooters opened” near her home with former President Bill Clinton, McConnell said, prompting laughs from the 400 Northern Kentucky Republicans.
Woo-hoo! Now that’s some fresh humor right there…
The Grand Panjandrum
Davis did make this public apology today. Doesn’t change what he said, but he at least has the good sense to know when he is wrong.
cleek
what the fuckety fucking fuck does that mean ?
dbrown
In Casablanca, the dumb ass blonde (Ingrid Bergman and asshole writers who damn fucking well knew better)asks who the ‘boy’ is at the piano (the in his fifties (?) black man (Dooley Wilson? aka Sam)). So now a repubic racist still calls an adult black man a ‘boy’, well ‘boy’, have we progressed.
Ellison, Ellensburg, Ellers, and Lambchop
So “Chimp” is OK.
“Boy” is not OK.
Gotcha.
John Cole
I dunno, could you test it for us? Find the next black guy you meet on the street and call him boy. I am dying to find out what you discover.
dslak
Not for the last time!
nightjar
I love it when cracker mea culpate
And there’s more. Seems like this simulation thing he talked about may have been classified.
mightygodking
Yes – see, one is an average, everyday insult, and the other is a common racial slur. It’s weird how they’re almost the same thing except where they aren’t!
Chris
*BONG*
What’d he say?
He said the new President is NEAR!
ThymeZone
If he wants, I can get him a list of trauma centers that have wireless internet, so that he can post while he is on the gurney.
Jay B.
Actually, I’d like you call a black guy Chimp, too Lambchop. Tell us what you find out.
bartkid
>a “highly classified, national security simulation” with Obama.
a.k.a., in his fevered imagination.
Grumpy Code Monkey
You know, I call a lot of people “boy”, regardless of age or color, usually in the context of things like “that boy ain’t right,” or “nice boy, but sharp as a sack of wet mice,” or “boy, you done screwed that up but good” (often in the direction of Chimpy “Codpiece of Steel” McFlightsuit).
Haven’t been decked for it so far; maybe I’ve just been lucky?
jake
Ah, but that’s the beauty of such bullshit. When pressed for more details of this super top secret event he can say that it was a super top secret event and if he tells us the terrists will win.
I’m willing to bet good money that what really happened is a bunch of Congress critters were shooting the shit and someone brought up the 24-Ticking-Time-Bomb-Torture scenario. Obama said it was crap and walked away. Davis wet his tighty whiteys because OMG, OBAMA WOULDN’T CRUSH A CHILD’S TESTICLES IF THERE WAS MAYBE POSSIBLY A DIRTY BOMB SOMEWHERES.
Pathetic bunch of dumbasses.
chopper
who said it was okay to call obama a chimp?
Dennis - SGMM
They were playing “Command and Conquer: Generals.” Obama didn’t want to spend resources on the Aurora bomber so the GLA was able to build their Scud missile launcher unimpeded.
The Grand Panjandrum
He could start with Charles Barkley.
Desmond
Suppose it wasn’t Obama, but any presumptive nominee for the presidency. Do you think it makes any sense to call someone who may very well be the next president “that boy”? Would it make any sense to call McCain “that boy”?
Obama is 45. He isn’t a boy. But “boy” does happen to be a racial slur often directed towards blacks. Obama is black. Connect the dots, dumbass.
cbear
fixt
Dennis - SGMM
Well, it’s official, after Bill Kristol inferred that Obama is a dirty Commie rat, Joe Lieberman offers this (Courtesy of Think Progress):
So he’s a black Red, or a Red black. In any case, Clinton must get the nod to save us from the Communist menace. Meanwhile, I find myself astonished that it’s once again 1954 in America.
RoonieRoo
Shut up Desmond. GCM wasn’t defending the jackass, he was just remarking on his own use of the word in different context.
God I’m getting to where I can barely stand the read the comment threads on this blog. There seem to be nothing but jackasses trying to pick a fight over having a coversation here now.
dslak
A good follow-up question would be: “So you think Obama’s a Marxist, huh? Could you briefly describe Marxism to our listeners without red-baiting? No, I didn’t think so.”
dslak
Pot, meet kettle.
timb
If you take a gander at EEEL’s house, aka Protein Wisdom, their new leader, Karl, is one keystroke away from calling Obama a “boy” or a “porch monkey” or a “n—ger”.
