# "He's not one of us" - McCain/Palin are playing the race card **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 10, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269 "2008-10-10T02:11:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Burton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Burton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burton)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/61 "2008-10-10T16:13:29Z")
> [@Sinaijon](#): > > Stealing or vandalizing election signs is not evidence of racism. Neither is a lynching in and of itself. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/62 "2008-10-10T16:13:34Z")
Throughout my life I’ve heard folks say blacks see racism around every corner. Of course this comes mostly from those attempting to rationalize or hand-wave actual racist episodes and discrimination based on race. The McCain campaign, through its mouthpiece Palin, is playing the race card. They are trying to stoke fears of a black presidency. Telling their audience “don’t vote for Obama because he’s black” is a sure-fire recipe to lose the election, and they know it, so they weasel around it by saying he’s “not one of us,” in an attempt to start the mental cascade of dehumanization that people/nations throughout history have used to jusify and rationalize destruction, slavery, and genocide of others. Obama’s not like us is code for Obama’s black, and carries with it the stigma of every negative stereotype and prejudice ever applied by whites about blacks. Those who refuse to see this as the appeal to racist fears that it is are, in my opinion, being purposefully obtuse. It’s certainly not being lost on McCain/Palin rally attendees. It’ll be interesting to see some here explain away the inevitable cries of “nigger” to howls of approval while McCain and Palin stand in tacit silence, as the McCain campaign continues to devolve. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/63 "2008-10-10T16:17:42Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > It’ll be interesting to see some here explain away the inevitable cries of “nigger” to howls of approval while McCain and Palin stand in tacit silence, as the McCain campaign continues to devolve. I think this deserves its own thread, so I’ll start one. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/64 "2008-10-10T16:19:21Z")
> [@Sinaijon](#): > > Stealing or vandalizing election signs is not evidence of racism. It’d be damn funny to write on it “I’ll donate another $100 to him if this sign is taken” though. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/65 "2008-10-10T16:20:46Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Throughout my life I’ve heard folks say blacks see racism around every corner. Of course this comes mostly from those attempting to rationalize or hand-wave actual racist episodes and discrimination based on race. > > The McCain campaign, through its mouthpiece Palin, is playing the race card. They are trying to stoke fears of a black presidency. Telling their audience “don’t vote for Obama because he’s black” is a sure-fire recipe to lose the election, and they know it, so they weasel around it by saying he’s “not one of us,” in an attempt to start the mental cascade of dehumanization that people/nations throughout history have used to jusify and rationalize destruction, slavery, and genocide of others. Obama’s not like us is code for Obama’s black, and carries with it the stigma of every negative stereotype and prejudice ever applied by whites about blacks. > > Those who refuse to see this as the appeal to racist fears that it is are, in my opinion, being purposefully obtuse. It’s certainly not being lost on McCain/Palin rally attendees. It’ll be interesting to see some here explain away the inevitable cries of “nigger” to howls of approval while McCain and Palin stand in **tacit silence,** as the McCain campaign continues to devolve. Correction - Bolded part above should have been “tacit approval” or simply “silence” ---
**Author:** ![Atomicflea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@Atomicflea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomicflea)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/66 "2008-10-10T16:28:49Z")
> [@](#): > > I believe he shares my values, I believe McCain and Palin where trying to convince me otherwise by implying more than the color of his skin isn’t the same as mine. All I’m saying is I don’t see the attack as inherently racist. Thanks! I’m not saying that it’s inherently racist, but it is definitely culturally incompetent. ---
**Author:** ![Flipshod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f19dbf/32.png) [@Flipshod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flipshod)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/67 "2008-10-10T16:42:16Z")
> [@Sinaijon](#): > > Stealing or vandalizing election signs is not evidence of racism. Yes, that is true on its face. But I never attempted to make the argument that the theft and vandalism were race-based. THAT part is an absolute assumption, a premise, that I made based on the fact that I speak daily with the local folks, my friends and neighbors, who base many decisions on race and see the world in race-based terms. If you disagree with my premise, fine, you win the argument, but you should spend a week with me and see it for yourself. My point was that the activity has increased in the last few days. It was anecdotal only. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/68 "2008-10-10T16:42:26Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > so they weasel around it by saying he’s “not one of us,” Please cite McCain and/or Palin’s use of this phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Flipshod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f19dbf/32.png) [@Flipshod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flipshod)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/69 "2008-10-10T16:54:39Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > It’d be damn funny to write on it “I’ll donate another $100 to him if this sign is taken” though. Exactly. Plus a quick history. I’m going to pin it on the top of the sign, along with a citation of the relevant criminal and civil violations penalties (as if). I wish I had the time to put a motion detector, cameras, and a floodlight into place.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/70 "2008-10-10T18:09:14Z")
