# TN senate RNC Ford add - rascist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 25, 2006, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829 "2006-10-25T10:57:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/21 "2006-10-25T16:54:26Z")
They’re right about Canada and North Korea, though. We can take 'em. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/22 "2006-10-25T17:05:34Z")
😕 Playboy Club? Didn’t all the Playboy Clubs close down in [1991](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playboy_Club)? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/23 "2006-10-25T17:08:00Z")
[QUOTE=col\_10022] On a related note, I saw the Michael J Fox commercial and I have no doubt that he went off his medication for that commercial and in this area it has had a significant impact on the overnight polls. [/QUOTE] Please see the GQ thread about this. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/24 "2006-10-25T17:32:26Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] 😕 Playboy Club? Didn’t all the Playboy Clubs close down in [1991](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playboy_Club)? [/QUOTE] It was party sponsored by Playboy for the Super Bowl, apparently. Not at the mansion in L.A. as I indicated earlier. I guess some people get worked about that sort of stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/25 "2006-10-25T17:46:50Z")
[QUOTE=Age Quod Agis] If the ad had replaced her with a black Playboy bunny, **Fear Itself** would doubtless have condemned Republicans for deviating from the stereotypical Playboy bunny. _What’s the matter? Blacks can’t date white people? Racist! Miscegenation!_ [/QUOTE] It’s considered bad form to flaunt your supernatural powers of time travel and mind reading in front of the rest of us who are limited to logic and reason. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/26 "2006-10-25T17:55:28Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] Even in the most reactionary South, or even in staunchly liberal Texas, racism is no longer acceptable, to admit it would be shameful, it would be an admission of backward ignorance. [/QUOTE] Is this a whoosh? You are 100% WRONG. Racism, especially of this sort, is alive and prospering in several places that I know of in the South. It’s lessened in Atlanta, but a 45 minute drive in any direction changes that. And I have witnessed it first hand in both rural and urban (as it can get) Alabama.\* The news may not have reached the great white north, but racism still plays here. \*I attended a prep school in an Alabama metropolis where the n word was bantered about with great frequency by the all white student body and even some parents. I attended college in Florida and must shamefully admit that the word found purchase often in my fraternity house. I still know folks who use it. Sure, a superficial example, but if you can’t even quit saying that word, do you think views on civil rights have chnaged? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/27 "2006-10-25T18:07:39Z")
okay, why don’t we consider the point of each of the components: 1. Ford is nothing but a face 2. He wants to protect the privacy of terrorists 3. He takes money from pornographers 4. He wants to raise taxes 5. He wants Canada to handle North Korea 6. A white woman wants to have sex with him (okay, she wants him to call her, wink wink!) Which of these things just doesn’t belong. I’ll put it this way - items 1 through 5 are clearly negative allegations about a person. What, exactly, is negative about someone whom white women want to have sex with? I hope that white women want to have sex with me. Is that wrong? I think the only thing that would be wrong with number 6 is if he is in the woodpile. What else could they be going for with that? ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/28 "2006-10-25T18:13:33Z")
[QUOTE=Age Quod Agis] You guys are really stretching the bounds of logic on this one. The Playboy bunny was white because Playboy bunnies are stereotypically blonde caucasians. If the ad had replaced her with a black Playboy bunny, **Fear Itself** would doubtless have condemned Republicans for deviating from the stereotypical Playboy bunny. _What’s the matter? Blacks can’t date white people? Racist! Miscegenation!_ [/QUOTE] Bingo… Hef has three dumb blonde girlfriends now. Does that make him a racist? ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/29 "2006-10-25T18:18:29Z")
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian] okay, why don’t we consider the point of each of the components: … 6. A white woman wants to have sex with him (okay, she wants him to call her, wink wink!) [/quote] I think the relevant data point is not her race but rather where she supposedly meets him: at the Playboy Bunny Mansion. IMO, the ad is intended to portray Ford as a terrorist-loving, gun-hating, tax-raising, Canada-wanting-to-take-over-North-Korea, “nice guy” _play boy_. I just don’t see how the woman’s race is particularly signficant, try as I may. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/30 "2006-10-25T18:25:45Z")
[QUOTE=whole bean] The news may not have reached the great white north, but racism still plays here. [/QUOTE] It does to a limited extent, but the people to whom it plays are loyal Republican voters, who would never vote for a Democrat anyway. Not to say that all Republicans are racist, but there is a subset of Republicans who are. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/31 "2006-10-25T18:26:22Z")
