Elizabeth Lauten’s boss, Stephen Fincher, won by a 46-point margin last month.
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) December 1, 2014
If only she’d been a real journalist, she’d have remembered the magical phrase “Some people say… “ As the Washington Post, company paper for a town where the monopoly company is politics, explained the issue:
… “Try showing a little class,” Elizabeth Lauten, communications director for Rep. Stephen Lee Fincher (Tenn.), wrote Friday in a Facebook posting addressed to Sasha, 13, and Malia, 16, chastising them for their comportment during last week’s annual turkey pardoning event at the White House.
“Rise to the occasion. Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at the bar,” Lauten wrote. “And certainly don’t make faces during televised, public events.” …
Lauten’s Facebook post was shared on Twitter and then picked up by the blogosphere. Most of the online reaction to Lauten’s comments focused on her characterization of the girls’ appearance and their facial expressions, which was especially surprising given her role as a political communication adviser. Some Twitter users accused her of racial overtones in her comments…
Gosh, ya think?
In her post, Lauten also took a dig at the president and first lady, saying “your mother and father don’t respect their positions very much, or the nation for that matter, so I’m guessing you’re coming up a little short in the ‘good role model’ department.”
Hours after the original post, Lauten followed up with a second post apologizing for her critique. “I quickly judged the two young ladies in a way that I would never have wanted to be judged myself as a teenager,” she wrote.
“After many hours of prayer, talking to my parents, and re-reading my words online I can see more clearly just how hurtful my words were. . . . I pledge to learn and grow (and I assure you I have) from this experience.” …
Which didn’t save her job — although I’m sure somebody in the Wingnut Wurlitzer HR department will find some kind of sinecure to fill Lautner’s Christmas stocking. But, as Mr. Charles P. Pierce reminded me, the real scandal isn’t some PR person committing #twitterfail, it’s the man paying her salary. I typed Rep. Fincher’s name into the google and hit this Rick Ungar Forbes story on the top page:
Tennessee GOP Congressman Stephen Fincher, swept into office in the Tea Party wave of 2010, is on a mission from God.
Armed with an array of proverbs and quotes from the Holy Bible, Congressman Fincher is pressing his fight to dramatically curtail the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—better known to most Americans as food stamps—relied upon by 47 million Americans for some or all of their daily sustenance…
Appearing this past weekend at a gathering at a Memphis Holiday Inn, Fincher explained his position on food stamps by stating, “The role of citizens, of Christians, of humanity is to take care of each other, but not for Washington to steal from those in the country and give to others in the country.”…
Maybe the Congressman can instruct heathens such as I on how pocketing huge sums of taxpayer money in the guise of farm subsidies is a righteous act, while accepting government subsidies to feed one’s family is an act of—to use Fincher’s own words—stealing from those in the country to give to others in the country?…
You see, Representative Fincher happens to be the second largest recipient of farm subsidies in the United States Congress—which might explain why Mr. Fincher would like to decimate the food stamp budget in order to do the Lord’s work when “supporting a proposal to expand crop insurance by $9 billion over the next 10 years.”…
Of course, Rep. Fincher would no doubt explain that he is the freely elected mouthpiece for his good Christian constituents, just as Lauten was his own choice of spokesperson. If only a weekend’s media embarrassment might give those Tennessee voters a hint about rethinking their hiring choices…
OneTonSoup
I fully expect to see her on Hannity being praised for her ‘courage under fire’.
Baud
I wonder if John McCain regrets telling that crazy woman at the town hall in 2008 that Obama was a good and decent man. I wonder if McCain believes that is what cost him the election. I wonder if McCain would be right.
Professor
There is a job opening for her at Fox & Friends. I’m just saying…
BGinCHI
If it turned out that Fincher dude was literally the Devil, Satan himself, it wouldn’t even make the WaPo front page.
After all, both sides do it.
burnspbesq
Fincher: “Crop insurance protects hard-working American farmers from disasters that can suddenly and unexpectedly strike them through no fault of theirs.”
Fincher: “Food stamps are different. Because they are.”
mai naem mobile
TPM has a story that this chick was arrested for shoplifting at 17 and had her record cleared because she’s white, oops, i mean because she was a first time offender.
Baud
I’m surprised Fincher had a challenger.
Phil Perspective
@mai naem mobile: Bingo!! Glass houses and stones. Not to mention the Obama kids did absolutely nothing wrong, unless you’re a wingnut.
