• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Democrats have delivered the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and now… the Big Joe Biden Deal.

The words do not have to be perfect.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

People are weird.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Trump makes a mockery of the legal system and cowardly judges just sit back and let him.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

Mobile Menu

  • Four Directions Montana
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2024 Elections
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: “Elegant Racists”

Open Thread: “Elegant Racists”

by Anne Laurie|  May 1, 20147:04 pm| 88 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Post-racial America

FacebookTweetEmail

@somewhatannoyed "Elegant racists" Back in the day, in my Dixie homeland, they called them "clean fingernail racists."

— billmon (@billmon1) May 1, 2014

Ta-Nehisi Coates’ latest essay, “This Town Needs a Better Class of Racist“:

… The problem with Cliven Bundy isn’t that he is a racist but that he is an oafish racist. He invokes the crudest stereotypes, like cotton picking. This makes white people feel bad. The elegant racist knows how to injure non-white people while never summoning the specter of white guilt. Elegant racism requires plausible deniability, as when Reagan just happened to stumble into the Neshoba County fair and mention state’s rights. Oafish racism leaves no escape hatch, as when Trent Lott praised Strom Thurmond’s singularly segregationist candidacy.

Elegant racism is invisible, supple, and enduring. It disguises itself in the national vocabulary, avoids epithets and didacticism. Grace is the singular marker of elegant racism. One should never underestimate the touch needed to, say, injure the voting rights of black people without ever saying their names. Elegant racism lives at the border of white shame. Elegant racism was the poll tax. Elegant racism is voter-ID laws.

“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,” John Roberts elegantly wrote. Liberals have yet to come up with a credible retort. That is because the theories of John Roberts are prettier than the theories of most liberals. But more, it is because liberals do not understand that America has never discriminated on the basis of race (which does not exist) but on the basis of racism (which most certainly does.)

Ideologies of hatred have never required coherent definitions of the hated. Islamophobes kill Sikhs as easily as they kill Muslims. Stalin needed no consistent definition of “Kulaks” to launch a war of Dekulakization. “I decide who is a Jew,” Karl Lueger said. Slaveholders decided who was a nigger and who wasn’t. The decision was arbitrary. The effects are not. Ahistorical liberals—like most Americans—still believe that race invented racism, when in fact the reverse is true. The hallmark of elegant racism is the acceptance of mainstream consensus, and exploitation of all its intellectual fault lines….

See also, the work of Professor Derrick Bell. We’re Americans, we want somebody to give us an Easy Button that we can push to “solve” racism. But there is no Easy Button, and anyone who offers to sell you one is lying.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « An Elegant Solution
Next Post: Another Meet-Up (with added Digby) in NYC? »

Reader Interactions

88Comments

  1. 1.

    Trentrunner

    May 1, 2014 at 7:13 pm

    But I feel so good about myself when the obvious crude racists are excised, leaving the pervasive racist superstructure peopled by the elegant racists virtually untouched.

    Benghazi!

  2. 2.

    scav

    May 1, 2014 at 7:17 pm

    Is there a intact hinge left in this county?

  3. 3.

    AnonPhenom

    May 1, 2014 at 7:26 pm

    TNC is a treasure to read. Because I’m nearly a generation older than him, I look forward to reading him for the duration.

  4. 4.

    BGinCHI

    May 1, 2014 at 7:29 pm

    What’s been Easy so far is that the GOP has benefited politically from racism without paying any sort of price.

    Pay up, fuckers.

  5. 5.

    Betty Cracker

    May 1, 2014 at 7:32 pm

    Liberals have yet to come up with a credible retort.

    Factually untrue. He himself has made such a retort, and credibly.

  6. 6.

    BGinCHI

    May 1, 2014 at 7:36 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Balloon Juice: Credible Retorting Since 1998.

  7. 7.

