Too often when discussing the presidential campaign of Barack Obama the topic turns to the issue of racism and what role it will play in the outcome of the campaign. There seems to be an assumption among many on the left that since all of Obama's words and deeds are pure perfection, the only reason why anyone could oppose him must be that they are deeply evil in some way. Surely they're neocons or racists or part of some fundamentalist cult which has twisted their minds so that they cannot receive the message of pure goodness which radiates from Obama.
This fits right in with a general attitude on the left that Republicans are inherently racist as a group, presumably because many of them are from the south or midwest where racism is assumed to be part of the culture, at least by the leftist elite of the northeast which has no real familiarity with life outside their limited sphere of awareness. Never mind that Republicans freed the slaves and have championed civil rights for everyone since that time. Never mind that there are more and more prominent African-American Republicans. Few people are more provincial than the blue-state intellectual elite, who manage to revere any culture which is not American, while lacking even the most basic understanding of life in most of the rest of their own country, dismissing it as 'flyover country' and making no effort to learn anything about the life and beliefs of those who are outside their cultural subgroup.
While racism may play some role in this election, I see very little reason to expect red-state racism to be a big factor. The real threat to Obama comes from a softer and widespread racism coming mostly from the working and middle class of the blue states, who vote with the Democrats but have never before been asked to challenge that loyalty by voting for a black man.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Baritone
Isn't this the second time you've posted this article? I believe it is, or you wrote virtually the same thing as a comment on another thread. When I began reading I felt like I was having a "deja vu" moment. At any rate, I know I've read this before.
Dave, you live in Texas. Texas is about as far removed from the mainstream of the mid-west as Newark N.J. The entire basis of your article is baloney. You have attempted to pull this turn about in a number of your articles at least as long as I've been posting here, likely longer - the "No, Republicans aren't racists. We love the black man. It's those lying Democrats and liberals who are racist bigots."
If you haven't found any racist Republicans, you haven't looked hard enough.
I live in Indiana. You can't get much more "midwest" than that. I can tell you that racism lives here, and its name is Republicans!
Your portrayal of closet racism amongst Democrats is bogus. You present it like it's a dirty little secret. It also presumes that you have been a fly on the voting booth wall watching white Democratic voters cast their ballots against black candidates.
I'm really curious about how many white Democrats who have in fact voted in any elections where they had a choice similar to that presented in this year's presidential race, and who then slipped into the voting booth and voted against their candidate of color, while otherwise claiming they did no such thing. I wonder. And then, having done that on the sly, they willingly blab all to good ole Dave. Or. OR could this be nothing more than a wishful construct in your harebrained mind?
This entire article amounts to a little metaphorical nudge, a quasi-subliminal message encouraging those Dems having that presumed momentary flicker of doubt to "go ahead, flip the lever, or pencil in the circle, or touch the screen, or punch that chad for McCain. You know you want to. No one will ever know. It's okay. I feel your pain. Your secret's safe with me."
There has been a good deal of discussion here and in the media over the last several days regarding the so called "Bradley Effect" or the "Bubba Factor." I'm sure it exists amongst Independents and Republicans, and yes amongst some Democrats. Maybe even some "small r" republicans. As to what effect it will have on the results, is, at this juncture, anybody's guess.
I think it odd that you spend most of the article describing how the Bradley Effect works, how it manifests itself in the voting booth, but then tie it all up with a before the fact refutation that it will have had any substantive effect on the outcome if Obama should lose.
Your writing in this article amounts to devious bullshit. It's fairly well crafted, but it's still bullshit. I guess posting it twice is part of your "stop Obama at any cost" strategy. Since only about 27 people read the drivel we post here and the other places you publish, your article isn't likely to have much effect on anyone. Jeez!
B
2 - Baritone
Oh, and just an "off the thread" note. I watched Sarah Palin on SNL. It was just lame. I won't necessarily blame Palin. The decision for her to appear came so late that there was little time to put anything together. She basically did nothing. The bits they threw together around her were not funny. Actually, the entire show pretty much sucked. The best thing that can be said about the rap and dance that Amy Poehler performed was impressive considering her "condition." Beyond that, not much - a waste of 90 minutes.
