A Quote for the Morning: A Republican criticizes the racism of his party…

Secretary of State under George W. Bush, Colin Powell, had retired Army Col. Lawrence Wilkerson as a Chief of Staff. Wilkerson made this comment in response to  John Sununu‘s statement on Thursday that Powell’s endorsement of President Barack Obama’s re-election was motivated by race:

“My party is full of racists, and the real reason a considerable portion of my party wants President Obama out of the White House has nothing to do with the content of his character, nothing to do with his competence as commander-in-chief and president, and everything to do with the color of his skin, and that’s despicable.”

– Col. Lawrence Wilkerson

And there are people who want these guys elected… why? We worked so hard for decades to establish the civil rights of all Americans. It was a triumph to elect our first black president and Obama has made significant achievements in his first term, even though he faced Republicans in the Congress who publicly pledged to keep his agenda from being passed.

Voting for Republicans in this election endorses their racial views. Do you?

Related articles

• Col. Lawrence Wilkerson says his party the Republican party is full of Racists (americanlivewire.com)
• Lawrence Wilkerson, Former Colin Powell Aide, Blasts Sununu, GOP As ‘Full Of Racists’ (democraticunderground.com)
• Col Lawrence Wilkerson On Republican Party: My Party Is Full Of Racists (ireport.cnn.com)
• Powell’s former chief of staff: I’m voting for Obama too (tv.msnbc.com)
• Video | Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson: “My Party Is Full Of Racist” (3chicspolitico.com)
• Romney campaign so desperate to change subject from Mourdock that they accuse Colin Powell of racism (dailykos.com)
• A Candid Republican Tells The Truth About Racism In His Party (duanegraham.wordpress.com)
• Sununu: Powell endorsed President Obama because of race (thehill.com)
• White Elephants (boyculture.com)
• Honesty – From the Mouth of a Conservative – Finally! (With Video Link) (euterpe-1641499.newsvine.com)

Some Wednesday Entertainment: Randy Newman’s new election song.

 

“I’m dreaming of a white president.” 🙂

Newman, who is white, is openly supporting President Barack Obama. He says he wants the public to find comedic relief in the song, but to also know he’s serious about his thoughts that racism is well and alive in the world — and in the current presidential race. He called racism ‘‘the great issue of this country.’’

Related articles

• Randy Newman mocks racists with ‘I’m dreaming of a white president’ song (thegrio.com)
• Randy Newman’s New Song: I’m Dreaming of a White President (littlegreenfootballs.com)
• Randy Newman writes new satirical, political song (seattletimes.com)
• Randy Newman writes new satirical, political song (cnsnews.com)

 

A Quote for the Political Season – What is the Tea Party?

“The tea party is racist. Its followers have deployed a brilliant strategy to deflect charges of racism by using a form of the legislative provision known as severability. Whenever a tea party group or person is “caught” with a racist sign, or saying explicitly racist comments, they simply “sever” that person from the movement by saying, “That person does not represent the tea party.” They get away with it because they claim the status of a “movement” with no structure, leadership or cohesive identity except allegiance to the three magic phrases: “Constitutional Republic,” “Founding Fathers” and “I want my country back!””

– Rev. Madison Shockley in Truthdig.

Sound too simple? Read his whole post HERE and then tell me what you think.

Related Articles

• Yes, I’ll say it: The Tea Party Organization is a racist organization. Just as the John Birch Society is a racist organization. (iflizwerequeen.com)
• “Democrats retreat from reality into hopeful delusion : Most democrats believe the tea party is racist… rest of america not buying” and related posts (ibloga.blogspot.com)
• Joe Conason on the Tea Party… (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)
• Too Extreme Even For The Tea Party (talkingpointsmemo.com)
• Truth-Seeking with Lawrence O’Donnell and Matt Taibbi: Tea Party is ‘Narcissistic,’ ‘Incredibly Stupid’ (newsbusters.org)

Cartoon(s) of the Week — Race Raises Its Head

Tom Toles in the Washington Post:

The Shirley Sherrod incident brought up the Race issue this past week and it wouldn’t go away… for this we thank the Right (and their amazing Murdoch-iated Media at Fox News) for catching us AGAIN!

– and –

Pat Oliphant, NYT Syndicate:

And , of course, these situations bring out the REAL PROFESSIONALS…

– and –

Kevin Siers in the Charlotte Observer:

And it is easy fool all of the people some of the time… hell, you can probably do it ALL of the time.

I was never more disappointed as when I discovered that Andrew Breitbart was Orson Bean’s Son In Law!

Unfortunately, this is too common in America…

Why do people have to be so AWFUL?

clipped from www.cnn.com Arkansas man pleads guilty to threatening to kill Obama Washington (CNN) — An Arkansas man has pleaded guilty to plotting to kill several African-Americans in 2008, including then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, the Justice Department announced Thursday. Paul Schlesselman of West Helena, Arkansas, faces 10 years in prison under a plea agreement reached with federal prosecutors in Tennessee. Federal officials in Washington said Schlesselman threatened to kill then-Sen. Obama on October 23, 2008, shortly before the presidential election. He also planned to “murder dozens of people with a focus on murdering African-Americans” the Justice Department said. “Despite great civil rights progress, hate-fueled violence remains all too common in our country, as illustrated by this unthinkable conspiracy,” said Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Thomas Perez in a statement issued by his Justice Department office.

