I’m a little surprised that Rep. Bennie Thompson decided to let loose on a radio program last weekend. I think he actually went too far in his statements, especially in his assessment of the Republican leadership’s motivation for opposing everything the president wants to do. I think he’s forgetting just how disrespectfully Bill Clinton was treated, including by Republican committee chairmen and the leadership of the House. Rep. Thompson, who is himself a former chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, has never struck me as a bomb thrower, so I am assuming he is very frustrated with how things stand in Congress.
A Mississippi Democratic Congressman says Clarence Thomas is an “Uncle Tom,” Mitch McConnell is a “racist,” and that Republicans are only anti-big government and anti-Obamacare because President Obama is black. Rep. Bennie Thompson made the comments over the weekend while appearing on a New Nation of Islam radio program.
These remarks and the forum in which they were presented, have all the ingredients to make right-wingers’ heads explode. But nothing will happen. Bennie Thompson won’t be reprimanded. He won’t become national news. Meanwhile, the moment that Cliven Bundy opened his mouth about negros being better off picking cotton than being president of the United States, the shithammer came down on him. The moment that Donald Sterling’s racist remarks became known, the shithammer came down on him.
What does this tell you?
It tells me that we’re winning the culture war. We have a shithammer and they have a pea-shooter.
It also tells me that Bennie Thompson may have exaggerated and he may have engaged in a bit of hyperbole, but he isn’t so far off that it’s scandalous. In this political environment, which the Republicans have created, charges of racism have a bedrock credibility.
Yes, but the Drudge, Alex Jones, Breibart crowd are reverse believers; they start with the desire to hate and then drink from the spigots of more hate. Slowly the spigots are being pounded down but the desire to hate and thus create whatever conspiracy is necessary to justify is alive and well.
BooMan’s point here is that Drudge/Fox/Breitbart et al. are not controlling the news cycle like they used to. Yes, their Hate Turned Up To 11 will continue to enthrall their base to action, but it doesn’t grow their base or persuade the non-Fox MSM as in the past. And Boo’s point that the Republicans have created the current climate and are responsible for its fallout is a very important point.
The statements by Bundy and Sterling cannot be defended reasonably. All Congressman Thompson would have to do to defend his statements is haul out the explicitly and implicitly racist things which have been said and actions which have been taken by numerous Republican leaders and supporters in opposition to President Obama and his supporters.
Sorry, you misunderstood my point.
The disrespect and trashing of Obama is 100x worse than it ever was for Clinton. It is also tolerated by the media and encouraged in some cases. Also, getting more than a little of sick of the rich, white pundits on the left acting like Obama is dumb or naive and needs to have the smart, white pundit explain things to him.
If Hillary gets the nod, those same white, liberal pundits will rally around and make all sorts of excuses for her mistakes.
Agreed. It’s much worse for Obama.
But I think we often miss another point in the comparison. A lot of the animus directed at Clinton was still about racism but not directly at him. The trashing he endured was also prompted by fears from the GOP that he would actively pursue policies that would provide better opportunity and justice on the fronts of voting, housing, education, law, employment, etc.
Clinton had an appeal for many who perceived in him someone who understood something tangible about the African American experience. A lot of GOPers didn’t like seeing this.
Now his record doesn’t always support that those fears were grounded in reality (Sistah Souljah, welfare reform, etc). But when are GOP racial fears EVER grounded in reality? And Clinton’s trademark political opportunism got the better of him.
The right wing Wurlitzer throws all it has all the time. The difference is Clinton was so obviously a naked opportunist while Obama is so clearly a man of very strong character. So there are a lot more people who see the Republican discrediting agenda as itself discredited. Plus the Republicans have gotten even more extreme since the 90s. Imagine how ape-shit they would go if Obama had an affair with an intern. Something like that is Ted Cruz’ wet dream.
To say that the “disrespect and trashing of Obama is 100x worse than it ever was for Clinton” suggests that you either weren’t there or your recollections are fuzzy. The disrespect and trashing started early and never stopped.
1994: GOP Congressional morphing TV ads. (Morph a 1994 word of the year.)
“Travelgate,” futuresgate, Madison S&L, Whitewater, Rose Law firm billing records, Arkansas Project, Paula X, Vince Foster, Juanita, Monica, impeachment, etc.
