Disgraced former Republican Governor of South Carolina and current Fox News contributor Mark Sanford went out of his way to call President Obama a spearchucker this morning.
Via Raw Story:
Former Gov. Mark Sanford — now a Fox News contributor — told Fox News host Shannon Bream that President Barack Obama would have to be much more aggressive during the next debate because Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was seen as dominating the first encounter.
“Obama’s going to come out in this case much more forcefully, and he’s going to throw a lot of spears,” Sanford opined. “And I think it’s very, very important that in this case that, you know, Romney stay focused on his vision for the country and stay focused on the things that, I think, matter most to people in this country, which is, where is the economy going, where are we with jobs, and what’s happening next on the debt and the deficit issue?”
[read full post at ABLC]
Spatula
Seriously? Are you serious with this post?
freelancer
I can’t even…
handy
What’s the big deal? It’s not like Sanford said PBO was “gonna let his gat asplode” and put his “nine to Romney’s spine” amirite?
Mnemosyne
And yet I’m sure the Concerned White Man Coalition is going to show up in force in a few minutes to reassure us all that there’s no reason we should assume that Sanford was making a sly reference to the “spearchucker” slur because he said Obama would be “throwing” spears, not that he would be “chucking” spears, so it was clearly just an innocent slip of the tongue on Sanford’s part.
ETA: Yep, called it. I should have put money on who would be the first Concerned White Man to show up and defend Sanford.
Shakespeare
Sanford also said:
“If Obama found himself suddenly turned into a bunny, you can be sure it would be in the jungle.”
Nuthin to see here, folks. Move along.
gogol's wife
God, it just keeps getting more unbelievable. I know this isn’t funny, but I can’t help laughing at how asinine they are. They’re like people in my high school decades ago.
Jerzy Russian
Why is anyone paying Mark Sanford to do anything?
On the other hand we all owe him a debt of gratitude, since the Capitol Steps had a pretty funny skit involving him singing “Don’t cry for me Argentina”. I would not have seen that otherwise if it weren’t for him going off to Argentina via the Appalachian Trail.
Xecky Gilchrist
I think it’s very, very important that in this case that, you know, Romney stay focused on his vision for the country
…if only he knew what it was!
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
Yeah, I think “spears” was deliberate. What’s the usual description of holding your own? Throwing elbows, throwing stones. Spears, like, how often does anyone mention those?
scott
Wow. This election must be awfully important to get Sanford away from his extramarital tryst, um, the Appalachian Trail. I’m sure it’s because of his sincere commitment to money, I mean truth.
Zifnab
If Obama takes the House and the Senate, along with the White House, I really don’t see what sense of shame the Republicans will feel obligated to uphold.
I give it till January before they finally drop the N-bomb.
Woodrowfan
@Zifnab:
I’m betting on November…
And it’s going to be the full N-word, not something close like “nigra” or “boy.” It’ll be the full bore six letter N-word live and on TV.
KoolEarl
PPP tweet: Florida: RMoney leading 49-48. Much better than that dire sounding Tampy Bay Times poll of last week.
The Dangerman
Dead honky.
/Richard Pryor, SNL
Roger Moore
@Xecky Gilchrist:
He knows, it’s just that he’s only allowed to talk about it in quiet rooms, not anywhere the plebs can hear.
PsiFighter37
@Spatula: OMG. I am I seriously shitting my pants over this.
Like, OMG?!
Dude, why are you becoming a massive concern troll?
PF37 +10 (added a few glasses of wine since last post)
Hungry Joe
“What? What? What’d he say? … Oh, come on … really? ‘Spearchucker’ is an expression? Huh. We had no idea. Well, you guys are grasping at straws if you take offense at ‘throw a lot of spears.’ Grow up.”
That’s what they’ll say, and it’ll fly. No accountability, no shame.
On Nov. 6 let’s impale these guys.
Xecky Gilchrist
@Roger Moore: That’s true. I must be thinking of Palin with TAX CUTS written on her hand.
Southern Beale
And Tommy Thompson’s son just said that “we have the opportunity to send President Obama back to Chicago — or Kenya.” At a brunch attended Reince Priebus.
But nope, no racism here HOW DARE YOU insinuate such a thing?!
Mark S.
Is there anything a gooper can do that would disqualify him or her from becoming a Fox contributor?
ranchandsyrup
Completely intentional. Engineered to promote the libtards R the real racists narrative. So pathetic.
Roger Moore
@PsiFighter37:
He’s been a troll for as long as he’s been here, If he’s concern trolling now, it’s because he thinks that’s going to be the most effective kind of troll for the situation.
PsiFighter37
@Roger Moore: Didn’t the master blogger say he’d purchased some pieces of this troll?
I’m confused.
Alison
@Mark S.: Agree with the President on something?
Southern Beale
Husband is arguing with me and saying what Sanford said is not the same as calling Obama a spearchucker. I disagree. It’s a fucking dog whistle that every racist asshole can hear loud and clear.
Anya
Urban dictionary tells me that ‘spear chucker’ is a “derogatory phrase for a black male used in reference to his primitive abilities to hunt animals with a long sharpened object.” This election is teaching me many racist terms that I would have preferred not to know about. But in this instant since Mr. Sanford did not actually use the actual term “spear chucker” is it fair to say he “calls President Obama a spearchuker”? I cannot read the man’s mind so I am gonna say since he did not explicitly refer to the President a spear chuker then I think this post is just an overreaction. We’re getting into his intent rather than what he actually said which is a dangerious ground, in my opinion.
Narcissus
aww ‘cmon guys it’s just a common idiom
I mean how often have you heard a sportcaster say “Wow, the Bengals are down by 14. They’re going to have to throw a lot of spears to stay in this one.”
Or, “My co-worker Steve isn’t pulling his wait on the TPS reports. He’s gonna have to throw a lot of spears not to get fired.”
Or, “Little Timmy has been way behind since he was out with the flu. He’ll need to throw a lot of spears not to be held back this year.”
I mean all the time right
right guys
Peter
@PsiFighter37: Becoming? Timmeh’s never been anything but.
RoonieRoo
Who says “throwing spears” in that context? Nobody! How could any sane person not hear that exactly as he meant it. That was absolutely intentional.
gogol's wife
@Anya:
No, I’m sorry. It’s a signal. No one ever says someone is going to “throw a lot of spears” in an argument. If you had grown up hearing this term (I think it’s fairly antiquated now but so is the Fox audience), you would be reading him loud and clear. He knows what he’s saying.
suzanne
Good. LORD.
Southern Beale
@efgoldman:
I know. He’s usually a pretty solid liberal too.
ShadeTail
@PsiFighter37:
Don’t waste your time giving that loser any attention. As you noticed, he is a troll, and attention is exactly what trolls like him want. Just ignore him.
