So this morning I go to create a group. And as I am browsing through the categories i find this:
Do you see something wrong with this picture. Under the category people it lists blacks and asians but no other races. Wow what a racist website. Very discriminatory. Yet another example of racism exhibited by supposed ant-racists. Read my paper titled: I'm a racist, You're a racist, He's a racist...look at our faces... here
From the Huffington Post
John Weaver, John McCain's former top strategist, says the Republican candidate is making both a moral and a a tactical mistake by letting abusive hecklers have free rein at rallies:
"People need to understand, for moral reasons and the protection of our civil society, the differences with Senator Obama are ideological, based on clear differences on policy and a lack of experience compared to Senator McCain," Weaver said. "And from a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive."
One of Washington's longest serving political hands expressed bewilderment and fright over the vitriol coming from McCain-Palin rallies, saying that the anger of the crowds could lead to violence. "One of the most striking things we've seen in the last few day, we have seen it at the Palin rallies and we saw it at the McCain rally today," said David Gergen, appearing on Anderson Cooper 360 Thursday evening. "And we saw it to a considerable degree during the rescue package legislation. There is a free-floating sort of whipping-around anger that could really lead to some violence. And I think we're not far from that." Gergen's remark came hours after John McCain and Sarah Palin held a rally in Wisconsin that saw attendees pleading with them to go on the attack against Barack Obama over his past associations and "socialistic" behavior. Earlier in the week crowd members at other McCain-Palin events have screamed out that Obama is a terrorist, has committed treason, and should be killed. Read more:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/10/former-mccain-strategist_n_133523.html
One of Washington's longest serving political hands expressed bewilderment and fright over the vitriol coming from McCain-Palin rallies, saying that the anger of the crowds could lead to violence.
"One of the most striking things we've seen in the last few day, we have seen it at the Palin rallies and we saw it at the McCain rally today," said David Gergen, appearing on Anderson Cooper 360 Thursday evening. "And we saw it to a considerable degree during the rescue package legislation. There is a free-floating sort of whipping-around anger that could really lead to some violence. And I think we're not far from that."
Gergen's remark came hours after John McCain and Sarah Palin held a rally in Wisconsin that saw attendees pleading with them to go on the attack against Barack Obama over his past associations and "socialistic" behavior. Earlier in the week crowd members at other McCain-Palin events have screamed out that Obama is a terrorist, has committed treason, and should be killed.
Read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/10/former-mccain-strategist_n_133523.html
http://transpolitical.blogspot.com/2008/08/race-card-you-aint-seen-nothin-yet.html
reprint 8/1/08 TransPolitical blog
“[Republicans] are desperate to win this election – there’s a lot at stake. And they’re going to say and do whatever they need to to get [re-]elected. … The Supreme Court’s at stake.”
Oh! “Buy a gun. And learn how to use it.”
This is a difficult blog to write, and I’m still mulling through how to process this information. One thing I’ve noticed over the years in politics: there are those who create chaos in order that they control and then make their own order out of that chaos.
I subscribe to BL Ochman's newsletter. Today, this newsletter grabbed my attention. Ochman, makes salient arguments in this article. Eventually, the Republicans are going to use race as a divisive and nasty campaign strategy. Obama needs to address the 'elephant in the room.'
Subscribe to What's Next News Read Online Advertise Contact RSS 1.0 Feed RSS 2.0 FeedBL Ochman's What's Next NewsThursday, September 4, 2008
Please note: These are simply the last two days' posts from What's Next Blog. You can read all my recent posts, and add comments if you like, at What's Next Blog You will need to read the blog online in order to see the videos in the posts. Thanks for subscribing! Follow me on Twitter. B.L.
I COPIED AND PASTED THIS BECAUSE THIS INFORMATION IS TRUE AND IMPORTANT!
How to Market Obama Now: Play the Race Card
Love them or hate them, (and I hate them) Sarah Palin’s views are transparent. What’s not transparent is the race issue, and Barak Obama needs to address it now.
Then we can move on to the real issues, without the whispering. Otherwise, the GOP puppet masters will find a way to poison the well of hope, and we can’t let that happen again.
Race is the whispered undercurrent of this campaign. Friends ask each other: “Do you really think a black man can win?” “Is America really ready for a black president?” And in their private conversations, people say things that no politician or pundit would dare to utter in public, like “Black people will think they can do whatever they want if he’s elected” (This from a liberal professor at a New York City University.)
If I was on the marketing team, I'd advise Obama to come out and say “I know race is the whispered issue, but we need to talk about it. I’m what happens when – no matter where you come from – you work hard, you dream big and you nevergive up. And I’m here to tell you that if you worry about the color of my skin, you are worrying about the wrong issue.”
I'd tell him to do it on YouTube, in blog advertising, in email, in text messages to his supporters, content sponsorship, and on his website. Bypass mainstream media and let them get the news online where millions turn instead of TV or newspapers.