Redshift
Yes, the Bible tells Christians to care for the poor; it does not say that if Christians like Fincher fail to step up, no one else is allowed to, and the poor must starve or UR DOIN IT WRONG.
Jesus also says that a rich man should give away all his money to help the poor. I wonder how Fincher is doing on that score?
dmsilev
Said talk probably went like “girl, let me tell you how much of a pain in the ass *you* were at age 16”.
kindness
If the entire Farm Bill doesn’t get renewed that would suck. But….I will be gleeful when I read about all the farmers who go broke because there was no farm bill to back them.
Ugly, I know.
Trentrunner
Chris Rock, on “black progress” in America:
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@dmsilev: I”m thinking more like, “Baby Girl, you just take some time off and go stay at the beach house for a few weeks, or go out to Vail till we come out at Christmas. Uncle Ronnie will talk to some people and you can get a job with Governor or Senator Corker after New Years. And be careful with that liberal media, you know they all knew exactly what you meant but they just used you to protect that man….”
Kay
It’s even less attenuated than that.
Food stamps are themselves an ag subsidy. It’s a voucher to purchase agricultural products. That’s what it is.
It’s also a welfare program, sure, absolutely, but I don’t know how they blithely skip by what they’re buying with the voucher, and where the money goes. The retailer gets a single digit per cent, the food processor/packager/marketer gets the majority chunk, and the producer gets the rest.
The consumer is just the end of the line, yet there’s 100% focus there. It’s crazy.
raven
A manhunt for a suspected killer is underway in Morgantown, West Virginia after at least four people were shot dead in three different shootings linked to a man driving a black Ford pickup truck, authorities said.
The suspected shooter, identified by officials as 39-year-old Jody Lee Hunt, is believed to be driving a black 2011 Ford F150 extended cab truck featuring a black cover over the truck bed reading a W.Va. registration of: OLK 303.
Violet
@Phil Perspective:
The Obama girls did nothing wrong period. It’s the wingnuts who are wrong.
sparrow
@raven: Another asshole who decides to murder a bunch of people instead of dealing with being dumped like a fucking human.
dubo
And Weigel is defending these dopes
Kay
I love how they always forget there’s such an extensive photographic record of past presidents. I just wait for it. No tie? Feet up on the desk? Bowing before world leaders? Teenage daughters?
How many times does it have to happen? I feel like I would know that Bush was (for example!) once photographed holding hands with a prince if I were a Republican. That would give me pause. But not them. No sir.
BGinCHI
@Kay: This a GREAT point, Kay.
Unfortunately the average American’s grasp of micro-econ is, um, shaky.
Everything the GOP does hurts the economy. Name something that doesn’t. And I don’t mean “the economy of rich people.”
BGinCHI
@Kay: History: written by the winners, read by the losers.
Baud
@Kay:
They are subject to neither internal nor external social controls. This is the result.
Patricia Kayden
@dubo: He can lobby for Slate to hire Lauten then.
Kay
@BGinCHI:
It’s really direct with some things. We get local milk in stores. Even the Walmart here sells milk that is produced locally, under the Walmart label.
The local producer is directly benefiting from food stamps and (also) WIC. That’s THIS county. Producer to retailer to consumer, paid for with a voucher.
BGinCHI
@Kay: It makes so much sense they have to be against it.
What a world we live in.
Botsplainer
Speaking for me, I’m glad Lauten said what she said about the girls’ clothing, because it gave decent people an opportunity to see white propaganda for the bullshit it was.
If left unanswered, nobody would have bothered to see the plain vanilla nature of their clothing, and how made up the bullshit was.
I’m seriously looking for some Corday-Marat moments in the punditocracy in the near future.
Interestingly, in the Facebook comments on the Gawker article about her teen arrest, people are whining that she had the ability to change in the years since the arrest, no doubt with the cheap mercy granted by her filthy apocalyptic Bronze Age racist death cult.
Baud
@Botsplainer:
It doesn’t seem like she changed for the better.
Violet
So if anyone remembers me posting about the discrepancy on two exactly the same thyroid ultrasound charges from the exact same doctor and facility, I have an answer.
Talked to the insurance company–they couldn’t explain it and said I needed to talk to the imaging center. Talked to the imaging center who said the CPT codes are exactly the same and the amount they billed is exactly the same–$550. That number is nowhere to be found on the Explanation of Benefits. Also, the EOB does not list the imaging company–it lists some other company as the provider. So I had to google to get the number and then call that company.
