# Obama Cancels Campaign Events **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 21, 2008, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825 "2008-10-21T00:48:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/1 "2008-10-21T00:48:54Z")
MSNBC is reporting BO has cancelled events on Wednesday and Thursday to fly home to Hawaii. His grandmother is sick; 86 years old. You means after all that woman has been through she might not be there to see the election and inauguration? =====/ Make that Thursday and Friday. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/2 "2008-10-21T01:00:17Z")
That’s rough. If this is the end, at least she’s had a long life and had the chance to see him get this far. Sad for Obama that his mother didn’t have that opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/3 "2008-10-21T01:40:55Z")
CNN reporting now that he’s cancelled events on Thursday and Friday, but not Wednesday. A friend of mine was planning to go to a rally in VA on Wednesday… wonder if it’s still on. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/4 "2008-10-21T04:28:40Z")
Perhaps she’s still bleeding from when he threw her under the bus, a few months back. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/5 "2008-10-21T05:29:42Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Perhaps she’s still bleeding from when he threw her under the bus, a few months back. I don’t remember that. Could you elaborate? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/6 "2008-10-21T06:19:13Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Perhaps she’s still bleeding from when he threw her under the bus, a few months back. When he said she was afraid of black men, but he still loved her and couldn’t disown her for it? How is that throwing someone under the bus - or are you talking about something else? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/7 "2008-10-21T11:26:27Z")
Sorry to break into the ranting. We can only hope for the best for the lady and her family. She seems to have been through quite a lot in her life and seems to have done very well with the cards she was dealt. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/8 "2008-10-21T13:28:29Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > When he said she was afraid of black men, but he still loved her and couldn’t disown her for it? How is that throwing someone under the bus - or are you talking about something else? [Possibly what he’s talking about.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madelyn_Dunham#2008_presidential_campaign) I can relate. My grandparents are smart, successful, wonderful people whom I love very very much, but there are times when I’ve had to quietly bite my tongue and let it pass. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/9 "2008-10-21T13:53:20Z")
Well I think it’s disgusting that he would use his ailing grandmother for political gain. How convenient for him that she’s a robust senior until the eve of the election, and now all of a sudden she is an ailing senior in need of adequate healthcare–healthcare which would be taxed under McCain’s administration. Vile, I tell ya. ETA: 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/10 "2008-10-21T18:40:50Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > [Possibly what he’s talking about.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madelyn_Dunham#2008_presidential_campaign) That’s what I was talking about. How is that throwing her under the bus? I feel the same way about my grandma. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/11 "2008-10-21T19:07:10Z")
I think a lot of us feel that way - my grandparents are Madelyn Dunham’s age and they’ve certainly said race-based stuff that made me cringe. (Hell, the anti-Obama emails from my grandfather alone…) Most of us wouldn’t have occasion to say it on a national stage and I can see where that rubbed some people the wrong way, but if it’s true, it’s true. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/12 "2008-10-21T22:00:54Z")
I know a certain Aunt who called Brazil nuts-_Biggers_ Toes. She also used to play Eenie Meenie Minie Moe, Catch a _Chigger_ by the toe.:o ---
**Author:** ![CAT\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@CAT\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CAT_1)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/13 "2008-10-21T22:18:57Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > [Possibly what he’s talking about.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madelyn_Dunham#2008_presidential_campaign) > > I can relate. My grandparents are smart, successful, wonderful people whom I love very very much, but there are times when I’ve had to quietly bite my tongue and let it pass. I totally agree and can also relate. But, I have stopped biting my tongue. I am finally brave enough to try and correct them. Unfortunately for me it isn’t my grandparents, who are long since dead, but my parents and a few siblings. UGH. For example, my mother still refers to every black person as “colored”, and whenever someone with a particular accent calls her and does some telemarketing she says, “I know it was a colored woman”. Oh really Ma, and what does that have to do with anything anyway??? I don’t let it slide anymore. And she is learning…even at 75 years old. I got her to stop calling Asian people Orientals recently! Old habits die hard I guess. There are quite a few relatives who are harmless, but just need to be educated. And then there are some, who really do mean what they say. Those are the people I avoid at all costs. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/14 "2008-10-21T22:20:30Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > I know a certain Aunt who called Brazil nuts-_Biggers_ Toes. That just sounds weird. Most of the old people I know call them nigger toes. (not that one is any better than the other - a euphemism for something rude is still rude IMO) ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/15 "2008-10-21T22:23:18Z")
> [@CAT\_1](#): > > And she is learning…even at 75 years old. I got her to stop calling Asian people Orientals recently! Old habits die hard I guess. > There are quite a few relatives who are harmless, but just need to be educated. Never understood the beef with this one - it means eastern! Is Occidental College offensive? ---
**Author:** ![CAT\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@CAT\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CAT_1)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/16 "2008-10-21T22:34:51Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Never understood the beef with this one - it means eastern! Is Occidental College offensive? Well since Occidental(west) is describing a college, not a person. I would say, no. I know my asian friends hate the term. What they have told me that Oriental refers more to things, than people. So I stopped using it a long time ago. And who am I to argue, being 5 different shades of white, and hardly ever leaving the state of Wisconsin. BTW, I think the person in the “Bigger Toe” post did mean “Nigger Toe”, but just didn’t want to type it out. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/17 "2008-10-21T23:01:57Z")
I’ve asked some Asian friends about it and they usually just shrug and say ‘I dunno, I heard it means rug.’ That’s kind of like someone from Berlin being pissed that you called them a jelly donut. FTR I wouldn’t use it because I wouldn’t call someone something they don’t want to be called, but I don’t get the fuss. BTW, when I was a child I was taught that ‘colored’ is the polite alternative to ‘black’, so I doubt everyone who uses it is trying to be offensive. ---
**Author:** ![CAT\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@CAT\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CAT_1)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-cancels-campaign-events/468825/18 "2008-10-21T23:21:42Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I’ve asked some Asian friends about it and they usually just shrug and say ‘I dunno, I heard it means rug.’ That’s kind of like someone from Berlin being pissed that you called them a jelly donut. > > FTR I wouldn’t use it because I wouldn’t call someone something they don’t want to be called, but I don’t get the fuss. > > BTW, when I was a child I was taught that ‘colored’ is the polite alternative to ‘black’, so I doubt everyone who uses it is trying to be offensive. My mother isn’t trying to be offensive at all. I know her, and she is a good woman. So that is probably why I don’t mind correcting her now and then. I know she means well, and wouldn’t want to say something that would make her look bad, or make someone feel bad. That is how I feel Obama must feel about his Grandmother too. That is how I can relate.