PsiFighter37
@ShadeTail: I’m happy to, because I can never ignore that asshole PO when he comes on here,
PF37 +11 and ringing in SUNDAY NIGHT FUN NIGHT
jshooper
Anyone who thinks shit like this isn’t racist, just think about this…right wingers think they are being slick when they say shit like this…they smile and smirk to each other…and giggle in the corner…Before you give them a pass…Just ask yourself… What are they laughing about ?
Southern Beale
In unrelated news, my FIV+ kitten is sick for the third time this year. It’s amazing to me, he can be perfectly fine one minute and then next thing you know BAM he’s spiked a huge fever and if you touch him he acts like you’re torturing him.
He’ll go to the vet tomorrow. SIGH.
piratedan
all that’s left is for them to run the scene in Blazing Saddles with Cleavon Little asking “where are the white women at?” and captioning it as President Obama on the campaign trail
sb
What Narcissus and RonnieRoo said.
Has anyone heard the phrase “throw a lot of spears” before? Unless the subject is ancient warfare, I can’t imagine in what context one would use that unless there was racial coding involved.
Brian
Republican’s cannot be disgraced. They rally around and refuse to admit defeat. It was all a liberal conspiracy anyway.
The problem with Liberals is we all actually see reality and are willing to admit a loss.
GregB
Sanford is in Bob Dornan scumbag territory now.
For those who don’t remember B-1 Bob Dornan, the wingnut Congressman from California. His famous quote on his re-election battle.
“Every lesbian spear chucker in this country is hoping I get defeated.”
The Confederate-wingularity is nigh.
Mr Stagger Lee
Frankly I stopped being outraged about what these dickheads say about the president (Tommy Thompson’s son said that the GOP will send President Obama back to Kenya)I try to see what I can to re-elect the president so these dickheads lose their sh*t big time, watch their humiliation as they are laughed at.
JGabriel
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Imani @ Top:
I think Sanford was just trying to show off his lingual skills with the famous tongue twister:
Betcha’ can’t say it right five times fast.
.
anthrosciguy
Oh, they’re way past N-clang! And no, this is not being paranoid like Kit Ramsey in Bowfinger.
jrg
I roll my eyes at 90% of ABL’s posts, but I can’t help but agree with this. “Throwing spears” is clearly a racist barb. There’s room for some plausible deniability (by design, I’m sure), but that isn’t a term in common usage.
Anton Sirius
@Southern Beale:
As per Narcissus’ post, ask him to name one other common use of the phrase “throwing spears” or “throw a lot of spears.”
Just one.
Bill T.
I’m just looking forward to seeing Willard flingin’ some gold plates and go all ‘ol timey’ on a mo fo.
MikeJ
@Anya:
Not a fan of MASH? In the movie they brought in a ringer for a football game, Spearchucker Jones, who happened to be a (I’m thinking thoracic) surgeon. The character was also in the first season of the TV show.
Lame Meme Alert
I have to say…the entire “n-clang” meme is ridiculous. They are never, ever, ever, EVER going to say that.
Ever.
Full stop.
They do what they do. Which is to say other things that mean that. They are well trained — on this front, anyway.
JGabriel
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Anya:
Sure, because people compare white men’s debating skills to throwing spears all the time.
Except, you know, I never actually heard anyone do that.
It just doesn’t pass the smell test, Anya.
.
General Stuck
He was clearly going for “sneers” people. Throw a lot of sneers, like Biden. You know, “sneer chucking”. It’s Irish, or maybe Portuguese with a lisp. Can’t we have a little levity, people/Rinse Preebus
Lame Meme Alert
@Anton Sirius: There is a saying “throwing barbs”
Lurking Canadian
At this point, if somebody would like to line the Republicans up for me, I would gladly throw a spear at each and every one of them, from close range, as long as those spears had been dipped in a mixture of strychnine and hog feces in case I missed anything vital.
handy
@General Stuck:
Don’t be ridiculous. He meant “Spears” and he said so. He’s warning Romney that Obama will be breaking into “Oops I did it again.”
Yutsano
@Bill T.:
What you have accomplished there has been witnessed.
pseudonymous in nc
Y’know, I read the Charlie Pierce blog post from the RNC where he had a conversation with Sanford, and I also got exposed to some of the political backwash from Lesser Carolina when he was governor. There are a lot of abject racist GOP pols in SC, but Sanford was never one of them, and was always considered an outsider by the good ol’ boys.
I think it’s one of those really fucking weird choices of phrase (of the ‘keep fucking that chicken’ variety) that he’ll need to discuss with his therapist.
Lurking Canadian
At this point, if somebody would like to line the Republicans up for me, I would gladly throw a spear at each and every one of them, from close range, as long as those spears had been dipped in a mixture of strychnine and hog feces in case I missed anything vital.
JGabriel
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sb:
To be fair, in the theater world, I’ve heard people refer to non-speaking (or very few lines) Shakespeare roles as “spearchuckers”. Because such roles are often just someone standing around in the background with a spear or sword for atmosphere.
But that’s pretty much the only non-racist context in which I’ve ever heard it used.
.
Anya
@gogol’s wife: I admit that I have never heard of this idiom, so it’s possible that I might not appreciate its impact.
@efgoldman:
I am actually saying that we should not rely on the intent but rather what is actually said and its impact. My worldview and lack of exposure to the southern practices and idioms might influence the way I reacted to this, but if others who are more knowledgeable than I am about this are saying that Sanford deliberately used this phrase, then I am willing to listen.
Lurking Canadian
@JGabriel:
I have heard “spear carrier” for such roles. Spear chucker, in my experience, has but one use.
Smiling Mortician
@JGabriel:
The term in theatre is “spear carriers,” not spearchuckers. Although perhaps you’ve been hanging out in theatres very different from those I spend my time in.
ETA: The Canadian lurks quickly.
JGabriel
Lurking Canadian, Smiling Mortician: I think you’re right; it probably was “spear carrier”. It’s been about 25 years since I was last in a college play, and probably misremembered.
Thanks for correction, guys.
.
gnomedad
@MikeJ:
The character said he threw the javelin IIRC, which I understood to mean that he accepted the nickname ironically.
Anton Sirius
I think, rather than a ‘Ni-CLANG Event Horizon’, we need a ‘Ni-CLANG Doomsday Clock’ similar to the nuclear one. Sanford’s bullshit probably moved it up to 11:59 and twenty seconds, or thereabouts.
Anya
@MikeJ: Blame my parents for my lack of pop culture savviness. Growing up we did not have a teevee so I started watching shows when I went to university. And as you know, when you’re young and away from your parents for the first time, the last thing you want to do is watch teevee.
Yutsano
@JGabriel: Having been a spear carrier in a play (more specifically the newspaper man in “Guys & Dolls”) it is “spear carrier”, it’s also an opera term.
Baud
I think ABL is reading too much into this. Sanford’s statement that Obama is “going to throw a lot of spears” at Romney is just his folksy way of saying that Obama is going to bust a cap in Romney’s ass.
No racial component whatsoever.
