“He Denied It Was Racist”

by

by hilzoy

For the most part, I try to steer away from accusations of racism. I’m usually more interested in changing people’s minds, and that tends not to happen when I call them racists, since they suddenly feel the need to convince me that they are not, in fact, about to excuse themselves for a moment and reappear in Klan robes. It’s not conducive to genuine engagement.

Sometimes, however, it’s hard to see what other word would do the trick:

“A local newspaper columnist, in a spoof of Obama’s platform, wrote in one recent piece that the Democrat would hire the rapper Ludacris to paint the White House black (a reference to a pro-Obama song by Ludacris), and divert more foreign aid to Africa so “the Obama family there can skim enough to allow them to free their goats and live the American Dream.” He joked that Obama would replace the 50 stars on the U.S. flag “with a star and crescent logo,” an Islamic symbol, and that his policy on drugs would be to “raise taxes to pay for Obama’s inner-city political base.”

The columnist, Bobby May, is also treasurer of the Buchanan County Republican Party and was listed in a July news release as the county’s representative on McCain’s Virginia leadership team, though he said his column reflected his views alone, and he denied it was racist.”

You can read the actual column here (pdf). (One note: the passage above says that it describes Obama’s position on drugs as “raise taxes to pay for Obama’s inner-city political base.” In fact, it’s “raise taxes to pay for free drugs for Obama’s inner-city political base.”) In addition to a bunch of standard slams against Democrats (“tax breaks for NAMBLA memberships”), and to the ‘free drugs’ and Ludacris passages above (the latter of which also includes the claim that Obama would pay for free paint for graffiti on the White House), it includes the following “planks” from
“Obama’s platform”:

* REPARATIONS TO BLACK COMMUNITY: Opposes before Election Day and supports after Election Day.

* FREEDOM OF RELIGION: Mandatory Black Liberation Theology classes taught in all churches – raise taxes to pay for this mandate. …

* FOREIGN RELATIONS: Appoint Al Sharpton as Secretary of State, Jesse Jackson as UN Representative …

* NATIONAL ANTHEM: Change to the “Black National Anthem” by James Weldon Johnson. And raise taxes.

* CURRENCY: Update photos to reflect U.S. diversity: include pictures of “great Americans” such as Oprah Winfrey, Ludacris, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and William Jefferson (Obama’s new Secretary of the Treasury…)

In some cases (Black Liberation Theology) I can see an actual connection to Obama. But Al Sharpton as Secretary of State? Free spray paint for graffiti on the White House? The Black National Anthem? I can’t see how this is different from “poking fun” at John McCain by saying that he wants to change the national anthem to the Horst Wessel Lied, appoint David Duke Ambassador to Israel, require that Christian Identity theology be taught in churches, pay for free meth and Oxycontin for his base, and commission Thomas Kinkade to cover the facades of the White House with his saccharine stylings.

I mean, McCain is white, right? Get it? Hahahahaha!!

It will be interesting to see whether Bobby May is asked to leave McCain’s Virginia Leadership Committee. He should be. Because even if he doesn’t think what he said was racist, it is.

38 thoughts on ““He Denied It Was Racist””

  2. It will be interesting to see whether Bobby May is asked to leave McCain’s Virginia Leadership Committee. He should be.
    I don’t think he will. I get the feeling that McCain’s people will stress that, hey, the guy was making a joke about Democrats, and besides we know he isn’t racist, he said so himself.
    This just feels like the first salvo in McCain’s scorched earth campaign. Although I don’t think it will succeed, I still don’t want Obama and Biden have to put up with this BS.

  4. He’s already resigned, apologized, and been denounced by the campaign, from something I read somewhere.

  5. I’m having a hard time coming up with a response that doesn’t include profanity. I guess I’ll just give up.

  6. NATIONAL ANTHEM: Change to the “Black National Anthem” by James Weldon Johnson

    Lift every voice and sing,
    ‘Til earth and heaven ring,
    Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
    Let our rejoicing rise
    High as the listening skies,
    Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
    Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
    Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
    Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
    Let us march on ’til victory is won.

    We could do worse.
    Thanks –

  7. Also, McCain’s brother (!) referred to Northern Virginia as “communist country” at a campaign event this weekend.

  10. russell: I didn’t mean anything against the Black National Anthem, just against the idea that this counts as a joke just because, well, Obama’s black.

  12. Phil- Also, McCain’s brother (!) referred to Northern Virginia as “communist country” at a campaign event this weekend.
    Considering that VA would be a really nice state for McCain to pick up, that kinda strikes me as dumber than usual coming from his side.

  13. I am not an elitist. Some of my best friends are ordinary yokels. Just because I want a smart, educated person to be President doesn’t mean I hate dumb people. Dumb people are God’s children too, but they should know their place. I would not let my daughter marry one — think of the problems the kids would face. That’s just common sense. Dumb people are dangerous, bless their hearts. We can’t risk electing a dumb person to the White House. I just ain’t right. But how anybody could call me an elitist, I will never know. In my heart, I know I’m not!
    –TP

  14. “Because even if he doesn’t think what he said was racist, it is.”
    -Hilzoy’s entertainingly blunt closing lines alone should be reason enough to read this site.