B
3 - DaveNalle
Isn't this the second time you've posted this article? I believe it is, or you wrote virtually the same thing as a comment on another thread. When I began reading I felt like I was having a "deja vu" moment. At any rate, I know I've read this before.
A couple of paragraphs in the middle originated in a comment and I developed them into an article, so that might explain the feeling of deja vu.
Dave, you live in Texas. Texas is about as far removed from the mainstream of the mid-west as Newark N.J.
You make the bizarre assumption that because I live in Texas I never go anywhere else. I lived in DC for many years, lived in Maryland and in Pennsylvania - not to mention several foreign countries. I have relatives who I regularly visit in Milwaukee and DC and spend about a month every summer in Maine. So I do have some idea how people outside of Texas live.
If you haven't found any racist Republicans, you haven't looked hard enough.
I'm sure there are racists in every group and every political party. I just haven't seen widespread racism among Republicans with whom I've been in contact - and that's a pretty broad cross-section. The most racist people I have met have been midwestern and northeastern democrats.
I live in Indiana. You can't get much more "midwest" than that. I can tell you that racism lives here, and its name is Republicans!
I have to admit to never having been to Indiana. I'll take your word that it's where the racist Republicans I can't find in most of the rest of the country are hanging out.
Your portrayal of closet racism amongst Democrats is bogus. You present it like it's a dirty little secret.
Good grief, it's hardly a secret, and I'm far from the only person to notice it.
I'm really curious about how many white Democrats who have in fact voted in any elections where they had a choice similar to that presented in this year's presidential race, and who then slipped into the voting booth and voted against their candidate of color, while otherwise claiming they did no such thing. I wonder. And then, having done that on the sly, they willingly blab all to good ole Dave. Or. OR could this be nothing more than a wishful construct in your harebrained mind?
If it's all in my mind, why is Obama campaigning in states which the polls say he should have a lock on? Why are democrats talking about the 'bradley effect'? There is a widespread belief among political operatives that there is a substantial body of democrats and independents who will change their vote once they get into the voting booth. It may be accentuated by race, but it seems to have also played a role in the last couple of elections, causing the exit polling to be all screwed up.
This entire article amounts to a little metaphorical nudge, a quasi-subliminal message encouraging those Dems having that presumed momentary flicker of doubt to "go ahead, flip the lever, or pencil in the circle, or touch the screen, or punch that chad for McCain. You know you want to. No one will ever know. It's okay. I feel your pain. Your secret's safe with me."
Well, I hadn't intended anything that clever, but it sounds like a good plan.
There has been a good deal of discussion here and in the media over the last several days regarding the so called "Bradley Effect" or the "Bubba Factor." I'm sure it exists amongst Independents and Republicans, and yes amongst some Democrats.
So, after all this you basically admit that I'm just noting a real trend.
I think it odd that you spend most of the article describing how the Bradley Effect works, how it manifests itself in the voting booth, but then tie it all up with a before the fact refutation that it will have had any substantive effect on the outcome if Obama should lose.
Not the point I intended to make. I was just pointing out that whether the effect is real or not, if Obama loses the left will claim the cause was racism because it serves their political interests to stir up race and class warfare.
Dave
4 - Cindy D
Dave, your buddy McCain, have you been on the phone to him or what? He's calling Obama a socialist.
Well, actually he was too much of a coward to do that. He invoked Joe the Plumber like he was doing a ventriloquist act. "Joe might call that socialism." A few more point's slip in the polls and he'll be saying, "Joe might call that gay." "Joe might consider a person like that a crack-head."
I hope Joe sues him! HA!
I hear if your entire campaign is flushed down the toilet in Australia (or somewhere) it swirls to the right.
5 - Cannonshop
"Socialist"...applies to both of them, it's just a matter of Degree, Cindy.
BOTH McCain and Obama have roughly the same "Cure" for our malfunctioning, oversized, inefficient, and largely ineffective government-
Centralize power, and make it BIGGER.
Kind of like taking a worn-out engine from a worn-out '73 Oldsmobile, and arguing about whether a bigger carb or a supercharger is going to make it run like it's supposed to-while the rods are knocking, the oil-pan's full of wood-chips and fifty-weight, and black and white smokes are coming out of the exhaust.