Anton Sirius
@Anya:
It doesn’t matter whether he meant it “deliberately” in the sense that he was winking and nodding to the Krazy Kountry Koots in his party by saying it, or whether it was some kind of freudian slip.
There is only one instance in the English language in which spears and the act of throwing them are combined into an idiom.
Midnight Marauder
@Anya:
Mark Sanford’s intent was to execute a page straight out of The Southern Strategy playbook and whip up some white resentment to sustain the beast known as the Republican Party.
His intent is pretty fucking straightforward here.
EDIT: I mean, for fucks sake, we’re talking about the former governor of South Carolina! And you want to give him the benefit of the doubt? Get the fuck out of here with that bullshit.
dmsilev
@handy:
There are very very few things which would cause me not to vote for Obama, but this I think would probably be one of them.
Bruce S
Sanford better watch his ass the next time he hikes that Appalachian trail…
arguingwithsignposts
@PsiFighter37: dude, pace yourself. you’ll end up in a not very good place.
Yutsano
@arguingwithsignposts: Either he already has cirrohsis or he got a liver transplant from Kal-El.
Baud
@Bruce S:
When Sanford hikes the Appalachian trail, it’s not his ass he’s watching.
The Sailor
@pseudonymous in nc: Nope, a middle aged male from a Southern state knew exactly what he was saying.
Bruce S
“his folksy way of saying that Obama is going to bust a cap in Romney’s ass.”
Yeah, much better language because it’s well established that Obama is a black Chicago Guy and not Kenyan.
Southern Beale
@Anton Sirius:
He says he’s not saying it’s a bad thing to say just saying that it’s not the same as “spearchucker”
Bruce S
@Baud:
Point taken.
Bruce S
I don’t see any necessity for “in fairness” to a crackerass douchebag like Sanford.
Brachiator
@JGabriel:
I’ve always heard this one as “spear carrier,” because these characters usually just stand around in the background holding the prop. Rarely, if ever, is one actually tossed on the stage. You could put someone’s eye out with that thing.
I could see Sanford saying something like throwing bombs, a football reference, or dropping bombs, a military one. But he seems to have mentally detoured into the racial gutters for his metaphor. But I don’t see this as coding. It’s more that Obama sets off alarms in these people suffering from racial anxiety, and they cannot completely mask their animus.
@Woodrowfan:
Not gonna happen. And Obama, his family, and black people in general have been continually and explicitly insulted since the president’s election. To label this stuff dog whistling or to see the N word as some definitive insult is ludicrous, and some weirdly perverse wishful thinking.
Gwangung
Eh. Not getting outraged.
Cause this is the ONLY thing they’ve got in their quiver.
Pathetic, really.
Mnemosyne
@Anya:
I have to assume you’re pretty young, because I’m 43 and from the Midwest, not the South, I have definitely heard it before, though it’s a bit obsolete.
I also assume you’ve never seen the classic “Word Association” sketch with Chevy Chase and Richard Pryor.
Gwangung
They think that’s gonna discourage the black community? And turnout is gonna down?
Heh. They got a nasty surprise coming….
Southern Beale
@Gwangung:
I know, it’s getting pretty old. Keep it up, wingnuts. Just digging your own grave. This kind of shit just does not play with anyone under 60 or north of the mason dixon line.
Older_Wiser
This, from a racist asshole who can’t keep his dick in his pants?
Anya
@Midnight Marauder: Being the former governor of South Carolina doesn’t automatically make you racist. If you’re not careful I might call you prejudiced against southerners. I’ve googled Sanford and he’s no Haley Barbour.
Look, I don’t want to defend Sanford here but it’s not a clear cut. I can’t read the man’s heart and I am not familiar with the term, so other than what Urban Dictionary tells me I have no other reference. However, I am willing to listen to people who have more knowledge about this.
Yutsano
@Southern Beale:
There are, unfortunately, some places up North where it still does. Idaho likes to pretend they purged out the Aryan Nations, but all they did was go underground. And there is a HUGE anti-Hispanic resentment out West. No doubt that applies to other minorities as well.
Gwangung
I’d recommend black people.
Mnemosyne
@Southern Beale:
FWIW, I walked over to our home office and told G that the former governor of South Carolina said that Obama would be “throwing spears” at Romney in the next debate.
He shook his head in disbelief and, with no further prompting from me said, “Why not just say Obama would be ‘chucking’ them?”
T. Bombadil
@Southern Beale: Well because of this you must leave him.
David
Didn’t Sanford, father of four, go missing on Father’s Day weekend?
eemom
I guess you could argue about whether it’s a racist dogwhistle or not.
One thing I presume we can all agree on, however, is that what disgraced asshole former governor Sanford says on Fox News is like, a REALLY important thing to fixate on three weeks out from the election.
A moocher
@JGabriel: ballz. The word you are thinking of is “spear carrier”.
gex
@Southern Beale: This is exactly what they rely on. Enough people find enough reasonable doubt (because who knows anything really?) and then they can sling these racist tropes around without penalty. And bonus, they get the doubters to think that liberals are the “real racists.”
RedKitten
@Mnemosyne: Yeah, I told my husband about it, and he just paused, and then started kind of laughing while shaking his head, and said, “What in the fuck…?” And hubby is definitely not a bleeding-heart liberal.
Older_Wiser
@David: Yes, he was porking his Argentine girlfriend at the time…you know, the Republican family values thing.
auntieeminaz
@Anya: Are you familiar with the image, very popular in Republican circles, of the “tribal” Obama with the bone in his nose and holding a spear? This is very much the connection Sanford wanted his listeners to make.
Woodrowfan
anybody who thinks this is an innocent turn of phrase need only show Sanford using the phrase “throwing spears” when referring to a white man. Anyone? Anyone?
gbear
@dmsilev: You’ve never heard Richard Thompson’s version of ‘Oops’?
Evolving Deep Southerner
This thread is putting me of a mind of a scene from Apocalypse Now. I don’t know how to link right to the point in the video that’s appropriate, but fast-forward it to about the 2:42 mark.
CW in LA
@Brachiator:
Thank you! The eagerness with which some people want to hear the n-bomb dropped has creeped me out for a long time.
On top of everything else, it validates the wingnut assumption that “If I don’t say the n word, I’m not racist”. It gives them a pass for all the blatant shit they do say, like this spear throwing crap here.
Kool Earl
Gravis Marketing: CO: Obama up 48-46
Not familiar with this Gravis outfit. Anybody have a take on them?
ThresherK
@Southern Beale: Scratch kitteh’s ears for me.
The sweetest, best cat we had was a (comparative) runt who had a massive outbreak of feline herpes at 3 mos; for the rest of her years she could catch respiratory infections like nobody’s business.
Laura
wtf is a spearchucker?
Evolving Deep Southerner
@Laura: It’s an archaic racist term from the same era as “porch monkey.”
Mnemosyne
@Gwangung:
Or any American over the age of 40.
PeakVT
@Kool Earl: Gravis is considered to be “unskewed.”
