How Conservative Elites Stoke Racist Anxieties to Gain Power and Split Blacks and Whites

Divide and conquer is an old game. Some people are easily led. Especially the ignorant who can not think for themselves.

You mean like some on the left who are trying to divide this country ? It is the Democrat who are running around trying to pit the "middle class" vs " the 1% " right? But that is not dividing the country ?

#1.5 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 6:59 AM EST

No, the Republicans have divided the country between rich and poor with vigor for at least the last thirty-five years. (I know; I was a Republican back then.) The Democrats are simply beginning to label that Republican 'evil' with more conviction.

3 votes

#1.6 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 7:11 AM EST

"Let's not enslave our kids with debt." That's right. Let's just enslave our kids.

#1.7 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 7:24 AM EST

No, the Republicans have divided the country between rich and poor with vigor for at least the last thirty-five years. (I know; I was a Republican back then.) The Democrats are simply beginning to label that Republican 'evil' with more conviction.

How so ? Have specific examples?

#1.8 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 7:37 AM EST

"Let's not enslave our kids with debt." That's right. Let's just enslave our kids.

Huh?

#1.9 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 7:38 AM EST

Have specific examples?

Of which? (Be very specific, so we can avoid you claiming that the replies you're given aren't off-target.) And how many examples are you asking for? (A specific number, that you're willing to be held-to as being a sufficient number of examples.) And what guarantees are you going to give to ensure you're not just using your question as a way of dodging and evading the truth once it is posted?

The reason why I ask is that people asking such questions typically know the answer, and are just looking for a chance to distract attention away from the issue, or an opportunity to deny each example spreading their vacuous vitriol directed at each specific instance. I'm all for that, but I want you on record, before we provide the examples for you, what your intentions are with regard to the replies, i.e., whether your question is honorable, or just a cynical evasion.

2 votes

#1.10 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 7:58 AM EST

"Let's not enslave our kids with debt." That's right. Let's just enslave our kids.

Huh?

Child labor laws.

#1.11 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:05 AM EST

Gingrich has said so many offensive things that I think even right-wingers have a hard time remembering all of them, David.

2 votes

#1.12 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:22 AM EST

He said kids should work - wow that is offensive to liberals? Did he say they should ddrop out of school and get a job? NO

He said it would teach kids a valuable lesson about responsibility and hard work - I guess those are offensive to some?

Of which?

Examples of how Republicans have split the rich and poor with vigor- You made the statement i am asking for examples of how they have done that - I am curious as to what laws, bills, they have passed that have done that .

1 vote

#1.13 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:30 AM EST

He said kids should work

Wrong! That's not what Gingrich said. He said poor children should work.

He said it would teach kids a valuable lesson about responsibility and hard work

Which is a reason to suggest that all children should work - that society should structure "valuable lessons" for all children, perhaps even within the structure of the school process. I think it would be an interesting idea to place every child in a work-study assignment for "13th grade" requiring that internship as condition for graduating. Perhaps even requiring a set of three or four such assignments over the course of a year, required to be in different classes, ensuring exposure to different kinds of work-in-action.

That's not the same as saying that poor children should work.

Examples of how Republicans have split the rich and poor with vigor

And conveniently this inane suggestion by Gingrich is a perfect example.

I am curious as to what laws, bills, they have passed that have done that

Republican Presidents have stacked the Supreme Court with right-wingers, resulting in the Citizens United decision, giving practically unlimited political power to the rich.

2 votes

#1.14 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:45 AM EST

I cannot help wondering how long until we see the dodging and cynical evasion I referred to earlier. Predictions?

2 votes

#1.15 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:50 AM EST

rick-673281

I watched the video and if it had all minorities in it then I would say you are right the point was he is enslaving generations ot some with his debt and his policies but I suppose liberals refuse to see that part of the truth but then again liberals think only what they believe is the truth, if it doesnt come Obama's media then it must not be true.

1 vote

#1.16 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 10:53 AM EST

Plantsmantx

Divide and conquer is an old game.

Yes, but in this case, I don't know if you can really call it "divide and conquer". The divide already exists. I think it's more a case of them trying to bolster and energize their side of the existing divide. And...their side isn't "whites" per se, but whites (and a relative few fellow-traveling people of color) who are predisposed to move to that side of the divide.

2 votes

#1.17 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:18 PM EST

Obama: Grandmother Was A "Typical White Person"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/20/obama-grandmother-was-a-t_n_92587.html

What does it mean if Democrats are giving up on white, working class voters?

As for whites without college degrees, Democrats are giving up on trying to win a majority, the paper reports. Instead they hope to keep the Republican winning margins to “manageable levels” - less than 15%, according to the Times. In 2010, Democrats lost the white-working class vote by a whopping 30-point margin, according to the paper.

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/29/what-does-it-mean-if-democrats-are-giving-up-on-white-working-class-voters/

Michelle Obama Tired Of 'Angry Black Woman' Stereotype

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/11/michelle-obama-tired-of-angry-black-woman-stereotype_n_1198786.html

Which party is it that keep bringing up race ?

1 vote

#2 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 6:56 AM EST

So, who was it that labeled Michelle Obama an "angry black woman"? I guess that doesn't count.

