I'm tired

A few of Hillary's supporters wait for her at a rally

I'm officially spent at this point with the Democratic campaign.

I haven't been posting because I've been desperately trying to hang onto my sanity while this whole sordid campaign plays out.

I've already devoted too much time and space to the subject of the Clinton campaign's racism and I've allowed myself to be distracted from other issues I want to write about.

There are other blogs like Jack and Jill Politics that do a great job at voicing the rage I feel and so I'll leave them to that.

I'm going to right my ship here but before I do I will just say this about the whole mess with Geraldine Ferraro.

Ferraro is a racist and she needs to go. Period. The fact that she has lasted this long is a testiment to the racism of this country. No one but a black person could have their accomplishments and character questioned in such a way an not have the person making the criticism laid out for being so ignorant.

And Hillary Clinton and the people in her campaign are racists too. You can't condone this sort of thing, even if it is a election tactic without lacking the scrupples to understand what is absolutely off limits.

We are still weeks away from the Pennsylvania primary. At the rate the Clintons are ramping up the racist rhetoric I fully expect Hillary to be hosting Klan rallies to drum up political support.

Don't get distracted

This is not the point

There is some discussion of a possible "subliminal message" in Hillary Clinton's 3 AM ad.

If you freeze the video at 11 to 12 seconds in you see the letters "NIG" on the pajamas of one of the sleeping children.

Is this a racist subliminal message sent out by the Clinton campaign to get people to think "NIG" = nigger = Obama?

In my opinion no.

First, the people for whom the letters "NIG" would have enough meaning to keep them for voting for Obama are already so racist that he wouldn't get their votes anyway.

Second, the Clinton campaign has not shown the aptitude to make convincing appeals with obvious messages let alone a subliminal one.

Third, when the Clinton campaign has used racial messages they have always been bumbling and plain to see. They haven't shown the ability to learn from their mistakes either, so I'm not thinking that they would take a more subtle approach, especially now that they are much more desperate.

The fact that some are actually having this conversation shows how much the Clintons have damaged their legacy with racist and xenophobic attacks against Barack Obama. Three months ago this kind of attack on the Clintons would have been outrageous and dismissed. Now the only criticism is of the hyperbole of the people who think this is something racist not that the Clintons would never stoop that low.

It also shows how easily distracted people can get. There are many more important things to discuss than this.

If we are going to have a discussion (and we should) about the racist images coming from the left and the right against Obama, then there are many more worthy things to talk about than a couple of frames of something that you have to cock your head like an owl and squint to see.

A compromising position

Yes she thinks Latinos are stupid (and racist as hell apparently)

Democrats' racial divide becoming ever more evident

By JAY ROOT

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Democrats have long depended on a rainbow-like racial coalition to win races against Republicans, but the fight between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has revealed an increasingly common and sometimes bitter split between blacks and Hispanics.

As Hispanics have grown in numbers, the tension has increased, and it's produced a racial minefield for the Democratic presidential candidates. Both camps publicly downplay the divide, but it has occasionally spilled out into the open, and it could be a significant factor in the March 4 Texas primaries.

Raw feelings were evident in a recent complaint from Jesse Diaz, president of the Dallas-area League of United Latin American Citizens. Diaz, identifying himself as a Clinton supporter, said in a letter posted on the CNN Web site that Hispanics in Dallas are not about to "jump on the Obama Express."

"When Senator Obama's campaign rolls into Dallas, the 'Dallas Phenomenon' will reflect the racist and biased distaste Dallas' black leadership has shown towards Dallas' Hispanic community for decades," Diaz wrote.

Diaz' chief complaint is that black leaders show favoritism to African-Americans in government jobs and leadership posts. He stood by his comments in an interview, saying that "what Anglos did to African-Americans, African-Americans are now doing to Hispanics."

The rest of this bullshit report can be read here.

I don't know who Jay Root is. After reading his report I really don't care because his report is pure crap. What concerns me about this story is that it is a prime example of the unsavory relationship between campaigns and reporters.

