[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
Except they’re the same age. How many times do I have to point that out?
[/QUOTE]
So? One is running for the presidency. The other isn’t.
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
Offense was indisputably intended. There’s no question Davis was trying to be demeaning. The question is whether it was intended to be racially demeaning. Since Davis and Obama are essentially the same age, the “youth” excuse doesn’t fly.
[/quote]
If Obama was white you wouldn’t have said boo.
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
No matter what the intent, it was breathtakingly stupid.
[/QUOTE]
Agreed.
[QUOTE=Weirddave]
If Obama was white you wouldn’t have said boo.
[/QUOTE]
And there’s a significant possibility Davis wouldn’t have said “boy”.
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
I don’t know that it was racially motivated but it was definitely intended to be insulting, and that fact that he has virtually the same age and political experience as Obama does not put him in a position to be paternalistic or dismissive.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t think anyone disagrees that it’s meant to be insulting but that’s hardly something to start a pit thread over. The question is if it’s meant to be racially demeaning.
I know you’ve pointed out the four year difference in age I just don’t think it matters. They’re manufacturing an issue with his age and ‘inexperience’ in general as a campaign issue against him being president. You can very well be dismissive of someone the same age/experience of you if they’re trying out for an office much higher then you think they’re ready for (or you just want an issue to goad someone with throughout their campaign). He can be perfectly age suitable to be a congressman but considered young to be a President pretty easily.
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
[QUOTE=atomicbadgerrace]
I agree with Darkhold in that he was attempting to make Obama look young, not that he actually is. Argent Towers has already said everything else I intended to.
I’m not saying that it wasn’t an assclown-ish remark. It was. But racially motivated? I’m not gonna go that far.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t know that it was racially motivated but it was definitely intended to be insulting, and that fact that he has virtually the same age and political experience as Obama does not put him in a position to be paternalistic or dismissive.
[/QUOTE]
Okay… and, like I said, I’m not saying that it wasn’t an assclown-ish remark. It was.
It sounds like you’re really getting bent out of shape over something that you’re admittedly not outraged about.
Obama took the high road, though. Were I him, my reply to the esteemed Senator would have been “It’s all good, pops.” 
It’s not completely silly to think that it’s possible to describe a candidate who’s running for president at 47 as too young- 47 is a perfectly normal age to be a congressman, but rather younger than average to be president.
That said, it’s very awkward to do it by calling a black man running for president “boy”. Wonder how Davis’s chances for re-election are doing? I’d lay money that he doesn’t stand for re-election, so as to give another Republican a clear field, so as not to give a Democrat a solid shot at the seat.
Obama made a pretty bad mistake in his description of small town folks. I can easily see how pointing out all of the negative qualities about them could alienate more than a few, whether what he said was true or not. It’s good for him that people are stumbling even harder all around him, otherwise that blunder might have made a bigger splash than it did.
If Obama looks like a three-year-old to you, you may have serious problems that we’re not qualified to help you with.
I guess a 50-year-old Representative with no name recognition outside of Kentucky is more experienced than a 47-year-old Senator who has held elected office for longer and has given himself a viable shot at becoming President.
I won’t even attempt to decipher the voodoo logic at work here.
Kentucky ain’t Oregon, so maybe better than you think.
[QUOTE=Weirddave]
If Obama was white you wouldn’t have said boo.
Agreed.
[/QUOTE]
Boo? Now you’re calling him a spook?
That was only a poor taste joke Weirddave, please don’t take it seriously.
If I’m gonna guess, I’m gonna guess belittling but not racist. I honestly don’t think, in this day and age, overt racism is possible for a politician. The social onus is too great, that don’t fly.
He will clarify the remark, you can’t get away with that shit anymore. Except gays, maybe. Hippies, sure. Lepers, borderline.
[QUOTE=Darkhold]
I’m sure we had a similar thread about a white anchor and black athletes didn’t we? Only there 90% of the people wanted to give the anchor woman the benefit of the doubt.
[/QUOTE]
You’re probably thinking of this thread where Liberal called out a CNN anchor for referring to Tiger Woods as “boy.” Of course that case was a bit different since, much to everyone’s amusement, it turned out that the anchor was a light-skinned black woman herself. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Lib kept fighting it for two more pages.
Sorry, I do the same thing. I have repeatedly said of BO, “That boy speaks good.” Nothing racial is intended. Just a Southern, Foghorn Leghorn thing. I understand I can be misunderstood, so I am censoring myself, but still, no harm was meant.
[QUOTE=Mosier]
Obama made a pretty bad mistake in his description of small town folks.
[/QUOTE]
What incident are you referring to? I must have missed it.
[QUOTE=Kyla]
What incident are you referring to? I must have missed it.
[/QUOTE]
Obama spoke about the inhabitants of economically depressed small towns and how they cling to things like guns and religion for comfort. This pissed some people off and, unsurprisingly, Hillary is milking it for all it’s worth and then some. Here’s the obligatory Pit thread.
[QUOTE=neutron star]
Obama spoke about the inhabitants of economically depressed small towns and how they cling to things like guns and religion for comfort. This pissed some people off and, unsurprisingly, Hillary is milking it for all it’s worth and then some. Here’s the obligatory Pit thread.
[/QUOTE]
Ah, thanks, neutron star.
[QUOTE=neutron star]
Obama spoke about the inhabitants of economically depressed small towns and how they cling to things like guns and religion for comfort. This pissed some people off and, unsurprisingly, Hillary is milking it for all it’s worth and then some. Here’s the obligatory Pit thread.
[/QUOTE]
The spectacle of Hillary accusing somebody else of being “elitist” is almost as mind-boggling as the subject of the OP. :eek:
Hold the phone!
Boy is a racist remark?
[QUOTE=Lazlo]
Hold the phone!
Boy is a racist remark?
[/QUOTE]
Uh, yeah. This is common knowledge in the US. Sure there might be regions in the South where “boy” is used in a more general sense, but calling a grown man a boy is inhernently demeaning and emasculating.
…sits back and waits for the apologists to flood in.
Is 47 too young to be president? Clinton was only 46 when he was elected. Bush is only a month older (but he was elected 8 years later, of course.)
Davis is a tool from a strongly conservative, EXTREMELY white district (only 2.8% black). It’s entirely possible that this was a calculated move to endear himself to the racists, since they’re a voting block he really can’t do without.
Then again, it’s equally likely that he’s just an idiot.