# magellan01 - epitome of racist Republican **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 18, 2014, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975 "2014-03-18T02:08:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/101 "2014-03-19T12:40:34Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I have to admit also that “tar baby” doesn’t strike me as an inherently racist term, since it’s originally meaning is as you describe, akin to “quagmire”. Frankly it strikes me as oversensitive if not disingenuous if metaphors invoking dark or black imagery are assumed racist. If someone says Obama ’ administration is a dark time for America (as was the Great Depression or Pearl Harbor), is that automatically racist? This appears to be another case of a new generation outgrowing a racist term, and then unwittingly using it, thinking it is innocent. It’s a phenomenon I find interesting. The people who are most likely to use such a term are the ones least likely to mean it in a racist way, so they often get a shocking surprise when they do, much like a toddler saying a curse word without knowing the meaning. “Tar baby” was once a specific derisive term for a black person. That’s not something that someone made up right here and now based on the resemblance of tar to black skin, it’s something people actually said, widely, to refer to blacks in an insulting way in an earlier era. Since it is rarely used that way today, people have forgotten the racist use, but still remember the non-racist use, such as “quagmire.” I think it’s a good sign that people use words without knowing their racist connection - it’s a sign of progress. It means we aren’t using racist terms as often. We shouldn’t get made at people who do that. And, of course, a term that can be used in a racist way may also have non-racist uses, so we shouldn’t automatically assume racism every time such a word is used, even if the user is aware of the racist meaning. Even if you’re not trying to say something racist, it’s better to know about the racist meaning of words, since it can get you into awkward situations. Now you know, Bryan. Be careful, there are still people out there who remember the racist connotation or at least know about it. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/102 "2014-03-19T12:47:03Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > I find the notion that one call “sell-out” your own race is a rather racist notion in and of itself. It implies that a racial group should act in a uniform manner, a grossly discriminatory notion. I agree. It’s a way of enforcing, rather than breaking up, racial stereotypes or divisions. It’s a bit like black high school students sometimes criticizes fellow black students for being ambitious in school and studying hard by saying they’re “acting white,” which, for obvious reasons, only harms blacks. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/103 "2014-03-19T13:08:04Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > That’s not an excuse. If you insulted him because you confused him with someone else but refuse to apologize, you have demonstrated a lack integrity that would make debating with you difficult. > > He has a legitimate beef with you. If you’d have done that to me, you’d be on ignore, and I wouldn’t be responding to you either. I don’t put up with people who admit to wrongdoing but refuse to apologize. At least magellan thinks he’s doing right. You’ve admitted to doing wrong but don’t care. I just wanted to thank you for commenting on this one item. I explained this to him repeatedly. Still, while he admitted—and admits—the error, he steadfastly refused to apologize. This has nothing to do with his stance on any issue (which he now lamely tries to find some cover in), this goes to character. Alas, he’s revealed the type of person he is at his core. Given that, I’m not surprised one iota that he’d continue sticking to those guns, by golly. What a wonderful position for a person to cling to, “Yes, I made a mistake… I attributed someone else’s words to you and insulted you after doing so. But I will not apologize for my action.” Yep, march forth with that flag, bro. Amazingly, he brought it up here, not even seeing that his actions reflect very poorly on him. I guess people with the moral defect he has don’t care when they reveal themselves to be of low character or to whom. ::shrug:: Again, thanks for chiming in on this. It is amazing that one would have to point the obvious out to him. Maybe he was sickly the entire year of kindergarten, when people learn some basic things: how to share, it’s not nice to hit, to apologize when you do something wrong, etc. Oh well, one, maybe two people on ignore after ten years isn’t too bad. No great loss. