Can we admit that Obama has a really big stick?

[Feech La Manna]

They couldn't come up with anything better than "radical racialist"?

These guys really suck at everything (other than trolling)

[endless dave]

annoyed that I'm still bothering with all this, but...

the thing troubling me at this point is that it seems the only thing that is marking Bell as a "radical racialist" is the claim of systematic racism in the US. I don't know why it still shocks me that conservatives still can't even slightly acknowledge that, but it does.

[Feech La Manna]

We won't lower ourselves to the level of the racialists and use the word racist! No, sir!

[Mean Princess]

http://www.salon.com/2012/03/07/nsa_whi ... singleton/

I think the original title to this thread was more appropriate.

[endless dave]

"white supremacy is the heart of critical race theory"

I mean.

jesus

[Feech La Manna]

Thomas Drake, the whistle-blower whom the Obama administration tried and failed to prosecute for leaking information about waste, fraud and abuse at the National Security Agency, now works at an Apple store in Maryland.

man

[carlperkins]

annoyed that I'm still bothering with all this, but...

the thing troubling me at this point is that it seems the only thing that is marking Bell as a "radical racialist" is the claim of systematic racism in the US. I don't know why it still shocks me that conservatives still can't even slightly acknowledge that, but it does.

It always seems to come back to Nixonland, but having read the accounts of indiscriminate violence and, essentially, warfare on black communities, I don't know how someone like Bell would not be espousing extreme rhetoric in response to such extreme violence.

It's like they're shocked that a black man in the civil rights movement had strong feelings about racial injustice, and even further shocked that first black editor of HLR would admire Havard's first black law professor.

I honestly think this is their weakest attempt yet. There's something so oddly fascinating about watching the Hannity/Brietbart crowd convulse and twitch in their death throes of Obama hatred.

[Frank]

[The Dirty Turtle]

recreational sex!

[Hal Jordan]

http://www.breitbart.com/breitbart-tv/ has the clip of Soledad O'Brien going head to head with that awful fucking Joel Pollak from Breitbart.com - pretty good, he's so absolutely pathetic.

thread: CNN's Soledad O'Brien gets owned by Breitbart's Pollak

LINK

What a leftest dingbat

Ha, she didn't know what she was talking about. Pollak took her head on but she had her Obama glasses on. If you noticed she was getting talking point instructions from her producer through her ear piece. She was so outmatched, she losses track of her attack plan

Soledad is a filthy slut just like her fellow whore Fluke.

Who was the "white guy to white guy" dude? He made a fool of himself.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That was the worst part of the whole "interview".

What a joke our unbiased media has become.

I'm still not even sure why a student taking an interest in a professor who uses critical race theory in research is somehow an issue (much less...a bombshell).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Because that student is now a president who has a racist attorney general and is most likely a racist himself.

it was an attack on the media for originally editing the video.

Soledad got owned by that kid. Even another journalist on the panel gave her "Your being exposed" look. Luckily a comedian came to her aid.

Are comedians the new vehicle for the liberal team?

[Hal Jordan]

i gotta stop looking at the politics subforums of sports message boards. it's killing me.

[delgriffith]

Yeah please do I'm worried about what it must be doing to your heart.

[Mr Spaceship]

annoyed that I'm still bothering with all this, but...

the thing troubling me at this point is that it seems the only thing that is marking Bell as a "radical racialist" is the claim of systematic racism in the US. I don't know why it still shocks me that conservatives still can't even slightly acknowledge that, but it does.

It always seems to come back to Nixonland, but having read the accounts of indiscriminate violence and, essentially, warfare on black communities, I don't know how someone like Bell would not be espousing extreme rhetoric in response to such extreme violence.

It's like they're shocked that a black man in the civil rights movement had strong feelings about racial injustice, and even further shocked that first black editor of HLR would admire Havard's first black law professor.

I honestly think this is their weakest attempt yet. There's something so oddly fascinating about watching the Hannity/Brietbart crowd convulse and twitch in their death throes of Obama hatred.

It's because conservatives believe in "individuals" not races. Apparently. I think at some point conservative philosophy came to the realization that it had to remake itself from an entity courting southern voters and advancing white establishment interests that were opposed to Civil Rights legislation, so a younger generation of conservatives adopted an entirely new facade under the guise of believing everyone is totally equal, and if you aren't actively promoting and succeeding at self-interest, there is something wrong with you. It's their idea of capitalism. If you're promoting the interests of the black community, you are being a racist. Black art museums? Racist (where are the white ones??). Black churches protesting wage inequality? Racist. Blacks appealing to Congress for a program to help fix urban crime? Racist. White conservative men aren't promoting white interests, they are promoting capitalism and think anyone is capable of succeeding.