  15. Two points. This is getting noticed — and I’ve yet to hear the supposed denunciation. I saw a pdf of the whole column from the LATimes, and I expect that Keith will cover it tomorrow. (Btw, the excerpts are bad enough, but you should see the whole thing.)
    And the Joe McCain piece already has made the AP and the WaPo — admittedly just in the Virginia politics section as far as I can tell.
    The simple fact is that there are one hell of a lot of Americans who are proud of how America has improved racial relations over the past fifty years and will vote against McCain just for this if he doesn’t draw and quarter the guy. More of them than remaining racists, I’d guess, certainly more that racists who weren’t already incurable Republicans.
    Anybody who thinks that McCain ‘playing the race card’ blatantly will help him is, I’m afraid, too anxious to show how much better he is than the average American to notice what has really gone on in this area. (One point, even C. Vann Woodward was worried about how, whatever progress we made, the racists would still have the ‘would you want your sister to marry one’ card left to play, as late as 1976, and the first ‘interracial kiss came on STAR TREK and was looked on as a big deal, even though it was ‘forced by hostile aliens.’ Today, every Yankee fan recognizes and cheers Derek Jeter’s parents, and almost all tv shows have shown, without making it seem important, mixed-race dating.)
    In short, in this area, America has grown up, in much the way it is beginning to about gays (see Ellen, Rachel, and Judge Young, 3 hrs a day of openly gay hosted tv shows) and the trogdolytes are recognized as such.

  16. The Virginia Republican Party are the folks that, I kid you not, arranged a special minority-outreach rally last month, featured speaker: Former Senator George “Macaca” Allen. I’m sure this columnist’s overt and blatant racism will now be roundly denounced, after it’s become a public issue, but if the guy felt comfortable submitting his bile for publication you can be sure he’s been at least as repellant in private for a long time, and the same party that just asked George Allen to be the face of its minority outreach event was clearly cool with that (and, speaking to a similar phenomenon, what editor cleared that screed for publication?). I don’t have a whole lot of nice things to say about George Bush, and his policies sure weren’t aimed to help the disadvantaged, but he and Karl Rove did realize that if the Republican party want to be more than the party of rural whites then step one is that the party must stop being so enthusiastically home to so many freaking racists.

  17. Russell, I was thinking the same thing about the Black National Anthem. The irony of someone from the GOP using it in mockery, given that they consider themselves the standard-bearers of Christian faith, is that the Black National Anthem is a beautiful *hymn*. And as someone pointed out, no bombs or wars in the songt anywhere – just thanksgiving to God for bringing African-Americans through many trials and tribulations.

  18. but he and Karl Rove did realize that if the Republican party want to be more than the party of rural whites then step one is that the party must stop being so enthusiastically home to so many freaking racists.
    I disagree. Rove didn’t have a chance to play the race card against Gore or Kerry simply because they were white. This kind of stuff is right out of Rove’s playbook. But these guys are so dumb (or so arrogant) that they don’t realize how badly it plays against a black candidate.
    Rove played to the bigots with all the Gay Marriage inititaves in 2004. His boys are playing to the bigots again this year, but it’s getting thrown right back in their faces.

  19. @mds:
    -Hilzoy ‘s entertainingly blunt closing lines alone should be reason enough to read this site.
    Fixed.

  20. Tomeck, don’t get me wrong: I didn’t mean to imply altruism on the part of Karl Rove (the mind boggles!), and I’m sure his ideal Republican party would continue to embrace some “acceptable” bigotries, but when Bush and Rove were at the top of their game they were usually good at preventing outbreaks of obvious anti-Black animus, not because they hoped for Black voters (though they might have entertained notions of attracting some of the more religious Black voters) but so as not to scare off moderate Whites, and they tried very hard to court the Latino vote, until they lost control of their own Congressional party and its anti-immigrant enthusiasms.

  21. WT
    Hey, I understand you’re no Rove or Bush fan. Actually, I think you’re right they didn’t want to lose the moderate white vote, and even had thought they could pick up a few black votes and more Latino. But I always felt that it was a basically racist approach. “Y’all black and Mexican folk should feel grateful for a few crumbs and just nevermind about what we say with our white friends, it’s just some good ol’ boys havin fun, ya know.”
    Bush and Rove’s problem, especially after 2006 was they couldn’t keep up playing to both sides.
    The smartest thing Rove ever did was to stay out of the 2008 campaign. He knew it was a loser going in and now he doesn’t have to accept responsibility for where he’s taken the Republican Party.

  22. I am pleased to see that the campaign against Thomas Kincaide, Painter of Light™, has progressed nicely to the epithet stage.

  23. Today, every Yankee fan recognizes and cheers Derek Jeter’s parents, and almost all tv shows have shown, without making it seem important, mixed-race dating.
    On the one hand, yes. On the other, see if you can spot any interracial couples in TV ad campaigns. The sheer… monochromaticity of advertising in this country makes my skin crawl.