Brachiator
@Gwangung:
No, the idea is not to discourage black people. To the extent that it is a call out to anyone, it is an appeal to fearful whites to “take their country back” and restore Real White America ™.
@Anya:
This actually might be a good thing. Crap like this should fall out of usage in the language.
It’s kinda like a phrase like “he gyped that guy out of 20 bucks.” As time goes by, the term itself ceases to be used, and fewer are aware of the slur against so-called Gypsies.
Even if Sanford were trying to be insulting, his remarks would be meaningless to a lot of voters, especially younger ones. A coded message that most resonates with a hard core of increasiningly marginalized racists is not much of a rallying cry.
poco
@Mnemosyne: I have heard of spearchucker and its racist associations, but didn’t know about the SNL skit (didn’t grow up in US). I just checked it out, absolutely cringeworthy amazingly funny. Thanks.
priscianusjr
@Anya:
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Anya:
Let me assure you that it’s a well known slur. I spent my first twenty-five years in Washington state (on the eastern conservative side) and spearchucker is a well known racial slur. I lived in the poor parts of town from the mid-60’s through the mid-70’s and that word was tossed around by assholes constantly. I went to poor schools that were loaded with minorities and all kinds of racial slurs were thrown about by racists in training (kids) there. I have never heard it used as a supposed action/strategy in the way upcHuckabee did here.
The Republicans aren’t using dogwhistles, they’re using the old HEMI-powered air raid sirens now.
Mnemosyne
@efgoldman:
@Anya:
If I may take the liberty of going off on a rant for a moment:
I don’t give a shit what’s in anyone’s heart. If you use racist tropes to score points, you are a fucking racist. George Wallace never believed any of the stuff he said, but the “segregation now, segregation forever!” bullshit he spouted to gain political power did enormous damage to this country.
For all I know, Mark Sanford loves black people and doesn’t have a racist bone in his body in his everyday life, but by choosing to use a racist trope to get his point across, he’s made it very clear which side he’s on.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Southern Beale:
Wow, you haven’t been in the middle of Pennsylvania, have you? It plays quite well here.
Midnight Marauder
@Anya:
You’re right. But it also makes it more than likely that Mark Sanford knew exactly what he was doing when he used “coded” racist language to his predominantly white base, which he is intimately familiar with given his time as governor of a Confederate stronghold.
By no means am I biased against Southerners. However, as a black male born and raised in Texas, I am acutely aware of the racist bullshit lurking behind comments like Sanford’s, and sick of people debating the intent of the person speaking the words as opposed to acknowledging the explicit bigotry that fomented such comments in the first place.
It doesn’t matter what’s in his heart. It could not be less relevant. What matters is what he said and why he said it. He made his racially inflammatory comments to excite the base of his neo-Confederate political party. As the former governor of a Confederate stronghold, he is well versed in this practice (especially considering he was floated as a presidential contender pre-Appalachian Trail debacle).
As for your comment that Mark Sanford is no Haley Barbour, that’s like bragging that Bobby Jindal is no Rick Perry. What are you even saying with that comparison? You’re still evaluating two assholes who immeasurably benefit from exploiting white resentment.
nastybrutishntall
@The Dangerman: goddamn it, you took that line from my slow fingers. now I have nothing. /old
geg6
Jeebus, there are people here in PA who still use this term. I heard a kid use it just the other night, a guy probably in his early 20s. Though he came off as dumb as a rock and was three sheets to the wind. I told his girlfriend, a newly minted teacher (subbing only, for the moment) that if she aspired to get or keep a job in public education, she should dump the asshole boyfriend. And that if I got wind of her interviewing locally that I would feel obligated to let all my friends and colleagues in the fifteen local districts, who I know both personally and professionally, that they should ask if she still lives with the bigot.
The Dangerman
@nastybrutishntall:
You feel old? I’m fairly sure I saw that skit when it was first broadcast.
/really old
SatanicPanic
@MikeJ: IIRC Robert Altman said the book they based that movie on was super racist. The movie itself is one of my faves, but I’d hardly call it an enlightened film.
vtr
That t-shirt we saw here yesterday saying “Put the white back in the White House” was being worn by a painting contractor.
Smiling Mortician
I realize that the racist-person-in-his-heart vs. wow-he-said-something-really-racist ground has been fairly well covered in this thread already, but it sounds like at least a couple of people here are not yet familiar with this.
lumpkin
I’m going to vote for Obama. I think that he has been the object of racial slurs, I know racism is widespread, even among people who don’t know they are sufferin’ from it, but I gotta ask: Really? Is this a racial slur? I’m as white as wonderbread, but I’m pretty sure I have ancestors that threw spears – something we think that we are proud of when we talk about how we are related to vikings or something like that.
I really don’t get it this time.
Brachiator
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
This would certainly be the case had Sanford actually used the word “spearchucker.”But he didn’t. And it is here that these clowns are stumbling all over themselves, with garbled and confusing crap that no longer has the impact that they wished it had.
@Midnight Marauder:
Lot of irony in the idea of Bobby Jindal exploiting white resentment.
Lyrebird
@Midnight Marauder: Thanks for the righteous words. I think it was a BJ commenter who first introduced me to Jay Smooth’s video in a related vein. (How to tell someone what they said was racist, or something along those lines.)
I’m afraid this whole story lost me at “Mark Sanford” — why would anyone care to broadcast the opinion of such a negligent moron? So even though the insult’s totally new to me, it’s pretty obviously insulting, and I am so thankful I can avoid television most of the time.
Just recall the tremulous deference with which King Bush II and RasputinCheney were treated by the press. It’s getting better (thank you Soledad O’Brien!!), but the rank disrespect shown to the Obama adminstration is pretty disgusting imnsho. If I had a stronger stomach, I might find it funny that the R’s are so desperate that they’ve brought in the racist whistlers to interrupt the constant chorus of child-with-ADHD analogies they’ve been wearing out (“shiny object” etc).
ETA: Thank you Smiling Mortician, who types faster’n’I do! (Jay Smooth link above. Click it… It’s lovely…)
sherlock hound
@Midnight Marauder:
What you said. Compare Malkin and Coulter: By all accounts, Michelle is a true believer, while Ann just does it for the bux and the lulz.
But if you are a person–or a polity–facing a mad mob that has been wound up to rage by either of these persons, it doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter for bleep.
Bruce S
Here’s the straight shit:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/wisconsin-gubernatorial-candidates-son-says-we-h
No “dog whistles” – just open racism.
Lyrebird
@Gwangung: I’m not claiming the “right” to judge, but I’d nominate this:
for Thread Win.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@lumpkin: It’s simple. When was the last time you heard someone use the words “throw spears” to indicate they were going to get tough in a game or an argument.
You don’t hear it. It’s not common usage. Usually in this situation you hear sports metaphors: “throw elbows” “bring his A game” “come out fighting” “throw his heater”, etc.