Quote of the Day – and note that Repiglicans can’t tell the difference…

In a C-Span interview this morning, Juan Williams was asked if the statement made by Harry Reid that referred to Barack Obama as “light-skinned” with “no Negro dialect” was at the same level of racism as Trent Lott’s 2002 comment “we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years” had segregationist Strom Thurmond been elected President.

Juan’s response seems to sum it up just fine:

“I don’t think Barack Obama would be in the White House if we had a segregationist country. That’s a major, major difference.”

You go, Juan!

Joan Walsh on the Reid comments in Salon

In an article titled “A Democrat’s gaffe, the GOP’s shame
Harry Reid chose his words poorly, but equating it with saying a racist would have made a good president is idiocy“, Salon editor Joan Walsh goes after Michael Steele and the Repiglicans over what seems to be a manufactured controversy.

Reid’s comment is in an article in the Atlantic HERE, and the full text of Walsh’s article is HERE.

I present you with a small clip:

clipped from www.salon.com Sure, it’s depressing that Democrats have a Senate Majority Leader who thinks it’s acceptable to use the term “Negro dialect,” even in private, off-the-record conversation. But 70-year-old Harry Reid’s gaffe – he immediately apologized once it was revealed in John Heilemann and Mark Halperin’s gossipy “Game Change,” and Obama warmly accepted the apology – has attained near-scandal proportion, pumped up by the right, the shallow MSM as well as a little bit too much debate among Democrats. For Republicans to jump on Reid is both predictable and disgusting. The foolish Michael “Honest Injun” Steele is suggesting that Reid must resign. I’m glad to know Steele doesn’t believe there is any kind of black dialect. I guess that’s why he titled his blog “What up?” told the Today Show in no uncertain terms “brotha’s still here” and said the Republican Party had to use hip-hop to reach black voters. No stereotyping there!

South Carolina GOP chairmen: Sen. DeMint like a ‘Jew’ who is ‘watching our nation’s pennies’

Even a Conservative Publication, The Palmetto Scoop, a conservative e-zine in South Carolina, reacted to the letter with disgust:

Umm… who in mainstream America thinks it’s a good idea to write something like that in a guest editorial? Especially in light of the racially-motivated attention garnered by South Carolina Republican activists over the past few months.

clipped from rawstory.com Two South Carolina GOP chairmen declared in a letter to a local newspaper that criticism of Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is unfair because he is like a “Jew” who is “watching our nation’s pennies.” The letter, published by South Carolina newspaper The Times and Democrat, was authored by James S. Ulmer Jr., who chairs the Orangeburg County GOP, and Edwin O. Merwin Jr., who chairs the Bamberg County GOP. “There is a saying that the Jews who are wealthy got that way not by watching dollars, but instead by taking care of the pennies and the dollars taking care of themselves,” the wrote. “By not using earmarks to fund projects for South Carolina and instead using actual bills, DeMint is watching our nation’s pennies and trying to preserve our country’s wealth and our economy’s viability to give all an opportunity to succeed.” The racist stereotype came out as the men were offering a rebuttal to South Carolina State Rep. Bakari Sellers, the vice chair of the state’s Democratic party.

Responding to the PalmettoScoop article, one commenter made this point:

“South Carolina, too small to be a republic and too large to be an insane asylum.”

That about sums it up.

Salon has a good article this morning about the effect of racism on Health Care Reform

Here’s a quick quote from Michael Lind’s piece “Uninsured Like Me”:

Since the 1964 Civil Rights Act destroyed formal white supremacy in the U.S., every attempt to expand traditional social insurance in America has failed. Meanwhile, there has been a massive expansion in government-sponsored welfare going disproportionately to the white and affluent. What the political scientist Christopher Howard calls the hidden welfare state includes the tax-favored employer-provided health insurance that most working-age Americans depend on, as well as the home mortgage interest deduction and the childcare and child tax credits. Affluent and educated workers are more likely to work for employers who provide private health benefits than are low-skilled workers and employees of small businesses. Personal tax benefits like the home mortgage interest deduction are available only to the top half of households who pay federal income taxes, and are unavailable to lower-income workers who pay payroll taxes but no income taxes. In many cases, the benefits of this tax-credit welfare state increase with income.

The whole article is a killer. Read it HERE.

Reverend Wright gets on the news with an anti-Jew comment after yesterday’s shooting…

It’s hard to believe that the news even covers this crap, simply because of the things it stirs up. Reverend James Wright has apparently said that Jews are keeping President Obama from speaking to him.

Perhaps Wright forgets that Obama broke off any relationship with the outspoken Reverend when his remarks directly attacked Obama’s Presidential campaign. If I were Obama I wouldn’t talk to him either, and I’m neither Jewish nor black.