Racism Against Obama

[kwlyon]

I don't know if the intent was racist...but I want one...that is F'n awesome! I don't see how it is racist. I would like to have a George Bush one as well...though I suppose it would have to be a Mr. Potato head.....

Racist? You be the judge.
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Less than three weeks after CVS stores started selling the controversial Obama chia pets, the pharmacy chain is pulling them from its shelves.

In April, rival chain Walgreens stopped selling the Obama chias after complaints that the plants, which sprout a green chia afro as the President's hair, were racist.



Read more here.

[Betsy]

I say not racist....but kind of ridiculous.

[Doug]

Patrick Lanzo owns a restaurant in Paulding County, Georgia. His restaurant has a mannequin dressed as a Klansman. The sign out front says, "Obama's plan for health-care: nigger rig it." Lanzo says he is not a racist.

See here.

DOUG
The owner claims he is not a racist. In his restaurant, he has a mannequin wearing a Klansman outfit. On the other hand, he has an NAACP membership card, and he has a picture of MLK on the wall.

[L.Wood]

.

Charges of racism are among the most serious that can be made in America because of our nation’s history on race relations. There is no doubt America has come a long way in healing past wounds, but there is certainly more to be done. That is why I am outraged that Democrats today, including former president Jimmy Carter, are injecting race into the debate over President Obama’s policies."
Michael Steele

More here
















And the WINNER



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[Doug]

From the Washington Times. More chimps and references to Obama...

See here for an analysis.

[Betsy]

I saw this and didn't think it was racist. The three see-hear-speak no evil monkeys have been around since before we were born. they weren't chosen for racial undertones. I think this really is playing the race card to claim it's racist. Really, it undermines valid racist complaints to bring up every little thing like this.

[Doug]

I saw this and didn't think it was racist. The three see-hear-speak no evil monkeys have been around since before we were born. they weren't chosen for racial undertones. I think this really is playing the race card to claim it's racist. Really, it undermines valid racist complaints to bring up every little thing like this.

DOUG
I disagree. I think it is no coincidence that monkeys, chimps and gorillas have been used by the right-wingers when discussing Obama (and the first lady). It's called dog-whistle politics. Of course, the way to do it is not to be overtly racist, so people could claim exactly what you are claiming, that it is just being overly-sensitive to think it is racist. No one can prove it one way or the other, unless you get it from the people who made the ad. But the racists see the chimps and "get" the meaning.

Imagine, for atheists, what we would think if someone had a picture of a devil sitting on Richard Dawkins' shoulder while he is depicted writing a book. The notion of an imp on the shoulder is an old one too, but we would know what it is intended to suggest.

[Dardedar]

Well, the people in the picture being referred to as (these iconic) monkeys are clearly labeled, and they refer to three categories that do not include the president or executive branch, so like Betsy, I don't see the connection.

[Doug]

Here.
DENVER (AP) -- A Colorado state employee could be disciplined for sending an e-mail showing President Barack Obama shining the shoes of former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

The 73-year-old Colorado Department of Transportation worker forwarded the e-mail to at least four co-workers and others on Dec. 22 using her state e-mail account. One of the recipients outside the agency complained.

The original sender of the e-mail, who isn't a state employee, wrote "It appears he (Obama) has found his niche."

[kwlyon]

I'm kinda torn on this. In general I don't think it is a big deal and people need to get the hell over it. However it is inappropriate use of an official state email address. It just seems like there are more important things to be concerned with than someone expressing their opinion over an inappropriate medium. It's not like it really cost the state anything...it's just that it is inappropriate material to be sent over "official" lines of communication. It's kinda like the VA cracking down on people looking at porn over their network. I like to talk about this loudly so others around me will hear my opinion...the opinion I am allowed to express while the employees of the VA are not. Yes it is inappropriate and technically warrants corrective action however the VA is SO fucked up right now that the last thing they need to be wasting resources correcting is misuse of the internet!

[Dardedar]

This goes under just general republican racism I guess:

'N-Word' Sign Comes Back To Bite Tea Party Leader

Dale Robertson, a Tea Party activist who operates TeaParty.org, is getting stung for an old photo -- taken at the Feb. 27, 2009 Tea Party in Houston -- in which he holds a sign reading "Congress = Slaveowner, Taxpayer = Niggar."

Link

[Doug]

Marilyn Davenport, a Tea Party activist and member of the Orange County Republican Party's central committee, is drawing fire from people in her own party after circulating a racist email depicting President Barack Obama and his parents as chimpanzees. In the email: "Now you know why — No birth certificate!"

UPDATED -- The AP reports that Republican Party of Orange County Chairman Scott Baugh wants to launch an ethics investigation about the incident, and that he thinks she should resign. Baugh said, "It's just highly inappropriate, it's a despicable message, it drips with racism and I think she should step down from the committee."

At the very least, Baugh said, Davenport should be apologizing for what she's done rather than attacking whoever leaked the email to media, referring to an email Davenport sent after the story broke calling on "the coward" who leaked the email to come forward.

Davenport, a tea party activist, represents the 72nd Assembly District in Orange County on the central committee.

[Doug]

[Note: Pastor Terry Jones is the guy who keeps wanting to burn copies of the Qur'an.]

The Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., has hanged an effigy of President Barack Obama from a gallows on its front lawn, a move DWOC pastor Terry Jones said was in response to Obama's recent endorsement of same-sex marriage, as well as his stance on abortion and what Jones called his "appeasing of radical Islam."

...The effigy is suspended from a makeshift gallows with a noose of yellow rope, has a doll in its right hand and a rainbow-colored gay pride flag in its left.

In a telephone interview with The Huffington Post, Jones said the flag was meant to call attention to Obama's stance on same-sex marriage and that the baby doll is there because the president is "favorable toward abortion."