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/104 "2014-03-19T13:59:33Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > “tar baby” has been used both [in racist](https://www.google.ca/search?q=tar+baby&rlz=1C1ASUT_enCA555CA555&espv=210&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&imgil=6vmMJ6p6UJOdNM%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcQ9NQMGJyoBhaVAwTNfZRKGsur7hZx4RQyfMmrOaddWmqzRKjUkwQ%253B916%253B607%253B_wEePd-t_znAqM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fchildlit.unl.edu%25252Ftopics%25252Fedi.afterlife.html&source=iu&usg=__zzhsQNswKzDMlCDj0o4HCiZgdpE%3D&sa=X&ei=bospU9OYNaqMyAG64YCQCQ&ved=0CDwQ9QEwAg#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=6vmMJ6p6UJOdNM%253A%3B_wEePd-t_znAqM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fchildlit.unl.edu%252Ffigures%252Feditorial%252Fbig%252Fephemera.tarbaby.013.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fchildlit.unl.edu%252Ftopics%252Fedi.afterlife.html%3B916%3B607) and non-racist contexts. This is why people associate it as an anti-black slur (and as a useful “dog whistle” too). Tar baby, tar baby, tell me true Who is really the jigaboo? Is it the white man, the white, talkin’ that jive, Or the black man, the black, tryin’ to say alive? You can’t trust a tar baby, everybody knows All dressed up with a bone in his nose That’s the way my story goes That’s the way my story goes – “Jim Crow,” Michelle Shocked ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/105 "2014-03-19T14:00:53Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I have to admit also that “tar baby” doesn’t strike me as an inherently racist term, since it’s originally meaning is as you describe, akin to “quagmire”. Frankly it strikes me as oversensitive if not disingenuous if metaphors invoking dark or black imagery are assumed racist. If someone says Obama ’ administration is a dark time for America (as was the Great Depression or Pearl Harbor), is that automatically racist? Not automatically, but probably. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/106 "2014-03-19T14:02:23Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Not automatically, but probably. Oh, come on. Not even “probably.” He chose an absurd example for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/107 "2014-03-19T14:03:11Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > Oh, come on. Not even “probably.” He chose an absurd example for a reason. Nevertheless. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/108 "2014-03-19T14:04:55Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Note again that this ilk insists on the repetition “Obama … Obama … Obama.” Obama’s policies are roughly the same centrist policies we’d have from any Democrat. The need to emphasize opposition to this one specific man _already implies a racist basis_. The emphasis (manifested e.g. in calling this intelligent and eloquent man “the Teleprompter President”) originates for one reason only: > > Obama is Black. Thanks for demonstrating that what I said is entirely true. All criticism of Obama is due to racism, in what passes for the liberal mind. > [@](#): > > My reactions on reading this are exactly what I said they would be. Automatic repetition. In a funny way, Obama might even be moving us towards a post-racial world. Not for the dummies and race pimps, but for the rest of us. The dummies demonstrate the emptiness of their knee-jerking, and therefore the discussion can move on. Obama promises that no health care funds will go to illegal aliens. Someone points out that this is false. The only thing the liberal morons have to say is screams of racism. At least we know when you have run out of arguments. It is just a little surprising that it happened so soon. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/109 "2014-03-19T14:25:24Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Nevertheless. No, not nevertheless. You’re doing the “crying wolf” thing. It only makes people take legitimate racist attacks less seriously, and you less seriously. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/110 "2014-03-19T14:33:28Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Obama promises that no health care funds will go to illegal aliens. Someone points out that this is false. [Factually incorrect](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/sep/09/joe-wilson/joe-wilson-south-carolina-said-obama-lied-he-didnt/), as has been pointed out to you. Obama did not promise “no health care funds will go to illegal aliens” – he simply said that the claim that the ACA insures illegal immigrants is false. And it doesn’t. Illegal immigrants are only mentioned in the ACA once (for the “affordability credits”)-- and the ACA specifically says illegal immigrants will not be eligible. There are no provisions in the ACA that make illegal immigrants eligible. The ACA doesn’t cover illegal immigrants, unless they lie and cheat and manipulate the system. So it’s in exactly the same category as Social Security, Medicare, etc., with regards to illegal immigrants. Joe Wilson was wrong (and extremely disrespectful) – the President did not lie here. You are wrong too. > [@](#): > > The only thing the liberal morons have to say is screams of racism. I’m not screaming racism – I’m screaming “WRONG!”