stuckinred - April 28, 2011 | 4:02 pm · Link

I can’t imagine how you could feel any other way.

Just Some Fuckhead - April 28, 2011 | 4:04 pm · Link

Hey, it was in one of these very ABL threads I pointed out what an idiot Drumpf is. I stand before you vindicated. Hope there’s a big fall from grace ahead of him.

Southern Beale - April 28, 2011 | 4:06 pm · Link

I’m glad you posted this. I had never heard of this guy before but last night he was on MSNBC —can’t remember which show, but it would have been either Chris Matthews’ or Cenk Uygur’s show. I think it was Cenk. I was really taken with his comments but really the one thing none of the Villagers has articulated so well is the fact that no white man would ever have been asked to show his papers and what that feels like to every non-white person in this country.

Truly I wonder if the beltway press which picked up the Birther story and ran with it ever stopped to consider that point. I was really dumbfounded when I heard Gary Tuchman on Bill Press explaining how he went to Hawaii to research the birther’s claims once and for all. I mean really? Anderson Cooper’s show dispatch a reporter to Hawaii to investigate this? There’s so much other stuff happening in the world you can’t investigate but THIS you send a reporter from New York to Hawaii? That’s like a 10 hour flight. Are you fucking serious?

And Tuchman is like, “well we HAD to investigate because everyone was talking about it” and Bill Press is like, “oh yes of course, certainly!” and I’m like WTF? Really?

The Populist - April 28, 2011 | 4:07 pm · Link

Donald Trump is a blowhard. I wish we can all just ignore him but it’s impossible. If he really buys into this and it’s not some kind of act? He’s done more damage to himself than Obama, no question about it.

Ratings on his show = down.

Luxury hotel chain = already losing rich liberals and I bet sales were hurting to begin with.

Casinos = poorly run money pits

Tie and suit business = For a guy who loves to talk out his ass about “demanding” things from others (i.e. – he is a big boi bidnessman!) why aren’t his suits made in the USA? Did he bow down to Macys and any demands they get made outside the USA? Argh, what a fucktard.

His luxury vodka line = fail

Many of his other projects just rent his name so I doubt he is involved with many of his construction projects = fail

Pooh - April 28, 2011 | 4:08 pm · Link

Fucking preach, Barantunde.

Comrade Colette Collaboratrice - April 28, 2011 | 4:08 pm · Link

Taking it personally seems completely rational to me. It’s about your person, and your personhood, and it sucks. It’s absolutely infuriating. I can’t imagine how sickening this must feel for you.

The Populist - April 28, 2011 | 4:08 pm · Link

Moderation sux. Here is my comment on his clothing line:

Trump’s Tie and suit business = For a guy who loves to talk out his ass about “demanding” things from others (i.e. – he is a big boi bidnessman!) why aren’t his suits made in the USA? Did he bow down to Macys and any demands they get made outside the USA? Argh, what a jerk.

Meredith - April 28, 2011 | 4:08 pm · Link

Donald Trump is a disgrace to this country. We are all heartbroken.

kMc - April 28, 2011 | 4:09 pm · Link

I am a black guy, and I hate America. And I don’t feel bad about it. At. All.

STUCKZILLA! - April 28, 2011 | 4:09 pm · Link

ThiS oughtA bee a WiNNer. WE got A bunCh of WHite RaCE RelAtion Wizzards iN THRED BELOW, lED bY RENOUNED, i MEAN renounded expart FUCKhEad . MAYBE HE WILL TIL US How lil Baby Barack escaped THE JUNGLE AND INNERcity Crack babyhood for a LIFe a White Priv.

You COULD SAY jsf IS OUtfucking StandING inn Hiz feeld.

bwaaaaa hahahahahah

bookcat - April 28, 2011 | 4:09 pm · Link

argh. I certainly can’t feel this as deeply as a black person, but man it repulses me to my core what Trump is doing. And Palin made this possible. She normalized the level of craziness we’re seeing now. Please, oh god, please let this be the bottom.

eemom - April 28, 2011 | 4:10 pm · Link

@kMc:

indeed, Rev. Wright was spot on with his “God damn America” comment.

JGabriel - April 28, 2011 | 4:10 pm · Link

ABL:

It hurts more than I thought it would.

They* do it to hurt. Sometimes they succeed. That’ll happen when they keep throwing verbal daggers at you.

*Racists, Republicans, the resentful, and wealthy conservatives.

.

JordanRules - April 28, 2011 | 4:11 pm · Link

Watched it at work yesterday. Probably not the best idea.

gex - April 28, 2011 | 4:11 pm · Link

I’m not black, but I’m every bit as antithetical to their view of the “right kind of people”. Gaysian atheist female. Definitely never will be good enough to be a “real American”. If I lose my mind and it snaps, I worry that I’ma burn some shit down.

alwhite - April 28, 2011 | 4:12 pm · Link

@eemom:

No heart – no heart attack.

I’m pulling for flesh eating bacteria or some lingering form of cancer that starts with his larynx.

bookcat - April 28, 2011 | 4:12 pm · Link

@eemom: no, no it’s not. it’s his heart or ours.

rickstersherpa - April 28, 2011 | 4:13 pm · Link

I was going to post this as follow up to Dougj’s post, but it may more appropriate here as we appear to be rapidly going backward, it is from the ur-Demon of the Movement Conservative, Neo-Confederate Republican destruction regime, Lee Atwater. I note that in the interview, Atwater used the actual “N-word.”

