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This was almost the bestest day eva for race card playas

This was almost the bestest day eva for race card playas

This was almost the best day in the existence of those Obama supporters who dream every night about what they can do the next day to tag Mitt Romney as racist.

They almost got what they wanted today, or so they thought, because The Telegraph newspaper in Britain quoted a single anonymous Romney aide who refused to go on the record or be identified who used the term “Anglo-Saxon” in describing the relationship between the U.S. and Britain, and why Romney might do a better job than Obama:

In remarks that may prompt accusations of racial insensitivity, one suggested   that Mr Romney was better placed to understand the depth of ties between the   two countries than Mr Obama, whose father was from Africa.

“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special   relationship is special,” the adviser said of Mr Romney, adding: “The White   House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have”.

That one anonymous quote from a single Romney aide led to an avalanche of denunciations of Romney as racist (via Memeorandum):

  • A blogger who is a history prof at the University of Rhode Island called Romney a “white supremacist.”
  • Prof. Juan Cole (yes, him) from the University of Michigan denounced Romney’s “Aryan Racial Theory” approach to foreign policy.
  • Roy Edroso, who covers the “right wing” for The Village Voice, declared (brackets in original) “I understand that this is the time of the campaign cycle where you shore up your base [cue “Theme from Deliverance“], but Romney seems to be overdoing it.”
  • Josh Marshall of TPM saw it as a playing of the otherness card, “It’s all of a piece with the constant refrains that Obama is an outsider to whatever is essential about the American experience of simply being an American.  But it’s getting closer to the surface.
  • Mark Kleiman of the erroneously-named Reality Based Community announced “I guess the rest of us racial inferiors – Krauts and Kikes and Spics and Dagoes and Chinks and such-like, not to mention that n—-r in the White House – had better re-learn our place.”
  • And on and on it went.

Then the Romney campaign denied that anyone was authorized to or to its knowledge did make such a statement, and stated that it did not reflect Romney’s position.

Kevin Drum of Mother Jones was one of the few voices of sanity on the left (h/t Doug Mataconis):

I dunno, folks. That first paragraph was pure editorializing by the Telegraph reporter. Only the second paragraph comes from the Romney advisor. So why did he use the term “Anglo-Saxon”? At a guess, because he was talking off the cuff, wanted some kind of phrase that suggested the U.S. and Britain have a shared history — which we obviously do — and that’s what popped out. It was a mistake, but it’s the kind of trivial mistake that happens when you’re talking without notes.

As for the swelling tide of suggestions that this was a racial dog whistle, color me dubious. Does anyone seriously think that the Romney campaign decided that the best way to send a message to Southern whites was via a quote to a London newspaper? That’s a tough sell.

We may never know if the statement was made as reported in The Telegraph.  It seemed an odd configuration.  “Anglo-American” relationship seems like a more normal terminology, which might have been what the person meant to say.

Would “Anglo-American” have kicked off the contrived firestorm of accusations of racism?  Probably.

In a time when Obama is on the defensive for jumping on Elizabeth Warren’s anti-factory owner bandwagon, anything which changes the subject even for a morning is a good morning for Obama.

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MSNBC’S TOURE: RESPONSE TO COLORADO SHOOTING ALL ABOUT RACISM

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/07/24/MSNBC-s-Toure-Colorado-Shooting-All-About-Racism

Question. Is Toure short for Tourette?

    jdkchem in reply to JP. | July 25, 2012 at 4:55 pm

    French for turd.

      Observer in reply to jdkchem. | July 25, 2012 at 6:35 pm

      •Josh Marshall of TPM saw it as a playing of the otherness card, “It’s all of a piece with the constant refrains that Obama is an outsider to whatever is essential about the American experience of simply being an American.
      ___________________________

      Gee, wonder where anyone would have gotten the idea of Obama as “outsider”? Mr. “Citizen of the World” began his campaign for U.S. president in Germany, touted his upbringing in Indonesia and his Muslim family connections as giving him a more “global perspective,” and repeatedly made a point of saying he didn’t look like “the other presidents on the dollar bills.” Then there is the fact that Obama’s publisher claimed in their publications for years that Obama had been born in Kenya, an “error” Obama didn’t bother to correct until he decided to run for president.