. You are wrong, and Joe Wilson was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/111 "2014-03-19T15:03:22Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > At the risk of derailing this amusing Pit thread… > > Regardless of whether Joe Wilson was correct or not, illegal aliens are being enrolled under Obamacare at taxpayer expense. Call it an accident or intentional neglect, depending upon your personal views. But its happening. Obama said it wouldn’t. > > In Oregon > [Cite](http://www.nationalreview.com/article/372566/obamacare-illegals-michelle-malkin) > > Now back to the pitting… The point made by Politifact is that the law is not geared for that, even Michelle Malakin (that should never be used a a source) had to mention in passing the fact that the few illegals will lose the benefits when found, and in Oregon they will be put back where they were. As usual the humanitarian reasons of why those immigrants are in the system are not reported by right wingers like Malakin: > **[Cover Oregon health insurance exchange fiasco spawns problems for low-income...](https://www.oregonlive.com/health/2014/03/cover_oregon_health_insurance_1.html)** > > The state version of Medicaid, the low-income Oregon Health Plan, has been wrestling with faulty enrollment information due to the Cover Oregon health exchange problems. > [@](#): > > Nearly 4,000 applicants for a state program that provides undocumented immigrants with pregnancy services were instead enrolled in full Oregon Health Plan coverage, contrary to federal law, thanks to problems with the Cover Oregon health insurance exchange. > > State officials say they discovered the problem several weeks ago and are correcting it. Besides the state not giving a hoot about what Malakin thinks how they should treat future Americans (healthy new born Americans are less of a burden than unhealthy ones), Malakin is wrong by telling her readers that there is no good reason why Oregon will not correct this. There is indeed as the state program for pregnant undocumented immigrants has not been canceled. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/112 "2014-03-19T15:05:30Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Thanks for demonstrating that what I said is entirely true. All criticism of Obama is due to racism, in what passes for the liberal mind. > are exactly what I said they would be. Automatic repetition. Impressive! I thought that most people here were smart enough not to draw conclusions in this manner. To take a single post by a single poster claiming that Obama gets _more_ flack and more flack directed specifically at him because he’s black and because there’s a lot of racists in the opposition party (a dubious assertion, to be sure) and infer from there that that poster thinks that all criticism is because of racism and that all liberals think that. Turns out you can be a colossal clod and stick around this forum for ages. There’s hope for me yet! Seriously, dude, what the hell? I know you’re not a complete moron, why would you say something that ridiculous? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/113 "2014-03-19T15:06:08Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > White racists vote 95%+ Republican. That’s unnatural. Thoughts have not been suspended, they simply do not occur. Cite? From the New York Times, 2008: > [@](#): > > In Ambridge, an Ohio River factory town named after the company that gave it fame — American Bridge — Olga Permon, a 71-year-old steelworker’s widow and a lifelong Democrat, climbs the stoop of her yellow-brick home. She considers the field: Mr. McCain? A grouchy old man. Ms. Palin? Please. No way. What about Mr. Obama? > > Her pause goes on and on. “He scares me,” Mrs. Permon said. “The coloreds are excited, but my friends and I plan to write in Hillary’s name.” > > These are not gentle lands for Mr. Obama. A visit here in August found even deeper suspicions of him in Beaver County, where Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton beat him by 40 percentage points in the Democratic primary. Democrats outnumber Republicans, but voters here tilt either way in presidential elections. > [@](#): > > To the sound of bowling balls smacking pins, as the bartender in the Fallout Shelter queues up more Buds, this retired steelworker wrestles with this election and his choice. A couple of friends, he says, will not vote for Senator Barack Obama. > > “I’m no racist, but I’m not crazy about him either,” said Mr. Piroli, 77. “I don’t know, maybe ’cause he’s black.” Piroli goes on to reluctantly admit he would vote for Obama. The primary in 2008 revealed plenty of Democratic racists. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/114 "2014-03-19T15:19:16Z")
I know plenty of white racists who held their nose and voted for Obama. Just like plenty of Republicans held their nose and voted for Romney. Doesn’t make racists any less racist, it’s true. And yet blacks still vote Democrat. Hmm… ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/115 "2014-03-19T15:21:25Z")
