# White republican wins election by fooling black voters **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 11, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667 "2013-11-11T19:51:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/201 "2013-12-01T20:43:09Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > What free market principles are violated by voiding these type of contracts? Do you believe that shutting down the “$120 IPhone picture” market will hurt commerce? It is not the question of “hurting commerce”. It is the principle of whether the government exists to protect people from their own stupidity. I think government shouldn’t, except in case of people who are found mentally incompetent to function in society. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/202 "2013-12-01T21:01:12Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > It is not the question of “hurting commerce”. It is the principle of whether the government exists to protect people from their own stupidity. I think government shouldn’t, except in case of people who are found mentally incompetent to function in society. I generally agree, but in cases like this there is no countervailing interest in allowing these type of contracts to be enforced. It is abundantly clear that the only purpose of this type of ad is to trick people into believing that they are getting IPhones for that price. You would admit that, yes? So why should society reward a huckster? ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/203 "2013-12-02T01:49:44Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > It is abundantly clear that the only purpose of this type of ad is to trick people into believing that they are getting IPhones for that price. You would admit that, yes? Only those people who think they can get an IPhone for 20% of the price they that the IPhone costs. Meaning, only for people who think they can trick the seller. > [@](#): > > So why should society reward a huckster? Where is the “society reward” in this situation exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/204 "2013-12-02T18:42:24Z")
**Terr** , are you unaware of the fact that sometimes, through no malice or trickery, really good deals sometimes can actually be found? Especially in an auction context? ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/205 "2013-12-02T19:04:36Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **Terr** , are you unaware of the fact that sometimes, through no malice or trickery, really good deals sometimes can actually be found? Especially in an auction context? Sure, if you take advantage of the seller’s obvious mistake. Like if someone mistypes the price when submitting an auction. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/206 "2013-12-03T00:06:38Z")
Or if the seller just sets a starting price below what he really hopes it’ll go for, so as to stimulate interest. Which is, you know, what an auction is. ---
**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:** [December 10, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/207 "2013-12-10T22:14:17Z")
Reminds me of this classic story involving former U.S. Senator Claude Pepper and a challenger, George Smather. It’s a popular story in DC, though it didn’t really happen: Part of American political lore is the Smathers “redneck speech,” which Smathers reportedly delivered to a poorly educated audience. The “speech” was never given; it was a hoax dreamed up by one reporter. Time Magazine, during the campaign, falsely claimed that Smathers said this: ``` " Are you aware that Claude Pepper is known all over Washington as a shameless extrovert? Not only that, but this man is reliably reported to practice nepotism with his sister-in-law, he has a brother who is a known homo sapiens, and he has a sister who was once a thespian in wicked New York. Worst of all, it is an established fact that Mr. Pepper, before his marriage, habitually practiced celibacy." ``` The Smathers campaign denied his having made the speech, as did the reporters who covered his campaign, but the hoax followed Smathers to his death. > **[Claude Pepper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Pepper#Red_Accusations_and_hoax_.22Redneck_Speech.22_in_1950)** > > Claude Denson Pepper (September 8, 1900 – May 30, 1989) was an American politician of the Democratic Party, and a spokesman for left-liberalism and the elderly. He represented Florida in the United States Senate from 1936 to 1951, and the Miami area in the United States House of Representatives from 1963 until 1989. > Born in Chambers County, Alabama, Pepper established a legal practice in Perry, Florida, after graduating from Harvard Law School. After serving a single term in the Florida House ... ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/208 "2013-12-11T14:12:28Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > Reminds me of this classic story involving former U.S. Senator Claude Pepper and a challenger, George Smather. It’s a popular story in DC, though it didn’t really happen: > > Part of American political lore is the Smathers “redneck speech,” which Smathers reportedly delivered to a poorly educated audience. The “speech” was never given; it was a hoax dreamed up by one reporter. Time Magazine, during the campaign, falsely claimed that Smathers said this: > > ``` > " Are you aware that Claude Pepper is known all over Washington as a shameless extrovert? Not only that, but this man is reliably reported to practice nepotism with his sister-in-law, he has a brother who is a known homo sapiens, and he has a sister who was once a thespian in wicked New York. Worst of all, it is an established fact that