I know campaigns leak stories and the media plays favorites but this is something different.

We've already gone through the news cycle where the Clintons tried to play the "Latinos hate blacks card".

And we've already seen that idea debunked not only at the ballot box but also in writing
Here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Never mind the real divide is generational as it goes with how Latinos are voting in the Democratic primary or that even if they don't vote for Obama it doesn't necessarily have to come down to racist reasons.

So why are we seeing this resurface now? There are two reasons.

First, the new SurveyUSA poll which shows Obama up by four points in Texas.

Second, is the fact that she has run out of any real ideas of how to attack him (and the previous ones she's used have not worked) and now is chucking any negative attack she can at him.

This report is part of that line of attack.

So what does that say about Jay Root, that he is a willing vessel for some racist smear that is thoroughly debunked by a desperate and dying political campaign? It says that the man doesn't deserve to write for the local Pennysaver, let alone a newspaper.

And it also says that as readers we all must look beyond the story and realize that understanding the motivations of the people behind the scenes of the stories of the day are as important as the stories themselves.

I'm trying to control my anger

The racist bitch in her own words

The photo in question - AP

From Mike Allen of the Politico:

Obama slams smear photo
By: Mike Allen
February 25, 2008 10:16 AM EST
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe accused the Clinton campaign Monday of "shameful offensive fear-mongering" by circulating a photo as an attempted smear.

Plouffe was reacting to a banner headline on the Drudge Report saying that aides to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) had e-mailed a photo calling attention to the African roots of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

"The photo, taken in 2006, shows the Democrat front-runner dressed as a Somali Elder, during his visit to Wajir, a rural area in northeastern Kenya," the Drudge Report said.

The Clinton campaign did not deny the charge, but did not comment further...

Link to the article: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8667.html

Despite my initial apprehension of Matt Drudge as a source, the fact the the Obama campaign has responded to this and more importantly the Clinton campaign hasn't denied it, the idea that the Clinton campaign has done this puts to rest any possible equivocation that the campaign is employing racist tactics and is trying to use Barack Obama's Muslim heritage as wedge issue.

It also for me is the last straw in cutting the Clintons any slack on the shit that they've been pulling.

I've been reluctant to call them racists for the many attacks they've used on Obama. I figured that they like many white Democrats see Rovian racist tactics as fair political play and that was what was fueling their smear machine.

After this however, I can't believe that they haven't gotten the message, especially given their incredible loss of standing with black folks over the previous smears, that this kind of crap is racist and has no business being employed by any political campaign let alone a Democratic one.

Fuck Bill. Fuck Hillary. Fuck that mammy looking bitch Maggie Williams for condoning this shit.

I don't want Hillary to lose at this point. I want her smited. I'm offended that I have to share the same planet as these people.

Some initial blog reaction:

Jack and Jill Politics, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice, Marc Ambinder

MSNBC is straight fucking garbage

MSNBC's liberal beard

Courtesy of diarist Shane Hersinger at Daily Kos:

UPDATED: MSNBC's and Now CNN's Odious Attack on Obama Today

by Shane Hensinger

Sun Feb 24, 2008 at 03:05:14 PM PST

No flag pin, no hand over his heart: Is he exposed?

Exposed as what exactly? Not wearing a flag pen is to be "exposed" for not adhering to the Fox News/Republican Party-version of patriotism, which means meaningless gestures like wearing a lapel pin are far more important than words and deeds?

Glenn Greenwald linked to this image today on MSNBC which follows a Fox News attack line that Obama is not patriotic for "refusing" to wear a flag pen on his lapel, as if a flag pen is mandatory and not wearing one is tantamount to treachery and treason against this country.

Sen. Barack Obama's refusal to wear an American flag lapel pin along with a photo of him not putting his hand over his heart during the National Anthem led conservatives on Internet and in the media to question his patriotism.

Now Obama's wife, Michelle, has drawn their ire, too, for saying recently that she's really proud of her country for the first time in her adult life.