Turns out that the company listed as the provider on the EOB is a nothing but a middleman that does billing for radiology and imaging services for the insurance company. They have one contracted rate with the health insurance company to process their claims. They have another contracted rate with the imaging company to provide imaging services. The only benefit they provide is processing paperwork.
The reason the charges went up is that Middleman Company renegotiated their contracted rate with the health insurance company in September. HOWEVER, they did NOT renegotiate their rate with Imaging Company. So the EOB rate that the health insurance company sent shows the higher rate but Imaging Company is not allowed to charge that amount. They can only charge the contracted rate, which is the lower rate.
What happens to the money that makes up the difference between the rate Middleman Company pays Imaging Company and the rate they charge the health insurance company? Well, it’s their profit, of course! Apparently it can’t be listed on the EOB because the health insurance company doesn’t know what Middleman Company’s contracted rate is with Imaging Company.
What a total clusterfuck. And Middleman Company adds value to the process how? They do nothing but make the process opaque. I had no idea who “Middleman Company” was that was listed as the “Provider” on the EOB. And they obscure the actual charges from Imaging Company–it’s not available to the customer without calling Imaging Company’s billing office to ask.
Our health insurance system is so fucked. I have enjoyed telling every billing person I talked to today how the NHS works in the UK. “You just go to the doctor. That’s it.” They sigh wistfully.
Chickamin Slam
Wasn’t it Jesus that said, “For I was hungry, and you gave me no food: I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink because you valued Freedom above all.” I recall some congressperson quoting Jesus when they uttered that.
WereBear
I am sure that, if asked, Lauten & Co. would be hard-pressed to come up with something concrete the First Family has done to “show disrespect.” Unlike that famous rich white frat boy who took the nation to war on a bunch of lies.
What was his name again?
Mike in NC
I’m just shocked to learn that a Bible-thumping Tea Party congressman would go out and hire some vapid publicist with nothing better to do than snark about children.
Next we’ll be hearing that he has a Confederate flag in his office.
jl
@Kay:
i noticed the Obama kids during the Thanksgiving turkey pardon. They looked like they got a little bored during the thing, but who cares, they are kids.
Me, the Dub kids are OK with me, and they acted undignified, if misdemeanor booze busts and sticking your tongue out and excessive party are undignified (maybe they are, maybe they aren’t).
The Obama kids aren’t old enough to go boozing. But one of them could make a face or something. Would be nice to see the wingnut howls over that.
Jenna_Bush_Hager Wikipedia
She made headlines [during 2004 campaign] when she was found sticking her tongue out to media photographers at a campaign stop in St. Louis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenna_Bush_Hager
As I said in last thread, if I’m prez, I’ll make sure no one talks about my kids. I’ll rescind the pardon and kill the turkeys on live TV. See if the kids can keep a straight face through that. You just watch me. I’ll run in 2020 on that platform.
Mike E
@WereBear: It’s project 24-7 for these GOP operatives… her jealous take on the Obama girls was a bit of a ‘tell’, and to say she had troubles as a teen (gawd, who didn’t) is just more insight into that rightwing phenomenon.
Fact is, the First Family is lovely and totally relatable… GOP hates them
selvesfor that.eemom
I’m just glad she lost her job.
Yeah yeah, maybe there’s a Fox gig in her future, etc. and so forth; but that had to have hurt, and it is SO very rare for that ilk to face consequences of any kind.
Suck on it, you insufferable child-bullying twat. Weep LOTS of tasty tears.
Boots Day
In her post, Lauten also took a dig at the president and first lady, saying “your mother and father don’t respect their positions very much, or the nation for that matter, so I’m guessing you’re coming up a little short in the ‘good role model’ department.”
I find that every bit as offensive as the shots she took at the teenage girls. Their father is the fking PRESIDENT, and he’s not a role model?
I always think I have a handle on these people, and then they show me that the hatred runs even deeper than I thought.
Kristin
@BGinCHI: NPR had someone from Mashable on today to talk about this (among other things) and the story basically was, “but people said mean things about the Bush twins, too.”
Botsplainer
@Baud:
Au contraire – She’s got the foul stench of Christ Jesus all over her. Back when she was a rebellious, mercurial teen, she probably had some empathy and compassion, something that the idiot Calvinists she fell in with made sure to crush as quickly as possible.