    Bob In Portland

    May 1, 2014 at 7:44 pm

    You want a racist? Here’s one of Gin & Tonic’s nationalists, Iurii Lutsenko, who said on television that the “genetic code of the Ukrainian people give them the ability to live outside lies, whereas the genetic code of childern of Gengis Khan makes them willing to live in lies and spread the patriotic syphillis”.

    Seems to me patriotic syphillis is spreading in Kiev and Lviv.

  8. 8.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2014 at 7:46 pm

    TNC… Nail? Meet hammer.

  9. 9.

    Cacti

    May 1, 2014 at 7:51 pm

    Yup.

    The GOPers problem with Bundy isn’t what he said. It’s that he comes off boorish white trash racist, rather than genteel country club racist.

  10. 10.

    the Conster

    May 1, 2014 at 7:53 pm

    Awesome post AL. TNC gets to the nut of it all, and the fact that Cliven and Donald came in the same week is a gift – I’ve actually detected that all of the white men I work with – professional and very well off – are quieter this week – like they’re afraid to say anything – like, they’re beginning to see that maybe THEY are all being lumped into a type – the only question being are they more the Bundy type or the Sterling type when they’re at home?

  11. 11.

    Cacti

    May 1, 2014 at 7:54 pm

    @Bob In Portland:

    When will the anti-fascists be releasing the rest of the journalists they kidnapped in April?

  12. 12.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 1, 2014 at 7:56 pm

    Even the Indian caste system has its origin in racism. Nothing is new under the sun, even our awfulness, especially our awfulness.

    ETA: Varna the Sanskrit word for caste = complexion or skin tone.

  13. 13.

    Linda Featheringill

    May 1, 2014 at 7:58 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Hi, Betty. I guess you haven’t been flooded out. Good to know.

  14. 14.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 1, 2014 at 7:58 pm

    @the Conster: Kathleen Parker does not approve of racial profiling of old white men, seriously that was the topic of her last column.

  15. 15.

    JPL

    May 1, 2014 at 7:59 pm

    Bundy is disappointed that Sterling took him off the front page. It’s all about the message.

  16. 16.

    JPL

    May 1, 2014 at 8:01 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: She was on Hardball promoting Jeb. I guess his bumper sticker is gonna be third time’s a charm or something..

  17. 17.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 1, 2014 at 8:02 pm

    My thoughts on Cosmos episode 6 on neutrinos. Unlike racism, our collective pushing the boundaries of knowledge is something we can be proud of.

  18. 18.

    Linda Featheringill

    May 1, 2014 at 8:04 pm

    Elegant racists, indeed!

    I come from a long line of white trash and I certainly recognize Bundy as being from that group.

    The white underclass has several phrases for folks who like to pretend they’re nice when in fact they’re dirty as hell. The more religious ones might mention whited sepulchers.

    And I suspect the other underclasses have choice expressions for such elegant folks.

  19. 19.

    Tommy

    May 1, 2014 at 8:06 pm

    I don’t understand. I don’t understand. I leaved in place where I was the only white dude around. I had it said to me “white dude what are you doing here?”

  20. 20.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 1, 2014 at 8:06 pm

    The most infuriating thing about the Sterling saga; Chuck Todd asking Obama about his reaction to the tape. Is there a group of journalists more pathetic than the White House Press Corpse?

  21. 21.

    kuvasz

    May 1, 2014 at 8:07 pm

    “You, who are on the road must have a code that you can live by.
    And so become yourself because the past is just a good bye.
    Teach your children well, their father’s hell did slowly go by”

    We are not going to stamp out racism before every single person living today is dead, and long dead.

  22. 22.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 1, 2014 at 8:08 pm

    @JPL: Eeww, do not want!

  23. 23.

    Anne Laurie

    May 1, 2014 at 8:12 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Kathleen Parker does not approve of racial profiling of old white men, seriously that was the topic of her last column.

