Black People Love Us.gov

David Weigel | March 31, 2006

Racial pandering: Tricky, but necessary. George W. Bush's re-election campaign site made a minor mistake by collecting pictures of the POTUS with African-Americans and posting them under the header "Compassion," but not too many people noticed. Still, the Bush team had more tact than longshot New York gubernatorial candidate Tom Suozzi. On his site, the Nassau County Executive (it's the second toughest job in America!) has collected photos of him and New Yorkers into slick, balkanized racial categories. See Tom with his Irish Friends, his Latino Friends, his Jewish Friends, and of course his African-American Friends! (Try and discern which Friends make Suozzi look more awkward.)

Link from The New York Observer's Ben Smith, who has "never quite seen anything like this before."

Comments

|3.31.06 @ 1:50PM|#

"See Tom with his Irish Friends, his Latino Friends, his Jewish Friends, and of course his African-American Friends!"

I just assumed you were exaggerating for effect.

Nope. That's pretty lame.

|3.31.06 @ 2:08PM|#

(Try and discern which Friends make Suozzi look more awkward.)

Definitely "Latino."

I also thought you were just exaggerating. I can't believe he actually labeled them like that.

|3.31.06 @ 2:10PM|#

Oh my god, you have got to be kidding me. Is that site really meant to make him look GOOD?

Anyway, onto the larger issue: Why are people still so eager to identify themselves as Hyphenated-Americans? What's wrong with just being a fucking American-American?

|3.31.06 @ 2:12PM|#

Hey, what about my people?

|3.31.06 @ 2:14PM|#

He's clearly racist by exclusion: where are his Gay Friends???? South Asian Gay friends? The left handed south asian LesGayTransexual alliance for tolerance and mutual understanding?

Diversity! Tolerance! MORE!

I think it would be funnier if he photographed himself (hugging, of course) with greeks, blacks, latinos etc., then you pull back and you see that in fact all these groups are together at the "National Satanists Conference"

I've always been suspicious of those who have to go out of their way to be like,

"oh, AND I'm definitely not racist!"...
Hmmm? that so?

'Yes! and i HATE terrorists!"
Well.. ok.

'and I DEFINITELY wont kidnap your children, sell them into the international sex trade, and funnel the money to secret accounts in the caymans.'

well, thats nice... hmmm.

JG

|3.31.06 @ 2:15PM|#

What, no Asian or Muslim friends?

Ananopotomous...nice screen name. May I suggest a slight modification? Anonopostomous

|3.31.06 @ 2:24PM|#

More glaringly, where are his WASP friends?

|3.31.06 @ 2:27PM|#

That's a lot of friends.
Does he have a page on MySpace as well?

|3.31.06 @ 2:45PM|#

I like how one of the first catergories is "New York, a United State". If it's so united, how come we you can't get the Irish, Italians, Jews, Greeks, Latinos and South Asian Transgenders all in the same place for a photo op?

|3.31.06 @ 2:45PM|#

I remember all of those George Bush "Compassion" photos. I saw a page once with a funny caption for one of them that read, "Look! I'm Touching Black People!".

You can't write better satire. One has to wonder if some bitter former Black Panther didn't make the "Compassion" series to be grossly tongue-in-cheek.

|3.31.06 @ 2:48PM|#

At least he's sensitive enough not to ask those groups to be seen together.

|3.31.06 @ 2:52PM|#

smacky: there are some things I laugh at so hard they make me feel dirty afterward. George Bush awkwardly trying to "connect" with ordinary black people is one of them. Labelling these efforts as "compassion" is just icing on the cake. I'm sure being touched by a white angel just made their day.

VM|3.31.06 @ 2:56PM|#

dammit. squirrels.

last fucking time.

blackpeopleloveus.com

this freakin' lib would take this site seriously.

|3.31.06 @ 3:18PM|#

"That's a lot of friends.
Does he have a page on MySpace as well?"

Best comment of the thread.

I declare Ed the winner, and give him a Gold Star.

Baylen Linnekin|3.31.06 @ 3:43PM|#

How in Rigidly Categorized Pandering's name did the two Irish-looking kids make it in this Tom-with-Jews shot?

Add me to the list of people who've never been so flummoxed.

|3.31.06 @ 3:47PM|#

My favorite line on the site:
Tom Enters the Race - February 25, 2006

|3.31.06 @ 4:13PM|#

Umm, wow. Just wow.

|3.31.06 @ 4:21PM|#

I had the exact same response as Joe. My assumption was that the site would awkwardly have photos that happened to be balkanized, and a sharp-eyed David (or Ben Smith) noticed the obvious categories.
I certainly was not expecting the categories to be done by the web site.

I would recommend he try "his Hot Freinds" and "his plain friends."

|3.31.06 @ 5:19PM|#

I... I'm speechless.

|3.31.06 @ 5:43PM|#

Just to cover his bases, the bottom of the page reads: Photographs of individuals or organizations on www.tomsuozzi.com do not signify an endorsement by said individuals or organizations nor does it signify an endorsement by Tom Suozzi of said individuals or organizations. I should certainly think not.

And how about the distinction between his African-American friends and his Carribean American friends? Now there's a subtle distinction.

Mind boggling!

|3.31.06 @ 5:45PM|#

Two things:

1) I can't believe one of the categories is for "Caribbean Island Americans."

2) Tom's female "Italian American" friends are really hot.

|3.31.06 @ 5:57PM|#

1) I can't believe one of the categories is for "Caribbean Island Americans."

Caribbeans are very numerous in NY right now. I.e they make an ideal target to pander to.

"We're gonna take the Irish, and then we're gonna take the Latinos, and the African-Americans... yee-ahhh!"

Gene Berkman|3.31.06 @ 8:06PM|#

Bob already mentioned the photo section titled "New York - A United State." If you look at the photos in that section, they are as racially divided as the photos under the many "Friends" sections.

Maybe New York is that divided along Ethnic lines, and the Suozzi campaign reflects it. Certainly many politicians in the past have pandered to specific ethnic groups.

Anyway, a better choice is Bill Weld who only shows photos of himself @ http://www.weldfornewyork.org/

Kim Scarborough|3.31.06 @ 8:23PM|#

Ha ha ha... when I first read this, I quickly saved a copy of the page, figuring there was a good chance he'd redo it now that it's getting negative attention. But no! He's added "Caribbean American Friends" in the last few hours.

|3.31.06 @ 8:36PM|#

I've touched a few black persons in a "special" way. Nevertheless I went "back" to white.
So, what kind of "white guilt" still afflicts my pasty ass?

Wondering..

Walter Williams to the rescue?
(Bring it on, Dreamboat.)

|4.1.06 @ 12:37AM|#

I'll admit that I'm hesitant to get with a black guy because I'm kind of turned off by their pubic hair.

Thomas Paine's Goiter|4.1.06 @ 10:26AM|#

(Try and discern which Friends make Suozzi look more awkward.)

The Jewish Friends. Deer in headlights, my man.

Thomas Paine's Goiter|4.1.06 @ 10:27AM|#

2) Tom's female "Italian American" friends are really hot.

The one on the far left is smokin'.

Larry A|4.1.06 @ 11:17AM|#

Of course you get a better idea of him as a candidate after you read his platform and discover just what he intends to do as governor of New York.

(No, I couldn't find it either.)

Gary Farber|4.1.06 @ 8:46PM|#

Swiped the link and added my own comments/observations here. Notice that Tom has to travel to find lots of his Friends.