That’s all the proof I need that he knew what he was saying.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Brachiator:
You are correct, he didn’t say “spearchucker”. He said that Obama is going to “throw a lot of spears”. Obviously they are two different things.
In your world.
Lojasmo
@Mnemosyne:
yup
@Spatula:
fuck off.
Mnemosyne
@lumpkin:
Please PLEASE tell me that you’re one of the people here who’s too young to have heard the term “spearchucker” before, because otherwise this is the stupidest defense of Republican dogwhistling I’ve ever heard.
PurpleGirl
@MikeJ: My first thought was also of Spearchucker Jones from Mash. And then I remembered my brother often used the term spearchucker to refer to black guys. And I know he didn’t mean it as a compliment.
El Cid
Macaca!
PsiFighter37
@arguingwithsignposts: DOES IT LOOK LIKE I GIVE A FLYING TURDl!\\
PF37 +12 AND RAGING ON SUNDAY NIGHT FUN NIGHT
Mnemosyne
@Bruce S:
No, but, see, all of our ancestors originally migrated out from Africa, so obviously there’s nothing racist about saying a black man should go back to Africa.
/idiot
TG Chicago
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:
That was kind of my thought. At first, I wasn’t sure about this one, but then I thought: who says that?
But doing a quick Google search, I found this:
So given that a minority member of the Obama administration used the same phrase, I wouldn’t expect to get much mileage out of this.
aimai
@lumpkin:
Yes, its a racial slur because it was used exclusively as a synonym for “savage.” Can we please not use whiteness as an excuse for ignorance of how language is used? I’m white, and female and I know the existence of this image/trope/dialect/expression. Not knowing that something has a specific meaning and signficance doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have that meaning–it just means that you haven’t been attending to the world around you.
aimai
cokane
This is an embarassing post. He didn’t call him a “spear chucker” he didn’t even use the word “chuck.” He simply used the word “spear” in a metaphoric sense the way you could to blandly describe any aggressive debate strategy.
I’m sorry but stupid posts and stupid arguments like this one are the reason some conservatives have a point when they attack liberals for trying to play the race card.
This is fucking embarassing. You should delete this post.
Lojasmo
@Anya:
and if the president likes poultry and green mellons with red fruit, that’s totes okay too, right?
General Stuck
@Kool Earl:
It’s a right wing company. I wouldn’t put two cents on their numbers. They came out with really hackery numbers last week and got slammed for it. Now they may well be giving themselves some plausible deniability.
I been a poll junkie for a decade, and while Rassmussen can be, and usually is a wingnut cheerleader with suspect polls to put it mildly. Up until the last month before an election, and Scott gets real when his reputation is on the line, and Ras polling is maybe the most accurate out there. But you don’t need a poll to tell you we are still a 50 50 country, and the election will be close to that, and Obama will win by about the same or a little less than last time.
Unless the nutters can get the SCOTUS to let them rig the election in Ohio and elsewhere, with the obvious suppression bullshit, or unless Lord Diebold rides to the rescue, the GOP ain’t gonna win Ohio, and no republican has ever won the WH and lost Ohio. Since the founding.
And besides, Tuesday night is when Obama turns the Mittster into a pumpkin pie.
Yutsano
@cokane: Psst. Your privilege is showing.
General Stuck
@Kool Earl:
It’s a right wing company. I wouldn’t put two cents on their numbers. They came out with really hackery numbers last week and got slammed for it. Now they may well be giving themselves some plausible deniability.
I been a poll junkie for a decade, and while Rassmussen can be, and usually is a wingnut cheerleader with suspect polls to put it mildly. Up until the last month before an election, and Scott gets real when his reputation is on the line, and Ras polling is maybe the most accurate out there. But you don’t need a poll to tell you we are still a 50 50 country, and the election will be close to that, and Obama will win by about the same or a little less than last time.
Unless the nutters can get the SCOTUS to let them rig the election in Ohio and elsewhere, with the obvious suppression bullshit, or unless Lord Diebold rides to the rescue, the GOP ain’t gonna win Ohio, and no republican has ever won the WH and lost Ohio. Since the founding.
And besides, Tuesday night is when Obama turns the Mittster into a pumpkin pie.
Yutsano
@cokane: Psst. Your privilege is showing.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Anya: And the people who know more about this are telling you it was a statement made with intent. South Carolina is not a state with progressive thinking about racial egalitarianism. It was the heart of the Confederacy as recently as, say, last week.
Snaford grew up hearing “spearchucker” as one of the polite ways to refer to people of color. He knew exactly what he was coding for, and he did it intently. If you’re really willing to be educated by those who have more knowledge, the response to signal that is “Oh, I see – now I know.” The continued doubt about his intent (because he isn’t Haley Barbour, WTF?) suggests you aren’t willing to be educated.
arguingwithsignposts
@SatanicPanic: The book was really more funny than the movie, but it was flithy and just as sexist and racist as characters in the movie were.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Anya: And the people who know more about this are telling you it was a statement made with intent. South Carolina is not a state with progressive thinking about racial egalitarianism. It was the heart of the Confederacy as recently as, say, last week.
Snaford grew up hearing “spearchucker” as one of the polite ways to refer to people of color. He knew exactly what he was coding for, and he did it intently. If you’re really willing to be educated by those who have more knowledge, the response to signal that is “Oh, I see – now I know.” The continued doubt about his intent (because he isn’t Haley Barbour, WTF?) suggests you aren’t willing to be educated.
lumpkin
I wasn’t being “ignorant”. I know what the word “spearchucker” means, but he didn’t say that. I mean, truly some of ya’ll seem to be going from “throwing spears” to “spearchucker” in one easy, magical step. I really don’t see how you can get there from here. We need to be careful about the battles we choose and not freak about everything that somehow is within 6 degrees of any true racial slight and focus on the real ones. I just don’t see this as a real one.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Anya: And the people who know more about this are telling you it was a statement made with intent. South Carolina is not a state with progressive thinking about racial egalitarianism. It was the heart of the Confederacy as recently as, say, last week.
Snaford grew up hearing “spearchucker” as one of the polite ways to refer to people of color. He knew exactly what he was coding for, and he did it intently. If you’re really willing to be educated by those who have more knowledge, the response to signal that is “Oh, I see – now I know.” The continued doubt about his intent (because he isn’t Haley Barbour, WTF?) suggests you aren’t willing to be educated.
hildebrand
@lumpkin: You are a historically unaware fool. You are doubly a fool for loudly proclaiming your ignorance and thinking for all the world that you are superior. Too harsh? Tough, I am sick to death of people making excuses for bigotry. And no, ignorance is not a defense. Do some reading before you pop off with your abject nonsense. I imagine that you were precisely the kind of student who found history class irrelevant.
YellowJournalism
@Evolving Deep Southerner: Maybe, like Randal, he’s “taking it back.”
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Anya: And the people who know more about this are telling you it was a statement made with intent. South Carolina is not a state with progressive thinking about racial egalitarianism. It was the heart of the Confederacy as recently as, say, last week.
