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You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Stupidity / We Tease Them a Lot Because We’ve Got ‘Em on the Spot

We Tease Them a Lot Because We’ve Got ‘Em on the Spot

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As DougJ notes, Chris Matthews can hear a dog whistle, but apparently the still-Republicans at OTB are a little hard of hearing. James Joyner and Doug Mataconis are both shocked to think that Romney, who as Joyner points out has rejected birtherism, could possibly have meant to dog whistle with his “nobody’s asked to see my birth certificate” comment. They just think it was a dumb joke. Here’s Joyner:

This [Romney’s rejection of birtherism] was literally at the beginning of his campaign. Has Romney subsequently backed off this position and I’ve missed it? If not, it seems odd to argue that his joke was intended as some sort of dog whistle; he’s already flatly rejected the Birthers.

Today Doug reports that Obama leads Romney by 39% among Latinos and wonders if Republicans have bottomed out with Latinos. Perhaps Doug and James might want to consider that one of the biggest birthers of them all is Joe Arpaio, which is a clue that birtherism and anti-immigrant sentiment are tied together. So, even if Romney has made a big show of accepting that Obama was born in Hawaii rather than Kenya, when he makes a joke like that, James and Doug’s ears might not hear a dog whistle, but don’t doubt that Latinos do. That dog whistle says a hell of a lot more than all the Spanish Romney/Ryan ads that Sheldon Adelson can buy, and the memory of its sound isn’t going away anytime soon.

Reader Interactions

127Comments

  1. 1.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The supreme irony here is Arpaio has not one, but three vowels at the end of his surname.

    Just one vowel was reason to sneer 50 years ago.

  2. 2.

    YellowJournalism

    What Romney’s defenders fail to see is that this has nothing to do with actually thinking the President wasn’t born in America and everything to do with pointing to the President as an “other.”

  3. 3.

    bemused

    To paraphrase Chris Matthews, they know what game they are playing and everyone knows what game is being played. It’s the 27% base that don’t know it’s a game directed at them.

  4. 4.

    rlrr

    Romney’s rejection of birherism rings hollow as long as he’s willing to associate himself with people like Donald Trump…

  5. 5.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Another point…any reference to birth certificates is further evidence of Rmoney’s desperation to keep the vile racist base of the GOP in line, to keep them happy…to keep reminding them that while he may be a foul cultist, his skin’s the right color. He needs to keep throwing them red meat, at least through the end of this week, but I think he’s stuck in that mode for the campaign, what with the “drop work requirements” lie.

  6. 6.

    Rusty

    A dog whistle is meant to be a sound emitted that only a specific animal is capable of hearing. As such, there is no way Romney’s joke could be defined as a dog whistle if Latinos are capable of hearing it. A racist dog whistle is meant only for white people who are attuned to racist dialog. The whole concept of a political dog whistle cannot apply if groups who aren’t meant to hear it, actually hear it.

  7. 7.

    El Cid

    I see the ad appearing at the side of the page for Atlas Shrugged II: The Shittening.

    Tag line: “Real heroes don’t need capes.”

    No, they just need magic fantasy technologies doing completely and utterly impossible things and novella-length speeches about how awesome it is to be brilliant and selfish.

    Not comic-booky at all, no, no siree-Bob.

  8. 8.

    japa21

    And Paul Ryan isn’t a Steeler fan, but waves the “terrible towel” at a Pittsburgh rally. Obviously, since Ryan is really a Packer fan, that wasn’t done to create support from Steeler fans.

  9. 9.

    shortstop

    Remember when Cole invited Mataconis over here to guest post and demanded that we be civil to him? Good times.

  10. 10.

    El Cid

    @Rusty: Dog whistles aren’t just about dogs being able to hear them while humans can’t; it’s that the dogs being whistled to have been trained to respond in certain ways when the whistle is blown. It’s not just the inaudible part but the reaction and obedience part which makes the reference.