Conservative consultants say that combined, the cases could be an issue for Obama in the general election if he wins the nomination, especially as he runs against Vietnam war hero Sen. John McCain.

Yes, because meaningless gestures of patriotism are so important, especially when you're the Republican party, which makes a show of "supporting the troops" and then undercuts them by awarding no-bid contract to Republican donors and lackeys who then manufacture sub-standard equipment every time they get the chance.

Link to the discussion : http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/2/24/17467/0743

The fact that CNN has stooped to this doesn't surprise me. They have been Fox News lite for years now and anyone who employs Wolf "They are so black" Blitzer isn't worth a damn anyway.

The difference here is MSNBC. MSNBC when compared to the right wing nut cases at Fox and the Fox wannabes at CNN have earned a bit of a reputation of being more left leaning in their news.

With Keith Olbermann anchoring the network's highest rated show, they unlike the others feature real lefty pundits like Rachel Maddow, who has been rumored to be the next in line for a show there.

That veneer of liberalism is so thin however that it might as well not exist considering the other fools they have working the place.

My earlier post, Brothers, I briefly touched on Chris Matthew's sexism. This new salvo against Barack Obama is obviously just the start of the networks racist campaign against Obama.

I'm not naive. I knew that the media's love-fest towards Obama would end as soon has he got within spitting distance of the Democratic nomination so they could get down to the more important business of kissing John McCain's shriveled ass. MSNBC has already shown that it is comfortable spewing sexist garbage at Clinton and her family and it's protection of Matthews is gauling. No one can really expect them at this point to have the scrupples to stand up to the racist shit that will be headed Obama's way.

And yes an anti-American charge against a black politician is racist because it reinforces the idea that blacks are somehow separate, untrustworthy and not real citizens of this country.

So what about Olbermann? I like his reporting but the fact is he's being used as a beard to hide the channel's obvious lack of ethical standards.

None of us are privy to what goes on in the newsroom but as the campaign goes on and the smear campaign heats up Olbermann will facr increasing pressure to speak out about what is going on.

During the whole Shuster "pimping" debacle he went on air to personally plead for the Clinton's forgiveness of his network.

One has to wonder if Keith already has some text prepared for the inevitable apology he'll have to make for the upcoming Muslim and racist smears that will be made by his colleagues.

Brothers

Two peas in a fetid pod

This post started as a screed about Juan Williams and the fact the man still feels ok drawing a paycheck from Fox News when the channels biggest star talks about the possibility of going to a lynching party when referring to Michelle Obama.

While pondering Williams' motivations and lack of ethics I thought of Alex Witt, Norah O'Donnell, Tamron Hall and all the other women who work with Chris Matthews and the personal compromises they must make to work with such a sexist pig.

I caught myself in my own hypocrisy when I realized I felt more sympathy for the women than I ol' Juanito.

Maybe it's because as a woman who has worked in a corporate setting, observed the frat house antics of male colleagues go unchecked and has caught her boss blantantly staring at her tits, I understand the horrible compromises that women make everyday just to earn a freaking paycheck. Maybe it's because I feel on some level Juanito has more of a choice at where he works and that unfortunately the atmosphere of the average newsroom isn't going to be more woman-friendly no matter where they go.

Ultimately, as much as I would like Juan to suddenly appear on Monday's Factor with a noose and a rainbow and unicorn emblazoned mylar ballon that says "Happy Retirement Bill!" and give the pervert a personal lesson about the fun of "lynching parties", the responsibility lies not with the unfortunate folks who have to work with these assholes but the networks that continue to employ them.

The fact that these men still have their jobs is the best argument anyone has against the rightwing's idea that the media is liberal or we are ruled by politically correct language.

It's a reason to doubt the motives, fairness and veracity of anything that appears on any of those channels because if the kind of racist and sexist crap that these fools spew is what makes it on the air what the hell must be going on behind the scenes.

When journalists wonder why people don't trust them or why bloggers and other forms of independent media are growing like weeds while their market share shrinks they only have to look at the continuing presence and power of these jerks and that should answer the question.