Dan Collins already called him a nigromancer (says he found it in Faust or Dante and purposefully ignores the correct Standard English form “necromancer” so he can make his racial joke).
Seriously, the wingnuts and the super crazy wingnuts (PW, Ace, Blackfive) are just a one story away from calling Obama a “n–ger”.
In other words, you have to forgive EEEL. Where he lives, calling Obama a “boy” or a “chimp” isn’t offensive.
Davebo
Memo to Joe Lieberman.
All that matters is a couple of senate seat pickups.
Whether Hillary or Obama is in the White House next year your senate seniority is toast.
The Commander Guy
Holy cow.
This Geoff Davis was caught in a dress, too. Must be just like his namesake, I guess.
Jay B.
U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis
Perfect. Ol’ “Geofferson” Davis, showing the class and tolerance toward the negro as his homonymic namesake.
I LUV me some South.
GCM wasn’t defending the jackass, he was just remarking on his own use of the word in different context.
You’re right, boy.
Desmond
I apologize if I misinterpreted his intent, but he seemed to be defending it, complete with a sarcastic remark about how he hasn’t been decked yet.
Jeff
I have never ever heard a US Senator referred to as “that boy.”
Those of you being cute who think it’s not a term as bad as “nigger” aren’t going to be able to fool me: for I am from a racist white family, and grown black men were always called “boy” if you were trying to demean them, or “uncle” if you were trying to fondly demean them.
Dennis - SGMM
What makes Lieberman’s remarks all the more appalling is that Obama stood up for him in the last election: Support for War Tests Lieberman’s Re-election Prospects: NYT, April 2, 2006. I guess nobody’s perfect.
QuickRob
Republican makes gaffe and it’s automatically assumed it’s because he’s some racist asshole, even though he apologized within 24 hours…
Democrat makes gaffe and it’s treated two ways at this blog:
1) it’s true, hicks hate niggers and love god and guns
2) Obama was misunderstood!
Hmmmm….am I a troll concern again for pointing out obvious mixed messages?
leinie
And there will be much celebrating throughout the land.
Smug, supercilious, republican-ass-kissing fuck that he be, I cannot WAIT for his permanent retirement from public life.
Dennis - SGMM
No, you’re just a garden variety, lame-ass troll. But thanks for playing.
Doug
Oddly, Davis seems to have been born in Quebec. So, at some point, he presumably had to learn Cracker.
QuickRob
I call all my friend “boy”, “bro”, “man”, or “dude”…how is calling someone “boy” a cracker thing to do?
RoonieRoo
I apologize for flying off the handle Desmond. Since GCM is my better half and best friend for more decades than I’ll admit that I’ve actually lived, I probably do have an inside track on what he means when he writes it.
Amanda
Excellent post on this subject over @ TooSense, my other new fav blog, other than this one…
Dennis - SGMM
Do the nice men in the white coats log you on to the Internet?
Reverend Spooner
My gosh! I’d never noticed the disgusting double standard at this blog!
I’m switching my vote from Obama to McCain, thanks entirely to your astute observation that your extrapolated, paranoid-hallucinatory racism of the Obama campaign is far worse than the flagrant racism of Republicans like Congressman Davis.
Here’s what I’ve learned today:
Pointing out that rural voters tend to care more about issues like religion and guns = racism
Calling Bush “Chimpy” = racism
Calling black Senators 4 years younger than you “boy” = perfectly acceptable; only an unhinged PC Fascist could construe that as racist
The Populist
So now we have a white man calling a black man “boy.” That Davis fella meant it when he said that.
The anger over a black man that lots of people, regardless of race, seem to like is strange yet sad. Why the anger towards Obama? That is the most perplexing thing I’ve seen to date.
Are they angry because he keeps his cool? Are they pissed he has a strong message and they don’t? Are they scared of the black guy myth (angry, will give reparations to blacks, cater to them and take away white America’s say in things, etc).