Yeah–anyone who suggests that the Democratic party is mostly empty of racists is almost suspiciously sanguine about the state of racism in our country. It’s certainly seems true that people most affected by racism see it disproportionately among the Republican party establishment, and it’s certainly true that, despite some particularly absurd revisionism, the Republican party of the 1970s and 1980s made some conscious and obvious decisions to court the racist vote. But to suggest that racists confine themselves almost exclusively to the Republican party is ridiculous. When African Americans choose to vote so overwhelmingly for Democrats, it seems highly doubtful that they do so believing that Democrats are all nonracist. It seems much likelier that folks do so knowing that they’re choosing the lesser of two evils. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/116 "2014-03-19T15:23:04Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Impressive! I thought that most people here were smart enough not to draw conclusions in this manner. To take a single post by a single poster claiming that Obama gets _more_ flack and more flack directed specifically at him because he’s black and because there’s a lot of racists in the opposition party (a dubious assertion, to be sure) and infer from there that that poster thinks that all criticism is because of racism and that all liberals think that. Turns out you can be a colossal clod and stick around this forum for ages. There’s hope for me yet! Seriously, dude, what the hell? I know you’re not a complete moron, why would you say something that ridiculous? But that’s exactly what **Septimus’** post suggests: > [@septimus](#): > > (3) Note again that this ilk insists on the repetition “Obama … Obama … Obama.” Obama’s policies are roughly the same centrist policies we’d have from any Democrat. The need to emphasize opposition to this one specific man _already implies a racist basis_. The emphasis (manifested e.g. in calling this intelligent and eloquent man “the Teleprompter President”) originates for one reason only: > > Obama is Black. During the eight years of the Bush administration, you have only to re-read the number of threads here that discussed “Bush.” (And “Shrub,” and “Chimp,”). No one believed that the need to emphasize opposition to one man implied anything except opposition to one man. See also “Reagan,” “Carter,” and others. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/117 "2014-03-19T15:28:10Z")
[“Don’t re-nig in 2012”](http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/photos/dont2012.asp) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/118 "2014-03-19T15:39:26Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > 1. Can you point to another racial group that votes as a block of 95%. That’s unnatural. Thought has been suspended. A good part of the reason is the same tactics you use here. No analysis, just hum to conclusions that feel good to your biases. Rock on with your bad self, bro. I dunno about “racial group,” but what about the GOP’s poor-white base? **That’s** a case of suspended thought right there! What’s the matter with Kansas?! ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/119 "2014-03-19T15:48:54Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Impressive! I thought that most people here were smart enough not to draw conclusions in this manner. To take a single post by a single poster claiming that Obama gets _more_ flack and more flack directed specifically at him because he’s black and because there’s a lot of racists in the opposition party (a dubious assertion, to be sure) and infer from there that that poster thinks that all criticism is because of racism and that all liberals think that. Turns out you can be a colossal clod and stick around this forum for ages. There’s hope for me yet! Seriously, dude, what the hell? I know you’re not a complete moron, why would you say something that ridiculous? So some Dems are busy making baseless accusations of racism, and some Republicans are busy making baseless accusations that all Dems make baseless accusations of racism, and on it goes… Here’s an idea for everyone - only make accusations that have actual, good evidence. Aim them at specific people to whom the evidence applies. IF AND WHEN you see a specific, credible case of racism, call it out. Otherwise, don’t. If and when you see a liberal/Democrat making an unsupported accusation of racism, call it out. Otherwise, don’t. Crazy idea, I know. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975/120 "2014-03-19T15:55:30Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > I find the notion that one call “sell-out” your own race is a rather racist notion in and of itself. It implies that a racial group should act in a uniform manner, a grossly discriminatory notion. > \*" If the racism is very mild, I would agree with you. Kinda how like the Irish enjoy being the butt of booze jokes. But black people in America have endured four centuries of serious abuse from slavery to being uniformly called “thugs” and lazy by “Republicans”. When everyone of your race votes against Republicans (within the margin of error) and you don’t, you need a very special reason to pass muster in my book. Colin Powell, Clarance Thomas, Juan Williams, Thomas Sowell and company have career and prestige as tokens. That’s not a special reason, that is a sell out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magellan01-epitome-of-racist-republican/683975.md?page=7)