Remember when this blogger was our reside PUMA troll?
Any bets on how long before someone claims he (Cain) was dogwhistling to the white racists that “he knows his place” by singing an old negro spiritual?
Seriously though, he was dogwhistling – to black Americans. He was reminding the black community that he is one of them. If he can win over a big chunk of their votes he’s not just electable, he’s unbeatable. No other Republican candidate can do that.
I wonder how many hymns Barack Obama knows by heart?
So hard to tell if this is spoof or not. It’s such a fine line between clever and stupid.
kindness
What was his screen name here?
Stooleo
@kindness:
myiq2xu.
Jeez Doug, how and why do you find this shit?
Emma
Sorry, there’s no line. Stupid all the way.
joes527
unbearable is misspelled.
Rafer Janders
Did you read the comments? So far beyond stupid that they’ve moved on into an alternate reality. Really, for a brief second I was tempted to reply, but then realized it’s be hopeless because it would, literally, be arguing with the insane.
General Stuck
I don’t remember MyIq2xu being all that clever, to make this some kind of spoof. Sounds more like a racist PUMA type doing his own barely disguised dogwhistling/mocking, since everyone knows that black politicians can be measured by how many “negro spirituals” they can sing from memory.
cleek
i liked seeing hope for Hillary show up in the comments there.
keep fuckin that chicken, PUMAs
Martin
@Stooleo: It was in the blogger breakdown that Nate did yesterday.
myiq2xu has a permanent hard-on for any politician with a vagina. If you read a few of those posts on his site, it become clear that Cain is only being defended as he’s warming Palin’s seat for her inevitable announcement and defeat of that misogynist usurper.
General Stuck
And gotta say, linking a Corrente dimwit this early in the morn should be illegal. Or, like my dog dragging a rotting deer leg into the apartment.
Montysano
From the comments I learn that singing a hymn (without a teleprompter! Suk it 1ibtards!) is the new “he’s a guy I’d like to have a beer with”.
We’re all Mahalia Jackson now.
Zifnab
What’s the over-under on this question being posed by a FOX News correspondent in an Obama / Cain Presidential debate?
jl
But what if underneath his dogwhistle to African Americans was a double reverse double dog dare whistle to white bigots, that he will seduce African Americans into supporting him and leading them to spiritual acceptance of their rightful place in society (that they really should be happy and content about) through spiritual music?
Huh? What about that? Huh?
But… what if his double dog dare whistle was a triple reverse triple dog double dare whistle whistle to African Americans that he is wise to the ways that the white power structure co-opts and blocks the rightful and just aspirations of African Americans, and they suddenly realize that they are really ‘slaves on the liberal plantation’ and they rise up to throw off their chains to a man who will, finally introduce free enterprise Freedom!
Ahh… but the bigots surely know who has the main chance to win this round of the endless capitalist producer versus parasite communist class war, and know that Cain is using the triple double dog dare whistle whistle whistle as a ploy, and will sell them down the river.
On other hand, the Occams razor leads to the conclusion that Cain, like all the other GOP candidates is simply a goofy swindler.
Steve
Did Cain even get the words right?
John Cole
I didn’t know what he sang was an actual hymn. I thought it was a stream of consciousness rendition of Amazing Grace.
Tonybrown74
OMG! Sometimes people just are trying their damnedest to drive people to violence. That is just some offensive shit.
Dogwhistle to black people to show that he is one of “us”??? WTF!!
The Moar You Know
Nobody else but our old friend myiq could post something that out of touch with reality.
Some people get driven to distraction by it, but me, I always love hearing the old classics one more time.
beltane
Which troll was this and why did you make me click over to such a crazy corner of the blogosphere?
Nevgu
Teabaggers have this dillusion that Cain can split the black vote coupled by their other dillusion that the only reason Obama won was because of the black vote.