Atwater: You start out in 1954 by saying, “N-word, n-word, n-word.” By 1968 you can’t say “n-word” — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I’m not saying that. But I’m saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “N-word, n-word.”[6]

Hey, its just about winning elections, getting wealthy, and obtaining power. If you call them on it, they get all huffy and go the immediate anti-anti-racism jihad, and how they and the upper classes are being victimized. (Cue Caz or other trolls.)

gex - April 28, 2011 | 4:14 pm · Link

I did send NBC a nice email stating that Trump has every right to say what he says, they have every right to air his show, and I have every right to say that this unabashed racism is an embarrassment to him, NBC, and this nation. And that sadly, even though they are the only network TV I still watch, I can’t in good conscience contribute to the profitability of this BS. And I can’t tell you how much I love 30 Rock. I’d take it out behind the middle school and get it pregnant.

aimai - April 28, 2011 | 4:15 pm · Link

ABL,
I saw that Baratunde Thurston video at Rumproast and I, too, felt punched in the stomach. I wanted to cry for him, and with him. The experience he’s describing is qualitatively different for him than even the most sympathetic or historically informed understanding can be for me. Just as my experience of attacks on (whoever will be) the first Jewish President, or the first female president, will be painful for me in ways that even I can’t know until its happened.

I get where DougJ was coming from in inquiring into a comparison between the treatment accorded Clinton and that accorded the Obamas and to some extent I agree with it in this sense: that attacks on Liberals and Democrats are highly political, highly organized, and highly opportunistic. They will come, they will draw on age old lines of race, class, sex, gender, philosophy and morality. And they will be humiliating—did anyone ever think, before Clinton, that the president’s sexual organ would be subject to legal inquiry and public investigation?

So in that sense, given the enemy, It was inevitable that the first African American, the first Woman, the first Hispanic, the first non standard issue white President would come in for the torrent of abuse that is showered on everyone but Republican males. And it was overdetermined that the vast majority of the attacks would be not just racist but racist in specifically these ways (since these attacks on his appearance, his history, his mother, his wife, his intelligence, his right to be a citizen are the very definition of race based).

But that being said the valence of these attacks is greater and more horrible for African American citizens than any attacks on Clinton ever could have been for any white American. We didn’t identify with Clinton—he wasn’t our first President—and we didn’t recognize those attacks on him as also directed at us, at our fathers, our brothers, our sons.

I think what I took away from watching the Thurston video is how very, very, very, gracious President Obama and all the African American journalists and political figures have been, all these years, in not showing White America just how horrible the reality of America has been. People on the left have complained that President Obama doesn’t show anger very much? After I watched Thurston’s video I was kind of amazed at the forebearance of all our neighbors and co-citizens that they don’t just open the windows and howl with rage.

aimai

Taylor - April 28, 2011 | 4:15 pm · Link

I suppose I’ll post the same comment I posted in response to Baratunde yesterday:

Don’t get so down about this, Baratunde. I think Obama played it well, making Trump look like the fool he obviously is and making it even more clear to everyone paying attention that the primary Republican arguments against him right now are race-based attacks that are irrelevant to actual policymaking or governance.

I can just imagine Obama chuckling to himself with his certificate in his back pocket as Trump riled up the Republican rubes with this sort of rhetoric. Trump is clever to try to play it off like he’s won something, but in reality, he tried to call Obama’s bluff and Barry laid down a royal flush right in his face.

Like AverageBro and other black bloggers I’ve read today, you seem to be taking a negative message out of an obviously positive development. Trump tried to claim Barack wasn’t an American and Barack JUST PROVED THAT HE IS. His birth certificate is a signifier that Trump’s America, where it’s inconceivable that a black man attains the highest office in the land, NO LONGER EXISTS. We’re in a new America now, and you better believe you’re a part of it! Also, I would be fervently hoping that Trump actually gets nominated – he’s a walking punch line.

STUCKZILLA! - April 28, 2011 | 4:17 pm · Link

THEY DID IT TOO BILL CLINTON TOO/KNOCK me IN my hed with THE IDJIT STICK. CAuse the tea Party exists regretting it dint FORM TO FITE THE CLENIS. TEEHEE, TELL ME NUTHER ONE.

The Populist - April 28, 2011 | 4:18 pm · Link

Fact to righties reading comments here:

I do believe the younger generation (yes, lots of mixed races there idiots) look at your bullcrap and lament how the day is coming that we can finally move past this fear mongering nonsense.

Yes, I have faith the younger generation—- these kids accept people for who they are, not who they pray to or what color they are—- will be changing things more to the liking of many of us here.

We have to change or America WILL perish. It’s sad the people who wave the flag more than anybody else do not see that division, fear and hate are destroying the very thing they claim to love?

BTW - anybody see that Pentagon paper where some members of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff call America out for all kinds of things we do here everyday? Awesome…the tides are turning…I do feel it.

Just Some Fuckhead - April 28, 2011 | 4:18 pm · Link

@STUCKZILLA!: I’m certainly not perfect but I don’t cower behind another handle to take retarded shots. :)

El Tiburon - April 28, 2011 | 4:19 pm · Link

I don’t know what blog or wherever I saw it, but the title was something like “April 27, 2011 A day of Shame”.

This is how I feel. I must admit my shame and anger at the birthers and all of the other crazy fucking wingers out there does not come from a racial perspective.

