No, Stringbean. Racist dog-whistle messages like the Willie Horton ads are ugly and divisive; this is beautiful and inclusive. Why can’t or won’t you see that? Because – see thread title.
Agreed. And I expect that most Republicans are going to be far too savvy to use the word “demographic” in this new racist way. But when they do, let’s hold their fuckin feet to the fire over it.
It really is a white supremacist argument he’s making, and that’s loathsome.
Edit: I say this as someone who’s thoroughly unimpressed with the ad–not because it has people of many different races, but because it’s pure pabulum. I have little love for Clinton, either. But this is a dumbass, racist way to criticize her.
Of course it is, but judged by the standards of electoral campaign advertising – far better bland pabulum than racist dog-whistling, xenophobic scare tactics, and things of that ilk.
I’m reminded of the furor aroused by HRC saying “It takes a village to raise a child.” I.e., children need to be educated and socialized by more than just their own families. Which is a statement not only undeniably true, but dull, conventional, Rotarian, a truism hardly worth mentioning, pabulum again. Yet the reaction in some quarters was if she had called for the arrest of all parents who homeschool.
Folks, that “dog whistle” meme went out with disco balls. Now it just looks like a kid repeating a bad word he heard in the playground to see if some reactions might come from it.
That’s not what a meme is. Meme doesn’t mean a word you don’t like. And the use of “dogwhistle” to refer to this sort of thing is probably dated to 1988, well after disco balls, and is still in wide usage. You’re wrong as hell.
In this case it looks like Stringbean is coining a bad phrase – “demographic warfare” – and framing a narrative around it, hoping it will get traction and enter this cycle’s lexicon of discourse, the way “class warfare” as a label for discussion of raising taxes on the rich did several years ago.
Seriously, though: is Stringbean the most angry and bitter personality to have been on this board since, I don’t know, Aldebaran maybe?
I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to go on a road trip with this guy, except that I’d probably be attempting suicide before we reached the next town.
Looking at Stringbean’s further responses to that thread, I think it’s probably worth pointing out that it’s entirely reasonable to both consider Hilary to be a cold-hearted career politician out to say and do what is best for her chances in the election and not out of some inherent honesty or straightforwardness… and also think that going straight to “demographic warfare” and “ignore the white male vote” is ridiculous.
If anything the combination of the two is weird to me. If I was an American politician running for the White House and I had even zero scruples about what I would say to who, if I am a consummate politician and barely human, why on earth would I be ignoring one of the two biggest demographics of the voting public?
“The white male vote” is against the Democratic nominee for president, consistently. If a Democratic nominee breaks 40% they are doing amazing. HRC will likely perform like Obama is 2012 - poorly but winning by not doing as poorly with white women and kicking ass with every other demographic.
Maybe a bit better than Obama. Especially in states that are have a lot of white males in unions.
Point being the idea that she is plying demographics is defensible; the calling that “warfare” and “ruthless” is stupid.