The discussion on race is ridiculous.

[Meldread]

I support Barack Obama, but this whole 'Hillary is a racist' thing is silly and down right ridiculous. I'm from the south, I'm white, and I know what is up. When I see people, primarily white people, showing outrage over Hillary's comments I can't help but see one thing: discomfort. It seems as if it is a dodge to avoid the real issue covering it up with, "GASP! White people don't think like that!"

Here are the facts: There are racist bigots out there on both sides. There are black bigots who wouldn't vote for someone because their white, and there are white bigots who wouldn't vote for someone who is black. That's just the reality that we live in. Suck it up, get over it, most of them are Republican's anyway. There aren't that many bigots who begin to swing toward the left.

Should Hillary have said what she said? No, but I'm glad she did. It hurt her campaign and it makes her look bad. You send out surrogates to say stuff like that, of course she can't really afford them right now, so I guess she didn't have much choice. Having a campaign that's broke and having to fund it with your husbands dirty money tends to make it harder to convince people to jump into gutter politics for you.

The above being said, this is also reality: Hillary is screwed. First, just as there are black and white bigots there are gender bigots (both male and female) who will never vote for a woman to be President. There are bigots who don't believe a woman should have any role outside the home, and they should always be subservient to their husbands. Bigotry is real, it exists, and Hillary has to face it in equal measure making the whole point of bigotry moot.

Moving on to more pressing matters for Hillary, however, is her claims of electability. It doesn't exist. For all of her claims that she can win those hard working white folks, if she steals this nomination from Barack Obama I can bet you she isn't going to win those lazy educated white folks, those lazy young white folks, and those lazy black folks in a General Election. If Hillary wants to rip the party apart for her own egotistic ambitions she'll only be screwing herself and us in the end, because who here honestly believes that stealing the nomination is going to score her Obama voters? Not me.

That's the reality. Those of you who don't want to accept it can go back to burying your heads in the sand.

[theboss]

1. I have never heard so much ire over "black racists" before

Here is the question: assuming for the moment that there are black racists, explain the harm that they can actually cause. A minority group within a minority that systematically has less economic and political power than the majority.

Whenever I hear a conversation about "black racists," I hear the striking chords of moral relativism. And moral relativism on race is little more than a copout. Down this path leads to the questions of "Why does Howard exist?" and "Why isn't there a White Miss America Pageant?"

[IndianaJones]

4. I have never seen so many white people "concerned" about racism before. nt.

[theboss]

5. What do you mean?

[IndianaJones]

6. what do you mean? nt.

[ShortnFiery]

9. LOL true. You can't be "a racist" if you don't have THE POWER or WEALTH to push another

ethnic group down.

[Meldread]

12. My first real introduction to race-related issues came in the third grade...

I will never forget it. My parents were preparing for their retirement, and had begun to work on building a small rental business. They didn't have much money, but they managed to purchase a home in a black neighborhood. The home required extensive renovations, and I remember helping them as a young boy pull up broken tiles, and sweep floors and what not. After we had finished, the home was attacked. All of the windows were broken. Black spray paint with tombstones where everywhere. It said, "Kill the White People." I remember my mother having to explain to me why it happened and what it meant.

More than that, though, I remember other things. I remember the NAACP standing up for us. I remember the elderly black woman who was the next door neighbor living in a trailer offering her support to my family, and how she stood watch over the home to call the police if she spotted more vandals. I remember my black third grade school teacher. My parents were afraid that the vandals would come after my sister and myself at school and try and hurt us, and as she tried to explain what had happened to my third grade teacher, she broke down and cried. I remember my teacher comforting her and promising that she'd do everything in her power to ensure that I was safe.

That was my first introduction to race-related issues. I am fully aware that there are black racists out there, but I am also aware of white racists. Some of them are in my family. I have a cousin (well several, actually) who absolutely hate black people. One of them actually took a black baby doll, created a noose, and hung the doll on her front porch to intimidate her black neighbors.

I have another (white) cousin who married a black man. They have two interracial children.

Like it or not, racism is something that is deeply rooted in this country. All of it's wrong - as a gay man I believe I can confidently say - all bigotry is evil and wrong. However, I can also confidently say with certainty, not only based on my life experiences but on others, that bigotry exists. Pretending it doesn't won't make it go away. People like to pretend it doesn't exist because it makes them feel better because it's an uncomfortable subject. I mostly see it among white people, because some white folks seem to be afraid that if they bring it up and talk about it, the bigotry will jump off the bigots and somehow land on them. It's like cooties I guess.

That's not the approach I take: When you encounter a bigot, denounce their actions, and push them to the fringes of society where they belong. Those who vote based on race or sex are a minority and that should be made clear. By dancing around the issue as so many pundits and the like do, they give credence to bigots because most of them are little more than bullies. What is a bully? It is someone who lacks self-confidence and are full of insecurities, so they attack other people in order to prop themselves up. How do you deal with bullies? You confront and crush them, showing everyone exactly how weak and pathetic they are so that they no longer need to be feared. The longer the issue is danced around, the longer it sits on the table, but everyone knows its the truth. The problem is there aren't that many people who have the courage to step forward and actually talk about it.

[ProSense]

2. The same can be said about the discussion that Obama is Muslim

The problem is it's out there. It matters who says it, and it creates divisions. It raises doubts, we need every vote.

"The above being said, this is also reality: Hillary is screwed."

She knew better (it was intentional), and as a Democratic leader, better was expected.

[crankychatter]

3. "There are black bigots who wouldn't vote for someone because they're white"

Yeah, you're from the "South," alright.

