Funky President (People It's Tolerable)
David Weigel | February 28, 2008, 9:24am
Michael Crowley
has an interesting, enterprising story about the extreme right, white pride movement's reaction to Barack Obama. He talks to David Duke, who considers Obama no worse than the white candidates left in the race. He scours the Stormfront-y corners of the web, where there's less fear of a black president than conspiracymongering about ZOG.
After Obama won the Iowa caucuses last month, Mark Potok, a researcher at the Southern Poverty Law Center, decided to survey the latest writings of the major right-wing hate groups he regularly monitors. How would America's vilest race-mongers respond to a black candidate's victory in a white Midwestern state? Again, the response was counterintuitive. "It was extremely weak," Potok says. "You could find people saying nasty words about Obama, but it wasn't red-hot at all."
That has remained the case even as Obama has become the front-runner. On several websites, forums, and online journals that promote the view of white superiority over blacks--the types of outlets that rejoiced over Hurricane Katrina and the destruction of the Lower Ninth Ward--there is precious little discussion of Obama's campaign. The day after Obama's blowout win in Wisconsin, for instance, the home page of the poisonous Vanguard News Network featured stories on Serbian nationalism, home schooling, Holocaust-denial, and Pat Buchanan--yet nothing about Obama. It turns out that, although the white right certainly has no love for Obama, its hatred of him is muted--and directed less at Obama himself than at other nefarious forces behind him.
This seems like a good time to revisit the "Bradley effect," the theory that Obama was losing votes on election day from scared whites who told pollsters, uh, sure, they'd vote for the black guy... and then voted for Clinton or Edwards. While there have definitely been odd pockets precincts and counties where Obama bottomed out, or there was a huge John Edwards protest vote (anyone want to explain how he broke 13 percent in southern Oklahoma a week after quitting the race?), we have not seen another situation like New Hampshire, where Obama underperformed his polls. Check out Virginia, where the final SurveyUSA poll showed Obama beating Clinton 60-38 and getting 47 percent of the white vote to her 49 percent. On election day Obama won by 28 points and won the white vote 52-47. He won the white vote again in Wisconsin, winning by 17 points a state where polls had him up by 5 or 6.
The Pew Research center has been testing this out with every primary and come to different conclusions, and I haven't done as much research as them, but outside of the deep South there doesn't seem to be the lying and polarization among scaredy-cat whites that we were told existed after New Hampshire.
GILMORE | February 28, 2008, 4:04pm | #
Episiarch | February 28, 2008, 12:13pm | #
Ooh ooh I want to tell my racial slur story:
I was in the Circuit City on E. 86th St. one day. ...
Hey! I used to live right there!
The Viand diner down on 2nd Ave is pretty good.
Speaking of racialism and shit...
1) I think obama isnt catching flak because in the minds of most voters (black or white or whatever) he just isnt
that black. Im serious. He may have a tan, but the dude is straight up tiger woods, culturally. He's a nice guy who can appeal to a lot of people. I think people dont realize that we're a bit farther ahead racially than we used to be.
See, now we're ALL racist against ARABS! Thats progress people! oh, and Mexicans and stuff. But I support their secret conspiracy to overthrow our government. Mums the word!
2) to the Black on Black anti-white racism... or whatever Epi's story was about. Blacks hating on blacks because they think they're not sharing special status with their 'brothers'. Man... tell me about it. About once a week i come across some strange case of NY black folks getting all pissed off about something having to do with being black. No one ever pays any fucking attention. The worst is when they think they're getting bad service in a restaurant. Oh. My. God. Seen it so many times it's like they rehearse the same routine at some seminar or something. A lot of the time you'll come across some dude in the subway complaining loudly to himself about the disrespect he/she has to put up with because of their race. Most people have Ipods now, so maybe it's less annoying these days, but the habit of complaining angrily to oneself in public, is sorta common.
And you know what else? Puerto Ricans are FUCKING LOUD. And cab drivers from Bangladesh need to be introduced to Old Spice or something.
THats it folks, I'm here at the Laugh Factory every thursday night for more racist commentary! Peace out!
I think anyone who's lived in NYC for all their lives gets like a "racism free" pass card. Even when they absolutely HATE specific groups of people. Its because we have to live together. on top of each other. Constantly having to deal with each others shit. Well, maybe not 100%. People in Manhattan can live pretty cloistered lives (see that movie "Black and White".) but in general. Anyway. My favorite moment recently was when a Dominican girl next to me on an airplane went into an intense racist rant against Puerto Ricans. According to her, they're a bunch of lazy loud demanding baby machines. AND they dont even have their own country, yet they celebrate the goddamn thing ever year!! To her that was like having a "Rhode Island Pride Day".
Anyway, i thought it was funny. She hated Hatians too, even though her family was biologically sorta from that neck of the genetic woods.
As far as the racial makeup of Reason - that darn stats thing from last week told us we're REAL popular with African Americans.
I deduced that Lonewacko is our one black commenter. I feel bad. I mean, for other blacks. He's not really a credit to any race, really.
GILMORE | February 28, 2008, 8:16pm | #
So are you one of the Irish assholes who filled the Upper East Side with green-tinted beer puke on every St. Paddy's day?
Actually no. My fathers parents came from Cork when he was a baby and they never liked the whole st paddy's steez in NY. He sort of told us as kids that it was obnoxious, cartoonish, and insulting, and more about long island idiots drinking all day because their great-great grandfather was named "sullivan".
Over time i saw his point, although i never particularly minded an excuse for an all-day binge.
And I never went out on the #@$&% upper east side even when i lived there. The parade ends on 86th and they dump off hundreds of drunken cops and thugs and jerseyites. I'd usually hide until they were gone.
I liked the German pride parade day more.
a) all the guys in funny costumes
b) oom-pah bands
c) good times at the Heidelberg
joe | February 28, 2008, 5:54pm | #
You'd better knock off the racist stereotyping about Puerto Ricans. Or seven or eight of them are going to kick your ass.
You mean grope me and film it while drinking rum from soda bottles.
You want to hear one of the most funny and insultingly racist comment about PR's? Vice Magazine Do's and Don'ts had a photo kind of like this =
http://www.viceland.com/int/dd.php?id=284&country=us
And the caption read =
"Why do Puerto Ricans dress like 12 year olds?
Oh right, they dont have a Dad."
Thats bad even by Vice standards. This is more along the lines of their normal zingers
http://www.viceland.com/int/dd.php?id=148&country=us
Oh, and Epi... $1300 a month... with a #@#$& porch!? Big kitchen? You get like elevated to 3rd level blackbelt Ny'r for that. One's rent is a measure of how cool you really are in this town.
Me, I pay $1100 on Bedford ave in Brooklyn, 3 blocks from the L. Big Kitchen. Gated patio with big grill. I like to rub it in hipsters face whenever i hear they're have a room in a loft for $1000 a month and the hot water sucks and they live with 4 vegan lesbians and their cats. If that doesnt work, i tell them i've seen someone with that Tattoo before. Then they cry.