It's a very simple, appealing, and direct idea, and means you don't need to care about historical precedents or problems like urban crime and the welfare state (which is basically just a burden). Problems and grievances of the black community can be dismissed as something foreign, or something that needs to be kept in the closet.

Also I think "white" ideas and acceptance of promoting white interests have been suppressed in the western world since Nazi Germany and colonial empires, so there has to be various outlets to let off the steam. Reagan-style capitalism is one of them.

Maybe I'm overanalyzing it though, and Breitbart and his people are just kind of aloof to the problems of racial issues in America, and they conveniently ignore them like most white Americans.

[Mr Spaceship]

what really amazes me about Obama though is that he frequently demonstrates that he gets the idea, that the foundation of the western world is about the individual, and he wants self-interest and capitalism to play an important role in American life, like his concept of "equality" is genuine in that he wants to help people so that they can also truly help themselves. Dunno what is radical about it.

[orange farmer]

He's black and a democrat and the president, therefore he's a radical.

[endless dave]

the other thoroughly disgusting aspect of invoking "white supremacy" in describing CRT is that he is careful enough with his language to make it seem like CRT espouses it. I mean, I haven't done much research but I imagine it goes on more about white privilege and racial power dynamics and maybe Bell has at some point talked about how the work that is being done is not enough. This Breitbart jagoff is just so happy to make it seem like Bell was against the civil rights movement or even the idea of black empowerment.

[transitive]

annoyed that I'm still bothering with all this, but...

the thing troubling me at this point is that it seems the only thing that is marking Bell as a "radical racialist" is the claim of systematic racism in the US. I don't know why it still shocks me that conservatives still can't even slightly acknowledge that, but it does.

It always seems to come back to Nixonland, but having read the accounts of indiscriminate violence and, essentially, warfare on black communities, I don't know how someone like Bell would not be espousing extreme rhetoric in response to such extreme violence.

It's like they're shocked that a black man in the civil rights movement had strong feelings about racial injustice, and even further shocked that first black editor of HLR would admire Havard's first black law professor.

I honestly think this is their weakest attempt yet. There's something so oddly fascinating about watching the Hannity/Brietbart crowd convulse and twitch in their death throes of Obama hatred.

It's because conservatives believe in "individuals" not races. Apparently. I think at some point conservative philosophy came to the realization that it had to remake itself from an entity courting southern voters and advancing white establishment interests that were opposed to Civil Rights legislation, so a younger generation of conservatives adopted an entirely new facade under the guise of believing everyone is totally equal, and if you aren't actively promoting and succeeding at self-interest, there is something wrong with you. It's their idea of capitalism. If you're promoting the interests of the black community, you are being a racist. Black art museums? Racist (where are the white ones??). Black churches protesting wage inequality? Racist. Blacks appealing to Congress for a program to help fix urban crime? Racist. White conservative men aren't promoting white interests, they are promoting capitalism and think anyone is capable of succeeding.

It's a very simple, appealing, and direct idea, and means you don't need to care about historical precedents or problems like urban crime and the welfare state (which is basically just a burden). Problems and grievances of the black community can be dismissed as something foreign, or something that needs to be kept in the closet.

Also I think "white" ideas and acceptance of promoting white interests have been suppressed in the western world since Nazi Germany and colonial empires, so there has to be various outlets to let off the steam. Reagan-style capitalism is one of them.

Maybe I'm overanalyzing it though, and Breitbart and his people are just kind of aloof to the problems of racial issues in America, and they conveniently ignore them like most white Americans.

I don't know if it's entirely the "individual vs. group" (though it certainly plays a part) thing that explains it. I think the idea/myth of American meritocracy has a lot more to do with it. The idea that you get ahead in America based on your own merits and can rise to the top because excellence always rises to the top. When you meddle with that idea, it shatters a lot of preconceptions and notions that someone may have taken for granted. Some people can accept their privilege, recognize how it affects them/others, and move on at the very least cognizant of the fact that you certainly worked hard but that societal factors (race, sex, economics, etc.) also played into your success. Some people go apoplectic and cannot accept this. It's such an ingrained concept in America.