The smart thing to do would be to keep feeding that dillusion because although Obama is pretty much guaranteed to win against Mittens, it will be an absolute slaughter with Cain and would include an even bigger majority win in the House and a few more senate seats.
So it’s all good, yea Cain is the sheit and Obama is quaking in his boots…yea Cain would be….urrum unstoppable…yea geez….hope that does not happen……
Disgruntled Lurker
@John Cole:
My first lol of the day.
Liberty60
@jl: But his triple reverse triple dog double dare whistle whistle could be blocked by Obama breaking into a Negro spiritual combined with a tap dancing routine on a set of stairs, maybe with a little white girl or something.
Now THATS some eleventy dimensional chess right there!
kd bart
Wait till Cain starts telling Jewish jokes.
taylormattd
omg, why did you show me the link to that shithole. I recognize at least two of those PUMA psychopaths. They are STILL obsessed with nothing but Obama being blackety-blackety-black.
jl
@Liberty60: I will look through some old Merrie Melodies, one of which surely foretold the scenario, if only we could read the signs. This old troll, whoever it is, probably has spotted it, but surely has misread the clues.
BGinCHI
Do as I did and add a nice comment to the mix. If it survives moderation….
Disgruntled Lurker
OK, I went back and listened to the whole thing again.
As far as A cappella hymns sung off the cuff go, it’s pretty good.
Yesterday I just thought it was weird and creepy. I still do to a certain extent, but now I can see why people who love the guy might find it moving.
MTiffany
I’m going to bet that Whitey McWhiterthanthou knows precisely zero black people.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
Then we find out that, among Obama’s other skills, is the ability to memorize a song the first time he sings it. So, when he says 843, don’t be surprised.
Paul in KY
@jl: Whoa man, heavy.
Shinobi
There’s only one thing that I like and that is dog whistling in the dark.
Amir Khalid
It’s been pointed out recently (was it in the NYT?) that African-American voters support Obama for rational reasons i.e. he’s clearly a lot more rational than any Republican candidate. Whereas Cain is selling what his white fellow candidates are selling, in terms of policy; the reaction to that among black voters (and not just them, of course) is DO NOT WANT.
Plus, this kind of attempt at dog-whistling to black voters must seem to them shallow and condescending. Is Cain getting any backlash from black voters specifically over this?
norbizness
To answer your question, no I don’t, but at least you threw him some traffic, so it’s all good. Attention is like poison to them!
Tonybrown74
@Amir Khalid:
Anecdata != Data.
However, my mother and her friends are so angry at that man for many of the things he’s said about black americans that they can’t even articulate the contempt they have for him.
Someone in another thread said that he comes across as a minstrel.
I agree 100%. His entire campaign is offensive to me.
norbizness
I also take issue with the tag; I do not feel that there is any proximate causation between your reading certain stupid websites and the lack of compulsion for me to do the same. In fact, I would say that my complete lack of awareness that such a website exists (or, in the alternative, my not caring) is more closely related to my failure to read the post in question.
RSA
TPM quotes Cain:
Of course it’s a dogwhistle to to black Americans!
/snark
Tom Hilton
@General Stuck: Speaking of which, the other day I saw a comment by Lambert Strether over at ABL’s place. So, um, I guess he’s still alive.
He must be so pissed off that FDL stole his schtick and made him completely irrelevant.
Woodrowfan
I can see it being a dog-whistle to certain groups of conservative black Baptists not that he’s black but that he’s religious.
gaz
I followed the link and checked the post. I know that douche that wrote the thing. It’s not a parody. The poster *myiq2xu* is painfully stupid, arrogant, and ignorant. We’ve had our run-ins before. That is all.
Anya
Cain’s new explanation: “There’s no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about capitalism and raw hate of liberalism, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate.” then he broke into gospel hymn. Standing ovation. The end.
gaz
adding, I doubt myiq2xu could even multiply my IQ by 2 in his tiny little head.
Svensker
But Coulter says that “our blacks are so much better than their blacks”.