As for the central thesis-that there IS a "Soft Racism" that might hurt Obama?
Nope. I don't think so. It might hurt him in a few, small, politically and electorally unimportant areas, but largely people vote by party first, followed by Advertising-and Obama's spent more on Adverts than his opponent. (Hell, he's running advertising in Washington State, a state that hasn't voted for a Republican Presidential candidate since 1984!)
People younger than about fifty probably don't suffer from this "Bradley" effect nearly as much as their guilt-ridden parents do.
6 - Arch Conservative
"I live in Indiana. You can't get much more "midwest" than that. I can tell you that racism lives here, and its name is Republicans!"
Well Baritone I was born in the people's Republic of Cambridge, and lived my entire life within thirty miles of Boston. It doesn't get much more "liberal progressive" than that.
And I can attest to the fact that when the rubber meets the road the so called open minded progressives can be some of the most racist and intolerant people in this great nation in pursuit of their leftist utopian vision of what America ought to be.
It's the liberal Democratic policies of creating government dependence that keep minorities down and not evil Republican racists named Bubba inhabiting our nation's trailer parks B-tone.
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.
It's too bad the liberals need to be in control of all the fish so that they can feel important and righteous when they get to decide who gets how many fish.
Sure Obama is not a socialist when compared to people like Gerhardt Schroeder of Jaques Chirac but if elected Obama will be the closest thing to a mainstream socialist in the oval office that this nation has ever known.
It's downright disgusting how the Obama cultists and the other assorted mental cases on the left have attacked this Joe the plumber guy because he outed there messiah's intentions for wealth redistribution.
Yes....."share the wealth," (Obama's own words) is a euphimism for "I'm a socialist who believes in wealth redistribution."
Cannon makes a good point though. The GOP has become socialism lite.
That's why I am voting for Chuck Baldwin.
7 - Heloise
Breaking: Obama raises 150 MILLION in September! Watch the video
I'll read your article later Dave, but to answer your headline--Will McCain benefit when Obama routs the fundraising records for candidates?
Unbelievable...
8 - Ruvy
Heloise,
America will get the best president Arab money can buy. Expect his wife to start hustling (Saudi owned) Caribou Coffee over Starbucks....
You guys are going from one Arab ass-kisser to another.
Kissy-poo!
9 - Arch Conservative
I guess I should share my story about the Obama campaign worker that came to my residence. Two weekends ago during the middle of the day Saturday a woman knocked on my door. She asked for m y wife and said she was from the Obama campaign. When I told her that my wife was not home and that we were not interested she said "oh well I'll just come in and leave some information for you," at which point I screamed at her, she got scared, and left in a hurry.
I believe that my little anecdote is typical of Obama and his cultists. They feel entitled to enter your home with or without permission, and shove their Marxist propaganda down your throat.
That dumb bitch is lucky she wasn't a man or she might have ended up with a broken nose or jaw.
10 - Heloise
I don't blame you on that one. When the myriad of unsolicited pushers come to my door I want to deck 'em. I also want to put up a sign "No solicitation" But the ones who come probably don't know what that word means!
Good for you. They should have left it in the mailbox or walked away.
Heloise
11 - Heloise
Ruvy this post's for you: I once dated a Palestinian (poly-sci phd) and a Jewish law student at the same time, basically, and I asked the Palestian if he hated the Jews and he looked me in the eye and said "no." As if I was crazy for even asking.
Needless to say I didn't believe him but didn't belabor the point either. I got the message. I never asked the Jewish guy (BTW I've known and admired many Jewish men, mostly doctors) what he thought of Arabs.
Why the Muslim Arab bashing I don't know because you guys are freakin cousins to each other. I can barely tell you all apart when shown on TV. And for the German Jews the reason that Hitler had to have them wear the stars on back and front of clothes is because they freakin couldn't tell them apart from the Germans!
It's all about who's white and who ain't...according to anthropologists both Jews and Arabs are white, regardless to how much many of them look like American blacks or Mexicans.
Too bad.
Heloise
12 - DaveNalle
But screaming at her? Get a grip, archie.
Just tell her that you want to try abortionists for murder and believe in covenant marriage and she'll run in terror, no screaming required.