    Kathleen Parker is my personal “go-to” hate-read, because she’s the epitome of the Elegant Racist Oligarchy in action. Her job — and she knows it! — is to pose as the Silk Magnolia, the [fake] Southern Belle who can funnel the “elegant” dismissals of those people (people of color, but also women, and most especially working-class people who might be or choose to make common cause with women or people of color). But sweetly, like a Lady!

    She’s the nicely-painted figurehead on Chief Justice Roberts’ pirate ship. And I can’t wait until the day she’s in a glass case in a museum, like the rest of the figureheads.

  24. 24.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 1, 2014 at 8:17 pm

    @Anne Laurie: I think of her as the low rent MoDo.

  25. 25.

    Monala

    May 1, 2014 at 8:23 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: Your point?

  26. 26.

    Cacti

    May 1, 2014 at 8:27 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I think of her as the low rent MoDo.

    The single greatest proof that there is no God?

    Both have Pulitzer Prizes for commentary.

  27. 27.

    Elmo

    May 1, 2014 at 8:28 pm

    TNC is a treasure.

    Had an interesting interaction today. Business meeting: me (middle aged white female), two African American gentlemen, and one older white gentleman.

    Older white gentleman: What do you think of that Sterling thing?

    Both black gentlemen: What they did to him wasn’t right – mans got a right to his opinion, in private in his own home. What if I said to my wife, I don’t like white people, should I get fired? (Obvs paraphrase)

    And I’m over here thinking, Dude, you aren’t the CEO. You’re a security guard. If you were the CEO, you damn right I’d fire your ass.

    Just a funny dynamic.

  28. 28.

    Cacti

    May 1, 2014 at 8:34 pm

    Bad news for the Snowdenistas.

    Wikileaks acknowledged today that they advised him flee to Russia.

    RIP: “Obama forced him to stay there” talking point.

  29. 29.

    maya

    May 1, 2014 at 8:37 pm

    @JPL:

    She was on Hardball promoting Jeb. I guess his bumper sticker is gonna be third time’s a charm or something

    BUSH .45

  30. 30.

    Cacti

    May 1, 2014 at 8:39 pm

    @maya:

    Dubya is publicly supporting a Jeb 2016 run.

    Please appear with him on the stump as often as possible, George.

  31. 31.

    Mandalay

    May 1, 2014 at 8:40 pm

    @the Conster:

    they’re beginning to see that maybe THEY are all being lumped into a type – the only question being are they more the Bundy type or the Sterling type when they’re at home?

    My own experience is that they are usually of the equally vile Jeremy Clarkson type: “just a joke!…just kidding!…lighten up!”…

  32. 32.

    Amir Khalid

    May 1, 2014 at 8:42 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:
    Me, I don’t think of MoDo as high-rent.

  33. 33.

    Suffern ACE

    May 1, 2014 at 8:43 pm

    @Amir Khalid: how about she’s a more authentic Cokie Roberts?

  34. 34.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 1, 2014 at 8:49 pm

    @Amir Khalid: She isn’t, NYT is. Kathleen Parker’s column appears in the Pravda on the Potomac. So comparatively speaking MoDo is higher rent than KP.

  35. 35.

    maya

    May 1, 2014 at 8:49 pm

    @Suffern ACE: Cokie Roberts.

    Shouldn’t someone have told her by now to ditch that sorority nickname?

  36. 36.

    Bob In Portland

    May 1, 2014 at 8:51 pm

    @Cacti: Well, if you followed the news you’d know that they proposed a prisoner swap for the folks the Kiev government has put in prison for not being cool with the coup. Didn’t the NY Times mention that?

    So I guess when Parubiy stops talking about destroying the ethnic Russians and agrees to negotiate with the half of Ukraine who voted for Yanukovich there will be prisoner exchanges.

    By the way, who’s bright idea was it to send a busload of NATO officers into territory controlled by “terrorists”? Was that supposed to be a provocation or is the Kiev government just really stupid?