But that our worthless piece of shit main-stream-media and our (mostly) worthless pice of shit Democratic politicians let these nutjobs get away with this crap.

I am glad to FINALLY see the racist element finally being talked about to some extent in the MSM.

I just hope we are able to bottle this anger about this topic and all other topics and finally take this fight to these fuckers.

Nemesis - April 28, 2011 | 4:19 pm · Link

Trump loves Trump. Some thadists love Trump.

But the American public decidedly do not like arrogant, boastful, braggadocios, smug, self-promoters. Really, we dont care for that strain of human.

Just Some Fuckhead - April 28, 2011 | 4:20 pm · Link

@aimai:

Just as my experience of attacks on (whoever will be) the first Jewish President, or the first female president, will be painful for me in ways that even I can’t know until its happened.

When yer first german president is Hoover, you learn to toughen up.

Just Some Fuckhead - April 28, 2011 | 4:21 pm · Link

When yer last german president was Bush, you drink a lot.

Jager - April 28, 2011 | 4:22 pm · Link

@The Populist: Trump’s ties and suits were discounted at Marshalls within weeks of the introduction. I doubt if any decent men’s department even carries them.

Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason - April 28, 2011 | 4:22 pm · Link

@jh: Your grandma’s comment reminds me of something I heard canvassing the poorer parts of York PA. Spoke to a black dude and he said something like, “I hope he stays in there.” I answered that hey, he’s a good campaigner and I expected he’d get re-elected and we could figure on two terms.

His answer was “No, I hope he doesn’t get killed.”
“Oh.” I said.

MoZeu - April 28, 2011 | 4:23 pm · Link

Don’t give Donald Trump this much power. OK, I’m white, so it’s easy for me to say, right? True. But Trump is the lowest form of scum-sucking bottom feeder there is; not fit to wipe your ass, ABL. He doesn’t deserve to be given any power of any form, including the emotional power to wound you.

The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik - April 28, 2011 | 4:23 pm · Link

@Nemesis:

If that was true, we’d never have Bush II’s terms, and Beck would’ve stayed obscure on the AM dial. Hell, we wouldn’t have Limbaugh to begin with.

Southern Beale - April 28, 2011 | 4:24 pm · Link

Sorry, don’t mean to rub salt in the wounds but …

Trump To Black Journalist: ‘I Know You’re A Big Obama Fan’

homeruk - April 28, 2011 | 4:25 pm · Link

a poetic video – sharp contrast with the absolute vulgarity on show in much of the media. In a very small way, as an Indian living in England, I faced this growing up. When I was young, there was this thing called the “tebbitt test” named after one of Thatcher’s right hand men. It was a test: if you were an Indian, Pakistani or West Indian immigrant if you supported those teams in the cricket you weren’t really English. Not the same for Australians, South Africans or New Zealanders. The answer my friend gave when asked why he supported India rather than England was “when you make me feel English, I’ll support England”. I love England as a country but in sport, fuck it, it’s anyone but England.

Mr. Long Form - April 28, 2011 | 4:25 pm · Link

That was righteous. Literally.

Omnes Omnibus - April 28, 2011 | 4:26 pm · Link

@Jager: The ties are fucking horrible. Pretentious and cheaply made. Perfect for a short-fingered vulgarian.

The Populist - April 28, 2011 | 4:26 pm · Link

@MoZeu:

True. Let’s get America to stop watching that lame show. IF his viewership falls under 5 mil, he’s toast. Last week he was over 7 mil down from almost 10 the week before.

NBC needs ratings. A typical scripted show needs to get around 6 mil on average to be “on the fence”.

For a show like Trump’s they need to get it under 5 to hope that NBC says adios to the sourpuss as it’s a cheap product to produce.

Wouldn’t it be fun if the ratings dropped and some advertisers pulled out due to pressure from us?

The Populist - April 28, 2011 | 4:27 pm · Link

@Chris:

On April 8, 2011, the most important U.S. document in over 60 years exited the Pentagon. Titled “A National Strategic Narrative,” written by Capt. Wayne Porter of the U.S. Navy and Col. Mark Mykleby of the U.S. Marine Corps, the report claims the U.S. is heading down the wrong path and offers several remedies to fix our course.

The two members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff published the article under the pseudonym “Mr. Y,” a historical nod to the alias of “Mr. X” used by George Kennan in his “Long Telegram.” The “Long Telegram” was published in 1946 and outlined the strategy of containment for U.S. relations with regards to the Soviet Union, becoming the cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy for the next 44 years.

The report by “Mr. Y” represents not only an advance in the alphabet, but an advance in U.S. goals and strategy.

The authors point out that while the strategy of containment allowed the U.S. to emerge from the 20th century as “the most powerful nation on earth,” we failed to remember that “the world, in fact, is a complex, open system — constantly changing.” America’s policy decisions and strategies, both domestic and international, have failed in a dramatic fashion to evolve since the fall of the Soviet Union. We have thus opened the door to doubts about our ability not only to remain prosperous, but to survive.

“A National Strategic Narrative” is a radical document on many levels. The sheer breadth of its topics makes it revolutionary, yet it develops these ideas so concisely and expertly as to make them appear commonsensical. It would be impossible to sum up its insights in one article, and I encourage everyone to read it in full. I will attempt to lay out some of its most interesting and important conclusions.