Snaford grew up hearing “spearchucker” as one of the polite ways to refer to people of color. He knew exactly what he was coding for, and he did it intently. If you’re really willing to be educated by those who have more knowledge, the response to signal that is “Oh, I see – now I know.” The continued doubt about his intent (because he isn’t Haley Barbour, WTF?) suggests you aren’t willing to be educated.
Uncle Ebeneezer
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: Shit, I heard stuff like this all the time in Montgomery County. And when I was in college in Delaware, I found that racist sentiments were not confined just to the Delaware/Maryland Southern types, but got just as much play from relatively upscale Jersey/NY natives as well.
cokane
@Yutsano: your inability to post correctly is showing.
you know nothing about me — your delusional thinking is showing
some guy
fixed for more truthiness
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
FYWP. I only posted once. Did I say FYWP?
hildebrand
Oh, my mistake, you were simply finding ways to excuse bigotry. Swell.
arguingwithsignposts
@Yutsano: which one is cokane again? Derpe? We really need a troll nym decoder ring or something.
Geoduck
@arguingwithsignposts:
For instance, you really don’t want to know how the original “Trapper” John got that nickname.
Montysano
@Southern Beale:
The area of southern Indiana where I grew up has always been, and continues to be, as racist as any place down here in the Deep South. It’s the only place where I’ve seen Klansmen in full drag.
Violet
The racism that the President and his family have had to endure has been infuriating to watch. These racists must not win. The President is staying in the White House for four more years. The racists can go fuck themselves.
Let’s get it done.
Yutsano
@arguingwithsignposts: Just one of the irrational Imani haters.
@cokane: Try harder please. Maybe, just maybe, the African-Americans posting here might JUST have a point.
Emma
@JGabriel: Spear CARRIERS is what the Shakespearean no dialogue actors are called. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spear_carrier.
Oops. Should have read more comments before hitting reply.
lumpkin
What if he’d referred to “slings and arrows” (of outrageous fortune)? I guess referring to arrows would be anti-native american and slings would have been anti-semitic. I mean come on – pick realistic things to get upset about. I’m not apologizing for bigots and I know enough about history to understand all the nuances here.
And, I didn’t insult or demean anyone else with what I wrote, but some of the rest of ya did when you responded. I think we’re on the same team here – let’s have a civil discussion. Jeepers!
cokane
the hive mind is angry.
yes continue the 2 minute hate over one word said by an out-of-power politician. Stone the unfaithful monkey while you’re at it! It’s worth sacrificing a member of your own tribe so you can be sure of your own mind reading abilities!
Oops! I said “tribe”. That was obviously racist code.
mai naem
I’m probably going to get flamed for saying this but I think Mark Sanford is truly too dumb to realize what he said was offensive. There was the interview when he had the brain freeze when he was surrogating for John McCain. I just don’t think Sanford’s the sharpest knife in the drawer.
ranchandsyrup
Concern trolls: at best you are asking that we not assume bad intent when stupidity is just as likely of an explanation. That would be a reasonable request if there weren’t a pattern of conduct of using the dog whistles. Y’all used up the good will.
arguingwithsignposts
@Montysano: I’d also say it probably plays well it parts of idaho, michigan and other militia/white power pockets. The South has no monopoly on racism. That said, I used to live near a confederate memorabilia store in upstate South Carolina a few years ago. It was expanding its store when I left.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Montysano: Yup, Butternuts and Copperheads I believe was the term for Indiana and Illinois confederate sympathizers? And wasn’t Indiana where the Klan was reborn in the 1920?
And here’s some more of the pattern Tom Brokaw and his ilk refuse to see, and not from the Deep South
KoolEarl
@General Stuck: Thanks General. I did look into Gravis and see where they are straight bunco, but the Rasmussen thing of tightening up by the election was new info to me. The way I see it, Ohio, Wisconsin and Nevada will seal the deal and any other states will be gravy
arguingwithsignposts
@lumpkin:
You’re really going to pick a well-known shakespearean phrase to wage that battle on? c’mon.
Evolving Deep Southerner
@YellowJournalism: They need to take back “cracker” and “honky.” Honk if you’re a proud honky.
Another Halocene Human
So, I know at least one conservative RWNJ who happens to be Black and flipped from solid R to voting for Obama after he won the primary in 2008, surprising some people at work. He’s still solidly behind Bams and still solidly a RWNJ, the authoritarian/social dominator/economic kind. He missed the VP debate because he was too busy having a shouting argument which he started about how union teachers suck. (Note: he is, and has been for many years, a union City worker. This is not atypical of FYIGM authoritarian/economic type RWNJs, and we have a number of white men at work who fit this profile.)
I have no idea why he votes Obama and really don’t want to question too closely. I do know that he talks shit all the time and everything he has to say about any economic, political, or social topic is complete garbage so, really, any justification he would give for voting for anyone is going to be crap.
I think he sensed in 2008 and now that Team O is the winning team, and jagoffs like him like to be winning and like to laugh at the losers. He has indeed been laughing at R/R and R/R voters.
I’ve never heard him state that he supports Obama on account of his race–in fact, he’s called Romney and Ryan liars (which they are)–and the RWNJs I know who are white never attribute their voting choices to race, either. I’m sure there’s a buried racial motivation–social dominator men feel most comfortable promoting, voting for men who mirror their own ego, just as Romney chose Ryan because he saw a mirror of himself in Ryan–but it’s not the attitude of “help a brother out”, which I’ve never heard this guy express ever. He’s quite selfish, anyway. (I hope I don’t have to explain ‘help a brother out’ :P)
I just think this ‘Blacks are racist for Obama’ meme, utter stupidity when you look at how the community turned out for Kerry and Gore, is DARVO defense for a campaign that has blatantly and right through the homestretch of a national campaign used racial resentment and anxieties as a weapon. The Romney campaign has played the race card.
Note: Rove used race in the 2000 Bush primary in SC. Never forget. But it was a slimy ratfucking op they tried to bury then and later. Not what they fucking ran on in Sep/Oct.
MikeJ
@Evolving Deep Southerner:
Canonically it’s, “Horn if you’re honky”
pseudonymous in nc
@The Sailor:
I know pretty well what SC’s good ol’ boy aristocracy looks like, and Sanford, for all of his many many flaws, was never part of it. He was hated by the GOP in the state legislature because he was perceived as an outsider — Florida-born, MBA, a Gingrich-era ex-congressman for Charleston who never served as a state legislator — who was actually serious about tax cuts and spending cuts in a right-libertarian fashion, as opposed to the tried and true SC way of distributing state largesse to your buddies while screwing Those People. (That’s why the leg. overrode his budget vetoes so often.)
It’s a fucking offensive metaphor, but Sanford was never really a part of SC’s cesspit politics as congressman or governor, which is why on this occasion I’m prepared to file it under WTF and not Ni-CLANG.