  11. 11.

    danimal

    The intentional cluelessness of Joyner and Mataconis has gone beyond frustrating for me. OTB can be readable, and the comments are second only to this site, but they sure can be dense when they want to be. And it’s obviously a choice; they’re smart enough to understand what’s goin’ on. They know they would be moral reprobates to acknowledge the truth, so they spin, spin, spin away the sins of their Republican allies.

  12. 12.

    mdblanche

    At this point I think the Village idiots are the only ones left who can’t hear the dog whistles.

  13. 13.

    danah gaz (fka gaz)

    This [Romney’s rejection of birtherism Romneycare ] was literally at the beginning of his campaign. Has Romney subsequently backed off this position and I’ve missed it? If not, it seems odd to argue that his joke support of it was intended as some sort of dog whistle change of heart; he’s already flatly rejected the Birthers healthcare.

    fixt to highlight the absurdity of this asinine quote.

  15. 15.

    scav

    Name a position Romney hasn’t taken at some point during this campaign — so I’m really to believe that anti-birtherism is the single all-golden one clutched devoutely to his sweaty chest for now until ages upon ages, amen?

  16. 16.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    @bemused: And the Gang of 500. Folkenflik tweeted me that Romney’s remark was a “juvenile jab.” Blind or refusing to see?

  18. 18.

    Roger Moore

    @YellowJournalism:
    Only the dumbest of them fail to understand the message that Obama is a dangerous other; the rest are just pretending. And I think mistermix is absolutely right that Latinos ought to be getting the message loud and clear: it doesn’t matter if you’re a citizen by birth or naturalization; you aren’t a Real American(TM) unless you have the right surname and skin color. As if the Republican love for SB1070 hadn’t made that point abundantly clear already.

  21. 21.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @Rusty: Uh, no. Romney thought he was grabbing a dog whistle, but grabbed a coach’s whistle instead. Just because he blew the wrong one doesn’t mean he wasn’t trying.

  22. 22.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @scav: I don’t think he’s grabbed his ankles yet, though I bet he had some subordinates do it.

  23. 23.

    brent

    @Rusty: What you say is true and so “dog whistle” is perhaps not the best metaphor here. Really the point is that the language is coded. Its just that the code is not very difficult to crack. Indeed pretty much everyone, except 95% of the media, is able to understand it just fine.

  24. 24.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @scav:

    This is a valid point. Rmoney’s all over the map as far as his positions, changing them on an hourly basis, if necessary, to pander to whatever group he’s speaking in front of right this moment.

    His klaxon of insincerity is heard from coast to coast.

  27. 27.

    Patricia Kayden

    Why is it a big deal that The Bot has accepted that Obama was born in Hawaii? We should commend him for that? Yet 7 birthers are speaking at the convention this week.

  28. 28.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Comrade Javamanphil:

    A “juvenile jab” is nothing for a Presidential candidate to be proud of, no matter what the context.

    It speaks to the basic lack of gravitas of Rmoney as a human being.

    Well, I’m sure he’s serious about money. The only thing he truly loves.

  29. 29.

    Steve

    @Rusty: Not quite. It’s not like black people are too clueless to figure out when someone’s using a racist dog whistle. In fact, minorities call out the practice of dog-whistling all the time. The essence of the dog whistle is that it sounds completely innocuous to the typical non-racist white person, who is left to wonder why the minorities are playing the race card yet again.

  31. 31.

    JPL

    How long before Chris has to apologize? Will the powers that be insist he be sent home from the convention? ten, nine, eight…….

  34. 34.

    lonesomerobot

    Heh, it just keeps popping up, from the poll OTB references:

    Another possible clue is the personal popularity of President Obama among these voters, who maintains a high level of 74% favorability, compared to only 27% for Romney.

  35. 35.

    ...now I try to be amused

    @brent:

    Really the point is that the language is coded. Its just that the code is not very difficult to crack. Indeed pretty much everyone, except 95% of the media, is able to understand it just fine.