    Also, the Poles in northwest Ukraine are talking about independence. What say you? Reform the 14th Waffen SS?

  37. 37.

    Bob In Portland

    May 1, 2014 at 8:54 pm

    I guess the good thing about Nuland’s coup too far is that the neo-cons in the permanent government will finally destroy NATO.

  38. 38.

    ShadeTail

    May 1, 2014 at 8:55 pm

    “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,” John Roberts elegantly wrote. Liberals have yet to come up with a credible retort.

    Gotta disagree here, TNC. There are many such retorts. Here’s one: “Then why do you keep undermining every reasonable and reliable effort to stop it?”

  39. 39.

    Mike in NC

    May 1, 2014 at 8:55 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Kathleen Parker has a burning crush on old white men, specifically John McCain and Mitt Romney.

  40. 40.

    JaneE

    May 1, 2014 at 8:56 pm

    If it weren’t skin color they would have found some other difference with which to justify treating people as animals and property.

  41. 41.

    Comrade Mary

    May 1, 2014 at 8:57 pm

    Yeah, unknown number of Boston racists. Way to maintain any good feelings about your city.

    (I have no patience tonight for excuses. Really, fuck you fuckers.)

  42. 42.

    the Conster

    May 1, 2014 at 8:57 pm

    @Anne Laurie:

    She’s more like Bobo for white women. While Brooks coos to the little people locked in steerage that it’s for their own good while the oligarchs man the lifeboats, Parker tut tut tuts to the feminists that everything will be perfectly alright and they’ll be taken care of if they just behave conventionally like she does, and default to respect for power and old white men. She’s a hipper Phyllis Schlafley.

  43. 43.

    Bob In Portland

    May 1, 2014 at 9:01 pm

    @maya: Would it be inappropriate to mention that Cokie and her hubby worked in Gloria Steinem’s CIA propaganda shed during the International Youth Festivals back in the late 50s, early 60s? Or is that one down the memory hole?

  44. 44.

    Mandalay

    May 1, 2014 at 9:02 pm

    @Cacti: “Bad news for the Snowdenistas.”
    I see why you decided not to provide a link to your “scoop”. Keep fucking that chicken.

  45. 45.

    Mike in NC

    May 1, 2014 at 9:03 pm

    @Cacti: Poppy will probably be recently deceased by 2016, so the media will be painting him as one of the greatest presidents ever, with frequent interviews with his evil spawn to lend credence to that ridiculous notion.

  46. 46.

    Kay

    May 1, 2014 at 9:05 pm

    This is intriguing:

    A lawsuit filed in federal court Thursday alleges recent cuts to voting hours discriminate against low-income and African-American Ohioans.
    Voting and civil rights advocates seek to overturn a law eliminating “Golden Week” and restore counties’ ability to set early, in-person voting hours that include Sundays and evenings.
    The lawsuit argues the changes violate the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bars election laws and procedures that result in discrimination against racial or language minorities.
    The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit with the U.S. Southern District Court of Ohio on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the League of Women Voters of Ohio and several African-American churches. Secretary of State Jon Husted and Attorney General Mike DeWine were named as plaintiffs.
    Studies of Ohio exit polls have shown African-American Ohioans vote early and in person in larger numbers than white Ohioans. In 2008, blacks in Cuyahoga County cast more than 77 percent of the in-person early ballots but only accounted for about 29 percent of the vote.

    Let’s all sue under Section Two!

    People love early voting and they got used to having it in Ohio so it’s important we curtail all that predictability, convenience and voter satisfaction.

  47. 47.

    Ash Can

    May 1, 2014 at 9:11 pm

    @Mandalay: Here you go.

  48. 48.

    Baud

    May 1, 2014 at 9:15 pm

    @Kay:

    No respect for the dignity of the state.

  49. 49.

    Mandalay

    May 1, 2014 at 9:16 pm

    @Anne Laurie:

    She’s the nicely-painted figurehead on Chief Justice Roberts’ pirate ship. And I can’t wait until the day she’s in a glass case in a museum, like the rest of the figureheads.