To begin with, it advocates reduced defense spending. Keep in mind that while the report was released “independently,” neither Porter nor Mykleby could have released the document without considerable approval from the Pentagon. Porter and Mykleby claim that “For too long, we have underutilized sectors of our government and our citizenry writ large, focusing on defense and protectionism rather than on development and diplomacy.” This is essentially the Pentagon begging for cuts in its own appropriations. Show me any organization that is clamoring for budget cuts, and I will show you an organization that is either a) crazy or b) deeply concerned with a certain issue. This simply isn’t the modus operandi for any organization, much less the largest and most powerful organization in the world.

In order to answer the multiple choice question, we have to look at why they desire cuts in defense spending.

Porter and Mykleby claim that for America to compete in the globalized world, its citizens “must have the tools and confidence required … this begins at home with quality health care and education.” This makes such intuitive sense that it is almost surprising that it needs to be stated at all. Yet all across the country, in light of shortfalls in both national and state governments, representatives have been looking at these two sectors specifically as regions in which to make cuts. These areas represent a minuscule fraction of the budget of national and state governments, yet we continue to skim away at them while defense spending grows.

The other big claim made by the authors is that the U.S., as a nation, has to stop attempting to control the world through military, economic and social means. This is a direct holdover from containment strategy and it is failing dramatically in the 21st century. Despite advances that make our world appear smaller and more homogenized, it is in fact just as diverse and complex than ever before, if not more so. The authors say, “It is time to move beyond a strategy of containment to a strategy of sustainment.”

Perhaps the only sustainable approach is to stop attempting to dominate the globe and instead merely use our influence to achieve our goals. According to the authors, the U.S. needs to build “credible influence to pursue our enduring national interests.” As opposed to simply enforcing our will, we have to rebuild our influence from within — through education, technological advances, culture and a strong economy. Once we have accomplished this task, we can use our influence as a diplomatic tool to advance our national strategy.

The sole reason that the United States has been able to survive throughout the tumultuous years of its history during which greater nations have fallen has been its ability to adapt to changing global circumstances. Globalization represents the single greatest evolution of human affairs (and continual change) the world has ever known, and we have yet to properly adapt. The decline of a nation state is only visible in hindsight, so it is impossible to know if it has begun. Porter and Mykleby offer but a blueprint; Americans’ minds still need to change.

The question remains: Will we?

mtellam@dailyemerald.com

Chris - April 28, 2011 | 4:29 pm · Link

@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:

His answer was “No, I hope he doesn’t get killed.”
“Oh.” I said.

Reasonable fear. Death threats to the White House went up several hundred percent once Obama had settled in.

STUCKZILLA! - April 28, 2011 | 4:30 pm · Link

@Just Some Fuckhead:

I’m certainly not perfect

That GEnerAl Brilliant. No rElation tho. Fuchhead mea copulate. BeaTings suspended, SinCE morale haz ImproVED.

Any SockPuppet CharGE, will Be Answered By my laWyer

STUCKBILLYA! ReacHed at 1-866-DON Task

Just Some Fuckhead - April 28, 2011 | 4:33 pm · Link

@STUCKZILLA!: We can talk when you sober up.

Villago Delenda Est - April 28, 2011 | 4:35 pm · Link

You have to remember that the first instance of “he’s not MY President” was when Clinton was elected.

Democrats never said, of the vile shitstain Reagan, “he’s not MY President”. They accepted the results of the election and moved on. Hail to the Chief.

But Clinton’s election changed everything. Somehow, the fuckwits got the idea that the Presidency BELONGED to the Republican Party, in particular, to the “movement conservatives” who got their asses throughly kicked in 1964.

So, when it was pretty obvious that Florida was stolen from Al Gore in 2000, I declared that the deserting coward was not MY President, and I was criticized for my poor sportsmanship. Same thing in 2004, when it was pretty obvious that Ohio was rigged via massive electoral fraud in the form of Diebold voting machines to go into the column of the deserting war criminal coward.

Then, in 2008, the Rethugs were busy as bees preparing to question the legitimacy of that election should it not turn out there way. ACORN fraud! Birth certificates! No one in the MSM ever calls these people out for their “he’s not MY President!” positions. But they’ll scream like banshees if you question the legitimacy of a deserting coward who stole two elections.

Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason - April 28, 2011 | 4:35 pm · Link

@The Populist: An addendum to your comment to the righties:

Re: the younger generation. Take a look at the soldiers who’ve volunteered to put their lives on the line for America. You’re going to see a disproportionate number of brown and black faces. And it’s not only from economic necessity, although that’s part of it.

The ones I’ve met personally are incredibly patriotic and they believe strongly in the America that you don’t think they’re part of.

So why don’t you just fuck off back to your suburbs, shut your pie holes and leave the rest of us to fix the country you ruined?

Chris - April 28, 2011 | 4:36 pm · Link

@Southern Beale:

Last in a long, long, long, long, long line of race-baiting comments from his side of the aisle, immediately followed by “oh no, I didn’t [snerk] mean that at all, how could you [tee hee hee!] ever assume I meant that!”

STUCKZILLA! - April 28, 2011 | 4:39 pm · Link

@Just Some Fuckhead:

DRunK on WarM sunsHine aNd and iNfeCted wit SillY Bug. CatCH iT noW And Then. KeePS Me Sane, LuKy For U. Bwaaa hahahah hahaha!

