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The group blog of The American Prospect

TAMMY BRUCE.

It's worth considering the full context of Tammy Bruce's comments on Michelle Obama yesterday. Bruce said this of the first lady:

"That's what he's married to," Bruce said. ... "You know what we've got? We've got trash in the White House. Trash is a thing that is colorblind, it can cross all eco-socionomic ... categories. You can work on Wall Street, or you can work at the Wal-Mart. Trash, are people who use other people to get things, who patronize others, who consider you bitter and clingy."

Right. Nothing that makes a racist comment more obvious than a self-conscious attempt to qualify it as not being racist.

In any case, this is what Bruce was reacting to:

As a kid growing up on the south side of Chicago, Michelle Obama remembers being ridiculed for trying to be educated and get good grades.

"I wanted an "A." I wanted to be smart. I wanted to be the person who had the right answer. And I didn't care if it was cool -- 'cause I remember there were kids around my neighborhood who would say 'ooh -- you talk funny. you talk -- like a white girl.' I heard that growing up my whole life.”

So Obama was telling children -- black children in particular, to pursue scholarly excellence even in the face of ridicule for talking "like a white girl." It's hard to see what's offensive about this advice. Except when you consider that Bruce previously suggested Bill Cosby caused his son's death by giving him access to an expensive car and that civil-rights luminaries Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks had "pushed us into the maze of Thought Police totalitarianism that we face today." You start to get the impression that Bruce's hostility toward Michelle Obama really isn't personal at all. She just has a problem with black people, particularly black people who deign to rise above their station. Bruce's words are just a clumsy attempt to put Michelle Obama back in her place.

Good luck with that, Tammy.

-- A. Serwer



COMMENTS

There is some disorder on the right that is broader than contempt for successful PoCs.
It is a special brand of vitriol reserved for poor people who become successful in "mainstream pursuits" like politics (Clinton) or business (Soros) and then seek to use their position or influence to help other poor people. Bruce probably doesn't care about how successful Jay Z and Beyonce are because their just entertainers

I bet Bruce was recycling her "white trash" rants and then realized 'holy shit there are coloreds in the White House' so she had to throw in the but I am not racist qualifiers. She may just be a straight up racist however.

Rosa Parks? "Thought Police totalitarianism" because she refused to give up her seat to a white person?

Well, keep in mind Tammy appeals to the "base" of a political party that believes the earth is 6000 years old, among other fantasies. So this kind of fictional belief is just part for the course.

So, it's not amazing that she and her ilk have these beliefs. What's amazing is that we let these dumbshits run the country for so long.

I am deeply offended by Michelle Obama. To say that she is trash is putting it mildly. I don't know who Obama is kidding about being ridiculed for being "too White." Being too White is one problem none of the Obamas will ever have.

By the way what evidence do you have that Michelle Obama rose above her station? What station? She's just a hoodrat who got lucky that's it.

So what? People say White trash so why is black trash not possible
4 years of Obama is indeed terrible. I am so ashamed when i see the Obamas especially Michelle, the worst lady
But i doubt this comment will be published, freedom of speech is turning into totalitarism

I dont know what the posters above me are talking about, i dont know if they are legitimizing the discourse through their own ignorance or if they are somehow misinformed and their stupidity is blocking them from reason. Either way Tammy Bruce has a high mountain to climb if this is her attempt to put achievement oriented minorities in some place. maybe she felt good about it either way on the level of importance to the world, Shes down at the bottom. If anyone should understand the complexities of being a minority she would, shes a biracial lesbian conservative. I mean for real

Jesus Christ, Lyn, gb, who ARE you? Our first lady's a "hoodrat"? The Obamas make you "ashamed"? Calling people like you out for your crazy talk isn't totalitarianism. It's simply giving you the shunning you deserve in polite society.

At first I thought Lyn above was doing the sarcasm shtick. Unfortunately, if you follow the link to her site, you'll find she is an outright racist.

"Trash, are people who use other people to get things, who patronize others, who consider you bitter and clingy."

Sounds like a perfect definition of a lot of Republicans and conservative commentators.

Lyn, perhaps you would have preferred a stick-thin blonde with a history of stealing narcotics and a crippled woman's husband?

If Michelle is trash, I'd like more, please. Harvard educated lawyer, anyone?

Lyn and GB disgust me. I bet neither one of them is a Harvard educated lawyer. Jealous!

A hoodrat who got lucky? Boy, does it hurt to hate so much? It's obvious your brains are small. You might not have those neurons. Good luck in life, you need it.

So what? People say White trash so why is black trash not possible

"White trash" is also a highly offensive slur. Better not to refer to people as trash at all.

Rachel asked:

> Lyn, gb, who ARE you?

Follow the link at Lyn's name -- that's who. Jeebus.

This female tried to hide its racist spots right after she made that foolish statement. She wouldn't dare say that in the President or the First Lady's face. For that reason she should be ignored for the primitive racist she is and she'll slip away as the unknown she was and is before this comment. Tammy, he is your President the next 4 years, accept it shrew. Jealousy doesn't change that fact.

I love hearing racists talk. Every time they open their mouths they discredit their own talking point that nobody is racist anymore.


I certainly don't think Tammy Bruce was being racist. She said nothing about "black" trash, just trash.

I thought we had trash in the White House when Bill Clinton was crawling around the floor of the oval office poking an unlit cigar between the legs of a female intern his daughter's age.

Trash is trash, it has nothing to do with color.

Some people are truly unhinged.

Lyn:

I hope a gang of black "hoodrats" hunt you down, rapre you and your daughters, and kill your entire family.

Wait, I take it back about the rape part. You'd probably enjoy it.

Scum of the fucking earth, you are.

"She just has a problem with black people, particularly black people who deign to rise above their station."

I agree with the point you are making here, but "deign" means to stoop to doing something you consider beneath your dignity. "have the nerve to" might work better. Sorry, pet peeve.

You fools who actually believe that you are better than someone because of skin color...someone who worked harder than you, studied harder than you, sacrificed more than you and made themselves into something great..you should all do the world a big favor and go die.

Lyn is a cunt.

Yeah, i agree about "deign." But mainly I'm taken aback to see race haters show up here.

Also, MS, maybe not so much with the "cunt," okay?

Wow... this post has been hot.

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