I hate even talking about it as I am open minded to everybody and I hate when people disparage somebody regardless of color for no reason. This really sucks as this shit is getting very old, very fast.
The Populist
Hey Spooner,
Nice try at snark…
Dennis - SGMM
Forty acres and a mule, bitches!
John Cole
Aww, so cute. Group hug.
No wetsuits, if there are any Republicans in this thread.
Reverend Spooner
And I’m sure Congressman Davis talks just like you do. Why, just last week he called Senator McCain “dude.”
Reverend Spooner
Hey asshole,
Eat a turd.
QuickRob
Spooner,
That was so retarded I cant tell if you are joking or not. Try reading my comment again and see if you can maybe put the pieces together, mm’kay?
Reverend Spooner
Okay, “dude.”
It figures that someone who has trouble remembering which words have been used in racist contexts for the last 350 years would also have trouble discerning sarcasm.
The Populist
Quick Rob,
There’s a difference between calling a black person BOY and calling him “MY BOY.”
See, one is a retread from the days of slavery and Jim Crow while the other denotes respect.
Examples:
1) That boy needs to learn his place.
2) Hey, boy…clean this up.
3) That boy isn’t qualified to do anything.
4) My boy is the best at what he does.
5) Man…Barack’s my boy! You like him too?
6) My boys and I are going to the club to meet some hotties.
The Populist
Spooner,
Can you not get that it was a compliment?
Gosh.
daryljhusseinfontaine
Scattered reports of Republican congressmen calling each other “brah” may be a misattribution of them discussing their preferred after-work wardrobes.
D
The Populist
BTW Spooner, I THINK we are on the same side here.
Are we not?
QuickRob
BOY, contrary to your understanding of the English language, has more than one use. I can’t claim to speak for Davis, I don’t know if his slip was Freudian or innocent, neither can you.
It’s only ill-intentioned when the other guy’s doing it, huh?
carsick
I live near Mr. Davis’ district and I can tell you, growing up at the country club, we always called our server, the gracious Mr. Jeffrey, “Mr. Jeffrey”. We only called him “boy” when we were done with the meal and wanted the dishes cleared.
(Of course, we may have been afraid he’d spit in our food if we’d called him “Boy” before ordering.)
Reverend Spooner
I thought so too. That’s why I was wondering why the friendly fire was coming down on me. Sorry for the retaliation.
But you can say that Obama was racist, can’t you? Can we at least agree on that one?
QuickRob
Funny which way you jump with your conclusions, is all…funny, indeed.
Obama gaffe = misunderstanding
Republican gaffe = racist hate speech bubbling up from the backwoods of Kentucky
Osama Von McIntyre
Obama is 46. He’ll be 47 in August.
The Populist
Quick Rob,
If that was a response to me, I do have a solid understanding of the English language, thank you very much.
I read people’s MEANINGS when they say things. The way he said it and how he used it in context to describing Barack Obama allowed me to discern that Davis accidentally said it BUT there is some truth in the way he attached it to Barack as if he was lazy and couldn’t make up his mind on anything.
I can listen to a soundclip and make a pretty good judgement of the context of one’s words. If you think he didn’t mean anything by it, good on you. To sit here and slam somebody’s understanding of English is pretty low in my world.
TR
Or when it’s a white conservative southerner referring to someone his same age.
QuickRob
What’s even more enlightening as to the double-standard here which is so pervasive as to be unnoticed (forest, trees, yada yada yada)….is that commenters yesterday comment on how Obama’s characterization of wide swaths of small town (white) middle America is correct…and then today we have an off-color comment of questionable malice leading to commenters here remarking about the racism of the kind of people Davis allegedly represents.
QuickRob
The hypocrisy is mind-numbing
MBL
Okay, seriously, anyone who tries to pretend they don’t understand why this is offensive has never been in America. I didn’t know they had internets in the fucking Marinara Trench, but that’s the only imaginable goddamned excuse.
QuickRob
Tr,
or, hmmmmm, like when it’s a privileged black liberal city boy (gasp! boy?!?!) referring to people his church reviles
?
cbear
spooner says-
Quickrob says-
mm’kay? MM’KAY???
