I don't know Ezra... I can't really get worked up over declaring Obama a celebrity. It's certainly not in the same class of "... call me Harold (wink)"

Come on--the Paris Hilton references as "crypto-racism" and accusing Obama of having a taste in white women? This says more about Josh Marshall and Ezra and how they view an ad than about that ad.

They represent, and are often mocked as representing, the vapidity of the phenomenon of contemporary celebrity.

I will grant you that McCain has gone too far in questioning why Obama did not visit those troops (though Obama hasn't gone far enough in explaining his choice, either). But why isn't lightly accusing McCain of racist pandering just as awful?

(I do look foward to insightful replies such as--"because he's a rethuglican and they always use race...")

Sorry, by the "they" above I meant Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, not Josh and Ezra.

You are engaging in the same technique that you railed against in an earlier thread of anti-semitism. You pulled the racist card for a shot of Paris Hilton in bad faith.

Look, when discussing ethanol, you basically forgave Obama and chalked it up to politics, which it was. This is too. Candidates, including McCaina and Obama will do most anything to get elected. Even if I agreed that the ad was racist, so frikkin' what? Why should that issue be off the table when one wishes to appeal to voters if it works? These guys want to win. You need to put on your 'big boy' pants.

Come on--the Paris Hilton references as "crypto-racism" and accusing Obama of having a taste in white women? This says more about Josh Marshall and Ezra and how they view an ad than about that ad.

They represent, and are often mocked as representing, the vapidity of the phenomenon of contemporary celebrity.

But that is still pretty insulting and baseless, even if it isn't racist, to suggest that Obama is a trivial celebrity. If they wanted to make a point about Obama having "fans" (as if that's a bad thing), they could have said, "Obama has more fans worldwide than Bono" (or some other celebrity not known primarily for their drunken debauchery/sex videos on the Internet).

I believe it might have been Chesteron who said, If a man once gets a reputation for being an early riser, he can blithely sleep till noon every day of his life. McCain is coasting on a reputation bestowed (I wouldn't say earned) during Camapign 2000, and for many in the press there's literally nothing he can do to negate that.

Not crypto-racist.

Furthermore: calling that ad crypto-racist will help McCain among people who feel like they're always being accused of being racist. You know, the ones who hate anything that smacks of "political correctness".

Not for nothing, but if the McCain campaign goes out of its way to hire the guy who designed the "Harold, call me!" commercial in the Ford-Corker Senate race, an ad that had no crypto to its racist at all, then Ezra well within his rights to hear dogwhistles in this one.

The problem with this ad is that if the idea is that Obama is the kind of guy who'd like to have sex with promiscuous white trailer trash, it ignores a salient fact of U.S. political history. To wit, a presidential candidate who actually DID have sex with promiscuous white trailer trash, and who was elected anyway. Twice.

While McCain is taking some low and uncalled-for shots, I also think they're not racist. It's completely possible for someone to be a jerk to someone outside his group without being racist.

However, I just have to ask ElV - so frikkin what, you say? Are you saying that it's perfectly acceptable if McCain does act racist if it's to get him elected? Maybe I'm not understanding you correctly, and maybe you just worded that poorly.

Or maybe you've just said something so shocking that I can't see how anyone could take anything from you in good faith anymore.

though Obama hasn't gone far enough in explaining his choice, either

What's wrong with "The Pentagon forbade him from bringing along the only staff he had with him"? McCain's campaign seems to say "He should've ignored their directives" but that's a bunch of hooey.

However, I just have to ask ElV - so frikkin what, you say? Are you saying that it's perfectly acceptable if McCain does act racist if it's to get him elected?

If he did, it would not be that much different than what the Obama camp does currently and no one seems outraged that the Obama camp is coding to the black community to vote based upon skin color....which is racist. I haven't heard any outrage about that.mjt

Even if I agreed that the ad was racist, so frikkin' what? Why should that issue be off the table when one wishes to appeal to voters if it works?

Bigot defends bigotry, headlines at eleven.

It's just more fun to personally attack other rather than discuss the issue at hand, isn't it?

When you have something to argue, please stand up. Until then, cram it up your pee-hole.

Bigot bullshits, weather next.

