# RNC attendee: 'This is how we feed animals.' **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 29, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071 "2012-08-29T20:51:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**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:** [September 11, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/281 "2012-09-11T01:19:19Z")
> [@Andiethewestie](#): > > You didn’t read the article I posted on Steve King, the IOWA congressman that Romeny **Warmly** endorses. So does the KKK. He calls immigrants dogs. I wonder when it’s going to start being racist to you. Nobody wonders when something will be racist to you though - it will be, no matter how flimsy the evidence for it. I have credibility when I call racist. You don’t. Tell us, Andie - what did you think when you heard about the chanting incident involving the Latina on the GOP convention floor I cited? Racist? Well, no, it wasn’t. Not racist? Oh, wait, now you’re the one who is denying obvious racism! ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/282 "2012-09-11T02:14:40Z")
It’s hilarious how you are trying to call us all hypocrites for jumping to conclusions we didn’t make, re: Ron Paul chanters. Maybe you could go to another forum and have an argument with yourself and it would be more productive since you are arguing our side for us. ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/283 "2012-09-11T02:31:28Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > Nobody wonders when something will be racist to you though - it will be, no matter how flimsy the evidence for it. > > I have credibility when I call racist. You don’t. > > Tell us, Andie - what did you think when you heard about the chanting incident involving the Latina on the GOP convention floor I cited? Racist? Well, no, it wasn’t. Not racist? Oh, wait, now you’re the one who is denying obvious racism! I thought it was RUDE, especially when we’re watching 50 Shades of White yelling at the top of their lungs trying to shout down a person for whom the chair gave the mike, even AFTER she joined in the chants of USA in appeasement. The fact that she was a minority just made the rudeness more chilling, since the RNC always has some excuse for bad behavior. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/284 "2012-09-11T07:21:51Z")
> [@lance strongarm](#): > > The idea that calling someone an animal has no plausible alternative to racism is absurd. The idea that you were offering new information (crucial to the false equivalence you’re trying to construct) is absurd. > [@Kyrie Eleison](#): > > Is there a long history of comparing women to animals? Is there a long history of comparing black people to animals? Are you seriously offering this as an alternative interpretation? [Post #7](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15437720&postcount=7). The alternative was already considered and dismissed. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/285 "2012-09-11T09:19:11Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > I have credibility when I call racist. You don’t. Pro Tip: Much like being “cool”, you don’t get to decide whether you’re “credible”. Your audience does. This audience doesn’t seem to think so. Either you need a better argument or a different audience. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2012, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/286 "2012-09-11T12:41:33Z")
> [@rogerbox](#): > > It’s hilarious how you are trying to call us all hypocrites for jumping to conclusions we didn’t make, re: Ron Paul chanters. But see, that’s the problem - if you had had time to make a conclusion, what would it have been? 1. “Racist!” Well, no, not racist. I warned you not to make hasty conclusions like that. 2. “Not racist.” That’s when I get to hurl all the invective at you that people hurled at me about refusing to see an “obvious” racial incident. 3. “We don’t know.” My point exactly. So next time I hope you learn from this. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/287 "2012-09-11T12:42:41Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Pro Tip: Much like being “cool”, you don’t get to decide whether you’re “credible”. Your audience does. This audience doesn’t seem to think so. Either you need a better argument or a different audience. This audience isn’t the real world. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2012, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/288 "2012-09-11T12:43:42Z")
> [@gamerunknown](#): > > The idea that you were offering new information (crucial to the false equivalence you’re trying to construct) is absurd. I never said I was. > [@](#): > > [Post #7](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15437720&postcount=7). The alternative was already considered and dismissed. So? ---
**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:** [September 11, 2012, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/289 "2012-09-11T12:45:12Z")
> [@Andiethewestie](#): > > I thought it was RUDE, especially when we’re watching 50 Shades of White Wow, you just can’t let go of the race thing, can you? Even when it has been completely discredited. This further erodes your credibility. Of course it was rude. Throwing peanuts and insults is rude too. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2012, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/290 "2012-09-11T12:46:33Z")