Huge distractions from the dismantling of the New Deal regulatory bedrock that Clinton was engaged in and should have had the left up in arms.
I tend to agree with you, Marie. I remember vividly all of the shit that was flung at Clinton, and I would say that if you simply metered the sheer volume of what was done, the levels are probably comparable. What makes it much more insidious, to me, is the racial aspect. I remember going toe to toe about Clinton with all my conservative family members and a few co-workers. Particularly memorable for me was spending 8 hours in a car sparring over Clinton perceptions and realities with my mom, her sister and her husband, who were all daily consumers of Rush Limbaugh propaganda. But now, the racial variable in the equation takes things to a whole new level, as not only the President gets discussed, but every person of color in the country gets conflated with their Obama derangement. Obviously, you are as aware of anyone about that, but the seething emotion that starts coming out of people when they start blowing that racial dog-whistle and get called out on it just make the whole discussion go nuclear in a matter of minutes. And it seems that the introduction of the internet has simply allowed all of these crazy and paranoid people in all the disparate places to coalesce into a bunch of little communities, all linked through their common sources of misinformation. I cannot imagine that 8 hour discussion that I had in the car replaying itself in today’s environment. I would end up feeling like I had to drive into a tree alongside the road in order to end the conversation.
Clinton could hide behind his white privilege when the GOP and rightwing wackos went there. Actually, he adopted that strategy in 1992 before they went there with his “Sister Souljah moment” (An accomplished and rather brilliant woman that most Americans that were around in 1992 view as the poster child for everything they believe is wrong with African-Americans — so loathsome that a Democratic POTUS singled her out.) Ricky Ray Rector?
Lani Guinere, Joycelyn Elders?
That’s the thing. There was plenty that was sleazy about Clinton. When you turn against your own base, there are fewer willing to go to bat for you. African Americans remained remarkably loyal to Clinton despite his duplicity.
Going too far, as you think Thompson did, might be one of the ways you can cultivate the sort of militant attitude that encourages the base to do more than just vote.
President Clinton was badly treated, but the one thing he never had to produce was his birth certificate. I think that is significant and it bothers me to this day. Of course, desperate people do desperate things. IMHO today’s wing-nuts are even more disrespectful than what was spawned during the “Republican Revolution” of the Gingrich era. Is it a factor of the times we live in, or is it race? I suspect it is a little of both. It is difficult for the wing-nuts to accept that President Obama won by a landslide both times. This was not supposed to happen. Their world is changing and they want to stop the clock. The wing-nuts are meeting their Waterloo and I think they will eventually lose and lose badly. However, before this loss, we will see some really silly and feeble attempts to alter the course of history.
Amen!
Very humbly I submit that he made a mistake not producing it right away. He stonewalled and that made it look momentarily as if something might be there. Whenever a politician refuses to submit a document ears prick up. Most will produce their IRS 1040’s, even offer them up. They are supposed to be private. We demand them, they produce them.
Want to bet that Ted Cruz’s birth certificate won’t be asked for?
Fuck the bullshyt that he should have produced the birth certificate.
Not as an obligation, just for politics.
Love the Shithammer…
Everyone has their breaking point. Mitch McConnell being racist isn’t hyperbolic; look at how he’s acted the past six years. We all know about that GOP party on inauguration night. I don’t think hatred is the proper word for how I see the GOP and everyone that supports them. The good Mississippi congressman has to work with them. Of course I would’ve handled things differently, but it see where the man’s coming from.
McConnell’s not a racist; he’s a fuckwad — don’t confuse the two. McConnell is completely opportunistic and insincere. Whatever whirlwind he reaps will be richly deserved. But I see no evidence any of his game playing has been about anything other than raw power. That guy would do any dance with the devil. If he could glean advantage from giving Obama a blowjob, he’s be instantly down on his knees.
If he could glean advantage from giving Obama a blowjob, he’s be instantly down on his knees.
Some people think he’s had plenty of practice.
When I said I would’ve acted differently, I mean I would’ve taken full advantage of my position as a congressperson. Talking about racism isn’t the way. I would be doing my damnest to make sure my party has the majority.
Clarence Thomas is definitely an “Uncle Tom,” Mitch McConnell may well be a “racist,” but to claim that the only reason Republicans anti-big government and anti-Obamacare is because President Obama is black, is BS.
True, some of the techniques being used to diminish support for Obamacare are definitely racist, but those are just techniques, they are not the reason.
