Posted under Conservatism & Election 2008 & Political Correctness
If I hear or read one more “conservative” crowing about Harry Reid’s rather benign comments about Obama and calling for his head, I think I am going to get physically ill. This “conservative” hysteria over Reid’s comments contributes to an already highly charged atmosphere of suffocating political correctness. Why on earth would we want to do this? We need to be challenging political correctness, not reinforcing it. What Reid said wasn’t offensive and was certainly true. Does ANYONE not believe that white people were more comfortable with Obama because he is half white and was largely raised by whites in a white setting. I recall this being openly speculated about during the campaign. So it’s true but you just can’t say it? This is silly and profoundly counter-productive. Again, we should be bucking oppressive PC thought policing, not doing it ourselves. We need less sensitivity and prickliness, not more.
RedPhillips on 12 Jan 2010 at 4:39 am #
Republican are playing with fire. Read this. Here the Democrats are planning to use how people voted on certain political issues, such as the minimum wage, to prove the anti-racist bona fides of Democrats and the racism of Republicans. Get that Republicans? You are a racist if you voted against the minimum wage.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20100111/pl_politico/31340
Why would Republicans willingly play this whose the most pristine anti-racist game? They really are the stupid party.
Chris Hewlett on 12 Jan 2010 at 11:11 am #
One reason they might play the game is to lob bombs at the health care legislation. Anything to throw that off track.
Bede on 12 Jan 2010 at 12:23 pm #
Yes, it’s nauseating to hear Republicans go on about Reid. Do they realize they’re only carrying water for the Cultural Marxists? Do they care?
“And this anti-racism will be for the twenty-first century what communism was for the twentieth century: a source of violence.” ~ French philosopher Alain Finkelkraut
Ravis on 12 Jan 2010 at 3:25 pm #
This episode exposes the hypocrisy of the left and the entire PC establishment. That’s valuable. It also weakens the legitimacy of Democrats in an election year. What’s not to like. Plus there’s the hoisted-by-their-own-petards aspect. Enjoy it.
Jame on 12 Jan 2010 at 7:00 pm #
Bottom line: Republicans are stupid, shallow and care only about the immediate political gain they percieve they might gain from this. They can’t see the big picture. They don’t care. Have we forgotten that it was the neocon Republicans that ran Trent Lott off, not Democrats? They did it in an effort to curry favor with the left, of which they are an adjunct.
RedPhillips on 12 Jan 2010 at 7:45 pm #
As I was commenting on this on another site, I recalled something else. Remember that initially Obama was the darling of white liberals and was not well supported in the black community. Hillary was the run away favorite of blacks. I recall it being openly speculated that he wasn’t receiving black support because he was viewed by blacks as not being black enough and not sharing their background and life experience. Oprah’s endorsement and traveling with him to South Carolina (I believe) was one of the things that started to change this. As he gained momentum then blacks started to support him overwhelmingly. So isn’t this, which was common cause for discussion at the time, essentially the reverse observation that Reid is now being pilloried for?
Ravis, it does expose the hypocrisy of the PC establishment, which is predicated on hypocrisy. What is good and acceptable for minorities, ethnic self awareness and self interest, is anathema for white people. If the point of the criticism is to point out this hypocrisy then that’s great. But that hasn’t been the focus. The focus has been to call for Reid’s head because he let loose with an un-PC thought. This does nothing but empower the PC beast. In fact, the whole thing comes of as cartoonish in its utter slavishness to PC, because as I said, what he said (aside from perhaps his choice of words) was not offensive and almost unarguably true.
Michael on 12 Jan 2010 at 9:11 pm #
Oh, but can you imagine the outrage if it had been Ron Paul or Pat Buchanan who’d uttered the very things Reid said?
Chris Hewlett on 12 Jan 2010 at 10:01 pm #
I heard some caller on Rush Limbaugh’s show today claim Harry Reid was a racist because he said negro. It is just a political game created by liberals of all stripes.
Bob on 13 Jan 2010 at 4:22 pm #
Italians and Irish are still European. Africans are not.
As Steve Sailer has pointed out:
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Weaver on 14 Jan 2010 at 7:06 am #
Interchangeable cogs are good for business though. And if you lack a heritage, a convenient one can be supplied by the state and big media.