Kay
@jl:
I thought they looked mad. Maybe they were mad. Maybe they had the normal parent/child thing where he told them they had to do it and they didn’t want to.
I like them because they seem to like each other, the girls. They’re always exchanging sympathetic looks. It happens in that clip.
JenJen
@Botsplainer: I sure hope that Elizabeth Lauten stole a length-appropriate skirt from that department store.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
I’m getting goddamned tired of NPR and the “both sides do it” bullshit. I’m so glad my local college station with fabulous music can now manage with hardly any NPR programming. My money goes for the music and not beltway dipshit dissemination.
Like eemom, I’m glad this fool faced some consequences – it’s rare. Sure the wingnut Wurlitzer will have her back, but I’ll enjoy this moment.
Mandalay
@eemom:
What probably hurt her most of all is that the whole world now knows that she was a teenage shoplifter.
Nobody would have known or cared if she hadn’t written her vile comments. You reap what you sow.
currants
@Kay: Bingo. And if you look at the history of said Farm Bill*, it was intended to support both ends: farmers and eaters. Goal: both survive = Win!
*ETA: history = depression era bill.
beltane
@Boots Day: This young woman has a shoplifting record and has been photographed unchastely fondling a beer bottle at a bar. No doubt she learned her trashy, entitled behavior from her trashy, entitled parents. Decent, intelligent people like the Obamas simply don’t exist in the moral cesspits that hatch creatures like Lauten.
Also, while Lauten may be blonde enough to land an audition on Roger Ailes’ casting couch, she doesn’t have the right build to make a go of it a Fox.
Tommy
Amen. Watch this from the West Wing.
A new minutes of fuck you in your face, with a ton of bible quotes. Ending the phrase “when the United States President stands nobody sits.” I don’t think West Wing is even close to the real world. But maybe at times respect for office might not be a bad thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1-ip47WYWc
TS
@Boots Day:
Her original post was an attack on the President and his wife.. She just didn’t realize the backlash she would get from mentioning the children – RWNJ never think anything through before they open their mouths and talk hate.
Kristin
@Boots Day: That part sounded like a dog whistle to me.
Mike E
@jl:
I hear in parts of Turkey you can see Russia.
Baud
@Botsplainer:
That’s actually the Holy Spirit. His lack of personal hygiene is something of an embarrassment to the Trinity.
Tommy
@TS: If you attacked me because of the job my parents had, my gosh you’d have to encounter my mom. I can assure you that would not go over well for you. In what world is it OK to go after somebodies kids? I don’t care the party, you just don’t do that.
wenchacha
I’m not a member of MENSA, while Lauten claims she is, that’s fine. I am (and was when I was younger) sentient enough to not make a post like that.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Violet: That’s messed up. But unsurprising. :-(
Thanks for the update. I’m sorry you got caught in this nonsense.
Cheers,
Scott.
Chris
@Botsplainer:
I think I have a new favorite “Balloon Juice Atheist In Residence”…LOL
WereBear
I’m just amazed there was enough blowback that she resigned. When was the last time that happened?
I mean, it was nasty and non-factual and full of unspoken prejudice… and what else is new?
True, spokespeople with much more overt racial nastiness got in trouble, but this is just mean and nasty. I’m pleased someone finally got dinged for that.
I’m sure she’s incredibly surprised.
Woodrowfan
It took “many hours of prayer” to realize it was wrong to publicly attack a couple of teenage girls like that? really? Most people wouldn’t have made the remarks int he first place, and most would have realized they were being assholes right away, without “hours of prayer.”
There does seem to be a direct relationship here: the more time praying a person says they do, the bigger jerk they are to other people.
And she claims to be a member of Mensa? heh, another group that the more someone brags about being a member, the greater the chance they are assholes.
raven
The Boss is fillin in for Bono on MNF.
WereBear
@Violet: Yup. That’s messed up.
Here in NY, I filed a complaint with the AG’s office about the jerk specialist I saw in the summer. When the lady taking your complaint agrees his bill is messed up, the bill is messed up.
He charged over $600 for an office visit. When the insurance company paid him $60, he generously charged me only $250 or so.
And this isn’t even touching the many tests he ran; at the wrong time of day, for the disease he spent most of his office time telling me I didn’t have.