    I’m not a fan either, but I do give her credit for pointing out that Sarah Palin was a complete dimwit while almost everyone else on the right was ignoring Palin’s obvious incompetence and cheering madly.

  50. 50.

    Jeffro

    May 1, 2014 at 9:19 pm

    I was thinking about how conservatives are oh-so-concerned about the “slavery” of welfare benefits, like this:

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/fox-analyst-obama-slavery

    Obviously they don’t care if the less well-off are enslaved as a practical matter if not in law and fact. But I thought about it, and it dawned on me that they’re dog-whistling…(dog-hinting?)…they’re always trying to get ‘Murican taxpayers thinking they’re enslaved by simply having to pay taxes to support the government (which in their minds is 50% welfare and 50% foreign aid, i.e. international welfare).

    Talk enough about slavery, and it pushes all the wh…right…buttons, doesn’t it?

  51. 51.

    guachi

    May 1, 2014 at 9:20 pm

    Read TNC’s entire piece. He’s scary good, isn’t he? I have little to add other than “Go read all of it right now”.

  52. 52.

    gbear

    May 1, 2014 at 9:23 pm

    @Suffern ACE: I used to say that Cokie Roberts was the reason that snooze bars were invented, but then I just stopped waking up to Morning Edition. Many years ago.

  53. 53.

    Kay

    May 1, 2014 at 9:24 pm

    @efgoldman:

    I’m not really surprised it took this long. It’s not an obviously strong claim, IMO. Husted isn’t a dope. It’s not blatant. He cut back the early vote hours but the justification is the counties couldn’t agree on consistent hours and he’s also mailing every voter an absentee ballot. He also did that in 2012, universal absentee ballots. That doesn’t address the Souls to the Polls issue, though, which is why they want Sunday restored.

    I don’t know, but I think part of this is they’re exploring the limits of Section Two, how good a tool it is or will be. I’m just pleased to see a really aggressive strategy, win or lose. They should push it as far as they can go.

  54. 54.

    jl

    May 1, 2014 at 9:25 pm

    @ShadeTail:

    ‘ “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,” John Roberts elegantly wrote. Liberals have yet to come up with a credible retort. ‘

    ‘Gotta disagree here, TNC. There are many such retorts. Here’s one: “Then why do you keep undermining every reasonable and reliable effort to stop it?” ‘

    I disagree with TNC there too, and I think that part of his post is the weakest. My retort would be that Roberts’ statement is gibberish and means nothing, and cannot be interpreted as a condensation of any coherent argument supported by any evidence elsewhere in the opinion. It is just gibberish, in context or out. And anyone who would write that should not be judge in any court.

    The tie-in to ‘elegant racism’ I see is that pervasive racism and bigotry among powerful whites forbids that simple retort. And the retort is forbidden because of the implications of that retort having merit are forbidden to be acknowledged among powerful whites, not the merit of the retort itself.

    But, the post made some very good points, As a few commenters noted, including humble me, a couple of days ago, Bundy or Sterling could have said essentially the same thing in a different way, and they would fit right in with many respected ‘experts’ of one thing or another who appear regularly on Fox News.

  55. 55.

    Mandalay

    May 1, 2014 at 9:33 pm

    @jl:

    Bundy or Sterling could have said essentially the same thing in a different way, and they would fit right in with many respected ‘experts’ of one thing or another who appear regularly on Fox News.

    TNC elegantly made a similar point to yours:

    A racism that invites the condemnation of Sean Hannity can’t be much of a threat.

    Priceless.

  56. 56.

    Mr. Longform

    May 1, 2014 at 9:35 pm

    Ahistorical liberals—like most Americans—still believe that race invented racism, when in fact the reverse is true.