You all just go lucky in the second incident. An explanation emerged before you could declare it racist too, and bash me for advising caution. You’re also lucky that there was no further information in the first incident. You should learn from that experience. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/291 "2012-09-11T12:56:10Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > This audience isn’t the real world. That has no relevance to my point. “Credibility” is a subjective measure of how others see you. You cannot declare yourself credible by fiat. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/292 "2012-09-11T12:57:48Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > That has no relevance to my point. > > “Credibility” is a subjective measure of how others see you. You cannot declare yourself credible by fiat. I simply stated my opinion about my credibility and someone elses. You are the one who stated something by fiat. You haven’t polled this thread about my credibility. And, as I said, I wasn’t referring to credibility on this thread, or this board, but in the real world. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/293 "2012-09-11T13:15:58Z")
Lance, do you have a moustache? [Is this you](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJohCpifELE)? ---
**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:** [September 11, 2012, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/294 "2012-09-11T13:21:05Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Lance, do you have a moustache? [Is this you](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJohCpifELE)? There’s a 99% chance that this is me. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/295 "2012-09-11T13:27:50Z")
This is what I mean about credibility. The rightwingers are right about something. That sucks. Don’t let them be right. Don’t let them have the moral high ground. > [@](#): > > Meanwhile Jack Hitt at Harpers rolls out a Republicans-are-Racist charge that involves ignoring all the relevant facts. > > ``` > [A]s a Puerto Rican party functionary—Zoraida Fonalledas, the chairwoman of the Committee on Permanent Organization—took her turn at the main-stage lectern. As she began speaking in her accented English, some in the crowd started shouting “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” > > The chanting carried on for nearly a minute while most of the other delegates and the media stood by in stunned silence. The Puerto Rican correspondent turned to me and asked, “Is this happening?” I said I honestly didn’t know what was happening—it was astonishing to see all the brittle work of narrative construction that is a modern political convention suddenly crack before our eyes. None of us could quite believe what we were seeing: A sea of twentysomething bowties and cowboy hats morphing into frat bros apparently shrieking over (or at) a Latina. > > ``` > > Hitt should have left it at “I honestly didn’t know what was happening.” And his editor should have read that line and decided not to publish the baseless insinuations. The title of the article is “Liberal journalists finding (i.e. making up) Republican racism everywhere” - an attack on their credibility, in other words. [![](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/6271230153d99bac992df3e5f6ad4c86.jpg) ](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/6271230153d99bac992df3e5f6ad4c86.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/296 "2012-09-11T13:55:48Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > I simply stated my opinion about my credibility and someone elses. Oh, come on. For a dozen pages you’ve been wittering on about this topic because you’re invested in it. You don’t give a shit about the poor, oppressed RNC and you don’t give a shit about whether you’re actually right. You just don’t want to give up. When a hundred people are telling you you’re wrong, it’s time to go find a new windmill. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/297 "2012-09-11T13:59:47Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Oh, come on. For a dozen pages you’ve been wittering on about this topic because you’re invested in it. You don’t give a shit about the poor, oppressed RNC and you don’t give a shit about whether you’re actually right. You can’t read my mind. > [@](#): > > You just don’t want to give up. Yes, I’m also personally invested. I had alot of shit thrown at me, including insinuations that I am racist. I don’t take that lightly. I was just explaining why its in your interest to protect your credibility. You don’t have to take my advice. > [@](#): > > When a hundred people are telling you you’re wrong, it’s time to go find a new windmill. But I’m right. If you want to go around deciding what’s right and wrong, true and false, by counting comments on a board or whatever, I can’t stop you. Sooner or later, that’s going to backfire though. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/298 "2012-09-11T14:05:08Z")
I’m not deciding what’s right and wrong by counting comments on a board. I noted in the first couple of pages that there was no other plausible explanation for the peanut incident so I was chalking it up to racism. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/299 "2012-09-11T14:09:41Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I’m not deciding what’s right and wrong by counting comments on a board. Then why bring up 100 people telling me I’m wrong? > [@](#): > > I noted in the first couple of pages that there was no other plausible explanation for the peanut incident so I was chalking it up to racism. You have an opinion. I have another. I think my test works: if you didn’t know the incident involved a black victim, would you conclude it was racist just by hearing what was said and done? I don’t think you would have, nor most reasonable people. It’s too bad you refuse to stop and try the test on yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071/300 "2012-09-11T14:24:30Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > You have an opinion. I have another. I think my test works: if you didn’t know the incident involved a black victim, would you conclude it was racist just by hearing what was said and done? I don’t think you would have, nor most reasonable people. It’s too bad you refuse to stop and try the test on yourself. Presumably you haven’t tried applying the test to any other racist act, or you’d already have figured out it doesn’t work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rnc-attendee-this-is-how-we-feed-animals/633071.md?page=16)