danivon wrote:

Doctor Fate wrote:He never had a chance. Even if he had not stuck his foot in his mouth on a few occasions, the media would go after him like they do every minority who has the audacity to not be a liberal.

Please remind me of all the attacks on Colin Powell.

How many do you want?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/04/1 ... assah-Bush

Of course, it all stopped once he endorsed the MAN.

And, as was pointed out, it is running for office that causes the gloves to come off.

As for Rice:

Mfume was understood to be referring to WTDY-Madison radio host John "Sly" Sylvester calling Rice "Aunt Jemima," cartoonist Ted Rall calling Rice President Bush's "house nigga," cartoonist Garry Trudeau calling her "Brown Sugar" and cartoonists Pat Oliphant and Jeff Danziger drawing her with accentuated black features and a rural dialect. Sylvester also called Colin Powell "Uncle Tom" on the air.

Sassenach wrote:Thinking about it, Powell never got elected to anything either. It's a curiosity of the American system that the holders of the highest offices of state and the best known political figures are often people who have never bothered to stand for election. Rice and Powell are both highly respected figures on the global stage but you wonder whether they could ever have achieved what they did if they'd had to stand for election, with all that entails in American politics.

Hmm. Both had the advantage that they had already moved up through other careers to positions of responsibility - Powell in the military and Rice in various sectors. And they didn't have many skeletons in closets from those careers.

In fact, Rice switched from Democrat to Republican in 1982, so you'd think there would be more attacks on her than normal.

Doctor Fate wrote:

danivon wrote:

Doctor Fate wrote:He never had a chance. Even if he had not stuck his foot in his mouth on a few occasions, the media would go after him like they do every minority who has the audacity to not be a liberal.

Please remind me of all the attacks on Colin Powell.

How many do you want?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/04/1 ... assah-Bush

Well, "the media" is hardly the same as one largely anonymous blogger on Kos. Where are the hit pieces in the hated liberal MSM?

Of course, it all stopped once he endorsed the MAN.

Not quite. See this below from the awful left wing media that can't stop bashing Republicans...



http://spectator.org/blog/31277/increas ... lin-powell

Quin Hillyer wrote:Powell has become nothing other than a nasty apparatchik currying favor with those in power. Maybe that's all he ever was.

Ouch!

I know that Hillyer is probably of little note, but that picture is from some kind of national news network, isn't it?

And, as was pointed out, it is running for office that causes the gloves to come off.

Well, yes, your electoral system does contain a lot of personal attacks on all sides against all kinds. Even within parties. It's pretty poor stuff, a lot of it.

No excuse for racism.

As for Rice:

Mfume was understood to be referring to WTDY-Madison radio host John "Sly" Sylvester calling Rice "Aunt Jemima," cartoonist Ted Rall calling Rice President Bush's "house nigga," cartoonist Garry Trudeau calling her "Brown Sugar" and cartoonists Pat Oliphant and Jeff Danziger drawing her with accentuated black features and a rural dialect. Sylvester also called Colin Powell "Uncle Tom" on the air.

Again, a radio host in Madison and a few cartoonists are not "the media".

Perhaps over here we were not aware of it (we are thankfully insulated from much of the US's grubbier end of politics unless it becomes remarkable or bizarre) - and it was Sass who mentioned Rice, not me - I think looking at it she did get more vitriol than she deserved, and racist caricatures are rarely ever acceptable.

But still, Powell gets it worse from the right at the moment. The "traitor" thing, I guess.

All public figures get a degree of criticism, that's natural. Powell was SoS during the first years of the Iraq war so inevitably he'd cop an awful lot of criticism from the left. The point Steve was making though is that black politicians who support the Republicans are treated as being traitors to their race and get especially hard treatment as a result. I honestly don't recall too much of that in respect of either Powell or Rice.If you want to broaden it, I haven't seen much of it in respect of Marco Rubio or Bobby Jindal either. Ted Cruz does get a lot of flak but this doesn't seem to me to be down to his status as a hispanic 'traitor' so much as the fact that he's one of the most stridently right wing men in the Senate.

As Dan said, we're isolated from some of the worst of it over here, so it's possible that I've simply missed this angle. I'm not so sure about that though. If there was a consistent narrative of this type around ethnic minority Republicans then I'm sure I'd have picked it up by now.

This is mostly aimed at Danivon, but I liked Sass' statement.

Sassenach wrote:All public figures get a degree of criticism, that's natural. Powell was SoS during the first years of the Iraq war so inevitably he'd cop an awful lot of criticism from the left. The point Steve was making though is that black politicians who support the Republicans are treated as being traitors to their race and get especially hard treatment as a result. I honestly don't recall too much of that in respect of either Powell or Rice.If you want to broaden it, I haven't seen much of it in respect of Marco Rubio or Bobby Jindal either. Ted Cruz does get a lot of flak but this doesn't seem to me to be down to his status as a hispanic 'traitor' so much as the fact that he's one of the most stridently right wing men in the Senate.

As Dan said, we're isolated from some of the worst of it over here, so it's possible that I've simply missed this angle. I'm not so sure about that though. If there was a consistent narrative of this type around ethnic minority Republicans then I'm sure I'd have picked it up by now.

Herman Cain.
Larry Elder.
Alan Keyes.
Michael Steele.