The race issue may be over in tennis and golf, but it’s not over around dining room tables across the country, in gated communities or in the projects. It needs to be discussed on a national stage, because until it is, we’re stuck in the past.Posted by B.L. Ochman
GOOD NEWS:
Which presidential candidate is winning on the Internet? Let the numbers tell the story.
The vast majority of forum discussions on McCain Space, the candidate's social network, have fewer than 10 replies, and most have none as of 3 pm today. Most of the groups have 50 members or less, and less than 50 user-made videos have been uploaded to the site, where the most popular video, with 470 votes is "some random rifle spinning" by a Texas supporter who never says a word. The McCain Blog's posts have about half the number of comments as the Obama Blog.McCain News on Twitter is following 119 and has 1,686 followers.
Comments on Obama Blog posts range from 450 to 1200+ per post. Obama has 496,701 friends on MySpace, 1,662,290 supporters on Facebook, Obama's campaign is following 75,287 people on Twitter, where he has 72,367 followers. Following others is a key indicator that a person using Twitter in actually participating in the community.
Politicians have been using the Internet to reach confirmed and potential supporters for more than a decade. But once the Obama campaign won MoveOn.org's support, it became able to use the web to build a two-way conversation and recruit MoveOn's remarkably organized members to quick, strong action and donations.
The proof is in the numbers, says ITbusiness.
On Web traffic-tracking site Alexa, BrackObama.com ranks 535 and JohnMcCain.com 4,497 out of all Web pages, as of Aug. 29. That stark contrast wasn't heightened by the timing of the Democratic convention – over the past several months, Obama's site has ranked an average of 7,000 positions higher than his opponent's site.
Categories: Internet strategy, Marketing Strategy, Politics, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Word of Mouth
Adrienne Zurub
http://adriennezurub.typepad.com
Next time anyone mentions the Race Card to Obama I hope he responds by saying:
"I can only play a card if it's been dealt. If you don't want it played, take it out of the deck."
There's a lot of card playing, or rumors of card playing, going on in the campaign. Hillary Clinton supporters blame the media for unfair treatment related to gender. McCain blames Obama for playing the race card when he says the Republicans will remind us that he doesn't look like the portraits on the money. Gender card. Race card. Age card. Fear card. We can probably assemble a whole deck. Or at least a pinochle deck.
I've heard there are Clinton supporters who say they will vote for McCain. I can't think of a single reason why they'd do this except self-indulgent spite - a sort of "if I can't play I'm going to take my ball and go home" attitude.
What's their motivation? McCain's policies are radically different from Clinton's, which are only mildly different from Obama's. Perhaps they want McCain to win so Hillary can run in 2012. At least that makes sense, but why subject ourselves to another four years of Republican administration after the last eight exhausting years?
New York Magazine - August 8 - The Humor Deficit (Commentary)
Kurt Andersen explores the McCain's campaign's misguided attempts at "humor" and its overstated response to Obama's lighthearted efforts to defuse the real problem of race bias in the election.
Take the most recent race-card brouhaha. Heretofore, “playing the race card” had meant a bitter, overhyped allegation of racism. Yet Obama’s formulations were jocular, tossed out with a wink to sympathetic white audiences, attempts to mention but laugh off a hugely salient fact about this election—that he’s an African-American running against a party that has for 40 years profited politically from white anxieties about African-Americans. “We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run,” he said in Florida in June. “They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. ‘He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?’ ” And then the week before last in Missouri: “You know, ‘He’s not patriotic enough. He’s got a funny name.’ You know, ‘He doesn’t look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills. He’s risky.’ ” Now, while McCain or people associated with his campaign have indeed impugned and mocked Obama’s experience, name, patriotism, and trustworthiness, they’ve never actually made the argument that he shouldn’t be president because he’s black. However, they surely want to maximize the several million anti-Obama votes that will be powered at least in part by racism. (Just as Hillary Clinton wished to do when she spoke of her greater support among “hardworking Americans, white Americans.”) In other words, Obama was making a serious point about the ugly political realities, but trying to do so in a way that seemed unthreatened and unthreatening, with cool sock-puppety humor. To which McCain’s campaign manager and then the candidate himself responded with all the pseudo-solemn self-righteous faux rage they could muster—just the sort of overreaction that people like Al Sharpton enact at their Mau-Mauiest. “Barack Obama,” Rick Davis said, “has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It’s divisive, negative, shameful, and wrong.”I’m assuming that this was standard political disingenuousness rather than actual outrage....