Mr. Pepper, before his marriage, habitually practiced celibacy." > > ``` > > The Smathers campaign denied his having made the speech, as did the reporters who covered his campaign, but the hoax followed Smathers to his death. > > [Claude Pepper - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Pepper#Red_Accusations_and_hoax_.22Redneck_Speech.22_in_1950) I didn’t realize this was a serious urban Legend. I’ve heard and read variations on the “non-insulting” speech for years, the ultimate one being Bill Garvin’s version in Mad magazine #139 from December 1970: > [@](#): > > Guaranteed Effective All-Occasion Non-Slanderous Political Smear Speech > By Bill Garvin > MAD #139, December 1970 > > My fellow citizens, it is an honor and a pleasure to be here today. My opponent has openly admitted he feels an affinity toward your city, but I happen to like this area. It might be a salubrious place to him, but to me it is one of the nation’s most delightful garden spots. > > When I embarked upon this political campaign I hoped that it could be conducted on a high level and that my opponent would be willing to stick to the issues. Unfortunately, he has decided to be tractable instead – to indulge in unequivocal language, to eschew the use of outright lies in his speeches, and even to make repeated veracious statements about me. > > At first, I tried to ignore these scrupulous, unvarnished fidelities. Now I do so no longer. If my opponent wants a fight, he’s going to get one ! > > It might be instructive to start with his background. My friends, have you ever accidentally dislodged a rock on the ground and seen what was underneath ? Well, exploring my opponent’s background is dissimilar. All the slime and filth and corruption you could possibly imagine, even in your wildest dreams, are glaringly nonexistent in this man’s life. And even during his childhood ! > > Let us take a very quick look at that childhood: It is a known fact that, on a number of occasions, he emulated older boys at a certain playground. It is also known that his parents not only permitted him to masticate excessively in their presence, but even urged him to do so. Most explicable of all, this man who poses as a paragon of virtue exacerbated his own sister while they were both teenagers ! > > I ask you, my fellow Americans: is this the kind of person we want in public office to set an example for our youth ? Of course, it’s not surprising that he should have such a typically pristine background – no, not when you consider the other members of his family: > •His female relatives put on a constant pose of purity and innocence, and claim they are inscrutable, yet every one of them has taken part in hortatory activities > •The men in the family are likewise completely amenable to moral suasion > •My opponent’s second cousin is a Mormon > •His uncle was a flagrant heterosexual > •His sister, who has always been obsessed by sects, once worked as a proselyte outside a church > •His father was secretly chagrined at least a dozen times by matters of a pecuniary nature > •His youngest brother wrote an essay extolling the virtues of being a homosapien > •His great-aunt expired from a degenerative disease > •His nephew subscribes to a phonographic magazine > •His wife was a thespian before their marriage and even performed the act in front of paying customers > •And his own mother had to resign from a women’s organization in her later years because she was an admitted sexagenarian > > Now what shall we say of the man himself ? > > I can tell you in solemn truth that he is the very antithesis of political radicalism, economic irresponsibility, and personal depravity. His own record proves that he has frequently discountenanced treasonable, un-American philosophies and has perpetrated many overt acts as well. > •He perambulated his infant son on the street > •He practiced nepotism with his uncle and first cousin > •He attempted to interest a 13-year-old girl in philately > •He participated in a seance at a private residence where, among other odd goings-on, there was incense > •He has declared himself in favor of more homogeneity on college campuses > •He has advocated social intercourse in mixed company – and has taken part in such gatherings himself > •He has been deliberately averse to crime in our streets > •He has urged our Protestant and Jewish citizens to develop more catholic tastes > •Last summer he committed a piscatorial act on a boat that was flying the American flag > •Finally, at a time when we must be on our guard against all foreign “isms”, he has coolly announced his belief in altruism – and his fervent hope that some day this entire nation will be altruistic ! > > I beg you, my friends, to oppose this man whose life and work and ideas are so openly and avowedly compatible with our American way of life. A vote for him would be a vote for the perpetuation of everything we hold dear. > > The facts are clear; the record speaks for itself. > > Do your duty. [http://gis.washington.edu/phurvitz/outgoing/bustagut/Non-SlanderousPoliticalSmearSpeech.htm](http://gis.washington.edu/phurvitz/outgoing/bustagut/Non-SlanderousPoliticalSmearSpeech.htm) ---
**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:** [December 15, 2013, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/209 "2013-12-15T21:38:22Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I didn’t realize this was a serious urban Legend. I’ve heard and read variations on the “non-insulting” speech for years, the ultimate one being Bill Garvin’s version in Mad magazine #139 from December 1970: Thanks - hadn’t seen that one! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667.md?page=10)