Bruce S
mistake
lumpkin
Ok. Last try to make my point. The actual phrase that was said by Sanford was “he’s going to throw a lot of spears”. The headline on the post said that Sanford “calls Obama a spearchucker”. But, Sanford did not call Obama a spearchucker. You don’t win arguments by materially misrepresenting your opponents statements and then arguing against the made-up statements you attribute to them. You lose credibility this way.
We all know that spearchucker is a demeaning term. Sanford would deserve to be thoroughly blasted in the public sphere if he said that. If you think that “throwing spears” is demeaning, then argue that. It will be kind of dull, but go for it.
Mnemosyne
@cokane:
I find it hilarious that I predicted exactly this defense of Sanford way back in comment #4, and yet you wrote it anyway.
Matt McIrvin
You know, I grew up in Virginia, and I’ve seen so many hundreds of rounds of this “What, that was racist? That’s not racist, you’re the racist for calling me a racist!” in my life that my every shred of patience for it has evaporated away.
handy
@pseudonymous in nc:
Maybe Sanford was going for a certain kind of metaphor but ended up losing it out on the Appalachian trail.
pseudonymous in nc
@handy: “Keep fucking that Argentinian, Mark.”
Comrade Mary
@TG Chicago:
In response to your quick Google search, I tried a longer one. I tried “throw spears” and “throwing spears”. I eliminated Obama and Duke and Edinburgh and Prince from the search by starting each of those terms with a hyphen in order to leave out all hits about the current discussion and all references to Prince Philip’s infamous question, “Do you still throw spears at each other?“. (The Edinburgh Fringe festival included a one man play about the Duke’s history of similar statements that took its name from that quote, so that came up a lot, too.)
After all that, I found a bunch of references to throwing spears in real warfare, in games, in sports (someone getting cheeky about javelin) and — not much else.
So the fact that Salazar said something similar ONCE, but there is no pattern of this usage anywhere else, is not great evidence that this is a common term.
However, the fact that Salazar and Sanford said something similar could mean that:
1) Sanford read Salazar’s remark once and was innocently inspired to use that term himself as soon as he could, because it was just so cool and evocative, you know? Or …
2) By sheer coincidence, Sanford and Salazar chose similar terms and Sanford has no idea that Salazar said this. This could happen. But Salazar was talking about being the target of spears, and given the oil and gas industry is not predominantly identified as black, I can’t think of any reason to believe that he was making a coded racist remark. He was using a metaphor in a situation that was not at all racially charged.
On the other hand, Sanford is part of a party that has been condoning or producing blatant or coded racist speech and “art” about Obama since he entered the campaign in 2008. I am very much less inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. Or …
3) Sanford and whoever works with him were aware of the Salazar quote before he made this statement and will be using it as cover if any news media make a fuss about his statement. Never mind that it’s not common usage, and most people of a certain age get the allusion to “spearchucker” pretty quickly (see also this rephrasing of the Prince Philip quote by the odious Daily Mail: “Do you still chuck spears at each other?” BTW, they consider the Prince to be a wonderful and pointed satirist.)
Hey, Salazar said it ONCE under very different conditions. That makes everything Sanford said OK! Give the guy a break, or just give up, because that ONE example means we just can’t win the argument.
T. Bombadil
@geg6:
Well, that is a scary piece of work. She lives by your rules or you impair her ability to work in her profession. You may think you are working a good cause, but you are acting just like the folks you claim to oppose.
Another Halocene Human
@Montysano:
Southern IL, IN, and OH were settled by slave state transplants who “kept the faith”.
I have KS relatives who trace their roots back to VA plantation owners. The slaves were sold somewhere between KY and KS, according to census records. My mother tried to pretend it was manumission. As if.
Another Halocene Human
@pseudonymous in nc: It’s a fucking offensive metaphor, but Sanford was never really a part of SC’s cesspit politics as congressman or governor, which is why on this occasion I’m prepared to file it under WTF and not Ni-CLANG.
Nice try, but that would require forgetting that humans learn new behaviors.
Growing up in Massachusetts ‘burbs I didn’t know how nigger was pronounced (I thought the g was soft, as in Niger), but after working in tha dirty Souf for a year I had to catch myself from saying that word in my sleep. I’m better now, but, damn, didn’t Sanford marry Miss Heiress South Cackalacky in grad school? Young dogs certainly do learn new tricks, plus NOOOOOOOO shortage of racism in Florida. C’mon now.
The burg I live in is down the street from a plantation that was founded before the Civil War by South Carolina transplants … and their slaves.
Another Halocene Human
@Comrade Mary: Good catch.
My wife quipped, “If the first hit in Google is Prince Phillip, you’ve already lost.”
Brachiator
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
There is only one world.
If you read any of my posts here, you will see that I don’t dispute that Sanford’s words reek of racism.
But I dispute their effectiveness, and get tired of people who want to clutch their pearls and retire to the fainting couch over every bit of insipid nonsense uttered by these fools. If it fires people up to vote for Obama, then there is some benefit here. Otherwise, Sanford’s little jibe reeks of the desperation of a loser.
@Mnemosyne:
RE: He didn’t call him a “spear chucker” he didn’t even use the word “chuck.”
I wrote something similar, and still condemned Sanford. What’s your point? That some people of no apparent ill will honestly question Sanford’s words as coded suggests that it may have limited effectiveness. Anyone see a sharp change in polls or a sudden last minute increase in GOP registered voters?
Odie Hugh Manatee
Without explaining anything to my wife about what ABL or others have said here, I quoted what Huckabee said on Faux to her and she responded with “What?! You’ve got to be kidding!”. She grew up in eastern Washington too and immediately got what he was saying.
Like I said, the Repubs are using post-WWII air raid sirens.
@Brachiator:
Calling it out for what it is isn’t hitting the fainting couches, it’s calling it out. Would you prefer that we “just walk on by”? We can either call it out or ignore it.
You can ignore it, I won’t.
? Martin
Hmm. Normally I’d look at this and say ‘throw spears’ does not infer spearchucker. On the other hand, I’ve never heard anyone say ‘throw a lot of spears’ as a euphemism of anything other than literally throwing spears.
Either way it’s just a strange thing to say.
Mnemosyne
@lumpkin:
Let me guess — when the Republican mayor of Los Alamitos, California, sent an e-mail to all of the city employees showing the White House lawn as a watermelon patch, you didn’t understand what people were so upset about because you know lots of white people who like watermelon.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
You must be really bored tonight if you’re going to spend your time defending a well-known and obvious troll like cokane.
different-church-lady
I’m starting to develop a theory that one of the big reasons the Ni-CLANG event horizon is nigh is because over the course of the last 300 years racists have managed to contort nearly every damn word in the world into a slur against blacks.
anthrosciguy
@JGabriel: Extras are sometimes referred to as spear carriers, never spearchuckers. Nice try.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Uncle Ebeneezer: Oh, hell. And here I was counting on Carville’s “Philly, Pittsburgh, and Alabama up the middle.” Now it sounds like it’s just Philadelphia County, Allegheny County, (and State College) and Alabama for the rest.