    I feel like an idiot. This single phrase has thrown me for a loop. I had truly never thought of it this way, and now I see how right this is. Damn. Racism precedes race. Of course it does. One of those aphorisms that clears things up. OK, I’m dumb, but now less dumb than I was.

  57. 57.

    Kay

    May 1, 2014 at 9:38 pm

    @efgoldman:

    And so there’s risk to that, because if they push it and lose that route can be closed off or narrowed if something more egregious comes along, which it probably will :)

  58. 58.

    Cacti

    May 1, 2014 at 9:42 pm

    @Bob In Portland:

    Well, if you followed the news you’d know that they proposed a prisoner swap

    Oh, so they’re abducting civilian journalists as hostages for negotiations?

    That makes it sound much better.

  59. 59.

    Cacti

    May 1, 2014 at 9:45 pm

    @Mandalay:

    Here you go.

    And another apologist lie bites the dust.

  60. 60.

    Chris

    May 1, 2014 at 9:48 pm

    @jl:

    I think a better phrase than “liberals have yet to come up with a credible retort” is “liberals have yet to come up with a retort that most white people [which until recently meant most Americans] are willing to listen to.” There’s no shortage of good points that’ve been said about the continuation of racism after official desegregation. Most people simply aren’t comfortable examining their privilege.

  61. 61.

    leeleeFL

    May 1, 2014 at 9:52 pm

    @kuvasz: I have a little song in my head that uses the music from Tradition from Fiddler on the Roof. Something I thought of during Healthcare Summer. The verses always change but the chorus is always “Attrition! “

  62. 62.

    jl

    May 1, 2014 at 9:57 pm

    @Chris: I think you and I are circling around the same point, which in turn leads to the point Shade Tail was making. Powerful whites, and their powerless white dupes, do not want to tolerate open and wide ranging discussion of the work of people like Roberts, who I think is an ever bigger mess than Scalia. What kind of mess I am not sure, maybe fool, maybe fraud, maybe corrupt and suborned, or some combination.

    If a mess like Roberts can pass muster, what does that say about their precious color-blind meritocracy? It says too much, and goes in the wrong direction.

    Which explains why Roberts ran out quick as he could and accused Sotomayor of playing the race card when she made (I think very politely) strong criticisms of Roberts’ bare assertions, gibberish, and arbitrary stipulations masquerading as arguments. They have to stop honest discussion of certain topics at all costs.

  63. 63.

    Suffern ACE

    May 1, 2014 at 9:58 pm

    @Cacti: it sounds like Latin America was a ruse, which is fair when dealing with spies. I don’t get the point of this narrative. When China turned him out, Russia made sense. There aren’t that many countries to choose from.

  64. 64.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 1, 2014 at 9:59 pm

    @Kay: Do you know to which judge this case has been assigned? Please, please, please say Marbley.

  65. 65.

    Mnemosyne

    May 1, 2014 at 10:03 pm

    Accidentally on topic, kinda-sorta via a comment at Slacktivist:

    Taking a Magnifying Glass to the Brown Faces In Medieval Art

    Basically, our understanding of medieval Europe was censored by racists over the centuries. If you look at the originals, there are a whole lot more black and brown people than most would care to admit.

  66. 66.

    Mr. Longform

    May 1, 2014 at 10:05 pm

    So how is it possible that the New York Times pays cash money to David Brooks, who is craven and not very smart; Maureen Dowd, who is not very smart and has no insight; Thomas Friedman, who may be smart, but has been phoning it in for the past 10 years at least; and Ross Douthat, who is not very smart and is a prissy little turd; when they might have given a national stage to Ta-Nehisi Coates, who is really smart, really insightful, and can write circles around those guys? Why?

  67. 67.

    Mandalay

    May 1, 2014 at 10:06 pm

    @Cacti:

    Here you go. And another apologist lie bites the dust.

    I’d already seen your “scoop” – that’s why I said I understood why you didn’t include a link. Strange that nobody else is making the same argument!

    Keep fucking that chicken.