To me, it plays into the core of Republican messaging, namely that Obama is president of the blacks, “big government” and Obamacare are for the blacks, blackety-blackety black, etc.
I don’t know if this means we’re winning the culture wars. What it means is that some Obama supporters are peddling disinformation to other Obama supporters. Not too surprising coming from the Nation of Islam.
What makes you think the Nation of Islam supports Obama?
I heard he’s a Muslim (LOL)
Check.
Check.
Not quite – they’ve been anti-big-government ever since big government defeated the Confederacy (twice if you count the Civil Rights Act and the actions of “activist” judges to make them comply with it) and they weren’t too fond of Hillarycare in the ’90s either. But two out of three isn’t bad…
Glad you traced their odious behavior back to the Civil War. (Actually, we could go back further considering all the compromises, etc.) Some people cannot accept the following quote from Shelby Foote: “Before the war it was always the United States are, after the war it was the United States is… it made us an is”. People in some of these Red states would practically evaporate without the infusion of Federal $$ in their states. (Lots of military bases, etc.) They are “just all talk” and their blustering is very annoying.
The party is inherently white supremacist. I don’t see this as hyperbolic at all. I wasn’t old enough to know or remember how Clinton was treated. But I do know the GOP and their base. Pandering to racism or expressing it themselves makes no difference to me.
Probably the only thing that makes this remotely controversial is saying so on a Nation broadcast.
Bingo. Chicagoans in the early 80s witnessed what the media labelled back then “Council Wars”. (Not to be confused with the theater show written and performed by Chicago comedian Aaron Freeman.) It was so obviously fed by racial resentment on the part of people like Ed Vrdolyak as a reaction to the election of Harold Washington as mayor.
Fast Eddie and his buddies protested though that he was not PERSONALLY racist, it was just political. WTF. You are what you do. How can you claim to not be personally racist when you’re willing to peddle slurs, stereotypes and hate language. Vrdolyak turned out to be a crook (big surprise).
I’d make this distinction. A healthy percentage of Republican voters are racist. Most of its leaders are opportunistic. They threw their hat in with Buchanan’s southern strategy a long time ago and now it’s coming back to bite them. More and more, they will be forced into a corner from which the exit requires complete political realignment. They will fight against it as long as they can. The leadership is merely reaping what it sowed.
If self-interest (e.g., Specter, Crist) were their primary motivation, you’d see them, especially the younger ones, switching parties or going rogue on votes (Sensenbrenner) for things like the VRA and immigration reform and the ACA, especially if they’re holding seats in the upper Midwest and the Northeast. But we’re not seeing that.
The clearly delineated demographic doom looming for them has only strengthened their determination (against all good sense) to suppress women, minority, and youth voters; to oppose increasing the minimum wage; and to campaign against increased access to healthcare! IMO they are diehard racists and sexist authoritarian ideologues with a just a smattering of cynical cowards (Boehner, Hatch) remaining.
The base the GOTP elected officials serve has repeatedly announced its intent to heavily arm themselves in order to take back their country without regard to any norm that I can see other than white supremacy.
No way. Whether the politician…
the harm is done. At some level the harm is done to minorities and the general welfare of this country.
They are what they do.
It tells me there is a vast difference between bigotry and calling out the bigots. There is no similarity between intolerance from some and rejection of that intolerance from others. And it tells me that there are still too many people who don’t understand the basic difference. We should be applauding people who call out and marginalize the bigotry.
This isn’t so much about about which side has the bigger weapon so much as who is following that long arc toward justice.
On another note, all the spectacles and circus in the corporate media and blogosphere about Duck Dynasty, Cliven Bundy, Sterling don’t mean squat compared to the real oppression and in justice regular people face every day.
When the news cycle of the latest “outrage du jour” dies down, it looks like there could be some solid progress among professional sports. That is great. But that will do NOTHING to improve the lives of regular people who still stand 5 hours to vote, who face voting rights abuse as well as deeply entrenched racism in housing, education, employment, law and justice, etc.
The clip someone provided yesterday from Bomani Jones said it well. It’s worth repeating.
http://deadspin.com/in-10-minutes-espns-bomani-jones-lays-waste-to-the-ste-1569195989
Listen to that starting around 4:30 and how Jones ties the tragic death of Leonore Draper to the long history of housing discrimination in Chicago. This is life and death stuff and we need to turn more to digging out the institutional racism and worry a little less about the latest bigot mouthing off.