I don’t think this strategy—and that’s what it is, a deliberate strategy—is meant to win the race for McCain. The candidate himself might not know this, but I think the Republican strategists know they are beaten. Stirring very personal hatred against Obama is setting the groundwork for 2010 and 2012. They are trying to demonize Obama like they did the Clintons. And why not? It worked pretty well for them last time. Similarly, “The Surge worked!” signs are all about planting the seeds of the “stabbed in the back!” argument. And who better to make that argument than a Vietnam vet, who himself was “stabbed in the back” by liberals right when we were “on the verge of victory”? ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/71 "2008-10-10T18:20:29Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > Please cite McCain and/or Palin’s use of this phrase. As far as I can tell, the closest either has come to saying that is Palin’s “This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America…” ([cite](http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D93KD6Q00&show_article=1)). That cite is an analysis piece that echoes and expands upon many of the arguments already made in this thread. It concludes, in part: > [@](#): > > Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as “not like us” is another potential appeal to racism. It suggests that the Hawaiian-born Christian is, at heart, un-American. > > Most troubling, however, is how allowing racism to creep into the discussion serves McCain’s purpose so well. As the fallout from Wright’s sermons showed earlier this year, forcing Obama to abandon issues to talk about race leads to unresolved arguments about America’s promise to treat all people equally. Although neither apparently used the precise phrase “not one of us,” it would nonetheless seem to be an apt summary of the idea being promoted by Ms. Palin. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/72 "2008-10-10T18:47:49Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > C’mon, Alaska is not outside of the United States. It just seems like it because it’s culturally much different than much of the country. People in Anchorage are pretty much like people anywhere else, because most of them come from somewhere else. They shop at Safeway, Target and Nordstroms, buy their Chevys and Fords, work, eat and sleep. Life in the Bush is far removed, both by distance and culture, although much of American “culture” has slipped in through the back door via TV. Small towns on the road system are like small towns in many rural states like Montana, Nevada, etc., where hunting and fishing is common. I won’t say there isn’t a mindset for living here, though. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/73 "2008-10-10T19:00:46Z")
The OP’s argument is ridiculous on its face. The “us versus them” idea is easily understood without race entering in to the equation. By jumping—leaping—there, he (she) is guilty of the very racism he accusers others of. While Obama may not have the same skin color as me, I see myself as different from him in many other ways. Politically, he is a different species. (Is that racist, too? :rolleyes:) Whereas many other people who share his skin color are people I easily identify with as part of “we”. ---
**Author:** ![Clu-Me-In](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@Clu-Me-In](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clu-Me-In)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/74 "2008-10-11T01:59:42Z")
> [@Flipshod](#): > > I don’t mean to hijack too much\*, but I’ve seen the effect of this last-minute uptick in tribalism. > > I’m in a small town in the deepest part of the Deep South. Day-to-day casual racism is alive and and well here, and I think the more it appears that Obama might win, the more active it becomes. > > My evidence: I’ve tried to have an Obama sign in my yard for the last six months or so. For the first months, it would remain up for a week or two before being stolen or damaged. (Each time it happens, I donate $100 and buy another sign.) After a while I just started ordering multiple signs. But in the last three days, a sign has not made it greater than 12 hours before being stolen. > > The last one went up around 7:00 last night and was gone this morning. I have one more on hand. (I think I’m going to attach a note to the Midnight McCainiac on the next one, to let him know how much he’s causing to be donated to Obama–although if this keeps up I may bump up against the contirbution limits:)) > > At first I thought it was just roaming kids doing mischief and found it funny, but in the last few days it has shown to be purposeful, with increasing vigilance. > > I think some folks are scared now that an Obama presidency seems likely, and that fear, as dangerous as it may be, is exactly what the McPalin campaign is trying to whip up. What is so amusing and somewhat disingenuous and or perhaps idiotic is that he is now trying to put the genie back in the bottle. Watch these videos: 1.) [**McCain Tries to Tame Flames He Earlier Fanned**](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf6YKOkfFsE) 1. [**Obama is An Arab**](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCVDCWWlrJ4) ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/75 "2008-10-11T02:04:09Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > The OP’s argument is ridiculous on its face. The “us versus them” idea is easily understood without race entering in to the equation. By jumping—leaping—there, he (she) is guilty of the very racism he accusers others of. > > While Obama may not have the same skin color as me, I see myself as different from him in many other ways. Politically, he is a different species. (Is that racist, too? :rolleyes:) Whereas many other people who share his skin color are people I easily identify with as part of “we”. Disingenous much? ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/76 "2008-10-11T05:35:40Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Disingenous much? Care to translate? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/77 "2008-10-11T05:37:26Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Care to translate? I should hardly think it’s necessary. You’ve got something that passes for a brain. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/78 "2008-10-11T05:49:43Z")
I know what the words mean, snarky. I’m asking you how you think they apply to what I wrote. Now if you don’t want to answer, fine. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269/79 "2008-10-11T07:28:35Z")
Take a gander at this [interview with Gayle Quinnell](http://the-uptake.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/933/), the 75 year old lady who said that she had read that Obama is an Arab: > [@](#): > > Noah: Yeah, I know which one you’re talking about. And just to be sure to make sure we got your quote OK, you called Obama and Arab terrorist? > > Quinnell: Pardon? > > Noah: You called him an Arab terrorist? Is that correct? Why do you think he is an Arab? > > Quinnell: Because his dad is. If you… I’ll send you the paper. > > Female reporter: His dad is Muslim His dad was Muslim. Barack Obama has never been a Muslim. > > Quinnell: No but he’s…. > > Dana Bash of CNN: He’s a Christian. > > Bush: His father was Muslim, and he’s a Christian. > > Quinnell: **Yeah, but he’s still got Muslim in him. So that’s still part of him.** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-not-one-of-us-mccain-palin-are-playing-the-race-card/467269.md?page=3)