  68. 68.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 1, 2014 at 10:08 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Crap. It’s Frost.

  69. 69.

    J.Ty

    May 1, 2014 at 10:13 pm

    @Mandalay: The story’s not about Snowden. That being said, screw that twerp.

  70. 70.

    MomSense

    May 1, 2014 at 10:25 pm

    @Suffern ACE:

    Yeah but why not Indonesia-direct from Hong Kong? They don’t have an extradition treaty with us.

  71. 71.

    Kay

    May 1, 2014 at 10:33 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    No, I don’t know, but I hope we get your judge. I think the claim is a reach. They’re using the Obama campaign case from 2012:

    The Obama campaign sued Husted in 2012 for setting uniform hours that eliminated three days of early voting for non-military voters. The Obama campaign argued the move treated voters unequally under the U.S. Constitution. A federal court forced the state to restore those early voting days.

    But that was obviously not gonna fly. It was different treatment for military and non-military. This curtails early vote for everyone, so they have to rely on exit polls and testimony to show disparate impact.

    The whole Husted voting dance is complicated because he manages this so carefully. He has to satisfy the GOP base on voter fraud (!) AND not be a known voter suppressor which would rile up the Dem base when he runs for governor, and he is planning on running for governor. It’s a fine line he has to walk :)

  72. 72.

    Kay

    May 1, 2014 at 10:38 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Bad, I guess?

  73. 73.

    Cacti

    May 1, 2014 at 10:43 pm

    @Mandalay:

    You really should get in touch with wikileaks and tell them stop spreading dastardly lies about your prince.

  74. 74.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 1, 2014 at 10:44 pm

    @Kay: First term W appointee.

  75. 75.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 1, 2014 at 10:49 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Is there a group of journalists more pathetic than the White House Press Corpse?

    No.

    SATSQ.

  76. 76.

    Kay

    May 1, 2014 at 10:54 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Louis CK has innocently blundered into the public school wars. His kids go to public school in NYC and he started tweeting pictures of his third grader’s math homework. It’s test prep. The ed reformers jumped all over him, and I would say he’s winning this fight because they’re just so stern and haughty (and to me just arrogant) but I’ve obviously made my mind up about them:

    Louis C.K. ‏@louisck 4h
    I trust a teacher over Pearson or bill hates any day of the week. Don’t all be so defensive and don’t be such bullies.

    Louis C.K. ‏@louisck 5h
    didn’t mean to write Bill hates. I meant to write “doody faced rich guy”. Oh just kidding. Alright I’m done. Go ahead and rip my head off.

    Louis C.K. ‏@louisck Apr 30
    my favorite responses have been adults proudly announcing that they were able to solve these problems from a 3rd grade test.

    The whole thing is very funny, because he’s approaching this with a lot of humility and humor but he won’t back down.

    https://twitter.com/louisck

  77. 77.

    Mandalay

    May 1, 2014 at 11:09 pm

    @Cacti:

    You really should get in touch with wikileaks and tell them stop spreading dastardly lies about your prince.

    You really should ask yourself why you have chosen to go the only web site which is making such bizarre claims based on publicly available information. Nobody else is making those claims. Did all the other web sites miss the scoop, or is the writer you choose to believe a little bit wacko and a little bit desperate?

  78. 78.

    Wally Ballou

    May 1, 2014 at 11:12 pm

    @Mandalay: Perhaps, although I always suspected her real problem with Palin was more NOCD than anything related to her actual qualifications (or lack thereof).

  79. 79.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    May 1, 2014 at 11:22 pm

    @Linda Featheringill: My granddaughter’s mom, mom’s dad, and her sister (all in Pensacola) were, Two of those three lost their cars to the floodwaters, but nothing else, thank god. Shortly after telling me this, they reported the news of the explosion of the county jail in P’cola. Biblical.