Bob In Portland
This has nothing to do with our seventy-year support of Nazis in Ukraine.
Ruckus
@Woodrowfan:
Who was it said that any group that would have him for a member wasn’t worth being in?
Southern Beale
More to this story … Stephen Fincher used the Bible to justify cutting the food stamp program, meanwhile he personally pocketed $9 million in ag subsidies for his cotton farm. No wonder he was named CREW’s 2011 Most Corrupt Member Of Congress.
Meanwhile, I’m sure y’all have heard: Lauten was arrested for shoplfiting as a 17-year-old, according to The Smoking Gun:
Good thing she wasn’t caught shoplfiting in Ferguson, Mo. You get shot for that.*
*If you’re a black teenager.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Yeah, talk-radio-style nastiness and dog-whistles are pretty much the essence of the Reince Priebus/Chris Christie Republican party, the cheaper and more personal, the more the base eats it up. I was also surprised she was fired, but I did see someone on TV say this is the second time she’s caused trouble for Fincher; she sent out a tweet in his name that used the word “shagging” (cause I bet she’s like totally been to London and loves Austin Powers almost as much as GOD!).
I never had any beef with the Bush twins, really, in fact, they usually struck me as better than they oughta be considering their parentage.
@Woodrowfan: She loves Jesus because Jesus loves her.
Southern Beale
And I wish we’d stop saying she apologized. She didn’t. She wrote a lame non-apology and then deleted it.
burnspbesq
@kindness:
I’m sure you understand that that’s exactly why reauthorization of food stamps is always part of the farm bill: it forces self-described liberals to hold their noses and vote for the nasty stuff. It’s the paradigm case of an organic free-range chicken and shit sandwich.
Woodrowfan
@Ruckus: Groucho Marx??
Iowa Old Lady
This Lauten incident is striking because it makes it clear how right wing comments and actions have very little to do with policy differences. Rather they stem from a visceral hatred that precedes policy. They hate first and use that hatred to find their position.
The irrationality of that is what makes it clear there’s a huge racial element to this. You’ve ruled out the logical stuff.
Tommy
@Southern Beale: How about it. I am nothing close to perfect. At 45 there are MANY things I wish I never did. But I have not stolen from a store. Lauten did. Caught. Prosecuted. Now she wants to pass judgement on the Obama children. Such a lack of self-awareness is hard for me to comprehend.
beltane
Lauten reminds me of those smug, horrible blonde Justice Department staffers during the Bush administration. The ones who developed early onset dementia whenever they were under oath.
TS
@Tommy:
Even when other folks attack our children for the right reasons we fight back – As the Mom I am allowed to be critical – but others had better beware. Regardless of parents protecting their young, I saw this as 90% an attack on the black guy and his wife who dare to live in the white house – she was berating their child raising, family skills while calling out the children.
The Obamas have the most functional family that has EVER been in the white house – yet there are still fools like this one who would attempt to deny this fact.
Ruckus
@Kay:
Are you thinking that they might be able to have a rational thought? Because I’m pretty sure that’s just not a possibility with them. They can’t see past the hatred and spite that’s plastered on their faces. The sure can’t make any cause and effect relationships out of any info they get.
Was at the VA today and CNN is on the TV. BTW as bad as it is it is far far better than having fox on. They are of course talking about Ferguson. There are 4 black men in the room and 2 whites, one of which is me. The other white dude makes some comment that bordered on racist and then looked at me for some backup. If looks could kill then he should be wearing a toe tag. I was ready to come back at him but he had the minimum of sense not to utter another sound. No one else in the room said a word or even looked in his direction. I wonder if they are just used to it, or figure it really isn’t worth the energy.
Mike E
@Woodrowfan: Yes. The ‘group’ in question was a country club which fancied having a legendary celebrity on their rolls. Considering how CCs excluded certain members according to religion and/or color, that quip was a particularly sly comment on the ‘rules’ of society… very Groucho.
Tommy
Happy thought. Was listening to a U2 song on YouTube and I read this comment:
So we got that going for us.
mai naem mobile
Are J.C.,Shawn and neighbors ok? He hasn’t tweeted today. Just wondering because of the gun nut whackjob.
mdblanche
@Botsplainer: Now be fair. It’s not a Bronze Age racist death cult. It’s an Iron Age racist death cult.