Nixonland has some truly sobering passages in it that ties into this idea. When MLK goes to Chicago to try and push for desegregation in housing, he literally gets stoned by anti-desegregation counter protesters as he tries to lead a march through the bungalow belt (at this time occupied primarily by first and second generation Polish and Italians). This is in Chicago, not the deep south. But the sources Perlstein draws on from the counter protesters really bears out their hostility. Forty, fifty years ago, they also were living in the ghetto and being prejudiced against, but they worked hard and pulled themselves and their families out of that situation to become part of the new middle class of the 1950s. Obviously, they are also the beneficiaries of government aid programs (GI Bill, pro-union legislation, etc), but because they aren't obvious programs like medicare/welfare/housing vouchers, they don't realize it and so continue to assume that blacks are getting a leg up without any of the sacrifices that they have made (whether they were real or not).

This is why the idea of Herman Cain is so appealing to the republican base. He is the proof of everything that they believe in. He worked hard, and in spite of his disadvantages (whatever they may have been) he succeeded.

[Grover]

When he unveiled the Derrick Bell video on Hannity last night, Breitbart.com's Joel Pollak labored to explain why the late professor was so offensive.
Derrick Bell got into serious trouble when he wrote an essay, a fictional story, called Space Traders, positing that Americans, white Americans would sell black Americans to space aliens in order to pay out the national debt and that Jews would stand by and let it happen. This is a kind of background Derrick Bell had.
This is true. "Space Traders" was actually turned into a short film, as part of the 1994 black sci-fi anthology Cosmic Slop.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/03/08/the_aliens_have_come_for_our_black_people.html

[Durham]

I'm gonna miss you when you're dead, Hal.

[Milquetoaster Strudels]

Fuck, I didn't know that David Liebe-Hart used to be a Harvard Law professor

[Mr Spaceship]

This is why the idea of Herman Cain is so appealing to the republican base. He is the proof of everything that they believe in. He worked hard, and in spite of his disadvantages (whatever they may have been) he succeeded.

Yeah, I mean these people really do believe this. Except they're idiots, and assholes, because the Obamas are also upstanding, morally honest (unlike Cain) citizens who succeeded in spite of their disadvantages.

Policies aside, the foundation of the GOP attacks on Obama from the far right Tea Party have been about his character, that he's hiding something - and it has informed his policies. And it's shown them to be petty and stupid.

[the genius king]

I hate for it to be this simple, but it really all feels like it boils down to universe's post about how republicans believe we're playing a zero sum game, and that any advantage allowed to any minority group is an advantage taken away from them. Black History Month means we're taking the focus away from white history, allowing immigrants to work in the US means Americans will lose their jobs, not bombing Iran means Iran will bomb us. Ideas like progress and equality mean jack shit when this is your mindset.

[transitive]

This is why the idea of Herman Cain is so appealing to the republican base. He is the proof of everything that they believe in. He worked hard, and in spite of his disadvantages (whatever they may have been) he succeeded.

Yeah, I mean these people really do believe this. Except they're idiots, and assholes, because the Obamas are also upstanding, morally honest (unlike Cain) citizens who succeeded in spite of their disadvantages.

Policies aside, the foundation of the GOP attacks on Obama from the far right Tea Party have been about his character, that he's hiding something - and it has informed his policies. And it's shown them to be petty and stupid.

I mean, this is why Newt's "kids should be scrubbing toilets and mopping floors at their school" idea was just so contemptible. It assumes that there is a lack of emphasis on the importance of education on the part of minorities (especially blacks) in this country. I don't think you will find a more fervent belief in the importance of education and potential for transformation that it carries than in the African American community. The conservative view is essentially that, "Yeah, you're school may suck and you may face intense peer pressure to drop out and do whatever, but if you stick it out, you too can graduate and maybe go to community college and become a corrections officer! (no offense JohnK)."

The personal attacks, you know, it's looking for a magic bullet. Some indication that Obama ascended to where he is at the expense of someone just as, if not more qualified, because of his race. It's a pathetic indication that they got nothing.

[Mr Spaceship]

the worst part about them winning in November (and I don't think it would Romney winning, but rather people who hate Obama winning), is that I feel like the type of vile mudslinging we've seen from the right will just become more imbedded in the culture and people will become even more cynical of politics and each other

I like to think that Obama's sub-50 approval ratings the last year have been due to liberal/moderate disappointment that he hasn't been forceful enough or been able to do more, but I have no idea

[Mr Spaceship]

although there's also this Obama v. Romney chart and the trends have just not been good at all for Romney

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/0 ... via=blog_1

[orange farmer]

My dad told me yesterday he was voting for Romney in November, and I consider him a pretty good representation of the successful Republican lifer that voted Obama in 08. I told him I had 8 months to convince him he is wrong. He said he has the same amount of time to convince me of my wrongness.