    If you use the same code long enough it will be cracked.

    I wonder if Romney will mention Dred Scott seemingly out of context during the debates.

  36. 36.

    YellowJournalism

    So I was checking to see what the Twitter was saying about Matthews’ little take-down and I came across this POS comment:

    “@nicktjacob: Chris Matthews immediately thinks of black people when he hears the word “welfare” or “food stamps”, and yet Romney’s a racist. Huh. #tcot”

    Jesus. They just don’t get it.

  38. 38.

    quannlace

    It’s kinda funny to see all these news crews and talking heads down in Tampa (We’ll bring you all the action!) trying to find something to talk about.

  39. 39.

    Roger Moore

    @Steve:
    The problem is that once you’ve seen the fnords, you don’t stop seeing them ever again. You just have to clue us white folks in, and we can start to see them, too.

  41. 41.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @…now I try to be amused:

    If you use the same code long enough it will be cracked.

    This is quite true. Being overconfident about the strength of your code got the Germans and Japanese into a world of hurt during WWII.

    Coordinating changing the code is no easy matter, either, when you’ve got some seriously mentally deficient types relying on it for their marching orders.

  42. 42.

    schrodinger's cat

    They don’t hear because they don’t want to hear. Like my grandma used to say you can’t wake up someone who is just pretending to sleep.

    I have been saying this for a while but OTB should be moved to blogs we mock, column.

    Obama has a solid lead among latinos because Kris Kobach, the guy behind the anti-immigrant laws in Arizona and other places is a part of the Romney Campaign. The R(adical) and R(acist) campaign has signed all to all the anti-immgrant rhetoric, it is even a part of the platform. Not everyone can manage to be as delusional and vote against their own self-interest as the working class white men.

    ETA: They in the first paragraph refers to the clueless crew at OTB.

  43. 43.

    Brachiator

    That dog whistle says a hell of a lot more than all the Spanish Romney/Ryan ads that Sheldon Adelson can buy, and the memory of its sound isn’t going away anytime soon.

    Como se dice “dog whistle” en espanol?

    @Steve:

    The essence of the dog whistle is that it sounds completely innocuous to the typical non-racist white person, who is left to wonder why the minorities are playing the race card yet again.

    No, it’s more that supposedly non-racist white people are unwilling to acknowledge that they own the whole freakin’ deck from which the race card is purportedly played.

    The dog whistle alerts them that it is time to stick their heads in the sand.

  44. 44.

    TheF79

    The essence of the dog whistle is that it sounds completely innocuous to the typical non-racist white person, who is left to wonder why the minorities are playing the race card yet again.

    It also provides a veneer of plausible deniability for those who blow it, e.g.

    “@nicktjacob: Chris Matthews immediately thinks of black people when he hears the word “welfare” or “food stamps”, and yet Romney’s a racist. Huh. #tcot”

  47. 47.

    Steve

    @Roger Moore: I assure you that the majority of white Americans see nothing racist about Romney’s birther joke or the welfare-to-work lies. Your political sophistication is probably in the 99th percentile, so don’t make the mistake of assuming what’s obvious to you is obvious to most people.

  48. 48.

    Linda Featheringill

    Hmmm.

    I hadn’t thought about Latino reaction to the Birther nonsense.

    Of course, I’m one of those people who are so fair they might burst into flames if exposed to direct sunlight [h/t Betty Cracker]. There are some things I just don’t see unless they are pointed out to me.

    The core of the reaction as reported here is quite logical: It doesn’t matter where you were born, if your skin is the wrong color, then you’re alien. And there are many shades of the “wrong” color.

  50. 50.

    Tractarian

    Has Romney subsequently backed off this position and I’ve missed it? If not, it seems odd to argue that his joke was intended as some sort of dog whistle; he’s already flatly rejected the Birthers.

    This quote betrays complete ignorance about what “dog whistle” means. Here’s a hint for Joyner: if Romney explicitly embraced Birtherism, there would be no need to make a sound that only certain people can hear.