#2.1 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 7:25 AM EST

So, who was it that labeled Michelle Obama an "angry black woman"? I guess that doesn't count.

She did - No one mentioned it except her - SHE said she was tired of being labeled an "angry black woman" even though no one said she was one - You should read the article -

#2.2 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 7:33 AM EST

Even so, the first lady’s decision to raise the angry black woman stereotype so explicitly caused some unease, even among observers who have no ax to grind.

“I have to admit I was a little surprised that she herself used the term 'angry black woman,’” said Katherine Jellison, a professor of history at Ohio University who specializes in the study of first ladies.

A former aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed. “I don't think it was an ideal thing to say," the aide told The Hill.

“It definitely shocked me a little.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/204185-with-angry-black-woman-remark-first-lady-addresses-race-head-on

1 vote

#2.3 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 7:36 AM EST

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdru4BphJ4E&feature=youtube_gdata_player

She did - No one mentioned it except her - SHE said she was tired of being labeled an "angry black woman" even though no one said she was one

You lie, BostonMan.

Again.

No surprise.

Republicans have been blathering the angry black woman meme since the campaign started.

5 votes

#2.4 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:23 AM EST

http://newscorpwatch.org/mmtv/201201110017

Bill O'Reilly also made reference to her as an angry black woman:

4 votes

#2.5 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:29 AM EST

Michelle Obama was responding to a book written by someone characterizing her as an "angry black woman".

#2.6 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:08 AM EST

You lie, BostonMan.

Did you listen to it? It was a commentator saying people MAY say that about Michelle but that Mccain would not endorse that type of attacks - WOW

Bill O'Reilly also made reference to her as an angry black woman:

Really? The headline tells something different then you claim - Looks like you added the BLACK WOMAN part

ABC's World News Uses 2008 Clip Of O'Reilly Saying Michelle Obama "Looks Like An Angry Woman" To Show Persistence Of Image

Michelle Obama was responding to a book written by someone characterizing her as an "angry black woman".

Wrong again - The author NEVER called her an angry black woman - Do you people just make things up?

#2.7 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:36 AM EST

Wrong again - The author NEVER called her an angry black woman - Do you people just make things up?

Sure, why not. Made up stuff gets thrown up in my face every day. SOCIALISM!!!

1 vote

#2.8 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 10:08 AM EST

rick-673281

"Wrong again - The author NEVER called her an angry black woman - Do you people just make things up?"

It keeps the Obama sheeple with their tin foil hats on only believing in whatever Obama's media tells them.

1 vote

#2.9 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:06 AM EST

Apparently YOU didn't listen to it, BM, when later in the discussion, Cal Thomas began naming so-called angry black women in order to substantiate the notion of the label being applied to Mrs. Obama.

3 votes

#2.10 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:25 AM EST

Here is Washington Times editorialist Joseph Curl just a few months ago:

Michelle's back, and she's madder than ever. She was already pretty angry, seemingly unhappy with just about everything.... Now, she is ready to spew her bilious disgust with America on the campaign trail. A dignified, transcendent first lady? No chance.

3 votes

#2.11 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:20 PM EST

For the last half century, republicans have been telling stupid people who to hate, who to fear and who to resent in a cynical effort to garner votes. Today, anyone not white, Christian and hetero will do as the proverbial object of scorn. The interests of black Americans, however, is their longest-standing foil. One day, republican voters might come to realize how they are being treated like Pavlov's Dog and demand that their politicians lay off the race-baiting. But given that Santorum dealt the race card and won Iowa and three other states and Gingrich dealt the race card and won South Carolina, we can safely conclude that republican voters remain content with their "leaders" telling them that they are bigots through the appeals they make for their votes. Maybe one day they get a clue, but I'm not holding my breath.

4 votes

#3 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:16 AM EST

Grisham

I read somewhere else (forget where now) that republican primary voter numbers are way down. Never know, maybe some are getting the message after all and realizing that the current crop of GOP nominees are about hate, theocracy and bigotry and that's their way of protesting.

Or maybe I'm just optimistic.

1 vote

#3.1 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:26 AM EST

I don't believe that all or a majority of republicans are racist. But there is no getting around the fact that there is an apparently sizable minority of them who are or we would not see the kinds of appeals we've seen over the last 50 years. I would like to share your optimism that lower republican primary turnout could be a response to the display of bigotry we've seen with respect to race, gender and sexual orientation. I suspect, however, that the lack of enthusiasm has more to do with the quality of their choices.

3 votes

#3.2 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:35 AM EST

Republican turnout: (Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, Nevada, Minnesota, Colorado, and Missouri)

2012 - 3,045,239

2008 - 3,167,873

1 vote

#3.3 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:42 AM EST

For the last half century, republicans have been telling stupid people who to hate, who to fear and who to resent in a cynical effort to garner votes. Today, anyone not white, Christian and hetero will do as the proverbial object of scorn.

There's not a plethora of terrorist news stories, so the fear mongers go back to "whatever works".

#3.4 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:10 AM EST

rick-673281

I and see the left keeps going on down that same old lame road of yelling racism thinking it might work some day.

1 vote

#3.5 - Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:20 PM EST