And Ruvy, why is an Arab ass-kisser any worse than a EU ass-kisser or an Israeli ass-kisser?
Dave
13 - Heloise
B-tone you're so wrong. New Jersey (white folks) have all fuckin moved to Texas. Why? To escape the high real estate prices and the ever-growing minority pop there.
When I first moved here every white person I met I would ask where they came from and I was shocked when they all said New Jersey! I think if you look at the stats you will see why we are growing in white folks here.
Heloise
PS I know it's anecdotal but still funny--strange.
14 - Baritone
Arch,
You assume your experience is typical. It's not. My wife and I have canvassed for Obama. We are specifically coached to avoid being at all pushy or argumentative. We do not assume that we can enter anyone's home, and we don't shove any of the brochures into people's hands unless they ask for them and/or it's clear that they are in concert with our positions.
In his article Dave talks about the midwest, then in his comment cites the places he has spent time - DC, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Maine. The only midwestern location he mentions is Milwaukee.
When in Milwaukee do you go out amongst the masses, scour the local malls or whatever and quiz them about their racial and voting proclivities? Do you amass data in such volume that you can then make your blanket statement about Democratic racism?
You may have some knowledge of "how people outside Texas live," but what does that mean? Little or nothing as regards racism and voting habits, or do you just absorb this enlightenment via osmosis?
"I have to admit to never having been to Indiana. I'll take your word that it's where the racist Republicans I can't find in most of the rest of the country are hanging out."
The point is not that Indiana harbors all the Republican racists, but that Indiana is typical of much of the midwest in that regard.
"Good grief, it's hardly a secret, and I'm far from the only person to notice it."
It will come as a surprise to a lot of people, especially to the great majority of Democrats. The more correct operative word you should have used above instead of "notice" is "imagine."
"If it's all in my mind, why is Obama campaigning in states which the polls say he should have a lock on?"
Yes, he's been spending time in traditional Democratic strongholds like Missouri, North Carolina, Florida and New Hampshire.
"So, after all this you basically admit that I'm just noting a real trend."
No. I admit it exists. I don't consider it a "trend" as you obviously hope.
"Well, I hadn't intended anything that clever, but it sounds like a good plan"
I can't believe that anyone with a snap tight mind like yours could have missed such an obvious
effect.
"Not the point I intended to make. I was just pointing out that whether the effect is real or not, if Obama loses the left will claim the cause was racism because it serves their political interests to stir up race and class warfare."
But, if your supposition is correct, then an Obama loss could certainly be in part or in whole laid at the foot of racism.
B
15 - Baritone
Oh, BTW, Texas is not like anywhere else. In fact, I think Texas should follow Alaska's lead and push for secession from the Union. It has a culture unlike any found anywhere else in the country - even much of their language is unrecognizable.
I spent the better part of two years in Texas and with the exception of parts of Austin near UTs campus and the now beleaguered city of Galveston, I found it to be more akin to a wierd foreign country.
B
16 - Arch Conservative
"It has a culture unlike any found anywhere else in the country - "
So doesn't Massachusetts. Maybe they should seceed and start their own little sociliast republic.
17 - Lee Richards
Dave is like the zealot who sees the light. His true-believer's ordained mission is to spread the Republican gospel and lead the faithful to conservative heaven, and save the world from all Democratic devils and liberal hellfire.
Always black or white, always predictable.
If racists and nativists choose to vote for McCain--and they are already being encouraged to do so by Palin and other far-right Republicans--it's a pathetic commentary on his candidacy and what has happened to his party.
I personally belive that if race plays any significant role in the election, it will be a positive for Obama. You betcha!
18 - Ms. Know
The issues are what majority of the American people are going to stick to. Liberal illuminati and mainstream media are the only parties drilling racism in the minds of Americans. The issues are what Americans are looking at.
19 - Cindy D
RE # 9 and #14
My husband and I also canvassed. We were told we were not going to be knowingly sent to any homes but Democrats and Independents. That we weren't there to argue with anyone who didn't want information, proclaimed they were Republican or said they are voting for McCain.
We were there 1) to collect information about they likely voter outcome so the campaign could make decisions , 2) to talk to people who had questions or were undecided. 3) to offer voter registration to anyone who wanted it.