    James Joyner is a concern troll; and an absolute tool.

  51. 51.

    wonkie

    @danimal: Exactly. I think that, at this point, if someone is still voting for Republicans it either reflects o their character or their intellect–or both.

  52. 52.

    Violet

    I wonder if any of the media types will point out the shocking differences in racial makeups of the two conventions? It’s pretty hard to hide just how white the GOP convention is and how multi-racial the Dems will be.

  53. 53.

    Aris

    William Saletan, who’s usually the biggest douche on Slate (quite a feat), has an excellent Swiftian takedown of Romney’s bigotry. It’s complete with numerous links and very comprehensive, listing incident after incident after incident. Indeed, the sheer amount of times Romney and his surrogates blew this particular dog whistle should leave no doubt that this is a coordinated effort.
    ____________________________________________

  54. 54.

    Ann Rynd

    @JPL: Won’t happen. He just gained stature for his network even as Joe and Mika shrink into ignominity. This is what msnbc needs. Mr. Matthews is trending during a R convention? Mitt and his pancakes? Not.

  55. 55.

    pseudonymous in nc

    What Joyner and the other OTB Chinscratchers don’t understand (or pretend not to understand) is that birtherism is a shibboleth.

    I won’t say that it’s the exact equivalent of saying that the sheriff is near, but it is a way of commenting on the proximity of the sheriff just as lining up to buy Chick Fil-A is a way of commenting on the gheys.

  56. 56.

    danimal

    @Villago Delenda Est: Yeah, they think their code is clever, but at this point it’s like a third-grader using Pig Latin for the first time. They can say “Igger-nay, igger-nay” all they want, but we know the damned code. We all get it, and we know it’s ugly racism at its worst.

    Pretending otherwise just insults everyone’s intelligence.

  57. 57.

    Kane

    it seems odd to argue that his joke was intended as some sort of dog whistle; he’s already flatly rejected the Birthers.

    He also sought Trump’s endorsement. And even if one wanted to give Romney the benefit of the doubt on the “joke,” it’s difficult to do so after reading the Sunday Times where they write that Team Romney decided Romney “needs a more combative footing against President Obama in order to appeal to white, working-class voters” by “injecting volatile cultural themes into the race.”

  59. 59.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Brachiator: seconded.

    Can anyone give me a quick summary of Uncle Brokaw’s defense of Romney/scolding of Tweety? How many times did he mention WW2?

  60. 60.

    ChrisNYC

    Preibus’ clear terror at Matthews’ confronting him on dog whistles was pretty fascinating. Also, Trump has been booted from the RNC appearance (supposedly due to the shortened schedule, yeah right).

    Says to me that the GOP really doesn’t want this stuff talked about upfront. Given that and the NY Times story that predicts lots of race-based attacks going forward, we’ll see if the media steps up or if the complicity continues. I wish a PAC unaffiliated with the Obama campaign would put together a good ad saying, “This is repulsive and we should reject it.” Make Romney face up to running on race.

  61. 61.

    grandpa john

    Hmmm., So Joyner can find no evidence that the stalwart and steadfast mitt has NEVER changed an opinion or viewpoint and that his word is his bond, never changing.Maybe someone should recommend to him he check out Mitts platform when he an for Gov of Mass.

  63. 63.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @ChrisNYC:

    Preibus’ clear terror at Matthews’ confronting him on dog whistles was pretty fascinating.

    The terror has more to do with “oh, shit, it’s so obvious you can’t ignore it anymore!” than with “we’re ashamed we have to resort to this sort of thing in our desperation.”

    The jig is up, and the MSM is straining to ignore it, no matter how much people like Brokaw and Mika Zbig try.

  64. 64.

    KG

    the most amazing part of that exchange between Mathews and Priebus is how much of a complete dick Priebus comes off as. Couldn’t defend himself or his party at all and finally does the “I’m not getting into a shouting match with Chris” bullshit.