JPL
@efgoldman: There is a local church that always posts sign. Last weeks was if god didn’t exist what would the atheist do. I’m still thinking about it. lol
raven
@Ruckus: Used to stupid motherfuckers in the waiting room of the VA? NOOOOOO, say it ain’t so!
raven
@Tommy: The Boss just sang “Street with no name” on the pregame with U2.
WereBear
@Ruckus: Guess he had a hard time being a minority, huh?
scav
@JPL: Have Better Neighbors.
Violet
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: @WereBear: Yep, it’s messed up. More than that, it’s indicative of the massive structural mess that is our health system. A middleman that has two separate contracted rates for the same procedure and the only “value” they add is pushing paper? No wonder overhead costs are high!
WereBear, I’m sorry you had to deal with that doctor. What a mess. Unfortunately, the further you go into the specialist category, the more they charge and the less they seem to care what you think about it. Their patients are desperate so they can get away with charging whatever they want and desperate people will pay it.
aimai
@Violet: Wow!
Tommy
@TS: What you said.
Heliopause
I happened to surf upon the turkey ceremony and watched a bit of it live. As I looked at the girls I remember thinking to myself, no joke, “they’re dressed rather conservatively.” I’ve been to church events where the teenage girls were showing more skin than that. Seriously.
Hard to believe she called them bar sluts.
Violet
@Ruckus:
What is it with middle aged white men that they think they can spout racist shit in public whenever they want? I had jury duty awhile ago and this middle aged white guy a row or two behind me just started in with racist, homophobic shit and then looked around for backup. The other middle-aged white guy sitting near him joined in and a middle-aged white lady did too. That surprised me a little. The non-white people on my row studiously ignored him. I kind of did too because I didn’t want to cause a scene in the courthouse. Seemed unwise.
Tommy
@raven: Cool.
With that said U2 used to be for a lack of a better word a protest band. As a kid in the 80s, and I wore out my record player, playing War, I think my Scotish parents thought I might have become Irish :). Oh how they have changed.
Violet
@aimai: Yeah, it is kind of Wow! Sorry my post was so long but it’s so freaking convoluted. I am going to see if I can get Richard to comment on it if I’m around when he posts a thread. This middleman negotiating two separate rates–one with the provider and one with the health insurance company–seems wrong somehow. Especially since they then obscure the actual provider charges by listing themselves as the provider. That’s at least unethical if not illegal.
beltane
@Violet: It’s because they watch Fox, live in their little bubbles, and generally assume that everyone thinks just like them. In places where there are lots of white liberals, some of them have learned to keep it to themselves unless they are assured they are among like-minded assholes.
Violet
@Heliopause:
That was really offensive. The oldest isn’t even 18, let alone 21. They don’t go to bars. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if she turns out to have a drinking problem. It’s always projection with the wingnuts.
Skerry
@mai naem mobile: the WVa shooter has been found dead of a self-inflicted wound.
Mike E
@Ruckus:
I suppose The Price Is Right wasn’t on.
Tommy
@Violet: I understand. Saturday I was with the extended family my brother married into. They told me, I kid you not, the riots in Ferguson were caused by Al Sharpton paying people to burn down buildings. Rarely am I at a loss for words, but I didn’t even know what to say. I recall looking at my dad, I was in the room with 15 people that seemed to think this, and he just did the “cut throat thing” and I decided to go play with the dog.
Anne Laurie
@Violet:
Seriously? They were raised, they expect, to be The Guy(s) in Charge. It is ingrained in them that they have the “responsibility” to Set the Tone. If middle-aged white men didn’t tell the rest of us almost-people (women, people of color, young people, even other middle-aged white men who don’t make as much money or aren’t as “respectable”), how would we be aware of what All Right-Thinking People Agree?
It’s their burden, as well as their glory. We make fun of older women, for instance, who go up to strange parents in public and tell them how they should be dealing with their small children, or “mean girls” who offer diet advice to random fat people in the mall, but middle-aged white men carry the heavy tribal burden. You’d think they’d be grateful for all the network talking heads and Foxbots sharing the load, but nooooo….
Tommy
@efgoldman: Never thought of that. As a “non-believer” never went door-to-door. Never even thought of the concept/idea.
Violet
@Anne Laurie: Maybe I grew up with different people but I remember people making an effort to be polite and keep their views on stuff like that to themselves. The spouting off of impolite views in public among strangers and then looking around to other white people for backup seems like a new thing to me.
