“Inland GOP mailing depicts Obama’s face on food stamp”
“The latest newsletter by an Inland Republican women’s group depicts Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama surrounded by a watermelon, ribs and a bucket of fried chicken …”
“She said she doesn’t think in racist terms, pointing out she once supported Republican Alan Keyes, an African-American who previously ran for president.”
“It was just food to me. It didn’t mean anything else.”
“Sheila Raines, an African-American member of the club, was the first person to complain…”
“This is what keeps African-Americans from joining the Republican Party,” she said. “I’m really hurt. I cried for 45 minutes.”
I think it’s interesting that Obama hasn’t at least tried to sue for defamation and/or libel. Political name-calling is one thing, but I’m pretty sure that some lines have been crossed recently.
I read that article late last night and the only reason I didn’t post it here was that it was so outrageous, so ridiculous, that I thought it was a fake. Maybe “hoped” it was a fake is more accurate.
I find it hilarious that we’re supposed to believe that the woman that did this just happened to choose KFC, ribs & watermelon. Really? Just pulled those out of thin air, didja? No idea of the stereotypes there? Completely understandable.
This shit fills me with rage on a couple of different levels. You’re a racist asshole? Own it. Feigned innocence just insults my intelligence. “It’s just food to me.” Shut up.
Then there’s the idea that it would appeal to everyone who received the newsletter. “I’m a white Republican and I think this is a HOOT, everyone who sees this is going to laugh and laugh.” As stated in the article, it was sent to African-American Republicans too, and I can’t imagine how degraded I’d feel looking at that. Were I a Republican, I’d be furious that some dim bitch out there thinks that because we share a skin tone and a political belief or two, my soul is as diseased as hers.
I don’t believe all Republicans are racist. I think that it’s EASIER to be somewhat openly racist in that party, though, especially in this particular election. Let’s face it, McCain is obviously desperate to win. He’ll take any votes he can get, so he won’t risk REALLY shutting down the ignorant and hateful that are at least a part of his base. He’s going to ignore the waterboarding & the Obama food stamps, because if they were addressed, he’d have to come out against racism, and that might make some of these assholes stay home on Election Day.
One last thing: if you’re going to make racist jokes, how about at least being FUNNY? God, in addition to being offensive, they’re just fucking STUPID.
Not to defend anything or anyone, but as I understand it, this twit didn’t create the offending fake food stamp, but rather had received it as part of one of the endless forwarded “jokes” that are a cancer on the internet. She then fed the cancer and forwarded it to the members of her coven. I mean political group.
However, your points about how stupid do you have to be to not realize how racist this is, still stands up quite well.
She also picked Kool-Aid, which is also stereotypically associated with blacks.
I figure the odds that she just accidentally happened to pick four foods that racists stereotypically associate with black people have got to be about one in a bazillion.
Regarding my clarification to Valerieblaise, from the article:
“Fedele said she got the illustration in a number of chain e-mails and decided to reprint it for her members in the Trumpeter newsletter because she was offended that Obama would draw attention to his own race. She declined to say who sent her the e-mails with the illustration.”
I’ll leave it for someone else to point how fucking stupid her argument that Obama called attention to his race is.
I think that the standard for libel if you are a famous person is rather high. Also, I have to wonder if maybe this isn’t really helping Obama. This kind of ugliness really turns middle of the road undecided voters off.
The 1993 ad in which the Progessive Conservatives ran in the election in which Jean Chretien was elected as Prime Minister is a good example of an attack ad that back fired. I wonder if these ads really won’t backfire on the respective state parties.
In any case, it appears that McCain has given up on Northern Virginia as I haven’t seen a single McCain ad on TV while being deluged with Obama ads.
Oh please, he’s always shoving our noses in it with his, uh, exposure to sunlight and being visible in public so our eyes are compelled to process this visual information in such a deliberately showy and ostentatious way!
I re-read the article after your correction and was JUST ABOUT to quote the same bit. I don’t know if mindlessly sharing this makes it better, worse or the same as if she’d created it herself.
Re: Calling attention to his own race? What does that MEAN? I’m out of words.
No kidding. Every time he appears on television, he rubs our face in his blackness. Maybe he could cover up, with like a white hood or something. That’d be okay.
These are my thoughts exactly. In a case with McCain allowing people to yell “kill Obama” or whatever, that’s different. Do I feel he SHOULD make a point of telling them that stuff shouldn’t fly? Yes, I do. We’re talking about a sitting US Senator here, not some yokel making waves. Shouting we should kill someone can actually be considered terrorism, that’s not cool. But does he HAVE to take a stand against it? No, not really, it’s not exactly his responsibility, though he does obviously have clout with these people.
However, when we’re talking about representatives of the party itself, that’s just completely unforgiveable. Again, it’s the difference between representatives or just some yokel. Calling for the torture of ANYONE simply because they believe in something different for you is grossly unamerican, in my opinion. We are a country based on variouscultures and beliefs and on accepting these varried beliefs. Does it always work? Of course not, but it’s the ideal that’s important. It’s allowing people to dissent, allowing people to say “I disagree” that is important. That’s why the Continental Congress wouldn’t sign the Constitution until the Bill of Rights was ammended to it. THat’s what our country is founded on. But to see a political party spouting this crap isn’t just downright offensive, it’s completely f***ing unamerican, and it pisses me off to no end.