[mcwop23]

My dad told me yesterday he was voting for Romney in November, and I consider him a pretty good representation of the successful Republican lifer that voted Obama in 08. I told him I had 8 months to convince him he is wrong. He said he has the same amount of time to convince me of my wrongness.

if he voted for him in 08 can't imagine why he wouldn't this time

[WAC]

This showed up in David Remnick's 2010 Obama biography:



#VetThePrez

[Frank]

My dad told me yesterday he was voting for Romney in November, and I consider him a pretty good representation of the successful Republican lifer that voted Obama in 08. I told him I had 8 months to convince him he is wrong. He said he has the same amount of time to convince me of my wrongness.

if he voted for him in 08 can't imagine why he wouldn't this time

he didnt magically fix the economy through sheer mindpower

[Frank]

http://www.glennbeck.com/2012/03/08/the ... -all-time/

1. Acts of hostility toward people of Biblical faith:

April 2008 – Obama speaks disrespectfully of Christians, saying they “cling to guns or religion” and have an “antipathy to people who aren’t like them.”
February 2009 – Obama announces plans to revoke conscience protection for health workers who refuse to participate in medical activities that go against their beliefs, and fully implements the plan in February 2011.
April 2009 – When speaking at Georgetown University, Obama orders that a monogram symbolizing Jesus’ name be covered when he is making his speech.
May 2009 – Obama declines to host services for the National Prayer Day (a day established by federal law) at the White House.
April 2009 – In a deliberate act of disrespect, Obama nominated three pro-abortion ambassadors to the Vatican; of course, the pro-life Vatican rejected all three.
October 19, 2010 – Obama begins deliberately omitting the phrase about “the Creator” when quoting the Declaration of Independence – an omission he has made on no less than seven occasions.
November 2010 – Obama misquotes the National Motto, saying it is “E pluribus unum” rather than “In God We Trust” as established by federal law.
January 2011 – After a federal law was passed to transfer a WWI Memorial in the Mojave Desert to private ownership, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the cross in the memorial could continue to stand, but the Obama administration refused to allow the land to be transferred as required by law, and refused to allow the cross to be re-erected as ordered by the Court.
February 2011 – Although he filled posts in the State Department, for more than two years Obama did not fill the post of religious freedom ambassador, an official that works against religious persecution across the world; he filled it only after heavy pressure from the public and from Congress.
April 2011 – For the first time in American history, Obama urges passage of a non-discrimination law that does not contain hiring protections for religious groups, forcing religious organizations to hire according to federal mandates without regard to the dictates of their own faith, thus eliminating conscience protection in hiring.
August 2011 – The Obama administration releases its new health care rules that override religious conscience protections for medical workers in the areas of abortion and contraception.
November 2011 – Obama opposes inclusion of President Franklin Roosevelt’s famous D-Day Prayer in the WWII Memorial.
November 2011 – Unlike previous presidents, Obama studiously avoids any religious references in his Thanksgiving speech.
December 2011 – The Obama administration denigrates other countries’ religious beliefs as an obstacle to radical homosexual rights.
January 2012 – The Obama administration argues that the First Amendment provides no protection for churches and synagogues in hiring their pastors and rabbis.
February 2012 – The Obama administration forgives student loans in exchange for public service, but announces it will no longer forgive student loans if the public service is related to religion.

2. Acts of hostility from the Obama-led military toward people of Biblical faith:

June 2011 – The Department of Veterans Affairs forbids references to God and Jesus during burial ceremonies at Houston National Cemetery.
August 2011 – The Air Force stops teaching the Just War theory to officers in California because the course is taught by chaplains and is based on a philosophy introduced by St. Augustine in the third century AD – a theory long taught by civilized nations across the world (except America).
September 2011 – Air Force Chief of Staff prohibits commanders from notifying airmen of programs and services available to them from chaplains.
September 2011 – The Army issues guidelines for Walter Reed Medical Center stipulating that “No religious items (i.e. Bibles, reading materials and/or facts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit.”
November 2011 – The Air Force Academy rescinds support for Operation Christmas Child, a program to send holiday gifts to impoverished children across the world, because the program is run by a Christian charity.
November 2011 – The Air Force Academy pays $80,000 to add a Stonehenge-like worship center for pagans, druids, witches and Wiccans.
February 2012 – The U. S. Military Academy at West Point disinvites three star Army general and decorated war hero Lieutenant General William G. (“Jerry”) Boykin (retired) from speaking at an event because he is an outspoken Christian.
February 2012 – The Air Force removes “God” from the patch of Rapid Capabilities Office (the word on the patch was in Latin: Dei).
February 2012 – The Army orders Catholic chaplains not to read a letter to parishioners that their archbishop asked them to read.