Google any of these men with "Uncle Tom" and have a look.
Clarence Thomas.

Which brings me to Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) As Buzzfeed first reported, the 10-term congressman called Justice Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court’s only African American member, an “Uncle Tom.”

The Boston Globe’s review of “Django Unchained” stands as a prime example of stellar movie criticism.

Critic Wesley Morris clearly spent hours crafting his thoughts, likely in tribute to the film’s artistic excellence. Yet Morris’ column contains a paragraph that could be considered even uglier than the violence pulsating through director Quentin Tarantino’s genre mashup.

Samuel L. Jackson plays crusty, waxen Stephen as a vision of depraved loyalty and bombastic jive that cuts right past the obvious association with Uncle Tom. The movie is too modern for what Jackson is doing to be limited to 1853. He’s conjuring the house Negro, yes, but playing him as though he were Clarence Thomas or Alan Keyes or Herman Cain or Michael Steele, men whom some black people find embarrassing.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/ ... use-negro/

To liberal Americans, conservative minorities are "race traitors" who are not entitled to any semblance of decent treatment.

You can debate me all you want. Google should end the debate for you. Spend three minutes and then call me a "liar" if you can.

I was talking about Colin Powell. I accept your point about Rice. Sass mentions other "minorities".

Why are you acting like this?

danivon wrote:I was talking about Colin Powell. I accept your point about Rice. Sass mentions other "minorities".

Why are you acting like this?

Because this is widespread.

Doctor Fate wrote:

danivon wrote:I was talking about Colin Powell. I accept your point about Rice. Sass mentions other "minorities".

Why are you acting like this?

Because this is widespread.

Yes, so you say. But you also said it applied to "every minority who has the audacity to not be a liberal". Aside from the fact that using "minority" to describe a person is not really grammatically correct ("person from a minority" might be better), we have given examples above, where we don't really see that happening to non-white politicians.

Instead of accusing us of calling you a liar, why not accept that it's not necessarily "every", and calm down a bit.

fate

He never had a chance. Even if he had not stuck his foot in his mouth on a few occasions, the media would go after him like they do every minority who has the audacity to not be a liberal

Well they are easy targets, sticking out as they do....

Republicans are overwhelmingly non-Hispanic white, at a level that is significantly higher than the self-identified white percentage of the national adult population. Just 2% of Republicans are black, and 6% are Hispanic.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/160373/democ ... white.aspx

But seriously. Its not "The media". It is certain commentators and pols who employ the lazy tool of identity politics. Usually identity politics have been used against minorities historically. Its becoming effective for minorities to start employing it because soon, in the US, everyone will be a minority. And by everyone I mean white men. But its still unfortunate if it becomes the focus of the debate.

It strikes me that everyone of the people you mention could have their political positions questioned legitimately without bringing the divisive issue of race into the debate.,And often did. And dealt with it
(Well, maybe not Clarence Thomas but then apparently he's mute).

Ben Carson never had a chance - not because he's black - but because many of the things he's said and positions he's taken. If you heard or read most of these things without seeing him and knowing he was black he'd sound a lot like Santorum or Bachman. They never had a chance either.

rickyp wrote:Ben Carson never had a chance - not because he's black - but because many of the things he's said and positions he's taken. If you heard or read most of these things without seeing him and knowing he was black he'd sound a lot like Santorum or Bachman. They never had a chance either.

I didn't even know Ben Carson was black at first. But I knew he had a problem with gay marriage and wanted to slash welfare having been brought up in a family that relied on it. Shortly after I saw a picture of him and, well, it made no difference to what I thought of the guy.

I knew there was a reason I liked him.

danivon wrote:

Doctor Fate wrote:

danivon wrote:I was talking about Colin Powell. I accept your point about Rice. Sass mentions other "minorities".

Why are you acting like this?

Because this is widespread.

Yes, so you say. But you also said it applied to "every minority who has the audacity to not be a liberal". Aside from the fact that using "minority" to describe a person is not really grammatically correct ("person from a minority" might be better), we have given examples above, where we don't really see that happening to non-white politicians.

Instead of accusing us of calling you a liar, why not accept that it's not necessarily "every", and calm down a bit.

I bow before your mastery of the intricacies of the American political reality.

rickyp wrote:But seriously. Its not "The media". It is certain commentators and pols who employ the lazy tool of identity politics.

If by "pols" you mean virtually many significant Democrats, you're right.

It strikes me that everyone of the people you mention could have their political positions questioned legitimately without bringing the divisive issue of race into the debate.,And often did.

How many have already said Cruz cannot be President because he was not born in the US? Why are they not "birthers?"

Doctor Fate wrote:How many have already said Cruz cannot be President because he was not born in the US? Why are they not "birthers?"

The only people I have seen mentioning it are jokingly referring to the Birthers.

danivon

The only people I have seen mentioning it are jokingly referring to the Birther

Donald Trump?

While others who erroneously questioned Obama’s birthplace have been silent on Cruz, Trump, a fellow Republican, has not.
"It’s a hurdle. Somebody could certainly look at it very seriously," Trump told a New York news outlet Monday. "He was born in Canada. If you know and when we all studied our history lessons, you are supposed to be born in this country, so I just don't know how the courts will rule on this."
Trump is also exploring a presidential bid. If he did enter the race, it could give him standing to launch a lawsuit against Cruz.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter ... nt-update/