      Obama has been trading on his “outsider” status for most of his life, but now that it’s become inconvenient for him, we’re all supposed to pretend that Obama didn’t mean what he said. Seems to be a pattern with this guy.

      TrooperJohnSmith in reply to jdkchem. | July 26, 2012 at 2:11 am

      And “turd” is French for “tingle up ze leg”.

The projection is breathtaking. Gotta give ’em a little credit – such contorted, contrived, agitated outrage is not easy to muster. Every time something like this happens & the inevitable knee-jerks start spewing, I ask myself, “Do they have any idea how they sound?” Clearly not.

Karen Sacandy | July 25, 2012 at 4:55 pm

It’s wrong not to parade our proud history. He sent back the bust of Churchill. That was wrong. Very, very wrong.

Insofar as the article points out Obama’s father (at least) was from Kenya, it’s clear Obama doesn’t share our American view of our relationship with Great Britain. I didn’t know “Anglo-Saxon” is a dirty word, and I don’t intend to pretend it is.

The facts are the facts: Obama and his wife don’t seem to like America, which is why they want to fundamentally transform it. Maybe if instead of being a “community organizer,” Obama had chosen the path of entrepreneur, he would better appreciate America, capitalism, and the shoulders of western civilization upon which they stand. As it is, he loathes our past. I loathe him.

He is doing his very best to drain prosperity from Americans who earned it, and give it to foreigners who love getting the milk for free. I don’t give one damn what Obama thinks.

    Tortuga in reply to Karen Sacandy. | July 26, 2012 at 10:27 am

    They got me. I’ll have to have a new tshirt printed: Anglo-Saxon,slopeheaded,knuckle draggin, clinger to my guns and faith, teabaggin, racist,homophobe,pickup driving, two-fisted beer drinkin, red necked Early Voter.

Karen Sacandy | July 25, 2012 at 4:58 pm

One more thing: he’s the product of an fatherless upbringing, even more so than Gloria Steinem. Frankly, I’m tired of these folks with dysfunctional upbringings changing our society to mirror their dysfunction.

It would be fun…and very time-consuming…to catalog all the TRULY racist stuff to come out of the Obama regime and campaigns.

Henry Hawkins | July 25, 2012 at 5:10 pm

Obama cries ‘Havoc!’ and let’s loose the dogs of bore.

(And then eats them?)

donsmith7777 | July 25, 2012 at 5:11 pm

That’s what I love about the Republican Party,tolerance and acceptance of everyone!

alan markus | July 25, 2012 at 5:27 pm

“the special relationship is special”? What kind of a statement is that? Sounds more like something Obama would say when off-Teleprompter.

Midwest Rhino | July 25, 2012 at 5:38 pm

Yet blacks demand to be “African American”, with African listed first. Obama spent 20 years with Rev. Wright as his mentor (his words), Rev. “God damn America, black theology” Wright. Fortunately we have Obama in his own voice reading about his dreams from his Father, the anti-colonialist, socialist.

Anglo-Saxon heritage, yeah, I guess we have some of that. Who was this “some guy” that maybe said that? Where is the audio? The Obama sycophants are truly desperate.

    Um, WRONG. I’ll give you a chance to support that claim without quoting a progressive “African American.” The phrase is mostly popular amongst proggies, and proggie-dominated areas such as colleges.

    All the black folks I have known & worked with for years refer to each other as “black.” Actually we joke about black & white with each other. A couple months ago one of the (black) cooks said “we need a black Mrs. Doubtfire. About three people replied at the same time “Yeah, Big Mama’s House.” General hilarity ensued. I guess you had to be there. 🙂

    Same thing happened last week; someone was playing some (bad) country music, and one of the black cooks was shaking his head, when I scolded him “don’t diss my people’s music!” He cracked up. Then again, we don’t argue about race so much. I guess it’s because we’re working to hard to get done & out of that damn hot kitchen.