Wanna BuY a BridGe? RiVer INCludED.

stuckinred - April 28, 2011 | 4:39 pm · Link

@Villago Delenda Est: There was a guy here in Athens, Air Force Vet, who started with “he’s not my president” the day bush was elected. He handed out buttons, bumper stickers and held one-man protests all the time.Here’s an FDL post from 2008 with the same title.

Southern Beale - April 28, 2011 | 4:40 pm · Link

Excellent post from Adam Serwer, “What America Means When It Asks For Your Papers” ... again, the beltway media is just as culpable IMHO.

Just Some Fuckhead - April 28, 2011 | 4:41 pm · Link

@gex:

Somehow the meanest, dumbest assholes managed to maneuver into a win-win situation on this bs.

I don’t necessarily agree it’s a win but even if it is, it’s only a win insofar as it’s allowed to be solely the cross to bear of the Obama administration. It’s quite easy for Obama to tie the efforts to delegitimize his presidency into the ongoing efforts to do such against each Democratic candidate for president. That minimizes the racial angle, the angry thing, and lays down a marker so it’s less likely to happen again.

Calouste - April 28, 2011 | 4:42 pm · Link

OT, something light-hearted about the main news item in America at the moment:

Police and spooks in charge of security for tomorrow’s royal wedding have planned for every possible eventuality – including that of Kate leaving Wills at the altar.

The top-secret contingency plan for a “runaway bride” scenario has been dubbed “Operation Pumpkin”, and if put into effect would see hundreds of operatives switch tasks in a desperate attempt to generate a moving security cordon around the escaping future Queen – while simultaneously attempting to preserve Prince William’s option to pursue and dramatically win her back.
[...]

Prince William will then have a limited time, the subject of tense negotiations between Clarence House [Prince Charles’s residence and office – C.] and security chiefs, in which the path behind Ms Middleton will be kept open for him to go after her, after which the mobile protective cordon will close again at the Abbey end due to lack of manpower and the Prince will have let his bride slip through his fingers.

If Wills reacts fast enough, however, he will be able to chase after his fleeing fiancee for just under half a mile.

“Clarence House wanted a full mile,” says our source. “But we said come on, play fair, she’s in her wedding dress and there has to be some limit on the overtime budget.”

If the Prince fails to intercept Ms Middleton over that distance, the security team will decide that no on-the-spot reconciliation is possible and a strategically positioned taxi, driven by an undercover SAS operative and unobtrusively escorted by several unmarked police cars, will opportunely pull up to carry the escaping ex-future-princess to safety.

(No blockquote because of FYWP.)

...now I try to be amused - April 28, 2011 | 4:43 pm · Link

@eemom:

indeed, Rev. Wright was spot on with his “God damn America” comment.

It’s equally accurate to say “God damned America,” with those plutocrat-enabling bigots.

gex - April 28, 2011 | 4:44 pm · Link

One thing I have taken comfort in: I am facebook friends with a lot of professional comedians since my girl is in the biz. Usually, these are not folks to get political on their pages because a fan’s a fan. But a metric shit ton of them came out howling against Trump, the long form reveal, and the subsequent bs.

That made me feel a bit better.

STUCKZILLA! - April 28, 2011 | 4:44 pm · Link

@freelancer:

Somebody got into the brown acid.

ESSCUSE ME, WHILE I KISS THE SKY.

Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason - April 28, 2011 | 4:44 pm · Link

@Daddy-O: I not only didn’t broach the subject of assassination, it was completely off my radar.

His response was one of those “Oh. But of course.” moments that totally changes your perspective.

kay - April 28, 2011 | 4:47 pm · Link

@Southern Beale:

This is from today’s Washington Post.

Those who don’t think the president was U.S.-born aren’t ready to bury the controversy.

It’s not a controversy.

It’s like they’ve lost the ability to state simple facts. It’s reaching the point where I think they’re all suffering from mental illness.

This isn’t that difficult. Stop writing words that aren’t true.

Just Some Fuckhead - April 28, 2011 | 4:48 pm · Link

@Just Some Fuckhead:

That minimizes the racial angle, the angry thing, and lays down a marker so it’s less likely to happen again.

I should point out I don’t buy the anger thing. This has been a trope constantly trotted out to cover up for the fact that the president is a very affable person not given to emotional extremes.

However, at this point, much anger is way way overdue.

GVG - April 28, 2011 | 4:49 pm · Link

Of course its insulting and hard to bear. Its a good thing Obama is brave. However, remember, he won. He got a lot of white votes to do so and will again.
The problem right now is that if you are a sane polite person who sees dark skinned people as people….its impossible to yap enough to drown out the fear idiots. Really how many times can a non obscessed person say, there is nothing wrong with Obama? Actually I have some quibbles about Gitmo and Afghanistan and no single payer health care but i see the real political roadblocks and I don’t hold just him responsible. those don’t matter I guess because there is no chance I’m going to stay home or vote for a nutty Republican. I’ve never thought any polititian was perfect.
The main problem with the loud mouths is that the real racists didn’t know Obama was going to win. they didn’t believe the polls, because they are racists and assumed that every other white person felt the same as they did. I overheard plenty. they seem to me to think that political correctness, public good manners were just some kind of agreement not to use some words. they didn’t understand those words were bad because they expressed things that made most people sick. That the don’t use certain words was because most people thought the idea was terrible. they have gone nuts since he won and since the sane majority have run out of ways to repeat ourselves, they are most of the ones talking which makes them think everyone agrees with them again.
A black man could probably have won a little sooner if he had the best answers to the problem of that election. Hillary’s supporters (some of them) acted like people should vote for her because she was a woman. I didn’t recall her making that mistake her self but some of the sillier supporters did. I was perfectly willing to vote for a women and so were others…..if she was the best choice availible. I didn’t think she was this time. Obama looked best at being our problem solver. Remember that. It came down to his own talents and what we voters thought. we picked him and I expect him to win again-doubt is because of the economy which he (all presidents) doesn’t actually have a lot of control of but historically voters don’t want to hear that. It looks like the R’s are going full stupid though so I still think he’ll win again.
I do wish the idiots would shut up though.