Amir Khalid
@Svensker:
My, that sounds very … possessive. How 1850s of her.
Kola Noscopy
Man, it is some wild shit to watch BJ, led primarily by DougJ, work its hand at insane levels of tribalism rivaling the same crap on the far Right.
Just stupid.
Steve
I have seen comments about “dogwhistling” from my own political allies that were almost, but not quite, as dumb as that post. I am to the point of thinking that references to the concept need to be banned altogether.
BGinCHI
@Kola Noscopy: Ohhhh, both sides do it?
Well, that clears it up then.
Thanks.
cleek
@Steve:
seconded
Woodrowfan
@Steve:
We could call it Lily’s Law, a variation on Godwin’s Law perhaps?
Seriously, I agree it’s overused and the “Cain sings to show he’s black” is dumb, but I do think “dog whistling” is a valid concept in understanding some political messaging. I don’t think though that by singing a song to the tune of “Imagine” that Cain was signaling the vital Beatles Fans demographic..
Anya
What these idiot wingnuts (redundant, I know) don’t get is that AAs don’t vote against their interest. Just because your black doesn’t mean you automatically get a vote, no matter how much you use racism or dog whistle.
They should just talk to former Memphis Mayor Willie Henreton who attempted to knock off incumbent Steve Cohen in a majority black district — by basing his campaign on race as an appeal to black vote.
Tennessee’s 9th District voters gave him the finger, and handed Steve Cohen a landslide victory. AAs have been voting for white candidates for decades so I don’t get this fixation with “blacks voted for Obama because he’s black” crap that even some on our side are peddling.
harlana
@John Cole:
that’s what it sounded like to me
sounds like somebody doesn’t know his/her negro spirituals very well and that maybe they shouldn’t talk about stuff they don’t know anything about
as for this: “I wonder how many hymns Barack Obama knows by heart? ”
i don’t know but i bet he could scat a mean Onward Christian Soldiers
Kola Noscopy
@BGinCHI:
No, fool, far right blogs and BJ do it. May come as a surprise to you that BJ does not comprise the entirety of the blog roster to the left of Red State.
Also, too: BJ, while being left of Red State, remains Right of Center in any sane assessment.
birthmarker
As a deep South-er, I took it as a dog whistle to the religious. (I guess because they understand the repentant nature of a sinner. And that all can be forgiven. And we are all just weak humans.)
Hit me as a major fail. It didn’t seem to appropriately resonate at all.
Remember, it’s really the independents you are fighting for.
Howlin Wolfe
@Nevgu: “dillusion” – what they put cucumbers in to make pickles?
celtidragonchick
@General Stuck:
I agree.
trollhattan
I’m sure this isn’t an original thought, but what’s the difference between the PUMAs and C4Ps? I canna tell the difference.
kindness
@General Stuck: Do you have a lot of deer roaming the apartments where you live? (snark)
Villago Delenda Est
It cannot be that all those blacks are judging candidates by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin, can it?
I mean, is it really that difficult to believe?
It is if you’re a white racist shit, of course…or someone in league with them…
jibeaux
He can’t. Also out: medium-sized chunk of their votes.
DougJ
@Stooleo:
Nate Silver included him on his list of 46 influential conservative bloggers.
catclub
@Anya: Mississippi would be VERY interesting in a Cain vs Obama race. Obama won 11% of the white vote in 2008 and still got over 40% of the total.
(if he had gotten 16% I think he would have won mississippi).
What happens if two black men are on the ballot? I truly don’t know, but it is quite possible that Obama would win.
Certainly more likely than if on ecandiate were white.
Note that no one says the whites overwhelmingly voted for McCain because he is white. Funny that.
birthmarker
@catclub: I’d say wide open for a third party candidate.
Anya
I guess we’ll never know since Cain’s campaign is evaporating.
Rathskeller
@Liberty60: well done.