Here’s the story about Ms. Draper. RIP.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/04/chicago_anti_violence_advocate_leonore_draper_fatall
y_gunned_down_after.html
When did Bennie Thomspson decide to make waves? He’s almost the last national Democrat left in Mississippi.
Would be good if he could put the fear of God in Gene Taylor and the other good ole boy sellouts to the moderate pragmatic Democrats (not to mention the progressive Democrats who might get Mississippi out its ditch).
A progressive political takeover in Mississippi would be the functional equivalent of Scott Walker’s stealth seizing of Wisconsin. It doesn’t happen until some strong-willed whites and blacks make it happen.
One incidence of tough talk one night to a New Nation of Islam broadcast certainly flashes a couple of cards that even black Southern Dems have been afraid of touching.
I’ll believe that Democrats understand they have a shithammer when John Kerry fires some people and no longer has to apologize for telling the truth.
Now if Bennie would just come clean about the Department of Homeland Security and how much it actually contributes to safety (outside of the Coast Guard and FEMA).
Well, calling Clarence Thomas an “Uncle Tom” is certainly racist, so in that respect, Thompson goes way too far.
But I don’t disagree with his assessment that race is a huge motivating factor for staunch Republican opposition. It was when Clinton was president, even though Clinton was white. The argument then was “handouts”, right? The president is simply the figurehead standing before the people who are truly targeted.
Calling Clarence Thomas an “Uncle Tom” is racial but it is not racist – it’s not related to the belief that a particular race is superior to another. It’s accusing Uncle Thomas of sharing characteristics with a character in Uncle Tom’s Cabin (the wrong character, mind you). Today it probably would be more accurate to call him Steven…
It’s as if almost nobody has read “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” And everybody has accepted the pro-slavery, racist depiction of Uncle Tom from minstrel show performances of Stowe’s story.
Uncle Tom should rightly stand in the pantheon of noble characters from early US novels such as Uncas and Chingachgook.
We could call Clarence Thomas an Adolph. (And wait for rightwing heads to explode.)
That’s why I noted that it was the wrong character from the novel – Sambo was the “Uncle Tom” in the novel.
Sambo wasn’t an independent actor — it was a duo, Sambo and Quimbo. Enslaved overseers of slaves that were far below “Stephen’s” position in a plantation hierarchy and they were forced to do the dirty work. If we stick with “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” Adolph comes closest — puffed up status, more goodies, and clean hands.
You should have published the Unca Clarence and Stephen side by side picture.
Bennie Thompson is a Black man born and bred in Mississippi. I believe he knows the difference between what happened with Clinton and what has happened with President Obama. There is a Fundamental lack of disrespect that has been thrust towards this President and his entire family. It is worse with Obama, and count me among those who are irritated by the attempt to lessen it by saying that Clinton’s time was just as bad. NO, it was not.
I agree with with Thompson’s statements, but of course they are impossible to quantify in any meaningful sense dependant on ‘racism.’
Clarence Thomas is an “Uncle Tom.” Yeah.
Mitch McConnell is a “racist:” really? Maybe.
“Republicans are only anti-big government and anti-Obamacare because President Obama is black.”
This is half-right; it would be more correct to say that Republicans are only anti-big government because Obama is a black Democrat. Counterpoint: GWBush (white Republican) was a huge proponent of big government, so where was the outrage??
To previous posters…invoking the rightwing’s hatred of Bill Clinton is appropriate, but hardly comparable; when did any US Congresscritter tell Bill Clinton to his face “I cannot even stand to look at you,” and/or when did anyone interupt a US President’s SOTU speech with “You lie!”
I feel the need to add: did the GOP leadership in the House and Senate get together on Clinton’s first inaugural night to formulate their plan to oppose EVERYTHING the president proposed, full on and all the time? Fuck no, they didn’t.
Pile that on top of ALL THE EXPLICITLY RACIST STATEMENTS Republican electeds have made about President Obama. Then, pile that on the highly implicit racist statements Republican elected have made about Obama. Then, pile that on top of all the explicit and implicit racist statements Republican electeds have made about Democratic electeds, Democratic Party members, and those who receive assistance from policies and programs supported by Democratic Party electeds and members.
That’s quite a damn pile.