  66. 66.

    lamh35

    The best thing about Tweety’s rant is that unlike with Rachel Maddow, ain’t no way Morning Joke is gonna be able to “ban” Tweety from the show. I’m betting Tweety has alot to do with Morning Joke even being on MSNBC.

    In other words, I see them getting rid of Joe before ever getting rid of Tweety.

    Tweety ain’t Olbermann!

  68. 68.

    Culture of Truth

    it seems odd to argue not to argue that his joke was intended as some sort of dog whistle; if it wasn’t a lame racist joke based on a lie, what was it exactly?

  69. 69.

    Elizabelle

    What worries me:

    We sit here, celebrating that a TV pundit took down a lying GOP chairman on a cable channel that not too many people watch. All high fives.

    Meanwhile, Republican governors and their allies succeed at throwing up barriers to full voting participation by American citizens. Because Republicans cannot win with the voting population they’ve got.

    And corporations’ people pull out their checkbooks for yet another round of massive funding to Republicans, the donors of which need never be divulged.

    Lovely moment, and savor it, but Pennsylvania Republicans’ win on voting practices was far more meaningful than this one. And probably less people know about that than will hear about Matthews’ courage.

  70. 70.

    KG

    @lamh35: hell, I remember when Scarbourgh was in Congress and a regular guest on Hardball. Mathews is as about as untouchable a cable news yapper there is.

  72. 72.

    Hill Dweller

    Willard’s doubled-down on the welfare attack in a USA Today interview, accusing Obama of gutting the work requirement to “shore up his base”.

    Willard is a despicable person.

  74. 74.

    WereBear

    @Violet: I just love the way the wingnuts will whine, “The Democrats only do things for women/minorities/students/insert-category-here to get votes!”

    Well, duh.

  75. 75.

    Roger Moore

    @Steve:
    That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is that once you’ve learned to hear the racist code talking, you can’t stop hearing it. Maybe I’m at the 99th percentile in political sophistication among non-racist whites, but it didn’t take a huge effort to get me there. If we can put a modest effort into teaching the non-racist white population, a lot more of us will start to recognize what a bunch of racist scum the Republicans are. With the parties as close as they are in the balance of power, it would take only a relatively small number of whites becoming more enlightened to make a really big difference.

  76. 76.

    Kane

    Barack Obama came out of Correspondents’ Dinner with his own joke

    The argument Priebus offered with this line sounded like the rationale a white person gives when they have used the N-word. “Hey, rappers say it all the time.”

  77. 77.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Speaking as someone with more or lest the “right” skin color and the “right” kind of surname, gee thanks a lot for nothing Mittens and the GOP. Yes, let’s got piss off the soon to be non white majority and make them start to think about taking revenge.

  78. 78.

    Hill Dweller

    @Kane: The ‘Obama joked about it too’ talking point is apparently a party-wide directive. Both of the Republicans on Maher’s show last Friday said the same thing.

    The half-wits don’t seem to understand Obama was mocking them.

  79. 79.

    Steve

    @Roger Moore: Oh believe me, I know. The commentariat here at BJ is so well-educated on the topic, I sometimes think they could find a dog whistle on the side of a cereal box.

  80. 80.

    Rafer Janders

    Someone please go over to OTB and educate James on his usual “both sides engage in voter suppression!” comment below re Ohio. I’d do it, but I don’t have time right now:

    Apart from the from the early voting for military types thing, are there more examples in Ohio? Most of what I’ve seen lately seem to be reasonable self-correction after some earlier wild-eyed attempts at vote rigging. Both parties were apparently trying to extend voting hours for “their” voters but not the others; I gather that the state has stepped in and quashed that across-the-board.

    http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/no-the-race-is-not-tied//#comments

  81. 81.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Brachiator:

    Great turn of phrase.

    Not mine — or at least, I saw a few people saying the same thing when it became obvious. And it’s truly a shibboleth because it’s a way of declaring Obama outside the group.