  80. 80.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    May 1, 2014 at 11:30 pm

    Forgot to mention … quite possibly your best post here ever, Anne Thank you. I can’t stop thinking about “elegant racism.”

  81. 81.

    Ash Can

    May 1, 2014 at 11:38 pm

    @Mandalay: Did you happen to notice that the source of this information is Wikileaks itself? This isn’t a “bizarre claim,” it’s information provided directly by the source.

  82. 82.

    Bob In Portland

    May 2, 2014 at 12:04 am

    @Cacti: Which journalists are you talking about? The guys from VICE were released. Do you have a link from somewhere in English?

    I was actually thinking about the busload of NATO officers. They were supposed to be traded. But the soldiers who surrendered to the little old ladies. They just had to surrender their bullets and armored vehicles. They got soup, sandwiches and beer and were put on buses home. They got to keep their rifles, though.

  83. 83.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 2, 2014 at 12:26 am

    @Bob In Portland:

    Do you have a link from somewhere in English?

    You’re an expert on the topic and yet you need links to be in English? I would have thought that you would be comfortable in Ukrainian and/or Russian.

  84. 84.

    Mnemosyne

    May 2, 2014 at 12:43 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Didn’t you know? Being fluent in Ukranian is proof positive that you’re a neo-Nazi spy.

  85. 85.

    Another Holocene Human

    May 2, 2014 at 5:07 am

    But more, it is because liberals do not understand that America has never discriminated on the basis of race (which does not exist) but on the basis of racism (which most certainly does.)Ideologies of hatred have never required coherent definitions of the hated. Islamophobes kill Sikhs as easily as they kill Muslims.

    Burn.

    That’s why Sterling was sanctioned. He insulted Magic Johnson, got otherwise happily prejudiced white peoples’ backs up.

  86. 86.

    LAC

    May 2, 2014 at 9:29 am

    @Suffern ACE: I think she is the less alcoholic version of Peggy noonan.

  87. 87.

    Older

    May 2, 2014 at 12:29 pm

    @Elmo: He might have a point. If Sterling had stuck to being bigoted in the privacy of his own home.

  88. 88.

    artem1s

    May 2, 2014 at 6:12 pm

    @Kay:

    there is a petition going around now to put a referendum on the November ballot that would set the number of early voting days so the SoS can’t arbitrarily reduce them. I signed but don’t think it is broad enough. Even if some repuke SoS can’t decrease the early voting dates, s/he will just find some other onerous work around to keep the wrong people from voting. Killing early voting in OH is only one prong in Blackwell’s playbook that Husted is cribbing. Once you kill early voting, you also have to make sure there are 7 hour long lines at the ‘right’ precincts. Blackwell’s favorite ploy was to make sure there weren’t enough workers and polling booths at urban precincts no matter how many registered voters were in that precinct. rural precincts often had 3-4x as many booths per registered voters as urban precincts.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • Kelly on Monday Morning Open Thread: The Tariff We Pay for Civilization (Apr 15, 2024 @ 11:16am)
  • Taken4Granite on Monday Morning Open Thread: The Tariff We Pay for Civilization (Apr 15, 2024 @ 11:15am)
  • Brachiator on Monday Morning Open Thread: The Tariff We Pay for Civilization (Apr 15, 2024 @ 11:15am)
  • Matt McIrvin on Campaigns, cash and poorly attached voters (Apr 15, 2024 @ 11:15am)
  • Geminid on Take the Fucking Win (Apr 15, 2024 @ 11:14am)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Talk of Meetups – Meetup Planning
Proposed BJ meetups list from frosty

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8
Virginia House Races
Four Directions – Montana
Worker Power AZ
Four Directions – Arizona
Four Directions – Nevada

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
Positive Climate News
War in Ukraine
Cole’s “Stories from the Road”
Classified Documents Primer

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Political Action 2024

Postcard Writing Information

Balloon Juice for Four Directions AZ

Donate

Balloon Juice for Four Directions NV

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2024 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!