Calouste - April 28, 2011 | 4:50 pm · Link

@The Populist:

Trump needs money…more than he lets on. This is truly an act of a desperate man.

Trump’s candidacy somewhat reminds me of Berlusconi’s flight forward to become prime minister to save his media empire.

evinfuilt - April 28, 2011 | 4:51 pm · Link

@Brachiator:
He’s not even the Barker, he’s the sad clown at the dilapidated carnival. The MSM sadly is the barker, and they’ve very happy to parade out their favorite clowns, Trump, Palin, Bachman, Ryan.

Pooh - April 28, 2011 | 4:52 pm · Link

@Brachiator: Also true, but it’s a painful bit of realization what the entire birther thing says about us as a country, and it says much more about the rest of us than the 27%ers.

Linnaeus - April 28, 2011 | 4:53 pm · Link

Trump represents most of the pathologies present in American culture: crass self-aggrandizement, worship of wealth, privilege cloaked as merit, racism, and the abiding sense that we should never be ashamed of anything we ever say or do, especially if it gets us attention.

He’s an embarrassment. One silver lining that I’d put out there – and maybe I’m off-base on this – is that Trump is getting negative attention and pushback of a kind he would not have gotten in years past. This is a desperate act, and it’s already exposing birtherism for the fraud that it is. I think most people will get that, and at the same time it’s a profound shame that others have to be hurt for this to happen.

Mako - April 28, 2011 | 4:54 pm · Link

Don’t know about you guys, but i am mad clicking that “Donald Trump for President” ad. I’m voting YES with every email addy I have.

Just Some Fuckhead - April 28, 2011 | 4:57 pm · Link

@...now I try to be amused:

However, as you say, Obama has every right to be angry. He might actually be angry inside, but he’ll never show it because he’s the Jackie Robinson of our time.

All the people that hurled insults and contempt at Jackie Robinson are dead or still racists. This isn’t the same. Politics isn’t baseball. It’s war by other means and the conservative id is only capable of understanding brute force.

Martin - April 28, 2011 | 4:58 pm · Link

@Omnes Omnibus: Well, it’s going to metastasize, I think, rather than recede. Just a casual tour of TMP shows two Sharia law/Muslim hatred stories, an Okie lawmaker stating factually that African Americans are obviously lazy, and Santorum cranking things back up by declaring that Planned Parenthood practices eugenics. Things aren’t going to get less racist, it’ll just shift more rapidly away from birtherism.

Like I say, 2012 will be a very interesting election. I think the demographic changes are going to come as a shock to many.

Linnaeus - April 28, 2011 | 4:59 pm · Link

They’re projecting, as right-wingers are wont to do. However, as you say, Obama has every right to be angry. He might actually be angry inside, but he’ll never show it because he’s the Jackie Robinson of our time.

Exactly. They’re not only projecting the emotion of anger, but also their sense of how it is expressed. It is entirely possible to be angry and at the same time have control over how one expresses it. But because the projectors think flying into a rage is just how it’s done, that’s what they expect would be done against them.

karen marie - April 28, 2011 | 5:00 pm · Link

@gex: Aided and abetted by the “mainstream media.”

Forget Donald Trump—every news channel and newspaper that has given and continues to give Trump, bitherism, and its many manifestations a seat at the table deserves contempt.

Trump wouldn’t have an audience if he weren’t given a platform.

Poopyman - April 28, 2011 | 5:03 pm · Link

@Southern Beale:

again, the beltway media is just as culpable IMHO.

This, exactly.

Someone needed to step in and put an end to Trump’s race-baiting, and it wasn’t Barack Obama, and it shouldn’t have been just yesterday. Do you think Trump would have found a microphone if the media was run the way it was back in the 60’s? Believe it or not, kids, back then no network expected the News division to be a money-maker, but they did expect it to be honest and hard-hitting and give the network a credible face.

I fully understand why some folks here are ashamed to be Americans, and to be hurt. It was meant to hurt. But also remember that Obama was elected by a large majority. And he will be again.

As for me, I’m ashamed that we’ve let ourselves become an oligarchy, and I don’t see a way out of it that doesn’t involve blood and fire.

Villago Delenda Est - April 28, 2011 | 5:04 pm · Link

@karen marie:

Absolutely.

The blind pursuit of ratings (and the $$$ associated with them) drives the media’s approach to the “news”.

They are complicit in this entire mess. Every bit as guilty.

My nym says it all.

mai naem - April 28, 2011 | 5:05 pm · Link

Donald Trump is a loser. Each of his wives pops out a kid to keep the money coming in after the inevitable di-vorce. Have you seen a pic of Ivana recently? She looks like a scene out of a horror movie. And The Donald for all the fun he made of Rosie ODonnell being a fat slob loser or whatever, well, he seems to have put on quite a few pounds and is looking a little on the tubby side himself. Bottomline, The Donald’s just a jealous that a younger better looking guy with a poorer background managed to get an attractive smart wife, is still married to her and is president of the u-nited states of america. The Donald needs to wear more make up to get rid of all the green in his eyes.

tkogrumpy - April 28, 2011 | 5:06 pm · Link

@kMc: I am a white guy, who had every advantage that whiteness grants, and I don’t see how you could feel otherwise. Fuck Trump and anyone else who gives him air.