    Since nobody would ask Jennifer Granholm or Pete Hoekstra for their birth certificates in that fashion, we can also draw the conclusion on what “the group” means.

  86. 86.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @Elizabelle: Most people will not have heard of either. The flip side, most people who have heard of Matthews’s rant also know about PA. We have to give credit, especially to the media, for those that are willing to call out the lies.

  87. 87.

    Xantar

    @Aris:

    It says something about my opinion of Will Saletan that for the longest time I couldn’t tell if he was being sincere or sarcastic.

  90. 90.

    gogol's wife

    @Patricia Kayden:

    At one point in that clip Priebus said something like, “He was referring to the fact that he was born in Michigan, so everyone knows he’s American.” Hawaii is in the United States too, last time I checked.

  91. 91.

    mdblanche

    @Aris: I love how in the comments people are trying to decide if this is satire or serious. Saletan is going to have to do more of this if he wants to shed his douche image.

    ETA: Beat me to it, @Xantar. Maybe next time he should add something about eating Irish babies just to be clear.

  92. 92.

    xian

    someone needs to start a GOP dog whistle tumbr, because I can’t keep up with this shit. Just today there were two more reported:

    1. RNC PR BS says that they need to “prosecute” Obama at the convention (black = criminal).

    2. On Fox reichspropaganda network Romney said that Obama’s divisiveness includes “street vs. street” (gang allusion)

  93. 93.

    RaflW

    Romney may have rejected birtherism at the beginning of his campaign, Mr. James Joyner, but
    1) Romney is famous – famous I tell you – for flip flopping. I’m pretty sure everyone knows that he can have two or even three positions on an issue in a single day. So rejecting the birther thing a long time ago is, well, a long time ago.

    2) Low info voters tend to just start to tune in to politics about now. So something that is a footnote in history is likely to be totally overshadowed by what Romney said a couple days ago.

    Joyner is being totally disingenuous, I’d suspect, in not recognizing one, the other or both these key dynamics of Romney & politicking.

  97. 97.

    xian

    @brent: i think atwater said it best after God put cancer in his brain:

    You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger” — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I’m not saying that. But I’m saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.”

    –Lamis, Alexander P. et al. (1990) The Two Party South. Oxford University Press.

  100. 100.

    Catsy

    @Culture of Truth:

    it seems odd not to argue that his joke was intended as some sort of dog whistle; if it wasn’t a lame racist joke based on a lie, what was it exactly?

    This is what’s been driving me nuts about the complete inability of our media stenographers to press him on this. If he wasn’t making a racist joke, what exactly was he saying?

    “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised.” Yes, let’s take a moment to unpack that. Why do you say that everyone knows you were born and raised here? Why would they assume that without asking to see your birth certificate? What is it, exactly, that makes you different from Obama in a way that’s relevant to that point?

    It’s not fame–you’re both nationally-known politicians.

    It’s not money–even if that had anything to do with the assumption of citizenship, Obama was not exactly poor before he started running for president.

    It’s not a prior record of service to the country–neither candidate served in the military, and Obama’s record of government service is longer and more accomplished than Romney’s.

    It certainly has nothing to do with where they were born–both were born in the US.

    So if there’s some intrinsic quality that allows anyone looking at both Romney and Obama to assume Romney was born “here” but to require a higher burden of proof from Obama… what is it?

    Romney’s “joke” is structured to draw its “punch line” from a contrast: in this case, between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. So what aspect of the two candidates was it trying to contrast?

    I guarantee you that these racist asshats cannot answer that question.

  101. 101.

    Hill Dweller

    @xian:

    1. RNC PR BS says that they need to “prosecute” Obama at the convention (black = criminal).

    RP loves to use this type of coded rhetoric. He repeatedly used words like “steal” and “robbed” when describing Obama’s Medicare reforms.