WTF?
Get that turd out of your mouth and speak fucking English, boy.
nightjar
He “hesitates” to say he’s a Marxist. Thanks Holy Joe for the reminder of the whiny asshole you are. Will you be taking Zell’s spitballs to the wingnut convention this year. And by the way, it’s good that Iraq is going just dandy.
The Populist
Quick Rob,
I never said that Davis was racist, but one can read into it that way (basically he set himself up in his haste to play the dumb partisan oneupsmanship game). Davis apologized which tells me that he might have misspoke BUT one has to wonder what is going on deep inside for him to even SAY it that way.
See, I judge people on who they are and know better than to use words like that. If I thought Obama was indecisive, why not just SAY he’s indecisive? Respect was lacking when he called him BOY?
Why can’t he just say something like, “(Barack, Obama, Barack Obama, Senator Obama, Mr. Obama, etc) seems to be very indecisive. I wouldn’t allow him near the nuclear button from what I observed today.” or something like that.
See here’s the problem. Slavery was real once. Then came freedom and every attempt to keep these folks down. It’s a sensitive thing to use that phrasing, so I don’t understand why you are so upset over this?
QuickRob
Welp, I’ve made my point here. Whether or not anyone here is adult enough to recognize the circle jerk of hypocrisy isn’t really something I can fix in one sitting.
‘Til next time!
Soylent Green
Obama is 46. Turns 47 on August 4th.
The Populist
or, hmmmmm, like when it’s a privileged black liberal city boy (gasp! boy?) referring to people his church reviles
Your funny! Do you think the folks you vote for on the right care about you? From where I sit, elitists abound in Congress AND the White House.
Fine, you hate Barack Obama. It’s your right but to sit here and pretend he’s an elitist when there are others on both sides of the aisle is pretty uninformed…with all due respect of course.
carsick
QuickRob,
Obama was raised with a privileged background? Please illuminate.
I thought he went to good schools because he was found to be very smart. You may have other information though.
Please illuminate.
The Populist
There goes the coward Quick Rob who can’t debate my point, yet he calls me a child.
Wow. The only child I see is the one who is picking up his toys and going home because he can’t defend his weak arguments.
You made ZERO points since you can’t answer many points outside of generalizing people like a good little Malkin-bot.
Enjoy hanging with those who can’t think for themselves (GASP I just generalized too!) nor defend their points when challenged.
The Populist
Carsick,
He can’t. He won’t defend his points because he can’t.
He’s going to play with the Malkin-bots and brag he beat us down when in fact he was beaten.
His best retort is to use the right wing talking points that Obama is an elitist for some reason. Funny, McCain is not an elitist? Neither is this Davis fella? Or how about Mittens? Or Huckabee? How about Limbaugh? Norquist? DeLay? Abramoff? Bush? Rumsfeld? Cheney?
I can go on and on yet the best Quick (or is it SLow) Rob can do is use generalizations to defend his precarious POV.
nightjar
Oh. go ahead and run away. When you stop, you’ll still be an idjit.
The Populist
The hypocrisy is mind-numbing
The only hypocrite I see is the guy calling other hypocrites while avoiding debate.
You can’t argue our points (and many good ones were made) so you resort to name calling and insults and run away claiming victory.
Funny coming from a rightie…the fact you people need to win all the time YET can’t defend ONE policy decision or partisan viewpoint without crying that it’s a lib-er-ul conspiracy or something.
Argh.
QuickRob
Not running away, just want to eat dinner.
I don’t hate Obama, who told you that? That’s ridiculous.
I am just amazed that the mirror I am holding isn’t helping you see how ugly you are. You’re sitting here talking about slavery and other bullshit because a white guy said “boy” and apologized damn near immediately. Meanwhile Obama can make a very ignorant remark (not saying I hate him, once again) and everyone here falls all over themselves to defend him and his remarks.
The Populist
Hey Malkin-bots:
Is SlowRob the best you can send over here?
flyerhawk
I’m sure QuickRob is correct. Congressman Davis of Kentucky was surely using “boyz” and not “boy’s”. Of course what the liberal media DIDN’T mention was that Congressman Davis’ stage name is G-Diddy and that he just released a new CD on Death Row records.