Hasn't Obama himself occasionally flirted with "crypto” or not-so-crypto racism? What's with the "typical white person" remark and the "clinging to guns and religion" business--what color does Obama think those deluded hillbillies are? Then there's the white granny business. And let’s not even talk about his friends, mentors, spouses, etc.

It's all the funnier that Obama thinks this way and occasionally lets those thoughts slip out, given that he's the biggest Double Stuf Oreo around. Not that there's anything wrong with being a fine shade of white on the inside, but it does seem incongruous that he would seem to harbor prejudices against whites. Perhaps it's like Hitler, whose deep fear that he had Jewish blood led him to direct his fury outward toward Jewry in general. Can anybody recommend a good shrink for the candidate? Mine is all booked up.

I thought IOKIYJM was referring to Josh Marshall, and you were about to start a feud. Oh well.

I've learned that anytime you see a bunch of people rush to defend something as "not racist," then it's a pretty safe bet that it actually is.

And then of course, you get mixed in there the "well even if it is racist, so what?", the "criticizing racism will alienate voters!", and the "Obama is the real racist" comments.

Comedy gold. Keep it coming, you fascists!

tps12 said:

I've learned that anytime you see a bunch of people rush to defend something as "not racist," then it's a pretty safe bet that it actually is.

And then of course, you get mixed in there the "well even if it is racist, so what?", the "criticizing racism will alienate voters!", and the "Obama is the real racist" comments.

Or you could try actually thinking about each case of alleged racism as it comes along. I agree with you that where there's smoke, there's usually fire, but you really haven't made a compelling case here. In fact, you haven't made a case at all. But being part of a righteous mob is fun, so who cares!

I say that criticizing McCain's ad as racist will alienate voters because the ad is not racist and voters can sometimes tell the difrerence.

Look, the Obama campaign made the decision to do a 'star turn' tour of the Middle East and Europe. It's to be expected that Republicans will use his clebrity status. Please quit whining!!

By the way, I don't get the racist thing. Someone mentioned the Harold Ford ad and I didn't get that either until some pundit explained it. You know why? Because, duh, there are lots of people from different races having relationships or hooking up or whatever you want to call it. BFD.

If you're so backward that you see this as racist, would you have felt better it they had used Michael Jackson instead of Paris Hilton?

Guess you haven't spent much time in the rural south, raggedstep, or you'd know why it was code.

if Obama = Paris Hilton
then
John McBush = Bea Arthur

Raggedstep:

If you "didn't get" the racist undertones of the Harold Ford ad you are either disingenuous or remarkably naive.

If you "didn't get" the racist undertones of the Harold Ford ad you are either disingenuous or remarkably naive.

There is no mainstream media, no mainstream politicain, even Obama's camp, that has stated any of this was "racist". Only the extreme radical left has.

Say it ain't so

The far left is obsessed with race, but the whole country is not. That's why Obama enjoys a large following of white people.

Those who claim not to recognize the appeal to racism in the "Call me, Harold" ad may be disingenuous, or they may be uninformed.

Congressman Ford was then a single black man whose dating history included both black and white women. For many of those who are of a racist mindset, the notion of a black man having sex with a white woman is the most sensitive aspect of race relations. (John Paul Franklin claims to have shot Larry Flynt because Hustler magazine had included photos of black men with white women.)

Tennessee is home to a small but significant group of those who are, shall we say, unenlightened as to race. Until 1977 a prohibition on interracial marriage was written into the State Constitution, and the referendum to repeal that section passed by only a narrow margin. In a close election, this small cadre of racists is influential beyond its numbers (as is often the case with any interest group).

The "Call me, Harold" ad was so offensive that Mr. Ford's opponent, now Senator Bob Corker, promptly repudiated it, but it continued to run nevertheless. That, I surmise, had much to do with the only Republican victory in 2006 among closely contested Senate races.

I've learned that anytime you see a bunch of people rush to defend something as "not racist," then it's a pretty safe bet that it actually is.

McCain asserted that the "dollar bill" statement was racist. The Obama camp and a whole host of liberal commenters runs to his rescue.....so, I guess it was racist after all!

Remember, Viajero isn't a homosexual. He's just a sociopathic stalking bigot.