Unfortunately, if one were to examine the records of African American politicians, it would not paint a pretty picture in a general sense once the political correctness factor was eliminated.

Folks like Herman Cain and Allen West are the exception rather than the rule and they themselves have pointed to the fact that they broke free of their benevolent “masters” to achieve success in the American mainstream.

MLK said it best, judge by the “…content of character.” But we have done the opposite and it is the democrats who have fostered a practice of dependence rather than achievement.

And the democrats continue on this racist path with every passing day..

    JackRussellTerrierist in reply to GrumpyOne. | July 26, 2012 at 5:18 pm

    I disagree.

    We were asked to judge negroes by the content of their character. We did so, and we can prove it. Our prisons are full of adjudged blacks.

    With the judging on character out of the way, blacks are now begging us day in and day out to judge them by their skin color.

      “Negros?” Lovely. How do you pronounce that, by the way?

      And of course it’s because they’re black that so many young black men are in prison, yes? Not because fifty years ago the Federal government instituted a series of programs which mostly destroyed the black nuclear family, and especially not because a child raised in a single-parent home is more likely to get into trouble with the law, and have kids of their own, who also get into trouble, ad infinitum. And it’s not because black Americans have been brainwashed for the past fifty years that only the Democratic Party gives a fig for them, so they don’t listen to conservatives who insist on calling them “negros” while hinting having a black skin implies a natural inclination towards crime.

      And, no, they aren’t “begging” to be judged by the color of their skin. (again, except for the proggie crowd) Most of the black folks I’ve known for years are just busting their asses to pay the bills and take care of their kids. Just like us.

      Oh, want to know the favorite after-work sport is for many of these guys*? Fishing. Yep, a bunch of black guys and white guys headin’ on down to the local river. Almost sounds like, ahhh, “regular” folks, don’t it?

      *Sorry, not a fisherman here. 😉

As a matter of principle if not of politics, I wish Romney had backed up his supposed staffer.

My parents were refugees. Not a drop of my blood traces back to the British Isles. Recognizing that a crucial step in human progress was taken by the Founders and similar thinkers in the Mother Country, I unstintingly say Thank you!

The inalienable rights in the Declaration are universal rights. That’s the whole point of the Founding. Is a WASP whose family has been here for generations a more legitimate American than I am? If I believed that, I’d believe that a Brit has a better right to Newton’s Laws than I do.

Universal rights. Universal truths.

    Karen Sacandy in reply to gs. | July 25, 2012 at 7:08 pm

    THANK YOU, GS, for your wish that Gov. Romney had supported his staffer. Unfortunately, that’s not the way Gov. Romney turns. He’s a compromise candidate, full of compromise.

    Thank you also for your appreciation of the history which bore the concept of universal rights. I appreciate your appreciation!

    But the left? The metaphor of throwing out the baby with the bathwater applies. I swear to God, this constant, tiresome CRAP, with which they claim they condemn America because of slavery, and thus claim they cannot see another good thing in her, appalls me. It’s just a posture they adopt in order to make Americans feel guilty and concede their sovereignty. I accept no such guilt, and I concede nothing.

      JackRussellTerrierist in reply to Karen Sacandy. | July 26, 2012 at 5:24 pm

      Romney’s slippery wavering in the face of controversy is one of his most detestable traits.

      I remember well him throwing the boy scouts under the bus due to homosexual pressure at the ’02 olympics.

We may never know if the statement was made as reported in The Telegraph. It seemed an odd configuration.
“Anglo-American” relationship seems like a more normal terminology, which might have been what the person meant to say.

Its hilarious that liberals want the USA to be more like Europe, but when a statement is made about “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have” with Britain … liberal progressives start squawking about all the things they hate about Britain that the USA has in common … which is Anglo-American Capitalism.

Professor, this “Anglo-Saxon” race card is a continuation of Obama’s radical leftist argument against our American capitalist economic system.
here:
The battle for the future of capitalism
22 Jul 2012 09:09 – Will Hutton
http://mg.co.za/article/2012-07-22-the-us-election-is-really-a-battle-for-the-future-of-capitalism
Mitt Romney embodies a system dominated by financial engineering that uses companies as casino chips.