Rathskeller
@catclub:
That situation is the ultimate source of the evergreen 27% crazification factor dialog.
Hoodie
The “negro spiritual” is actually a tune by a white evangelical, Dottie Rambo. Negro spirituals tend to have their roots in the suffering of slavery, not in Jesus forgiving you for discussing the dimensions of your cock with a female executive assistant. It was dogwhistle to the “persecuted conservative” crowd, desperately trying to change the subject.
Epicurus
I would like a really big bag of what some of you folks are smoking. Repeat after me; Herman Cain will NEVER be the nominee of the GOP in 2012. Not. Gonna. Happen. Sorry to break up the wonderful fantasy of two black men vying for the office; the Teabaggers and unreconstructed Confederates who make up about 80% of the party simply will not allow it. That is all.
Michael
@birthmarker mostly nails it. Cain was singing to the choir. He was also trying to blunt the scandal by showing, “Hey, I’m such a good guy I can belt out a spiritual at a formal event and make everyone feel good and forget all this harassment BS.”
ruemara
1. Herman Cain did not know the lyrics by heart.
2. AA’s are not impressed by the minstrel show.
3. We’re not your blacks, and we know even the ones you like are only yours until after the election. Fuck you.
4. There has got to be a place where PUMAs can have a safe cordoned off internet where they can stay, safe from being considered as readable.
lethargytartare
@Shinobi:
TMBG FTW!
Hungry Joe
“It’s such a fine line between clever and stupid.”
Actually, it’s not.
BGinCHI
@Kola Noscopy: Yes, that does surprise me.
Do you have a newsletter? Because I think you are really breaking some new ground here.
Please stay around and enlighten us on all of this. Just fascinating.
Kola Noscopy
@Villago Delenda Est:
Are you seriously arguing that the color of BO’s skin has nothing to do with his popularity among black voters?
DougJ
@Hoodie:
Ha!
Ben Cisco
@Amir Khalid:
Specifically, no. As the kids say, I ain’t mad at him.
__
Sure, he’s the worst sort of overseer wannabe, huckabuckin’ fool that embodies what the NeoConfederates see as the “ideal”
African American black negroboy, but his pitiful minstrel show and their embrace of it show them for what they are. Personally, I think he saw the con Snowbilly Barbie pulled and figured he’d up the ante. This “scandal” gives him the best of both worlds – he doesn’t (and never had to) worry about winning the office, and the rubes are STILL going to throw money at him. Frankly, they deserve each other.Paul in KY
@harlana: I’d like to hear him tear up ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’.
PaulB
Yeah, and McCain will win because he chose a female VP candidate and women will flock to her side. Gee, I wonder how that worked?
What’s hilarious is how much idiots like this reveal about themselves by their idiotic assumptions about others. That he thinks African-Americans are that stupid speaks volumes.
Brachiator
@Kola Noscopy:
No more than JFK being an Irish Catholic made him popular with Boston Irish Americans and Catholics in general.
From The Religious Factor in the 1960 Election:
In working class Charleston, JFK’s Irish support was 89 percent.
patroclus
I’m not considering Cain until he can sing “Unchained Melody” a cappella.
Trinity
@Hoodie: FTW!
Brachiator
@DougJ: Even better than PUMA Dog whistlers, Ann Coulter weighs in on Cain’s ethnic authenticity:
Coulter always struck me as the cross dressing Charlie Sheen of political punditry, someone always veering dangerously close to a public mental breakdown. I wondered when she how she would inject herself into the national scene again.
She does not disappoint.
eemom
I adore this post title.
Hoodie’s comment is awesome too.
Rathskeller
@Kola Noscopy:
It might be the start of his popularity, but it’s obviously not the end of it. The black voters, as a bloc, have shown themselves to be relentlessly focused on their group interests, not on the color of the candidate. White candidates have repeatedly beaten black ones in many state, local, and presidential races. That’s rational, and entirely grounded in their painful experiences over the years.