Take the most recent race-card brouhaha. Heretofore, “playing the race card” had meant a bitter, overhyped allegation of racism. Yet Obama’s formulations were jocular, tossed out with a wink to sympathetic white audiences, attempts to mention but laugh off a hugely salient fact about this election—that he’s an African-American running against a party that has for 40 years profited politically from white anxieties about African-Americans. “We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run,” he said in Florida in June. “They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. ‘He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?’ ” And then the week before last in Missouri: “You know, ‘He’s not patriotic enough. He’s got a funny name.’ You know, ‘He doesn’t look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills. He’s risky.’ ”
Now, while McCain or people associated with his campaign have indeed impugned and mocked Obama’s experience, name, patriotism, and trustworthiness, they’ve never actually made the argument that he shouldn’t be president because he’s black. However, they surely want to maximize the several million anti-Obama votes that will be powered at least in part by racism. (Just as Hillary Clinton wished to do when she spoke of her greater support among “hardworking Americans, white Americans.”)
In other words, Obama was making a serious point about the ugly political realities, but trying to do so in a way that seemed unthreatened and unthreatening, with cool sock-puppety humor. To which McCain’s campaign manager and then the candidate himself responded with all the pseudo-solemn self-righteous faux rage they could muster—just the sort of overreaction that people like Al Sharpton enact at their Mau-Mauiest. “Barack Obama,” Rick Davis said, “has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It’s divisive, negative, shameful, and wrong.”
I’m assuming that this was standard political disingenuousness rather than actual outrage....
McCain Mocked Idea of Obama on U.S. Currency...in JUNE
8/2/08 jed report
The issue here, of course, is that John McCain claimed great umbrage at Barack Obama's lighthearted comment that Bush and McCain would emphasize that "he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."But if John McCain thinks that comment was playing the race card, then why did he play it first? One month ago -- in late June -- a McCain ad superimposed Obama's visage on a one hundred dollar bill as part of an effort to mock his supposed 'presumptuousness.'
The issue here, of course, is that John McCain claimed great umbrage at Barack Obama's lighthearted comment that Bush and McCain would emphasize that "he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."
But if John McCain thinks that comment was playing the race card, then why did he play it first? One month ago -- in late June -- a McCain ad superimposed Obama's visage on a one hundred dollar bill as part of an effort to mock his supposed 'presumptuousness.'
Notice how McCain makes thinly veiled comments referring negatively to Obama's race. That is what this whole 'Barack is arrogant' smear is clearly all about. To me it sounds like McCain is frustrated that Senator Obama is an educated, confident, articulate and successful man who is also African American. McCain is behaving like Barack has no business advertising these qualities because of his skin color. These 'arrogance' accusations sound like code because McCain is really (and quite transparently) saying that Barack should know his place and stop trying to be an uppity "N-word". If John McCain had anything relevant to argue - he would. All he apparently has is this constant stream of ugliness and it is an evil way to behave. Is this yet another example of McCain's brand of retrograde 'Christianity'?
The topper is McCain accusing Obama of 'playing the race card'. Have you noticed that the GOP consistently does this kind of thing? It's like a game where they quickly rush in to assign negative behaviors to the Democrats, actually accusing the liberals of doing what the Republicans are already doing. This is not new but it has been extremely effective with the press. I like the way that Sen. Obama handles it all. He calls them on their bull and does not legitimize it. He is taking the high road and sticking to the facts and issues. I see that the McCain campaign just gets confused and demoralized by this. Then they degenerate into even more immature name calling. It is simple distraction and McCain only comes off as a very bad and very desperate magician. It is a sad and pathetic path to walk, not to mention a hateful and divisive way to conduct a public campaign. John McCain is revealing just how dysfunctional he actually is. People like this are bound to self destruct and they will try to take us all down with them.
Hurray for Barack - for not compounding and perpetuating this horribly destructive trend! I completely admire the way he refuses to be drawn into these hideous games. Instead Barack is presently speaking about the obvious and highly overlooked factual connection between the outrageous oil company profits, planetary destruction and record sky-high oil prices. A view that was shared by Sen. McCain, by the way, until the oil companies began paying him! Sen. Obama keeps shining the sunlight on the repressive and backward ways of the establishment. What a marvelously refreshing and healing revelation this is! As Americans of all colors we need to refuse to be drawn into the past and the ineffective policies that have been hurting every ordinary person in this country for far too long already.
Barack DID mispeak when he said McCain says "he doesn't look like the other presidents on the dollar bill - -." I heard him and if taken literally, that is what Obama said. However, I KNOW he didn't mean that JOHN MC CAIN said it, because he hasn't--not in those words anyway. Everybody else implies it when they use the words "risky", "unknown", etc.. No, John Mc Cain has never used the race card in public--he wouldn't dare.
So Barack, PLEASE APOLOGIZE AND MOVE ON!!!
There's a quote that I've seen attributed to the late Eleanor Roosevelt, but which probably originated with an earlier Greek philosopher: "Great minds talk about ideas, average minds talk about events, and small minds talk about people."