Violet
@efgoldman:
I don’t know what happened to him. This was in the big juror meeting room. From that room they selected pools to go to courtrooms. I was in the first group to go so I don’t know if he got in a pool, let alone a jury.
From my experience, once we got to the courtroom there wasn’t much talking and there was a lot of listening. I don’t think he would have had the opportunity to spout his racist views unless he raised his hand and did it all by himself with all the other members of the pool, plus the judge, defendant, lawyers, and bailiff watching. I’m not sure he would have been as bold at that point.
Violet
@Tommy: That would be funny to come up with some atheist “literature” and proselytize door to door. Someone would probably call the police on you.
Tommy
@Violet: Totally new. It has taken me five years or so to where the family my brother married into talks to me. Well they would talk to me, but openly about politics. They’d always give me a Fox Noise headline, but to actually talk, talk, something newer.
This took a long time coming because I don’t hide I am a raging liberal. But I also like to think that through the years I’ve earned their trust. Earlier on I’d say stuff. They said I was wrong. I showed them, via often Fox Noise, I was in fact not wrong. I don’t lie to them.
But the Ferguson thing, they won’t listen, and we’re in the backyard.
Mike E
@Tommy: That sucks.
Tommy
@efgoldman: I want to say LOL but I won’t. I live in a small rural town. The cops in my town are pretty freaking cool. A few years ago we did a huge protest over something. Hundreds of people, which is a VERY large protest where I live. The police were right with us. Didn’t care for a second. Some off duty came to join us.
Violet
@Tommy: I’m not talking about people within a family. I’m talking about total strangers spouting off racist views and then looking around to find another white person to back them up. It’s bizarre. I don’t remember that happening when I was a kid, although I suppose I could have been oblivious. I also don’t remember it as a young adult. It seems new to me.
PurpleGirl
@Tommy: Limbaugh (and others) went after Amy Carter and Chelsea Clinton for their looks. Wasn’t he the one who said something about putting a bag over Amy Carter’s head? I don’t believe minor presidential children should talked about. It’s not fair to them, they had no say in their parent’s becoming president.
The West Wing was a great show. Not exactly real, but we want President Bartlett to be real, especially when he was ready with rejoinders like those in that clip.
PurpleGirl
@Ruckus: I believe it was Groucho Marx.
Violet
@PurpleGirl: Agreed that minor children of presidents should be completely off limits. It’s not their fault their parent is president. Leave the kids out of it.
As for adult kids, I also think they should be left alone unless they do something newsworthy that would be discussed no matter who their parents were. Or if they decide themselves to become public figures, like Jenna Bush Hager or Chelsea Clinton have. Then they are fair game.
Tommy
@Violet: I think you might recall it wrong (when you were a kid).
I recall being like 6. Coming out of a tumbling class. My mom crying. I asked why. She said John Lennon was dead. I know I’d never heard his name before. She was beside herself. We went to the deli next to the studio and people seemed to be giddy he was dead. Happy even.
Maybe one of the, if not the earliest, vivid memories of my life.
mdblanche
@Iowa Old Lady: This is why I don’t think polls showing how popular progressive economic proposals are mean anything and why I don’t see populism as a winner for the Democratic Party. If they’re not voting on policy, there’s nothing we can do with policy to appeal to them.
Ruckus
@Violet:
I’ve been aware of this bullshit since I was 12 and a black man that worked for my dad took me under his wing and showed me who, what, when, where and how. I’ve heard plenty of racist talk over the years but I’ve never had someone look to me for backup. His comment wasn’t out and out racist, but I didn’t see what he said could be intended or taken any other way. BTW he knew he fucked up, that was obvious in that as I was giving him the death ray stare, he looked at the floor and wouldn’t acknowledge me as I waited for him to say even one more word.
Ruckus
@raven:
Yeah, imagine that. Whocouldaknowed?
@WereBear:
Probably not. He seemed like a doufus either way. About 5 min prior I had been having about the longest conversation with anyone in a VA waiting room I’ve ever had, a very nice black guy, talking about retirement, life and all. And then this happens. Decades ago I came to the understanding that about half the white population is fucked up in the head racist. The last decade hasn’t changed that idea in any measurable way.
Violet
@Tommy: I’m not talking so much about the racist stuff because I do remember some of that. I’m talking about the random spouting off and then looking around for backup from other whites. It’s like they know it’s wrong or something and want someone else to make them feel better about it. The people giddy about John Lennon’s death weren’t randomly spouting off racist stuff and looking to your mom or other whites for backup. They were talking amongst themselves.