[QUOTE=you with the face] I think the relevant data point is not her race but rather where she supposedly meets him: at the Playboy Bunny Mansion. IMO, the ad is intended to portray Ford as a terrorist-loving, gun-hating, tax-raising, Canada-wanting-to-take-over-North-Korea, “nice guy” _play boy_. I just don’t see how the woman’s race is particularly signficant, try as I may. [/QUOTE] Okay. If the important point is that he attended some playboy party, it gets made before the end of the commercial. What then is the important point of “Call me! Wink Wink”? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/32 "2006-10-25T18:28:29Z")
[QUOTE=What the … !!!] Bingo… Hef has three dumb blonde girlfriends now. Does that make him a racist? [/QUOTE] Are you implying that there are not people who have a prejudice against black men dating, marrying, or generally cavorting with white women? Or do you mean to say that this ad is not fodder for such bigotry? Or did you just post a dumb question because you find it a fun thing to do on a Wednesday afternoon? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/33 "2006-10-25T18:34:35Z")
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian] What then is the important point of “Call me! Wink Wink”? [/QUOTE] That’s the point at which it crosses the line and becomes an appeal to racism, in my view. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/34 "2006-10-25T18:37:29Z")
[QUOTE=Ravenman] Are you implying that there are not people who have a prejudice against black men dating, marrying, or generally cavorting with white women? Or do you mean to say that this ad is not fodder for such bigotry? Or did you just post a dumb question because you find it a fun thing to do on a Wednesday afternoon? [/QUOTE] If I might, I think they’re aiming to tap a deeper fear than that. It’s more than just that Ford might like to do those things. Of course black men want nothing more than to get with all the white women they can. I think the fear they are trying to tap is the fear that white women might really want that. Once you go Ford, you never… get bored? ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/35 "2006-10-25T18:52:30Z")
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian] What then is the important point of “Call me! Wink Wink”? [/QUOTE] I dunno. Seems to go with the whole play boy, fratenizing-with-loose-women imagery that the RNC is trying to paint for us. The fact that _she’s_ coming off like the pursurer is a major factor in my assessment. A racist ad would have likely portrayed Ford as some predatory horndog stalking and slobbering over some innocent white woman. But what do we see in the actual ad? A slutty airhead who refers to Ford much like a prostitute would refer to her john. I think that’s the impression that the ad is going for. If anything makes my racist radar go off, it’s that closing line as the ad fads out. “Harold Ford. He’s just not right.” And I say this half-facetiously. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/36 "2006-10-25T18:56:56Z")
[QUOTE=whole bean] … do you think views on civil rights have chnaged? [/QUOTE] Probably more a matter of perspective than anything else. I was born and raised in Texas _quite_ some time ago, legally sanctioned segregation and direct brutal oppression are part of my living memory. From that perspective, there has been a massive change. Is it over? Are we finished? Will it ever be? No, no, and don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/37 "2006-10-25T18:57:36Z")
[QUOTE=Ravenman] Are you implying that there are not people who have a prejudice against black men dating, marrying, or generally cavorting with white women? Or do you mean to say that this ad is not fodder for such bigotry? Or did you just post a dumb question because you find it a fun thing to do on a Wednesday afternoon? [/QUOTE] Nope… I’m sure there are. Maybe the point of the add is to play to the base that doesn’t care for anyone partying with Playboy bunnies. You know, the same ones who think that Mark Foley is a major pervert! I guess it’s ok for the Dems and the media to make that such a major scandal to depress the Republican base but its not ok for the Republicans play to their base if that is what they are doing. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/38 "2006-10-25T19:07:29Z")
[QUOTE=you with the face] The fact that she’s coming off like the pursurer is a major factor in my assessment. A racist ad would have likely portrayed Ford as some predatory horndog stalking and slobbering over some innocent white woman. [/QUOTE] For some reason, I’m reminded of the (now over 2 decades old!) Eddie Murphy bit about white men’s fears about black penises. Let me paraphrase: [adopts stereotypical black-comic-doing-white-guy-voice]“You know, black people have tremendous dicks. But I don’t believe it.” Never underestimate the fears of the small penised. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/39 "2006-10-25T19:08:15Z")
[QUOTE=Ravenman] Are you implying that there are not people who have a prejudice against black men dating, marrying, or generally cavorting with white women? Or do you mean to say that this ad is not fodder for such bigotry? Or did you just post a dumb question because you find it a fun thing to do on a Wednesday afternoon? [/QUOTE] BTW… “nope” was to your first question. My answer to #2 would be that it could be but the reaction to it by lib/Dem/media is what I think is fun to watch As for #3 what’s “dumb” about it? Is it obvious Hef is a racist? ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829/40 "2006-10-25T19:10:15Z")
The great thing about racism today is that it’s easy to be subtle enough that it’s easily plausibly deniable, but able to hit all the right notes. [http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/images/2006-10-25\_Corker\_Radio\_Ad.mp3](http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/images/2006-10-25_Corker_Radio_Ad.mp3) Ford’s backgrounds music: Jungle Drums? 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tn-senate-rnc-ford-add-rascist/377829.md?page=3)