We have been here before. The accusation that harsh criticism of Barack Obama or his policies constitutes the use of “racially tinged” code words.
Invariably, the code word problem is defined in such a way that the accusation is self-fulfilling; the lack of an actual racial reference is used as proof of racial intent, even when the words are used by black Republicans such as Herman Cain or Allen West.
It’s a racial code word because they say it is, and the more you deny it, the better the evidence.
Take, for instance, these code words identified by Juan Williams (emphasis mine):
The language of GOP racial politics is heavy on euphemisms that allow the speaker to deny any responsibility for the racial content of his message. The code words in this game are “entitlement society” — as used by Mitt Romney — and “poor work ethic” and “food stamp president” — as used by Newt Gingrich. References to a lack of respect for the “Founding Fathers” and the “Constitution” also make certain ears perk up by demonizing anyone supposedly threatening core “old-fashioned American values.”
Geraldo, however, took the code word accusation one step further, asserting that Newt was using a racial code word when he called Juan Juan (h/t Weasel Zippers):
Does it matter that Newt also called Wolf Blitzer by his first name, with equal disdain?
NEWT GINGRICH: Wolf, you and I have a great relationship, it goes back a long way. I’m with him. This is a nonsense question.
So you see, Geraldo, calling Juan Juan was no more a code word than calling Wolf Wolf. And neither was my calling you Geraldo, Geraldo.
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Comments
The sorry part is these ass-hats really believe we sit around and come up with these “code phrases”.
That and we get a paycheck from the Koch brothers every so often.
I have better $hit to do.
Is it racial code for me to refer to Geraldo under his original nom de plume Jerry Rivers? I’m just not very good at code. I’m more of a blurt-it-out and flinch when the inevitable “I can’t believe you said that!” counter assault begins.
Actually… probably yes since apparently that isn’t true… see http://www.snopes.com/media/celebrity/geraldo.asp . Unless you have a better source.
Steve
What do they think about WHOREaldo?
BTW, rumors are flying that Newt is about to announce he is dropping out of the race. If he endorses Mitt instead of Samtorum, there will be a lot of “Newt is a conservative” supporters with egg on their faces.
Even if those rumors are true, after all the slinging do you think he’d endorse Romney?
Yep. Newt, like Romney, has defended every side on every issue at one time or another. It’s all about what is good for Newt.
Juan is an Ass. Geraldo is an Ass. They are both Democrats.
Surely, they don’t still believe that people will defer their dignity to these Asses?
I mean, the Pachyderm has questionable merit, but the Ass is a degenerate creature.
So, what’s the next semantic game on the agenda?
Crikey.
First they broke our pig latin dialect.
Now they’ve figured out our first-name code.
How are we supposed to talk?
When my older sister was in middle school, she and her friends spoke “Op.” They placed “op” before each vowel(s) in a word.
Dopo yopou thopink lopiboperopals, lopeftopists, opand Goperopaldopo Ropivoperopa wopould copatch opon?
LopukopeHopandCopool (who loves the fact he and his wife can speak Hakata-dialect Japanese in public in America with no fear that any Tom, Dick, Harry, Juan, or Geraldo can understand what they’re saying).
But do they know the secret handshake and who is taking Buffy to the sock hop?
No way, Jose!
Whoops!
What they pull this crap, whoever they are talking to needs to look them square in the eyes, laugh at them and tell them they really sound stupid with this code word BS.
If we all do this every time it is pulled I guarantee it would stop.
Just love the fact that our very own Conservative news aggregator, Drudge, is now a member in poor standing of the MSM with all that implies. Yep, Drudge has sold out to his new lord and master, ol what’s his name from the upper New England region.
Wonder what Breitbart is doing these days?
In the world of a Conservative, no news organization is our friend!
There is a reason for all this! Seriously!
We will never win in a world that up is down and hot is cold and when a word has a different meaning other than what it’s described definition known to all …
The Future in that World looks very bleak …
Zo responds far better than I could, so here:
http://www.therightscoop.com/zonation-eviscerates-juan-williams-over-code-words/
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If there really were “secret code words” Jerry and the rest of the leftists are far too stupid to figure out the code.
Stupid is as stupid does, Jerry…
I think I’ll just ‘cry wolf’ on this idiocy and spend my time checking out the awesome new LI Daily News while I listen to Jefferson Airplane 🙂
Grace Slick rocks!
“It’s a racial code word because they say it is, and the more you deny it, the better the evidence.”
Eric S. Raymond put a name to this tactic a while back. He calls it “kafkatrapping”, named for Franz Kafka for a story he wrote, the nature of which I’m ill-equipped to summarize. I’ve found it useful to have a categorization for this type of argument when reading about claims such as this, even if the name doesn’t roll of the tongue.
My favorite is “traditional American values.” Juan appears to be saying blacks do not support them.
The fact is that on issues surveys since the ’80s, blacks have as a group come down more conservative than whites on subjects like abortion, strong foreign policy, lower taxes, and others. They are bound to the Democrats because of the Civil Rights Act.
Don’t bother mentioning Republicans voted in higher percentages for the CRA in Congress than did Democrats – many or most of the Democrats who opposed it became Republicans over the next several years, beginning with Strom Thurmond.
In 1960, Nixon won 37% of the black vote. No Republican has been able to match Reagan’s 13% in the landslide of 1984 since.
I thought I was pretty good at reading between the lines. I must not be as good as I thought
I have listened to this many times and I just don’t hear any inflection in the voice…..maybe gerald should take his little butt back to cnn.
Laugh it up now, boys. This isn’t going to be funny any more when we nominate Mitt Romney. If you thought they went bananas when they had to invent codewords, just wait to see what happens when they start pulling direct, verifiable, recent-within-living-memory quotes from Mormon theology and tying them to the Republican Party.
I’m wondering what will happen to the Hispanic vote once this becomes public discussion.
I’ve been looking for this “codebook” for over 4 decades, with no success, but some how this folks have one.
I suspect it is distributed at Democrat events and gatherings.