@Ruckus: Like I said, I’ve heard racist talk but the weird spouting off of racist stuff by complete strangers in public, who then look around to other white people for backup seems like a new thing. Maybe Fox News and its bubble insulates them? Or maybe society is changing enough that they know it’s wrong to say but figure they can still find support from other white people? I don’t know. It’s weird when someone you don’t know says something completely offensive and looks hopefully at you to back them up with a comment. Simply because of your skin color.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I suppose it progress Lauten restrained herself from screaming the n-bomb at Obama’s kids the entire time.
It must just steam the Wingtards to no end the Obamas are a middle class family as it gets.
Tommy
@Ruckus: I might have been raised in family where there were “blacks” and “ni*gers.”
Then I lived for a decade plus in DC. A town 80% African American. For a number of years I lived on a block where I was the only “white person.” Everybody was sceptical of me, not the other way around. I say to liberals, and clearly I am one, try that for a few months. It is easy to say “my best friend is African American” but try living where they live and it is eye opening.
There is so much I took away from living there. The first is if you called the police they didn’t come. We were told if we ever called 9.11 to mention a gun, even if there was no gun, cause that might increase the response time.
The second was no access to good food. I could buy fried food 100 ways. Not a single source of fresh fruit.
Ruckus
@Violet:
Simply because of your skin color.
That’s probably the key. They look at blacks as all the same due to skin color, why would white people be any different? They just know that all black people are criminals, just waiting to kill you, rob you and set you on fire. And the corollary is of course that all white people know this and agree with them. They don’t understand they are full of shit and couldn’t admit it if it somehow could be explained to them in a manner they could understand. Even that explanation was with a clue x four.
beltane
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Is it really as much in the way of progress as we’d like to think? One particular word has been made taboo in respectable circles, the sentiments behind that word continue to survive and flourish.
Ruckus
@Tommy:
I worked at the edge of south central LA, Watts to you, for 28 yrs. When I worked the night shift we would sometimes go to the closest grocery store for lunch/dinner. It was a large chain, same as where I lived, 30 miles away. The food selection was horrible, the fresh foods weren’t at all, there were more security guards than cashiers, the place was a disaster. Oh yeah and everything was 10-20% more expensive. Thing was the restaurants, fast food and sit down, weren’t like that. This store didn’t give a shit because who’s going to complain? And if they do the store will close. You take what you are given and you like it or we’ll make it worse. It’s bullshit. Demanding respect for making your life worse and openly disrespecting you at the same time is one of the basic premises of racists.
Violet
@Ruckus: Yeah, I think you’re right. But I think at some point they know that their views aren’t universally accepted or are offensive. Because otherwise why do they need to look around for backup. People who are sure of themselves don’t need to do that. Things have changed enough that they feel the need to find someone to agree with them in public to somehow bolster their opinions.
Maybe in the end it’s a good change? Because it means those views are more marginalized, more widely seen as offensive, less likely to be universally agreed with?
Tehanu
@Heliopause:
Yes, I thought they looked like typical schoolgirls. I would guess that all the men Lauter knows and works for have a schoolgirl fetish and that’s why she chose that particular line of attack.
@Violet:
“The spouting off of impolite views in public among strangers”
They never were “polite” to non-whites. Those rules only applied to white people.
Violet
@Tommy: “Food deserts” are a well known issue in economically poor neighborhoods. There are moves to remedy that situation, including urban farms, community gardens, and financial support from civic leaders for supermarkets providing fresh produce. Organizations like The Food Trust are a good resource for learning more.
Ruckus
@Violet:
Hadn’t thought about it that way. You may be right that they know they are wrong but damned if they are gonna change. That would be admitting their entire outlook about race and well maybe everything else is 100% wrong. That takes a much bigger person than someone who has embraced racism as a lifestyle can manage, I’d imagine. It would take as some used to say, a come to Jesus moment. And that has been so fucked up as a concept that for them, a come to Jesus moment would probably be a vindicating experience rather than an enlightenment.
debbie
In all the news accounts I heard or saw yesterday, not a one mentioned that she tried to claim her FB account had been hacked before she issued her “heartfelt” apology.
Says a lot about her character.
Full metal Wingnut
@burnspbesq: And vice versa