In 2008 the York County Dems were hoping for 34% for Obama. We figured if we got that, we’d get the state. One-third. Pathetic, ain’t it.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
I don’t know why I keep writing Huckabee instead of Sanford. Maybe it’s because southern pols are all starting to sound the same lately?
;)
GxB
I don’t see why everyone is blowing their wad. I mean I think Sanford is just screwing around with us a little on the side. Ooops, what I meant to say was Mark was just piking the Argentinian tail. Wait a second, that came out wrong….
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@handy: @pseudonymous in nc:
You two win, nicely done.
gwangung
You also don’t win arguments by ignoring background.
You are blatantly ignoring that black people have been on receiving end of racial taunts that are not exact, literal word for word copies of classic racial insults. You are ignoring that black people have been insulted, demeaned and needled by white bigots who approach but do not necessarily cross the line. You are ignoring that this is not an argument used in isolation but a whole slew of racist attacks used by Republicans used constantly over the last four years.
You are ignoring the fact that this is NOT A MATERIAL MISREPRESENTATION OF SANFORD’S STATMENTS. These are the exact same arguments used by bigots to demean blacks and DIPSHITS LIKE YOU allow them to get away with it by saying, “well, he didn’t use the exact term “spear chucker”
Stop being an idiot.
karen
@Mark S.:
Fuck a boy.
karen
Why are these doubling?
Anyway…Sanford could have said thrown knives. He didn’t.
Brachiator
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
It’s voting time. Calling it out, especially when a lot of good hearted people don’t clearly see the connection that Sanford may have been implying, is a waste of time. This is doubly the case when people are repulsed when the possible usage behind “throwing spears” is explained to them.
Neither Sanford nor the GOP is getting any political traction from his words. This stuff is self-ignoring.
@Mnemosyne:
It is very clear by my posts here that I am not defending cokane. Nor am I defending Sanford, as far as that goes.
Mnemosyne
@different-church-lady:
Even Canadians get dragged into the word games.
Jebediah
@lumpkin:
There is an unlimited supply of pixels for comment-thread comments, so I am not sure I agree.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
You claimed that you and he were making the same point. How, exactly, do you split the hairs to say that a comment I made to him also applies to you and you get to argue against it, but you’re somehow not arguing on the same side he is?
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne:
Read all my posts in this thread.
With that, I am done. I will let the late night crowd wail and gnash their teeth over Sanford and his words.
opie_jeanne
@Yutsano: Also known as a supernumerary.
Yutsano
@opie_jeanne: It was kind of fun because the newspaper man isn’t just a prop in that musical. There was still some acting involved, not to mention I got drafted because true tenors are actually rather uncommon. Plus I did get a small speaking role as the announcer for the Hot Box dancers, and the director loved my announcer voice. Plus I got to wear a tux. :)
flad
I once said I wanted to be “one of those spear chuckers” while rolling a character in a Palladium game. The black GM informed me that it was a racial epithet. This is how white people get in trouble.
JR in WV
@Midnight Marauder:
Come on guys, @Anya is clearly being sarcastic, no need to give her a hard time for being witty, even if the wit escaped you on first reading.
ruemara
@cokane: I’m black. The first thing I thought was, “is this man seriously trying to slide spearchucker into conversation?” Now that you have spoken, I see that once again, black people really need a neutral viewer to tell them when to see racism. Thanks.
J R in WV
@Anya:
Whoops, I was wrong, she isn’t being witty.
Anya, this guy is as racist as the guy who ran the liquor store in Pascagoula MS with the sign that said “All proceeds from sales to Ni–ers will be donated to the United Klan of Mississippi” back in the early 1970s when I was in the USN on a ship in the yard there.
Trust me on this!
pattonbt
Really weird choice of phrase that no one ever uses in that context? Check.
Southern Ex-Governor? Check.
Fox News? Check.
History of last 4+ years of dog-whistle at Obama (and hundreds of years of racial oppression and diminishment history on top of that)? Check.
Either Sanford is the most ignorant person on the planet, some ESL foreigner taught arcane language usage / mixing or he knew exactly what he was doing.
Spears and black people words and imagery is a big loud bull horn dog whistle. Sure it may suck that R’s (a proven bigot party, or me being way too lenient, ignorantly hateful but consciously denigrating of all “others”) cant use a benign word like spear and spears, but maybe some caution and good will on their part would be well received. Save spears language for the history channel, because in any modern context with blacks in the US its red meat racist shit.
Ive been around enough racists in my life and heard enough racist shit to know what Sanford was going for, and if he wasnt, hes a fucking moron of the first order. Someone might want to ask him and have him comment on that.
But given the current state of the R’s, the South, Fox News and the R base, they get zero benefit of the doubt. He knew what he was saying.
Athenawise
@JGabriel: I think the term is actually “spear carrier.”
Applejinx
I see we’re back to the 60s and fighting to demonstrate that black people warrant civil rights and the opportunity to be treated like they are citizens.
Gosh. Yay progress in America. Imagine, humans expecting to be treated like humans and not, gee- property? Animals?
It’s gonna be interesting to see whether this quietly bolsters or handicaps the Republicans. I honestly can see a backlash effect, particularly if the media piles on and Very Seriously tries to establish that maybe it wasn’t meant as racist, or was permissible and okay to say about the President of the United States.
I think there’s a ‘seriously, what the fuck?’ factor that won’t necessarily express itself in noisy demonstrations but will work as GOTV…
Laura
I’m seriously lost with those post. Nothing about “throwing spears” said anything to me (I’m not white, and I’m from the midwest). I just don’t understand why this has so many replies.
Ben Cisco
@Laura: Start here, then check back.
gelfling545
@Southern Beale: I kind of get your spouse’s point. I don’t agree but I get it. This is not as common a slur as some others so that whistle might not be heard by as many dogs as usual. I do believe that it was carefully chosen so that he could use a snide, mean little slur & still have deniability. This leads me to believe that someone suggested it to Sanford as I don’t believe he is noted for for subtlety or slyness. I thing this was directed at our side, not theirs with an implied “what are you going to do about it”.
Jax6655
@Ben Cisco:
Thank you.
@Laura:
Interesting that you tell us you’re not white rather than tell us what you “are.” It’s obvious that the majority of white folks on this thread do “understand” so what exactly is your point?
Lojasmo
@Comrade Mary:
BOTH SIDES DO IT!
Rob in Buffalo
Anya — Did you also believe George Allen when he claimed that “macaca” was a reference to the black staffer’s Mohawk?
Spatula
@lumpkin:
Standard BJ Kool Kids treatment here, Lumpkin.
Whether you are deemed uncivil here depends not on the words you use but whether or not you are on the “correct” side of an issue
peter
uh except at no point does he say the word spearchucker. i now think of you as a liar and flamer.