Marmot - April 28, 2011 | 5:08 pm · Link

@Villago Delenda Est:

We are heading toward civil war. I don’t think there is a way out of it now.

Aw, bull. With those clowns? Shortest civil war ever. Time for happy hour later that same day.

slag - April 28, 2011 | 5:10 pm · Link

@TooManyJens: Are you fucking kidding me? Ho.ly.Shit.

Well, on the plus side, we can look forward to some inspirational talk about how great America is because the race-baiter and the race-baitey can sit down and nibble cocktail weenies together. Wink wink nudge nudge.

Is there anything these overprivileged assholes take seriously? Anything at all?

Brachiator - April 28, 2011 | 5:10 pm · Link

@The Populist:

Trump needs money and constant ego strokes …more than he lets on. This is truly an act of a desperate man.

Adjusted.

Yep.

@Omnes Omnibus:

Ultimately, I don’t think it is a win for the birthers. I think this was their Gettysburg. this was as far as they were going to get. The wave broke and it will recede. There is still going to be a lot of vile shit thrown around because that is all these people have. The thing is, these people are the past; their time is ending and they know it.

Yep. I agree entirely with your sentiments.

I think some crackpot was hurriedly finishing a book, a classic slime piece, “proving” that Obama was not born in the US. Now, he and the publisher are madly coming up with a new pack of lies. Either way, I doubt that the book will be nearly as successful as they originally had hoped.

Svensker - April 28, 2011 | 5:11 pm · Link

What Brachiator said.

It is horrible and ugly and repulsive. But it is the lashing of the dying beast’s tail. It can still hurt, but the beast’s day is passing. We humans are not perfectable, but this particular ugliness is of the past, not the future. I’m just surprised at how much of the present it still is and sorry for the hurt caused to innocent folks because of it. Sorry for all of us, actually, but I can’t begin to really understand the gut pain felt by AAs now.

We just need to think back to Martin and realize how far we have come. Still a long way to go, but we are overcoming. Truly.

Ruckus - April 28, 2011 | 5:13 pm · Link

@eemom:

Is that wrong of me?

Can’t see how it is.

JPL - April 28, 2011 | 5:14 pm · Link

Last night Schieffer called Trump out on his racist comments, Brien Williams said he had a big mouth and Tapper called the birthers out on their lies. I can’t remember another time when Tapper used the word lie. There are now some things off the table. Will the media hype Obama’s grades now or who wrote his book? I don’t think so.

Cassidy - April 28, 2011 | 5:16 pm · Link

I’ve been ashamed to be an American since yesterday. I’m white, so I know that I can’t fully fathom this kind of degradation. I feel like my friends died in 2005 for something half this country doesn’t believe in anymore.

Poopyman - April 28, 2011 | 5:16 pm · Link

@Brachiator:

I think some crackpot was hurriedly finishing a book, a classic slime piece, “proving” that Obama was not born in the US. Now, he and the publisher are madly coming up with a new pack of lies. Either way, I doubt that the book will be nearly as successful as they originally had hoped.

You haven’t heard about this?

Paula - April 28, 2011 | 5:16 pm · Link

@Chris:

Obama needs to suck it up, but I DON’T. Not from fellow “leftists”.

MCA - April 28, 2011 | 5:18 pm · Link

In the end, I hope some can take solace that (i) once again, Democrats and Obama come off as the levelheaded, decent people here, while the Republican party appears to have lost its g’damned mind, (ii) Donald Trump has probably riled up every African American and Hispanic voter in America enough to ensure that there is no way on Earth a Republican has a chance in next year’s Presidential election, and (iii) this may be the point we look back on in twenty years as the moment the Nixonian Resentment strategy that’s ruled American politics for the last half century finally reached its logical conclusion and went on an unsuccessful kamikaze run once the demographics caught up to it. I’m pretty confident an actual majority of the population finds this somewhere between creepy and borderline insane to outright revolting, rather than privately nodding their heads and not seeing this for what it is. And they’re aware, even if only subconsciously, of how this is tied to the Republican Party’s journey to the bottom. Maybe that’s naive, I don’t know. But I feel like the mask is off a little bit now, and people aren’t liking what they see.

Omnes Omnibus - April 28, 2011 | 5:19 pm · Link

@slag: Seating arrangements at the dinner, they take that seriously.

Villago Delenda Est - April 28, 2011 | 5:21 pm · Link

As I said yesterday, Jake Tapper needs to hang around some three year olds in order to pick up pointers on behaving like an adult.

Gozer - April 28, 2011 | 5:22 pm · Link

@Omnes Omnibus: I have to say—and this is going to sound incredibly pretentious—one of the major things that irritates me about this whole situation is Trump’s vulgarity.

That this tasteless, vulgar, showy, classless, piece of shit…this Atlantic City, animal-printed, gilded, comb-overed, wrestling promoting….arghh!