Because that is utter BULLSHIT.

edited to correct your spelling

[ShortnFiery]

7. Why? Beauregard says it's just those dumb ole "White Guilt" SAN FRANCISCO, latte liberals ...

:eyes:

Newsflash: There's also racism in our beloved Democratic Party. :(

Hillary: 'SPADE WORK' (clinton racist code words)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oRwZQLdhEw

[EFerrari]

11. People either don't know or have forgotten that segregationist

Southern Senate Democrats, iirc, controlled the party for a good part of the 20th Century.

[SoonerPride]

8. So we have to accept racism now?

Fuck that.

[ShortnFiery]

10. Yes, because "Token" on South Park and the billionaire owner of BET says what Miss Hilly said is OK.

:eyes:

Nows if those House Negroes say that it's NOT racism, wells then, it's just not racism. :crazy:

[Meldread]

16. Who said we had to accept racists?

I certainly did not say that. I said we have to acknowledge that they exist. Why? Because they do exist. I dare one person to step forward and say racism or sexism does not exist, and then offer up proof to back up their facts.

What I am saying, to be clear: Bigotry exists. Rather than dance around the issue and pretend it doesn't, as many pundits and the like do, it should be confronted head on and denounced. Constantly. If a white person refuses to vote for Obama because he's black, they should be called on it, denounced, and promptly tossed out of the Democratic Party. Their vote isn't worth having.

I am also willing to bet that those VOTING based on race are almost 100% Republican's who plan to vote for John McCain in the fall. I have yet to meet a white racist (and I know several hardcore white racists) who do not also consider themselves hardcore Republican's.

My overall point was: If Hillary thinks that people won't vote for Obama because he's a black man, then what is her counter argument considering that she's a white woman? There is an equal number of bigots out there who won't vote for women, including other women. I know a number of women (all of them are also Republican, but also are highly religious) who believe that a woman's role is to be subservient to her husband.

Acknowledging that such people exist doesn't mean that you agree with them. Obviously, I don't. I think when such people and attitudes are encountered, they must be confronted, the spotlight shined upon them, examples made, their beliefs and actions denounced, and then promptly sending them to the fringes of society where they belong.

Ignoring them won't make them go away, because the longer this issue is ignored the more it lingers over the campaign.

[OzarkDem]

13. Its a stupid distraction and smear campaign

Someone is really worried about what could happen if Clinton carries her candidacy to the convention.

[Bluerthanblue]

14. maybe it's the concept of trying to USE the racism that is

in our society to her advantage.

That is what I find offensive- and very ....revealing.

As for using spokespeople to make her case- they did that, and have been doing that.
This is the first time I've actually heard Hillary herself resorting to this kind of ..desperate... ploy.

peace~

[DogPoundPup]

15. Spot In !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:kick:

[Meldread]

19. Yes, I'm aware of that, I'm trying to focus on the larger issue being raised.

...and hey, I'm not against Hillary saying it either. Like I said, it makes her look bad, and it is causing a backlash. I'm all for her to keep wagging her tongue and for her to dig her hole even deeper. I have no problem with handing her a shovel, and I can only hope she is digging her political grave. I have not tried to hide the fact that I want nothing more than to see the Clinton's, both of them, pushed out of the Democratic Party and out of Politics forever. I rank them right up there with Joe Lieberman.

People have a right to be offended by her remarks. Of course they were offensive. She was basically saying, in a nutshell, "I'm the racist choice."

Expect to see Hillary asking to borrow Byrd's old Klan uniform while hanging out in West Virginia. She is only going to get worse, because her goal is to have the party and Obama force her out of the race. She wants Obama to lose the General Election and its all about slash and burn now.

[goldcanyonaz]

17. No one got this worked up when Michelle said Black America will wake up

THe selected outrage around here is very telling.

[babylonsister]

18. Here's Gene Robinson's perception, a black journalist I greatly admire:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/05/desperate_clinton_is_danger_to.html

Desperate Clinton is Danger to the Party
By Eugene Robinson

WASHINGTON -- From the beginning, Hillary Clinton has campaigned as if the Democratic nomination were hers by divine right. That's why she is falling short -- and that's why she should be persuaded to quit now, rather than later, before her majestic sense of entitlement splits the party along racial lines.

If that sounds harsh, look at the argument she made Wednesday, in an interview with USA Today, as to why she should be the nominee instead of Barack Obama. She cited an Associated Press article "that found how Senator Obama's support ... among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again. I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on."

As a statement of fact, that's debatable at best. As a rationale for why Democratic Party superdelegates should pick her over Obama, it's a slap in the face to the party's most loyal constituency -- African-Americans -- and a repudiation of principles the party claims to stand for. Here's what she's really saying to party leaders: There's no way that white people are going to vote for the black guy. Come November, you'll be sorry.

How silly of me. I thought the Democratic Party believed in a colorblind America.

snip//

The other notion -- that Clinton could position herself as some kind of Great White Hope and still expect African-American voters to give her their enthusiastic support in the fall -- is just nuts. Obama has already won more Democratic primary contests; within a couple of weeks, he almost certainly will have won more pledged convention delegates and more of the popular vote as well. Only in Camp Clinton does anyone believe that his supporters will be happy if party leaders tell him, in effect, "Nice job, kid, but we can't give you the nomination because, well, you're black. White people might not like that."

Clinton's sin isn't racism, it's arrogance. From the beginning, the Clinton campaign has refused to consider the possibility that Obama's success was more than a fad. This was supposed to be Clinton's year, and if Obama was winning primaries, there had to be some reason that had nothing to do with merit. It was because he was black, or because he had better slogans, or because he was a better public speaker, or because he was the media's darling. This new business about white voters is just the latest story the Clinton campaign is telling itself about the usurper named Obama.

"It's still early," Clinton said Wednesday, vowing to fight on. At some level, she seems to believe the nomination is hers. Somebody had better tell her the truth before she burns the house down.