The Populist
And Rob, you are wrong as I am not defending Obama nor am I saying Davis is a racist.
Read my posts, okay? If you want to debate my points, have at it but at least get my points correct…
Thanks!
The Populist
LOL, now that I think about it…I was showing you how using the word BOY COULD be interpreted the wrong way.
Oh well…
QuickRob
Now I am going to “run away” to eat dinner with “Malkin-bots”, uhhh…..yeah.
I’ll be back tomorrow for more of you guys making hypocrites of yourselves, though.
TR
It’s closer than that. Geoff Davis was born in October 1958, so he is 49, but Obama was born in August 1961, so he’s 46.
flyerhawk
QuickRob,
If Davis had said nigger but then apologized the next day, would that have made it NO BIG DEAL?
The Populist
Flyerhawk,
I’d be willing to give Davis the benefit of the doubt since he did apologize. Guess Mr. Davis proves that ANYBODY can say something in a way that could be misread (cough…Obama…cough…Bitter comments…cough).
TR
Sorry to beat a dead birthday, I should’ve read through first.
The Populist
Now I am going to “run away” to eat dinner with “Malkin-bots”, uhhh…..yeah.
I’ll be back tomorrow for more of you guys making hypocrites of yourselves, though.
Problem is I am not a hypocrite. I find those who use that term tend to be the real hypocrites.
You can’t defend your points YET I AM a hypocrite. Wow…you need to look the word up because I haven’t said ONE THING that hypocritical.
Grand Moff Texan
Dumb crackers against Obama.
And … that’s about it, I guess.
.
The Populist
Hey everybody…QuickRob can’t debate his points, calls others names and then labels everybody who disagrees with his weak points a hypocrite.
Tell me isn’t that kid who takes his toys and goes home when he can’t win or get others to play his way.
nightjar
Sneak peek at new Quinnipiac PA poll.
Soliton
QuickRob,
I’m white, old enough that I grew up in the Jim Crow South, and live in small town middle America and I think Obama was dead spot on with his comments.
Given when and where I grew up I’ve heard the “boy” slur used many times.. A politician in 2008 should know better than to refer to anyone at all as “boy”, let alone a middle aged black man.
Grand Moff Texan
Meanwhile Obama can make a very ignorant remark (not saying I hate him, once again) and everyone here falls all over themselves to defend him and his remarks.
The difference is that Obama is right about people who are stupid enough to vote Republican, whereas the apologizing Cracker will still be an inbred in the morning.
Go get some more talking points, punk. Looks like you need them.
.
flyerhawk
Populist,
Personally I don’t think his apology means crap. I suspect that he didn’t even realize he said it and some aide told him after the dinner.
Pure damage control by him.
Glad he isn’t a Rep for my state.
Dennis - SGMM
I had to make a hypocrite. I didn’t have enough shit to make a QuickRob.
The Populist
Thank you Soliton. I am white, 40 and maybe I never saw the Jim Crow laws in action I’ve studied them.
What QuickRob won’t acknowledge is that when you refer to a black man with “boy” it was once used as a slur. I’ve heard my parents refer to black folks like that and it never hit me until I was old enough to understand it isn’t a compliment.
Sure, Davis apologized but I am sure it will be lost on QuickRob that if he didn’t mean anything by it, fine, but why can’t his side understand that Obama said what he said and why does that make him an elitist? Because he spoke the truth? That from Reagan on down through the Clintons and the current occupant of the White House people living in small, rural towns have been forgotten.
The only time a politician cares is when they need votes. It’s sad. Like Davis, why can’t Quick Rob let the Bitter comments die as a misspoken mistake?
The Populist
Flyerhawk,
If he was my rep, he’d be getting phone calls about that remark.
As I said, if his “apology” can be accepted by some, then so should Obama’s (even though he’s dead on – and I know Republicans in small towns who are not pissed off at all by Obama’s remarks!).
The Populist
Hey good idea…from now on I will say to all hypocrites – don’t be a QuickRob!
Jen
We thought…you was….a toad!
Damn, I love that movie.
