When I came into this thread I started fuming almost immediately as I read a few responders to the OP do the ‘our Blacks are better than your Blacks’ shuffle in defense of the Bush administration’s installation of water carriers into prominent positions, simply, in my estimation, to curry the minority vote. It incenses me whenever anyone offers up that empty suit Clarence Thomas as a paragon. I wonder if any in the hallowed chambers or the vaunted halls in DC know, or even care, that Clarence Thomas is considered nothing more than a ‘House nigger’ by many Black people and is worse than scum, irredeemable and an embarrassment.
As I began furiously writing my heated responses in Notepad I continued reading and was stopped dead in mid-type by what I would have sworn was proof positive that **elucidator ** could reach into my mind, yank out the fierily incoherent thoughts my fingers were struggling to keep up with, make sense of them so handily and present them so entertainingly, as copied below.
[QUOTE=elucidator]
Oh, hell, yes, Starkers! If only we weren’t so blinded by our hatred for The Leader, we might be able to speak honestly about such wonders as these. Clarence! Who can say enough about Clarence! Even as we speak, learned men whisper in law libraries in tones of awe and admiration of his acute perception and vast legal scholarship, and how he can speak while Scalia drinks a glass of water, it is the miracle of the age!
And Condoleeza! Where would we be without her guidance and intelligence? Where, indeed! Why, without her, our splendid military adventure in Iraq might not have been so marvelously realized. Or even, God forbid, not realized at all! Then where would we be, I ask you? You think quagmires grow on trees? She is an inspiration to little gap toothed lesbians everywhere!
And Gonzales! A giant of jurisprudence! What other man would have as expansive a vision that he has shown us, the previously unrealized power of the signing statement, how efficiently it distills three branches of government into the only one that is, really, worth having!
You see, its not so much that they are conservative that rouses our ire. Its that everything they touch turns to shit that bugs us. However marvelous a truly spectacular display of galactic incompetence may be, the wonderment pales, and we want some variety.
[/QUOTE]
Thank goodness, I thought. Someone actually gets it. Then **tomndebb ** chimed in and brought me halfway to Nirvana with the response below.
[QUOTE=tomndebb]
Indeed, they do. They appear to have exactly the same competence as the people you derided. The difference appears to be that the Right is better willing to close ranks and deny incomptetence–or even unpopular opinions–than the Left.
Thomas is a second rate jurist picked explicitly for the reasons that you claim Elders and Reno were chosen.
Rice seems moderately competent, but is willing to say or do anything to further the neo-con agenda.
Gonzales was picked for his ability to torture U.S. and international law into unrecognizable shapes for the purpose of rationalizing barbaric behavior and his willingness to lie to promote G W Bush (both before and after that gentleman’s rise to the presidency.
Without having any particular liking for Elders or Reno, I see no reason to believe that your three examples are in any way different based on their competence or reasons to have been picked.
[/QUOTE]
Then **Evil Captor ** did what, in the current political climate, must be difficult. He spoke the unvarnished truth, as follows below.
[QUOTE=Evil Captor]
A very large bloc of Republican voters are racists. Not all Republicans are racists, however the bloc is large enough that the Pubbie leadership must consider their interests in every decision even if they never publicly acknowledge it. Think ‘Solid South.’ It is so large that even though many Republicans are not racists, for political purposes they might as well be because their party will always truckle to racist interests unless absolutely forced to do otherwise by events.
Many of these racist Republicans well understand the concept of “a good nigger.” An Uncle Tom in short. But they would probably balk at having such a one as President. Some undefinable number would vote for a white Democrat purely on the basis of skin color. So it won’t happen.
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I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge **choie’s ** response as well, copied below, which re-emphasizes Thomas’ unforgivable emptysuitiness and that weasel Gonzalez’ willing extrication from humanity for a cause that’s not his. I marvel at his naivete in seeming to believe he won’t be one of the first against the wall when it all starts going irreparably bad for Bush.
[QUOTE=choie]
You think Thomas was a first? Uh, LBJ wants a word with you regarding some guy named Thurgood Marshall.
But that sound you heard is me splitting my sides, laughing hysterically at the thought that the three folks you mentioned are supposed to be examples who aren’t “unqualified and/or inept.” Thomas has been an utter waste of space on the court, except as Scalia’s batboy. Gonzales and his torture fetish will, I hope, have his day of reckoning in The Hague. And I’d rather not even discuss Condoleeza “My goodness, how could we possibly have imagined people would use planes for weapons?” Rice – or maybe that’s Condoleeza “There was no warning, oh except for a report called Bin Laden Determined to Attack in U.S.” Rice – or maybe it should really be Condoleeza “Katrina’s so depressing, I think I’ll buy some shoes!” Rice.
[/QUOTE]
I thank the four of you, not that you asked for it, but it is encouraging to me that many on The Dope actually have a clear understanding of the duplicitous motivations of those in the Bush administration who will laud Black people as long as they continue to know their place and will come a-runnin’ from the field when the massa rings the bell.
As far as Colin Powell is concerned, I am extremely disappointed in him. He had an opportunity to do what I believe he knew was right, in anticipation of his woefully unfortunate declarations before Congress. and he blew it. He threw it all away. For what? I still hope he’ll do or say something, anything, to redeem himself, but I’m quickly losing faith that he will. What a shame.