  103. 103.

    xian

    @YellowJournalism: they don’t want to get it. they’ve got a little box of sophistry they can reach into any time they want. Example, “when Newt called Obama a food-stamp president that was just a reference to the bad economy. You are a racist if you associate food stamps with blacks.” etc.

  104. 104.

    xian

    @Ann Rynd: i love the theory that the Will McEvoy character on Newroom is showing all these folks (Soledad O’Brien, Chris Matthews, etc.) how to call bullshit.

  107. 107.

    gogol's wife

    @xian:

    When that started coming out of his mouth I had to turn the thing off. I just could not listen any further.

  109. 109.

    scav

    Well, Mr. Brokaw, both sides fought WWII, does that mean Germans of an equivalent age are also The Greatest Generation™?

  110. 110.

    danah gaz (fka gaz)

    @Kane: White rappers tend to know better, or at least the ones that regularly associate with the melanin enhanced variety do. See, for example Aesop Rock. I just figured I’d offer that, FWIW.

  111. 111.

    Mnemosyne

    @Steve:

    So what, exactly, is the totally innocent and non-racist explanation for Romney’s “joke”? I’m still waiting to hear what the explanation is. Catsy lays out point-by-point what the racist nugget in the center is, but I still haven’t heard an explanation of why it’s not racist other than, “Because, like, it’s totally not, you guys!”

  112. 112.

    Aris

    @mdblanche: I have to admit that I almost didn’t read it, thinking it was going to be some BS about both sides doing it, etc. but I was curious — and even if he were not ironic his laundry list is so long that I don’t see how anyone can think there were only a few isolated “jokes.”

    Republicans have been running on “Dems are not real Americans” since 1988. Dukakis, swarthy and all, was the first and they haven’t stopped since then. Even the press gets in on it. TIME in 1988 published a genealogy of Bush I tracing his ancestry to British royalty, and stating that the best Dukakis could do is claim some Turkish blood (a double hit, since not only he was a foreigner, but I guess he wasn’t even Greek as he claimed but something even more exotic).
    ____________________________________________

  115. 115.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Rusty: Joyner and Mataconis apparently can’t hear it, unless they are just lying and arguing in bad faith. Which is certainly possible. They are Republicans.
    And a lot of other Villagers claim not to hear it.

    The dog whistle analogy is completely apt.

  117. 117.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Steve:

    Not quite. It’s not like black people are too clueless to figure out when someone’s using a racist dog whistle. In fact, minorities call out the practice of dog-whistling all the time. The essence of the dog whistle is that it sounds completely innocuous to the typical non-racist white person, who is left to wonder why the minorities are playing the race card yet again.

    This.

  118. 118.

    Brachiator

    @Aris:

    Republicans have been running on “Dems are not real Americans” since 1988. Dukakis, swarthy and all, was the first and they haven’t stopped since then. Even the press gets in on it. TIME in 1988 published a genealogy of Bush I tracing his ancestry to British royalty, and stating that the best Dukakis could do is claim some Turkish blood

    But tracing Bush to British royalty is not really about who is more American. It’s about the Bearable Whiteness of Being.

    And, btw, here’s People Magazine, 2008:

    Barack Obama has connections in high places – like the British Royal Family.
    __
    So says British genealogist Robert Barrett, who traced the Democratic presidential hopeful’s roots….
    __
    “[Obama] has a rich mixture of European ancestors, including the early medieval kings of England and Scotland, a signatory of the Magna Carta, and, for good measure, an Irish emigrant from County Offaly,” he explained.

    Still, somehow, Obama’s Anglo Saxon and Celtic roots don’t count. Wonder why.

  120. 120.

