Seriously? Okay, no way is this genuine. Someone has got to be trolling the RNC from the inside.
So that’s why they had all those gay book titles pulled from Amazon listings.
He is, unfortunately, one of ours, but I think Zell Miller’s philosophy is closer to the Republicans, so…
Obama Needs “Gorilla Glue” Says Zell Miller
I’m one of the few over on Daily Kos who apparently aren’t seeing this as a racist thing, even if it is, regardless, stupid. Gorilla Glue is a brand name of a fairly popular and reputedly very strong glue. I don’t necessarily think it’s a racist dogwhistle. Also, “globetrotting” meant something before the exhibition basketball team was organized. It doesn’t necessarily refer to the Harlem Globetrotters.
However, I’m very much in the minority over at DKos. Does this senile rant by Miller necessarily HAVE to be interpreted racially?
We are talking about the same Zell Miller who was Lester Maddox’ lieutenant governor, right?
Yup. Anyone in this day and age who doesn’t see why those terms would be racially offensive is so willfully blind as to be by default a racist. I very much doubt that ol’ Zell, given his age and background, is anything but a fossilized relic of a time when such thoughts were mainstream and just fine.
Really? Do you really think that I am, by default, a racist because I can see that both of those terms have legitimate and arguably overwhelming utility outside of a racist context? You know me, at least my board persona, ETF…do I sound like a racist in any normal context?
I can see how it might be taken as racist, as I would have just used superglue in that context instead of a brand name, but I don’t think it necessarily is.
Another day, another asshat Republican Congressman. This one actually argued that President Obama’s mother would have probably aborted him if only abortions were paid for by the US government.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/17/tiahrt-abortion-obama/
I don’t know which is more offensive: That statement or the later one that talked about the brilliant mind of Clarence Thomas.
Miller is a bit confusing. He was a wholehearted segregationist in the sixties, but has spoken against segregation and Jim Crow many times since.
I don’t think we should assume any racist intent in the Zell Miller remarks. I never even would have made the connection between “globe-trotting,” and the Harlem Globetrotters if I hadn’t seen anyone else do it, and I give him the benefit of the doubt on “gorilla glue.” I don’t like it when Republicans selectively misinterpret things as being intentionally offensive ( remember “lipstick on a pig?”), and it’s just as bad for liberals to do it.
Let’s not be so niggardly about giving others the benefit of the doubt. That exposes a big chink in our armor. Lets clean it up, and make that armor spic and span. I’m going to go eat some crackers.
Holy shit.
No, you’re not, from what I know of you. And I wouldn’t expect you ever to use those terms the way Miller did, precisely because you’re not a racist. Although you can see the nonracist usage of those words, you’re sufficiently aware of their racist connotations** in the pertinent context** that you would never have employed them the way Zell did.
From what I know of Zell Miller, for damn sure he is. Although I’ll give him the “globetrotting” – I agree that it’s a silly stretch to call that racist. The “Gorilla Glue”, though – nope, that doesn’t pass the sniff test.
The funny thing is, if you analyze the metaphor, Obama was calling Palin the lipstick on the pig of McCain’s campaign. It’s almost a compliment, if you squint.
I think “lipstick on a pig” referred to some part of Hil’s campaign.
I don’t think “Gorilla Glue” was racist, and it never even occurred to me about “globetrotting.”
Check back when Zell talks about Obama skizzin’ like fried chicken in a skillet cause the new saggin’ deuces done come out.
No, that was definitely a jab at Palin (although, as has been pointed out, she WAS the lipstick and the Republican Party was the pig) because the McCain campaign was the one doing the squealing afterward.
Add me to the chorus who don’t see this as a racist remark. The “globe trotting” link is pretty weak. And Gorilla Glue is a popular, super-duper strength glue with a cool name. Zell Miller may be a nut, but I don’t think this is a dogwhistle. Kind of a dumb statement on its own terms, though.
Superglue doesn’t hold large things like Gorilla Glue does. Gorilla Glue has more body. It’s like Elmer’s, but strong. Think ‘Glue. Strong stuff.’ from the Blues Brothers. (Second Blues Brothers quote today! Woo!) I’m voting Zell as a moron, not a racist insofar as this.
Bullshit. Given that “globetrotting” is a quite often used descriptor for the sort of out-of-country diplomatic work the President is doing, using that descriptor cannot possibly be seen as intentionally racist by anyone other than someone who always casts things in terms of race, regardless of context.
And Gorilla Glue is also a well-known adhesive so jumping to the conclusion that Zell meant to imply the President is a “gorilla”, specifically to make a disparaging reference to his putative “race,” is more of the same. Gets quite tiring after a while.
Priceless!!!