If sean is still around, wasn’t blowing you off, just left work around 4:30 or so. I like 30 Rock AND the Office. My humor standards are not particularly high or sophisticated. That said, I netflixed Balls of Fury this weekend. That did not make the cut, Walken notwithstanding.
Uh, yeah. The linguistic stylings of George W. Bush and the racial enlightenment of Strom Thurmond. This guy has straight-shootin’ GOP middle management written all over him.
kchiker
I thought I was depressed at 2000/2004. There is THIS statement, the supporters of the statement…and the people who read Obama’s “bitter” comments and read it as proof positive that he’s an atheist Marxist that hates Christians, whites, and rural people. Then I go over to Althouse (shoot me) and read a thread in which a debate ensues over whether rape is REALLY that bad or whether it’s been overblown by the lovers of feminism/victimization. And then Hillary’s doing shots and shooting possums for Bill to skin and fry.
Anyone have a machete or a triple dose of Prozac?
Jen
Congress.org says he is originally from Montreal.
Was not expecting that.
andy
Sorry about the typo in your name in the trackback up above. I caught it in re-reading the post on my site after it was up. Although, I do think John Cold would make a fine movie star name, should you ever decide to go that route.
jake
Damn it. I wanted to ask QuickKnob if he’d found a link for the PPRC report he quoted.
PK
So far Obama has been or is a muslim, drug dealer in his youth, a snob, an elitist, a snake oil salesmen, a communist, and now a boy. Next up:
Obama is GAY!
nightjar
Talk about crazy uncles.
cleek
no, they’ve done that one, too.
w vincentz
Wow! This thread is very entertaining. That Quickrob guy…oh my!
Now this is off topic, but also entertaining. It shows a parody of the WSJ with a topless Ann Coulter.
Warning: Hope you haven’t recently eaten.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/14/wall-street-journal-parod_n_96494.html
Soylent Green
QuickBoy is not exactly a worthy adversary, guys. It didn’t take me long to plumb the depths of his reasoning powers. He is desperate for attention and validation and will keep peeing all over every thread he enters as long as others keep sniffing his pee trail.
w vincentz
Nightjar,
Johnny is even more insane than I had previously imagined.
I wonder how many votes he thinks he’ll get from taking a stand against the torture of Americans.
nightjar
The drooling moron vote should be a lock.
Pb
That’s really disrespectful of Rep. Geoff Davis — he could have at least called him “Sen. ‘Boy‘”! Then again, this might be step up from calling him “Osama” or “Hussein“, or “un-American“, or a “Halfrican-American“, or a “Marxist“, or a “magic negro“.
To the trolls on this thread: why don’t Republicans get the benefit of the doubt in these situations? Because they burned through any goodwill they might have had a really long friggin’ time ago. It’s surprising, I know, but if you base your party around yowling douchebaggery, eventually that’s what people expect from the franchise. And that’s precisely the shit that you’re standing up for, so fuck off already.
montana
You do not think McCain will stoop to this level???? Explain please; the guy is the stereotypical hypocrite – always has been and always will be. I do not need to detail his transgressions; they have been so well monitored elsewhere. But, how do even recently level headed people, like you John, continue to believe there is an iota of genuine in this guy? Escapes me.
Chuck Butcher
I have found that when people get pressed they turn more passionately to things they already care about and that they have control over. Obama would have been better served to have stated it that way, since that’s what he apparently meant. Neither of these two can help themselves in the least by talking about guns, Obama’s statement he finds the 2nd to be an individual right is right where he should stop talking and Hillary should just STFU. Why Hillary’s campaign thinks that anybody who gives a rat’s ass about supporting the 2nd would do less than mock her is beyond me. Owning a firearm does not indicate an IQ of less than 3. They both suck on the issue, one worse, shut up. Or, put up.
Jen
Well, for one thing, for a 72-year-old white guy to call Barack Obama “boy” would be idiotic and suicidal, the equivalent of Barack Obama deciding to mock McCain for being a POW or something.
Plus, doesn’t McCain love the ladies of color? I seem to remember something about an illegitimate daughter…
Jen
This is from Yglesias.