For instance, Al Sharpton only placed third among black voters back in in 2004, behind Kerry & Edwards. The people placing the most emphasis on racial identity regularly get suckered into thinking that clowns like Herman Cain, Michael Steele, or Alan Keyes have a chance. But they are insane or incompetent, and their pigmentation doesn’t change that fact.
rikryah
I said it before, and I’ll say it again…
I was looking for a word that applied when I saw the video of him singing…
and the word for Cain was MINSTREL.
Him standing up there, breaking into song….
a goddamn MINSTREL.
As a Black person, I just CRINGED.
He’s dancing, and jigging for Mr. Charlie so hard, my head is spinning.
he disgusts me.
Warren Terra
Regarding Cain, I was amused to discover that his wifre will be bravely venturing forth onto Fox News to stand by her man – but the kicker was this:
Which is more pathetic – Cain canceling a speaking gig, or Cain doing a gig in his hometown of Atlanta, to people that a serious campaign would have lined up months or even years ago, instead of out on the campaign trail in a state that’s going to vote before March?
John S.
Herman Cain should just call his campaign Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show and be done with it.
sistermoon
@Ben Cisco:
Pitch perfect.
Hal
Are any actual black folks dissatisfied with Obama’s black credentials? Seriously. This Obama isn’t black enough seems entirely in the minds of some white folks only.
Oh, and I think Obama’s Jay-Z moment trumps the negro spiritual litmus test.
The step and fetch it routine, the clowning, the apologizing to Rush Limbaugh…Cain has no support outside the Tea Party.
Fax Paladin
What Obama needs to do is break into a Cole Porter song…
Betty Cracker
@trollhattan: It seems an astonishingly high percentage of PUMAs migrated into the McCain-Palin camp when President Obama won the nomination and became die-hard Palin cultists after he won the general. It just goes to show they never gave a rat’s ass about party principles. It was always all about the plumbing with them, and none more so than the supremely creepy myiq2xu.
kindness
PUMAs….I have to wonder if Hillary is embarrassed by them. I mean, she actually seems to be an important cog in the Obama wheel. I get the impression she likes what she does and where she is. So with that in mind, I have to wonder what she thinks of the morally indigent that use her to bash Obama.
Anya
@Kola Noscopy:
And I suppose Clinton’s popularity among black voters had to do with him being black too? How about their support for Gore, Kerry and all the other Dem candidates or presidents? Where they black too? African Americans are the most loyal democratic base. Their support, in large numbers, is never in doubt, in any election. I don’t know why people like you, cannot get that? The increase in the percentage of the support where Barack Obama is concerned is due to two factors: 1) the historical nature of his candidacy; 2) his campaign’s superior ground game.
Kola Noscopy
@Anya:
Thanks for contradicting yourself. I wonder what it could be about Obama’s candidacy/presidency that was “historical…”
I mean, other than all the ways in which he has been a Democrat in name but Republican in deed.
I’m not asserting there is anything wrong with AAs voting for BO simply because they share a skin color. I would likely do the same. But to pretend their doing so is not a factor is just stupid.
HyperIon
Preach it, pot.
Anya
@Kola Noscopy: Oh gull, O dolt, As ignorant as dirt.
Splitting Image
I’m of the opinion he still is. Has anyone ever seen him and change/reality check together at the same time?
ellenelle
@John Cole:
that was most definitely NOT amazing grace, the gospel hymn. it was however, a song called he looked beyond my faults by lashun pace.
the title says it all, wrt to cain, does it not? i mean, what a choice for him to make.
but the truth of the matter does throw all sorts of muddy egg all over our puma troll’s mug, do it not?
ellenelle
@rikryah:
i’m not black, but i hear ya; i cringe every time i see him. he so strikes me as a real uncle tom, and this is why the racist whites ‘tolerate’ him – as long as he’ll do their bidding, they lub dem a good, um, black man.
the whole thing is beyond despicable.