It was suggested that we probably shouldn't even go into a house unless we had to, to say, register a voter. The job was to keep moving.
20 - DaveNalle
But, if your supposition is correct, then an Obama loss could certainly be in part or in whole laid at the foot of racism.
As I tried to make clear in the article, there's a difference between real racism and an uneasiness about Obama at least in part motivated by his race. People who might invite a black man to dinner, play golf with him and give him a job with no qualms, might still decide not to vote for Obama in the privacy of the voting booth.
While this CAN be called racism, it's certainly not cross-burning, hood wearing racism. The problem is that if Obama loses the left WILL present it as full-on KKK-style racism, and I find that troubling and divisive.
Dave
21 - bliffle
Lee is right. The racist twist with which the anti-Obama forces have tried to subtly imbue this election will backfire on them. Not only have they polarized black voters, but they have also excited a large number of white voters who simply see the sly references to Obamas race as unfair and republican caused.
22 - Dan(Miller)
Senator Biden seems to be anticipating a WASP attack. But, not to worry.
According to the article, Biden hit the Bay Area for three fundraisers Saturday, helping rake in an estimated $2.2 million for the campaign.Money is GOOD -- but only in the
rightcorrect hands.Dan(Miller)
23 - moon
I infrequently visit this site--not because of being banned but because there are very few interesting articles here--but even I recognized this piece of Nalle's.
I don't remember the thread, nor really even care to, but I believe it was one on which I posted that polls are not to be trusted and that in the privacy (not secrecy, there's a difference) of the voting booth folks will vote with their prejudices.
The US has always been a depply racist culture--and deeply wrapped up in guilt and denial, very possibly because no acknowledgement and atonement has ever been made for either the genocide against my people or the use of Africans as slaves to agrarian capitalism.
If folks do NOT vote with their racist prejudices, it will only be because they are starting to feel the pain in their wallets of the extravagant policies of the past 8 years--when a man who is in the Oval Office rather than in a back ward in a facility for the developmentally disabled due to the influence of his father has been allowed to spend like a drunken sailor--massive public monies handouts to his cronies, genocide against Iraquis to further enrich his partner in crime, Cheney, as well as Cheney's cronies, contracting the government so that now even the Folks doing the contracting are contractors. A very damaged person led all the gullible and frightened gringos through the looking glass where wrong is right and up is down and rich is poor and bankruptcy is solvency.
And despite the extravagant denial on the part of folks like the OP, there is a crisis. It's global, not just in Kansas. And it was announced yesterday by one of the mythical financial accomplices--WMF or World Bank, probably, that there will be a hundred million more folks in extreme poverty by the end of this calendar year.
I doubt seriously that those folks are whistling Dixie.
In a small aspect I do agree with the original OP that there is racism in the northeast and Great Lakes areas--especially among working class whites with origins in places such as Poland and Italy where were the last groups to create large immigrant populations and who experienced their own segregation in cities like Chicago (south side) at the same time as African-Americans (west side).
But I find the use of the term "soft racism of doubt" to smack of demogagery and flippancy.
It's really very simple: Folks will either vote with their prejudices or with their economic fears.
And that's a race that's still too close to call.
24 - Dr Dreadful
A straw man followed smartly up with a big helping of wishful thinking, as is par for the course for Dave when discussing the Obama campaign and Democrats in general.
While there may be a good deal of racism out there, I have my doubts about the Bradley effect and whether the color of Obama's skin will have as much of an effect as a lot of people seem to think.
Fivethirtyeight.com had a startling anecdote on their front page the other day about a canvasser in Pennsylvania who knocked on a door and asked the woman who answered who she was planning to vote for. The woman replied that she didn't know and she'd have to ask her husband. Whereupon a loud voice was heard from inside the house: "We're voting for the n****r!"
So do such people have a less than enlightened view of race relations? Yes. Do they hold it against Obama as a politician? Not necessarily.
25 - DaveNalle
Bliffle, I must have missed this 'racist twist'. Can you identify for me what ad or public statement by anyone associated with the GOP or the McCain campaign contains this racially charged material?
Criticising Obama on his marxism seems to be the current dominant meme and that's certainly not racist.
Dave