I like Yglesias, I really do, but he posts this kind of misspelling about three times a day and sends me into a frenzy of, will they let just anybody into HARVARD and to write for the ATLANTIC these days? C’mon dawg, FOURTIES?
Osama Von McIntyre
Well, at least the conversation hasn’t degenerated…
Psycheout
Gee, it’s a good thing the guy didn’t call Islamobama “girl.”
Soylent Green
I think he’s trying not to, and I give him props for pledging not to use or tolerate personal attacks. It will be fun to watch the backpedaling McCain will have to do this year every time the wingnuts slip up and let the slurs fly on his behalf.
Dulcie
I’m convinced that Yglesias uses some kind of voice recognition software to create his blog posts. That’s the only explanation I have for his consistent typos and misspellings.
John Cole
This really is the wrong website to be voicing complaints about typing and spelling.
Jen
No offense, JC, but you’re not an Atlantic writer from Harvard. You’re some dude in W. Virginia with a Pajamas Media blog, and I say that with love. And, your spelling is BETTER, believe it or not.
scarshapedstar
Way to tell Al-Qaeda all our secrets. Terrorists are dancing in the streets.
Grumpy Code Monkey
Oh boy.
First, to state what should be the bloody fucking obvious: I was not defending or justifying Davis’ statement (I was hardly addressing it at all, frankly). From that snippet alone (I have not clicked through the link; I have better things to do), it’s not immediately clear to me that he’s using “boy” as a racial slur, but I agree that the context makes it suspect. I’d just prefer not to count my Klansmen until they’ve lit up the cross on the front lawn (in plain English, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, even if I already know better).
Secondly, that comment made me realize I refer to a lot of people as “boy” in a wide variety of contexts, and was simply musing about how it’s nothing short of amazing that I haven’t been slapped down for it, given the word’s baggage. I also commonly refer to many women (including Hills, Our Lady of Perpetual Outrage, and Madeleine Albright) as “girl” or “chick”, depending on my mood.
Berke Breathed coined a wonderful term: offensensitivity. We’re so hyperaware of “hate” language that we’re ready to attribute malice where none may have been intended. We gleefully (and justifiably) mock Our Lady of Perpetual Outrage, but she’s honestly no worse than a lot of the people participating in this thread.
SpotWeld
It’s getting the point where by the time November rolls around every politician is going to turn into a character from a Fred Allen routine
TenguPhule
One can only hope.
ThymeZone
Yeah, blah blag blah. The fact is, Davis fucked up big time, which is why he issued an abject apology.
I respect the apology, but I have no illusions about why he did what he did. He thought it was okay to refer to a young black senator as a boy. It isn’t. He found that out.
Apparently, you don’t get it. Which is fine, it’s just something we know about you now.
TenguPhule
Fixed.
TenguPhule
jones
yeah, because anyone that criticizes Snobama is a racist. What does that make all you Hillary haters? Women haters I guess.
firebrand
Snobama? What is that supposed to be, witty?
mightygodking
It conflates his dislike of Obama with his dislike of famed white reggae artist Snow.
Doonhamer
No, anyone who uses blatant racial slurs against Obama (Snobama? Really, WTF?) is a racist. You are free to criticize Obama’s policies and methods all you wish, provided you have actually put thought into your arguments and can back them up with evidence and logic.
But again, just so we’re clear:
racists slur ≠ legitimate criticism
NB Misogynist. A nice, grown-up sounding word for you to use the next time you want to accuse an Obama-supporter of being a “woman hater” because they are critical of Clinton’s policies and methods.
Conservatively Liberal
It means he did not nuke Iran when he should have. The way it came across to me, Davis thinks that Obama should not have his hand on the button because he won’t press it.
WTF is this?! I was not aware that there was a dry run to nuke some country that the presidential contenders have to go through before they are selected. Who is the dim bulb that came up with this one? If Davis is going to disclose something about Obama from this super secret program, then release the damn results for everyone. Also, revoke this his security clearances because if he is willing to reveal something like this for perceived political advantage, then he is a criminal and a traitor.