Obama, Paul Krugman and liberal progressives would prefer the shining testament to the success of Keynesian economics.
Zimbabwe, where relying on Government and rule of law is like asking a crocodile not to eat you.

MaggotAtBroadAndWall | July 25, 2012 at 6:35 pm

I heard Rush say something today about Romney speaking in dog whistle. I was doing something else and wasn’t able to pay attention but I think the point Rush was making is that it is odd that when Romney purportedly speaks in dog whistle the only people who understand dog-whistle-speak are Romney’s opponents.

I think Rush may have been talking about this Anglo-Saxon stuff, but I’m not sure.

In a time when Obama is on the defensive for jumping on Elizabeth Warren’s anti-factory owner bandwagon, anything which changes the subject even for a morning is a good morning for Obama.

Oh really?

How bout Anglophobes

BannedbytheGuardian | July 25, 2012 at 8:35 pm

I don’t think this is a British issue -after all they brought civilization to both America & africa.

It’s about the American interpretation .

Besides it is ignorant of the history of the British Isles where civilization is documented 6,000 bc . Check out the newly investigated neolithic ruins of temples & other signs of an ordered society on the Orkneys 5-3500 bc. Or the bronze age boat & mines of Britain as part of an established pre EU trade set up. circa 2,300 bc.

The Romans came in 2040 Taking 100 years to succeed! Obviously there already existed a strong society.

The anglo Saxons did not come till after the fall of the Roman Empire. Then the Vikings then the Normans then the Dutch then the Germans .The elite spoke French until the 17th cenTury hence many french words -even elite!

Boring people ith the details really works. All lefties wil long have left the room b the time you explain this ridiculous simplistic notion.

    BannedbytheGuardian in reply to BannedbytheGuardian. | July 25, 2012 at 8:38 pm

    Romans -make that 40 ad . However sometimes I think we have regressed 2000 years so i forgive the advanced date.

    What? “Civilization to Africa and America”. LOL. What they brought was slavery.

    I don’t think this is a British issue -after all they brought civilization to both America & africa.

    Really? I’m sure the Egypt,Ethiopia, and Kush would be interested to hear that.

    Ok, sorry, I’m being snarky now. My bad. 🙂 I think I know what you meant: you meant Western civilization, right?

“Today, the race for the highest office in our land was diminished to a sad level when the Vice President of the United States used an anonymous and false quote from a foreign newspaper to prop up their flailing campaign,” Williams said in a statement. “The President’s own press secretary has repeatedly discredited anonymous sources, yet his political advisors saw fit to advance a falsehood.”

— via Politico, h/t Ann Althouse

I used to be hurt, to my heart-tears in the eyes hurt, when I was called a racist for not supporting Obama. Now? Ha. Not so much. Look, if I’m racist for not liking Obama then how am I racist for not also liking Reid or Pelosi . . oh, screw it, you know how much I care about the EXPIRED race card? Zero much. I don’t even want to defend myself. Screw that crap.

    JackRussellTerrierist in reply to Fuzzy. | July 26, 2012 at 5:38 pm

    Your new paradigm will become settled law when you fully observe, with surprise, that you did not even have a defensive thought to a charge of “Racist, j’accuse!!”, let alone utter a defensive word when so charged.

    That is when you know you have slipped the tyrannical tether of political correctness, see matters clearly, and are truly free of it.

    That IS the “defense” to the charge, and it is checkmate!

Just how far out in left field has the mob strayed when Kevin Freakin’ Drum is the voice of reason?

TrooperJohnSmith | July 26, 2012 at 2:14 am

These comments are so good. Look at me. I was sleepy, and now you all have me ready to Photoshop all night. Thanks for the inspiration! 😀

BannedbytheGuardian | July 26, 2012 at 2:19 am

For 200 years British historians have been digging up the country looking for the Angles -Sassonachs -Jutes of 500 -1066. Very little has been found . Its all boring ole Roman Viking Norman Medieval Tudor Stuart stuff.

Little did they know they had taken their roundouses all gone to america. Mystery solved.