    MattR

    @Rafer Janders: He forced me to comment (for the first time over there IIRC). I said,

    If it is so clearly obvious that extended voting favors Democrats, then why did Republicans agree to it in Republican dominated areas? Was it because they actually believe it favors them in those areas? Or did they think that it favors Democrats, but that was OK since it would not hurt them enough to matter? The latter is just as bad (or worse) than the former because it shows that they agree in principle with the idea of extended voting (or they have no objection to the principle), but they object in practice when there will be a negative outcome for them. (The latter also doesn’t make too much sense in a close statewide election where any “extra” votes from the other party could change the results)
    __
    Either way, your initial statement that “Both parties were apparently trying to extend voting hours for “their” voters but not the others; ” is clearly false since Democrats never made an effort to prevent extended voting in Republican areas of the state. (Note: While Democrats may have objected to ONLY Republican areas being allowed to have extended voting, that does not support your quote since they were asking for an equal standard applied across the entire state) Additionally, the second part of that statement “I gather that the state has stepped in and quashed that across-the-board. ” is also misleading because the same state official who stepped in to quash this (and issue across the board rules) was the same official who initially decided to create the two tiered system by voting against extended hours in every Democratic area where there was a tie.

  121. 121.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @brent:

    I disagree. There are two aspects to a dog whistle; one is the dog hearing it and the second is seeing the person blowing the whistle.

    We’re seeing it and the racists are hearing it.

  122. 122.

    jp7505a

    lETS see, the bridges are fall down, we’re laying off teachers, 1 in 5 kids goes to bed hungry at some point in the month, 50 million Ameriocans have no health insurance and the Republicans have added a strong new anti-porn plank because according to one of their experts’ :It’s the Viagra problem for guys in their 20s,” Trueman said. Young males are now spending “10 to 12 years looking at porn on the Internet and masturbating to it, so when they are getting married, they are dysfunctional sexually because their brain maps are changed. They enjoy what they’ve been doing for 10 to 12 years. Normal sex is not something that gets them excited.”

    There isn’t enough booze to drown this out

  123. 123.

    LanceThruster

    @danah gaz (fka gaz):

    I saw a Katt Williams comedy show on cable this weekend and it was used in a machine gun rapid fire fashion. He spoke of the use of slave replacing nlgger in Tom Sawyer, and said, “I’d rather be called ‘nlgger’ than ‘slave’ because nlgger means you can still drive home afterward.” He was pretty damn funny even though he took quite a few shots at my people (atheists), but then used that to mock religious fundies.

  124. 124.

    danah gaz (fka gaz)

    @LanceThruster: I didn’t explicitly exclude black people from this. However, you can read that as implicit. As far as whether or not it does more harm than good for black people to employ that term, that’s a debate I’ll stay the hell away from. If nothing else, it’s not my place to say, and I wouldn’t presume as much.

    In all of this, there is my unwritten assumption that The Rude Pundit is not black. I have no evidence, but I did assume that. I also don’t know what effect that sort of revelation would have on my takeaway from reading it.

  125. 125.

    J R in WVa

    @YellowJournalism:

    They don’t “fail to see it” – they fail to admit it, not the same thing at all. These folks are stone-cold racists behind their eye-lids and between their ears, and they refuse to believe they’re different from everyone else.

    Even though folks with any ethics or morals at all have moved beyond race years ago.

  126. 126.

    LanceThruster

    @danah gaz (fka gaz):

    I hope it did not seem as if I was defending an all-out ban or dismissing anyone’s discomfort with the term.

    I remember the hand wringing in the OJ trial when Mark Fuhrman was asked by F. Lee Bailey if he had ever used the term and I thought to myself that quoting someone or talking about Mark Twain’s character “Nlgger Jim” would be pretty unremarkable, yet that was how inflammatory even making that admission would be seen. I’m pretty sure that The Rude Pundit has mentioned his race/ethnicity and IIRC, he’s not black.

    Along those same lines (OJ trial), I felt the description of an unidentified “African-American” in dark sweats and a nightwatchman’s cap was the height of PC insanity. If the person was “unidentified,” how on earth could one determine any statement of origin?

    For a hilarious (and not at all illogical) take on offense to words, I’d suggest Doug Stanhope’s “Before Turning the Gun on Himself” comedy special (currently on Showtime OnDemand for a few more days).

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