Anyway, the results were probably something like this:
Obama: Too restrained, contemplative and thoughtful about pressing the button; asked too many questions. May not react fast enough when we tell him to nuke Iran. – FAIL
Clinton: Did not fare well with one button; insists that three buttons and a ‘fudge-factor’ switch to bias any two buttons against the third button would work better for her. – FAIL
McCain: Head kept nodding as he drifted in and out of sleep while being read the scenario. He passed the test when he nodded off, leaned forward, his head fell and his forehead hit the button at the right moment. – PASS
About “BoyGate”, the “boy” bit came through loud and clear. I could hear the dog whistle all the way over here on the left coast.
Shorter Davis: You don’t want to let that n****r loose with our nukes!
Obama has to win the primary! When he does, I know this general is going to be one for the history books. No matter how it turns out, good or bad, this is going to be history making.
The Populist
But, how do even recently level headed people, like you John, continue to believe there is an iota of genuine in this guy?
Are you talking about Obama? It’s not hard to find the data that backs up that the guy is very genuine. For one thing, take a look at his voting record in both Illinois and the US Senate. Somebody who’s in this to get elected without doing any work would not waste as much time as he does trying to pass law.
Sorry, if Obama is your target I have more than enough data to prove the guy is pretty genuine.
rachel
Marinara Trench… Is that the one next to the Alfredo Abyssal?
josephdietrich
Grumpy Code Monkey, at least one of us out here knows where you are coming from. I grew up hearing “boy” used interchangably with “guy” in the Indiana-Kentucky redneck dialect. It’s intent might be used racially, but usually isn’t. Davis’s use of the word doesn’t indicate that he meant it as a racial slur. But it came out that way anyway, and he should have known that it would. As Soliton noted above, “A politician in 2008 should know better than to refer to anyone at all as “boy”, let alone a middle aged black man.” So as a public figure he deserves all the outrage he gets.
Grumpy Code Monkey
Goddammit Thymezone, try actually reading what I wrote. I certainly do get what the problem is, which is why I said things like:
and
I’m perfectly aware of the problem with Rep. Davis’ statement. I’m just too damned tired to jump up on the “reject and denounce” bandwagon with everyone else.
Jesus, you’re Exhibit frakking A of what RoonieRoo was talking about; it doesn’t matter what the subject is, be it unfortunate wording or wide-standing congressmen, it’s an excuse for you to pick a fight with everyone else.
And I know you’re simply going to use this response as just another excuse to feel superior to me. And I can live with that. Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, Thymezone gotta be a jackass.
MBL
The funny thing is I’d always thought it was Marinaris until I did a little pre-emptive Googling before I posted. Turns out the Marinaris Trench is on Mars, which isn’t quite what I was going for.
ThymeZone
Whatever. I think you are full of shit. The fact is, the boy thing is a big deal, and I have no idea what the hell you are saying.
There is only one thing to say about it: It’s not acceptable in our society to do it, and it’s a very big deal in this political context. If that annoys you, that’s too bad.
ThymeZone
Oh, and another thing, GCM, I was right about the Larry Craig thing and I’m still right about it, and if you want to have that argument again, we can have it again, and I will be right again. And a year from now if you want to make a snide remark about it and run away, I’ll still be right about it. I was right about in every single aspect. I will always be right about it. That’s why I have no qualms about getting into it again with you any time, anywhere.
My problem with you is that I take you to be an idiot. I could be wrong about that, but as long as you keep doing a good imitation of one, I sort of have an excuse. If you get my drift.
You said this idiotic thing:
Context is everything. Boy is an ordinary word … right up until you call a black man a boy. Like I said, in this society, you can’t do that. Period. And you might want to try Cole’s suggestion, try it on the next black man you meet. Maybe then you’ll get it.
No, now that I think of it, you probably won’t. You’ll get out of the hospital and still make another stupid ass post about it.
QuickRob
Wait, this is confusing…you’re talking about what Obama said, right?
h.y.p.o.c.r.i.s.y.
QuickRob
That fact that the hypocrisy is so abundantly glaringly clear and that, still, there isn’t enough synaptic action in this entire site to see the clear comparison, is tragic.
Soylent Green
Yo, Roberta,
Don’t let the door etc.