The fact that the McCain Campaign has chosen to attack Senator Obama personally tells all of us the level to which they have been reduced. They apparently have no great ideas to talk about. The Obama campaign does have ideas - about the issues that matter in this campaign and to the American people.
Obama supporters should not get sidetracked by this new tactic or the media's stirring of the pot by giving it so much exposure. The media love controversy because it meets their own agenda. The more controversial the campaign, the more stories they sell over the airwaves, the Internet and through print media. Every form of the media has a vested interest in seeing this election turn as ugly and unsavory as it can possibly be.
We should take our cue from the man himself and rise above these desperate measures intended to discredit Barack Obama personally. He knows there is no basis for any of the statements being made and so do we. We need to focus on what matters to the people and not this ridiculous playground name calling. I hope everyone will pull together to maintain the same dignity, confidence and self-assurance in this campagn that the candidate himself displays every day.
Let's label this one what it is, racism.
It is the oldest and meanest trick in the racist book. The ploy has always been to treat minority men like they are childlike and need guidance and adult help. Senator McCain has played this one exactly by the script.
Senator Obama's campaign should make a point to get to the source and comment when reporters refer to him as "Barak" and the other candidates as "Senator ________."
Bush II, Bill Clinton, John Kennedy, Jimmy Carter did not have any more international experience than Senator Obama, and this attack was never carried out against them with this same intensity. It is shameful and disgusting to do this now. Senator Obama must have the respect due a United States Senator and not be treated like a "boy."
We need someone other than Senator Obama to get into the media and pound on this. Get some minority opinion leaders of several races and nail this one in public.
That would be doing a favor for every minority male in the country.
Change the doesn't racially profile blacks?
Change that doesn't kill unarmed black men who are committing no crimes and have no previous criminal records?
Change where blacks in need of medical care get equal healthcare quality to their racial counterparts?
Change where poor struggling African American women are not labeled welfare queens because some filthy rich man who owns at least five homes in four states, a private plane, a charter boat, and receives $99,000 every six months in investment equity in real estate in a nation and has millions of dollars in his checking account in a nation that blacks built and in which they never profited from would begrudge a woman $300 a month and some food stamps to feed and clothe five children?
Change where black men without tons of money get a fair trial BEFORE they are exonerated of their alleged crimes by DNA evidence 20 years too late? (These are not isolated cases...)
Change where blacks who aren't on welfare actually get to benefit off the tax dollars they pay?
Change where the maximum penalty for taking a black person's life is more than four or five years in prison and where the murders of innocent African Americans is also grounds for capital punishment?
Change where there are no more sundown towns, racially segregated neighborhoods, or blockages to blacks in fair and equal housing, and where certain neighborhoods are not "upcharged" in order to exclude blacks who typically have 2-3 times less income than their racial counterparts unless their name is Oprah Winfrey or Bill Cosby?
Change where African Americans finally realize that all of the above is true here and now in the New Millennium and no one can fix it except themselves once they stop giving money to Eddie Long, Creflo Dollar, Joel Osteen, and T D Jakes to pray for prosperity that they themselves will never have?
This kind of change that deals honestly, fairly, and justly with truth instead of being in denial about it, jaded, and accusatory that the man who fights against historic racism is, instead, its instigator and "agitator"? Ronald Reagan, of course, didn't know his left nuts from his right ones and had the Heinzalmers to prove it, but his despicable behavior towards blacks in America lives on.
She wants to fight for the nomination and now she has a fight with HER comment. Now it is her comment which is being attacked by the media. Why wouldn't she just agree to move forward based on the issues which are important to all Americans. Healthcare, gas prices, etc
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/09/999566.aspx
One of the more thoughtful, less emotional posters to an Obama Campaign EMail list service today suggested Hillary is behaving like a terrorist. My response was, " I do not think it wise or fair to draw a parallel between Hillary and terrorists. I will say, having proof she is now blatantly resorting to playing the race card as we are hearing with her own voice this morning... she has lost all political capital she had to become the nominee or decide a splinter of what goes into the Democratic platform this year.
In case you missed it, Bill Clinton, our so-called "first black president," continues his clumsy but determined campaign not to let a real black achieve the presidency.
Recently, he complained to a radio station that the Obama campaign "played the race card on him." Translation: Obama is black. Hey, you voters, he's black, y'all. Black, get it? Black, black, black.
Then, Bill Clinton denied that he'd ever said such a thing. Translation: He's STILL BLACK! Get it?
With this 2-step gutter move, Bill Clinton makes sure his pointed and none-too subtle racial message gets air play not once, but TWICE. It's a 2-fer.
So, Bill Clinton cynically stomps all over racial sensitivities with the sole purpose of getting people to vote according to the little devil sitting on their shoulders, not according to their better angels.
It's the lowest form of gutter politics played at the highest level.
