I’ve heard a fair number of Dopers accuse McCain and Palin of closet racism over the last couple of months. Some people appear positive that impulsive McCain or ruthless Palin is going to cut loose with some racial slurs any minute now, or if not now, perhaps during a concession speech. [I don’t know if anyone believed the “Sambo beat the bitch” story, but the fact that it got discussed at all may illustrate my ponit.] I remember one Doper basically suggesting that Cindy McCain is probably a racist because she just sorta seems like one, being the upper-class type.
So here’s my question: WHAT THE HELL IS THE BASIS FOR ALL THIS? I know they’re running against a black candidate, and I know there has been some racism from supporters and even low level campaign functionaries. But that’s not the same as speculating that the candidates themselves are racists. So, if you have a feeling they actually are, please tell me why that’s so.
The way I see it, people are just throwing this around casually to establish superiority. I think it’s gross and wrong. While I’ve heard it said that McCain harbors prejudice against Asians - and I don’t mean to overlook that failing - I don’t think it applies to this election where he is running against a black man.
I’ll try to dig up some posts that support what I’m saying here, but it may be hard. Still, I’ve seen enough of this that I wonder where it comes from.
Even if they themselves are not they are playing it up to their supporters. Code like the oft-mentioned “not one of us”. I certainly can’t find any direct evidence that they’re racists (although I’m not discounting the possibility either) but there is plenty that they’re prepared to push the race buttons on other people. Which is pretty despicable.
I don’t think they are racist in the sense that they, personally hate or fear blacks. But they are not above appealing to that sentiment in their followers in order to be elected, so it is racism by proxy.
THIS article puts forth the supposition that it isn’t racism against African Americans which is at work in John McCain’s mind, but racism against SE Asians, from his experiences during the war.
I see this has already been discussed in the new “forked” thread. Carry on.
There may be no verifiable evidence that McCain harbors any racism against black people. He may, but I see no actual evidence of it. However, if you ask if I beleve McCain will gleefully accept whatever scraps he can get as a result of racism expounded by surrogates, my answer is an unqualified yes. McCain’s desperate, and if it means having Obama painted as subhuman in order to win, I believe he’s okay with it.
As far as Palin is concerned, however, I wouldn’t at all be surprised to have her racism confirmed. Has “Sambo beat the bitch” been disproven to have occurred? Anecdotally, in general, the level of evangelicalism or fundamentalism a Chrisitian exhibits is proportional to the amount of prejudice they hold, on many topics, including race. Do I believe Palin’s a racist. Yes, yes I do. I guess I’d better start Googling to find support for my thesis.
Given how vehemently people are pursuing everything these people say (on both sides of the political arena), if there were any (sorry) black & white examples of racism on anybody’s part, I think you’d be seeing it on billboards and newsstands from one end of the country to the other. Instead, what do we have? “lipstick on a pig,” “that one,” and “you betcha.”
(shrug) Blacks and Hispanic are no less racist than whites (perhaps more so, because there’s much less pressure on them not to be racist) and the Democrats do not scruple to make overt appeals to their racism.
Racism can be a subtle beast. Even if you’ve got a little of it in you, something as subtle as “He’s not one of us” can affirm your leanings. No, I don’t think anything overt has been said by either Palin or McCain. All the same, you can’t tell me that somebody who’s giving them their talking points doesn’t recognize that this kind of stuff can stick with a segment of the population who still have it in them (to whatever varying degree).
And yes, you can take what I’ve said and swap out the words “sexism,” “Obama,” and “Biden,” but personally I see a huge deficit of comparable suspicion to build an argument for that.
(or, upon preview, because I take too long: what Fear said)
I’m not the one making the assertion. I have discouraged my fellow Obama volunteers from repeating it because the story is stupid. It’s as unfalsifiable as Intelligent Design.
Hillary Clinton floated some race-baiting trial balloons when trying to beat Obama. Here in Ontario, our premier used a little Islamophobia - just a few subtle suggestions, but there it was - to help seal the last provincial election. I don’t know of any evidence, though, that either Hillary Clinton or Dalton McGuinty are legitimately racists.
Most politicians are willing to appeal to the basest interests of voters if it means winning power. If that means racism, so be it.
I don’t see any evidence that they are, and I think the attempts to spin McCain’s “that one” as some sort of racist insult were some of the most asinine shit I’ve heard over the long course of this election—which is really saying something. It’s needless (at best) to ham-handedly try to vilify them in that way when there’s oh, so many legitimate criticisms to be made.