  24. I didn’t realize that song is the black national anthem. I thought that it just was some hymn my church would sing a few times a year.
    OMG! (Literally)
    Thanks russell.

  25. I was wondering as well about the editor who let that column through. Unless Bobby May has a contract that says they *have* to print him (except if there’s a reasonable chance of libel in the piece, which would certainly be a clause), letting that through would be a firing offense at any publication I’ve worked at (and, while most have been liberal-to-left-of-liberal, there are a couple of Hearst papers in there as well).
    For more on the rightwing racism front, Talking Points has a link to a story about Hannity using the guy who started the bogus “Obama is Muslim” email outbreak as an onscreen source (if I’m reading this right). The guy is an insane anti-Semite and such a prolific instigator of litigation that he is apparently a legend in legal circles.
    Fuchs Nachrichten, angemessen und ausgeglichen.

  26. (By the way, what’s wrong with Typepad and/or ObWi, that I not only have to re-sign in at Typepad for almost every post, but sometimes sign in, spend 5-10 minutes to write, and then *still* have re-sign in?)

  27. “By the way, what’s wrong with Typepad and/or ObWi, that I not only have to re-sign in at Typepad for almost every post, but sometimes sign in, spend 5-10 minutes to write, and then *still* have re-sign in?”
    I’ve never known Typepad to behave otherwise in the past five years. I continue to be amazed at any blog using such comprehensively broken software.

  28. “its anti-immigrant enthusiasms.”
    More like it’s grudging empty guestures in acknowledgment of anti-illegalimmigrant supermajority opinion.
    But, yeah, the guy in question does sound like a racist.

  29. I didn’t mean anything against the Black National Anthem
    hilzoy – it would never have occurred to me to think otherwise. Ever.
    My post was just a comment on May’s piece.
    Thanks –

  31. That is racist. No doubt about it. And the writer of that piece should be chastized for writing it.
    But if was a one time thing, a mistake in judgement on his part, then calling the guy a racist would be too strong. I don’t know enough about the guy the guy to make that kind of judgement.
    If he had as consistent a history as does Reverend Wright in making such vile racists remarks, well then, he would clearly be a racist, as Wright is a racist.
    And if McCain defends him as Obama defended Wright that will tell us something about McCain as well.
    But still, the connection betweein this guy and McCain is not as close and personal as is the connection between Wright and Obama. So perhaps this should not reflect on McCain personally. Besides, McCain is not a racist. He took in a black child as a family member so he is clearly not racially prejudiced.

  33. hey ken –
    Can you give me a crisp definition of “racism”?
    Can you give some simple examples of actions or statements by Wright that comply with your crisp definition of racism?
    I’ll play, too.
    Racism consists of any or all of the following:

    • The belief that human behavior or capabilities are racially determined.
    • The belief that one race is inherently better or worse than others.
    • The practice of treating people differently because of their race.

    Has Wright said that whites behave as they do because they are white, and that as whites they cannot behave differently?
    Has he said that whites are inherently inferior as people to blacks?
    Has he treated white people differently than blacks? Has he excluded them from his church, or his friendship, or in any other way discriminated against them?
    Maybe you have a different definition of “racism” than I do.
    What I see in Wright’s history is a lot of anger toward whites. By my lights, that is not the same thing as racism. I’m not saying his public statements are good, bad, or indifferent, I’m just saying they ARE NOT RACIST. By my lights.
    If you’d like to demonstrate why Wright is a racist, rather than simply assert that he is, maybe we could have a conversation about it.
    Otherwise not.
    In any case, some fresh material might be in order.
    Thanks –

  34. As far as I know, May has not been denounced, removed from McCain’s leadership campaign, or lost his position in the Buchanan County Republican Party (an action that could only be taken by the local committee members). Feel free to produce a citation to correct me. (McCain’s brother was immediately forced by the campaign to apologize; it’s Obama, not northern Virginia voters, who they want to paint as communist.)
    It’s not unusual for small papers in rural Virginia to have columns regularly written by right-wingers, religious fundamentalists, and cranks. It’s also unusual for their contents to come to the notice of national media. In this case, it only happened because the LA Times took a close look at how Democratic and UMW activists are taking race on directly in southwest Virginia.
    Thanks be for unions and people like Cecil Roberts who lead them.
    [P.S. Looking forward to the time when ken takes the long walk off the short plank. ]

  36. I remember going to a restaurant years back with a couple of artists. The successful one (who was quite religious, I might add) was slamming Kinkade as a monumental hack. The less successful one was arguing with the other and praising Kinkade because he was selling. I said that to me Kinkade was just Bob Ross without the pothead mellowness.

  38. I remember going to a restaurant years back with a couple of artists. The successful one (who was quite religious, I might add) was slamming Kinkade as a monumental hack.
    OMG Kinkade is the hackiest hack who ever hacked a hack. A monumental testament to the poor taste and gullibility of the average American.
    No real artist – successful or not – would ever consider Kinkade an ‘artist’. He’s as much (read: little) an ‘artist’ as Ted DeGrazia (google him if you’re under 40 or never lived in the desert Southwest) or that dude who paints those children with those huge eyes.

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