If anything, the President and his family are the very picture of class and poise. For anyone to make those accusations is infuriating, but especially so for a trashy, short-fingered vulgarian like Donald Trump.

gex - April 28, 2011 | 5:23 pm · Link

@Just Some Fuckhead: Over the long term, no it isn’t a win-win for them. I’m just thinking about the constant poking and poking at black people. They get to be racist (win). Then if black people get angry they get to point out how angry the blacks are (win). The wins are of course, with their own people, and overall you are right. But there’s definitely a short term win-win dynamic here. And will continue to be until (some) white people don’t freak out about angry black people.

Tom Hilton - April 28, 2011 | 5:27 pm · Link

As disheartening as the whole moronic vicious racist shitstorm is, I was cheered by how the President addressed it in his remarks yesterday: as a teaching moment, an opportunity to remind people of what’s really important, and of what their obligations are (as citizens, as members of the press).

slag - April 28, 2011 | 5:27 pm · Link

@Omnes Omnibus:

Seating arrangements at the dinner, they take that seriously.

That’s true. That and apparently the strictest definition of the word “dominant”. Very very serious stuff. To be fair, that must be all I ever think about too since they’re just giving news consumers what they want. I really hope they go boy-girl-boy-girl!

kc - April 28, 2011 | 5:30 pm · Link

Boycott NBC. Not just NBC, but all NBC-affiliated networks – MSNBC, USA, CNBC.

Heck, I don’t need to see another Law and Order episode anyway.

Pooh - April 28, 2011 | 5:33 pm · Link

@Paula:

I think you might be misreading Doug slightly in that he’s saying (or at least how I’m reading) that every Dem gets some pretty hateful shit said about them, and for Clinton they had to work pretty hard to come up with it, whereas for Obama “he’s blackity black mcHussein BLACK!” is all they appear to feel to need. I’m not sure how much normative weight he’s placing there, just observing the difference.

kc - April 28, 2011 | 5:35 pm · Link

@TooManyJens:

You mean the paper that’s taking Donald Trump to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner?

Are you shitting me? Christ, now I want a meteor to land on MY head.

JGabriel - April 28, 2011 | 5:37 pm · Link

@John PM:

BTW, does anyone know if there is any type of boycott planned for Trump Tower in Chicago? I would attend.

Not to be too pedantic, but I think you mean ‘protest’ instead of ‘boycott’, non-attendance being more the point of boycott.

.

Villago Delenda Est - April 28, 2011 | 5:39 pm · Link

@Pooh:

Yeah, I think that’s a great deal of it.

The bottom line on both of them is that they have that -D next to their names.

The method of claiming that they’re not legitimate varies based on circumstance, but the primary impulse is still there.

Unfortunately, they are tearing at the bandages even more savagely in the case of Obama. The rest of the world looks at this and goes into the WTF mode. Obama to them represent the ideal of America that has so enthralled many for so long…and to see him under attack, from within, reminds them that Americans are just as petty, vindictive, and stupid as another other people on the face of the Earth can be…and it’s a letdown.

General Stuck - April 28, 2011 | 5:45 pm · Link

@Paula:

I want to scribble my initials of approval on your comment?

Time for white liberals to shut the fuck up and really listen to folks of color in their ranks concerning race relations. They (we) white folk, really don’t get a lot of it, even though we think we do as a matter of ideology.

So let er rip, I say.

Cat Lady - April 28, 2011 | 5:48 pm · Link

Let’s not forget Obama was elected in what qualifies as a landslide these days. Should it have been by a much larger margin? Yes. But, it did happen. I said yesterday how embarrassing this whole distressing episode is for everyone, and that I didn’t think there was an upside. After some consideration, I think that this episode has really laid bare everyone’s motivations, and their response allows us to put people clearly on one side or another. This is one of those times where someone identifying as a birther can just be summarily dismissed as a racist fucktard, the end.

gex - April 28, 2011 | 5:49 pm · Link

@kc: It would have been destroyed by that thing on his head and he would have escaped unharmed.

Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal - April 28, 2011 | 5:51 pm · Link

great video, thanks for passing it along.

i have already passed it along several times, to other caucasians, who are having trouble contextualizing the scope of opinion on this.

i have tried to explain why trump succeeded where others failed, and why this is a big deal to people who think “all he had to do was show it”.

gex - April 28, 2011 | 5:53 pm · Link

I don’t even know why we have to debate whether or not the GOP uses racist tactics. Atwater, Melman, and Steele all admitted it. So yeah, even though all presidents with a D are subject to delegitimization, in this particular case they are using racism to do so. This is the usual BS plus some extra BS.

metricpenny - April 28, 2011 | 5:54 pm · Link

@Tom Hilton:

I agree. But I’m hopeful he does more straight talk like when he told the media, “And you know it.”

I love that he has the gift of writing and speaking so beautifully, but in this game, sometimes you just gotta come raw.

sistermoon - April 28, 2011 | 5:56 pm · Link

@Paula:

Yeah, I’m reading the “but every Dem gets it” reasoning on DougJ’s thread tiresome.

So am I. No one ever asked Bill Clinton for his birth certificate. No one ever questioned whether his admissions to Georgetown or Yale were “valid”.

No, this is an example of , as the Rude Pundit so eloquently put it, “the crime of presidenting while black”. If Doug J and others can’t see that, they’re willfully blind.

Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people) - April 28, 2011 | 6:01 pm · Link

ABL, it is shameful and nauseating what’s happened. As an immigrant, I don’t always get the nuances of US racism. But I know this: at the end of the day, Barack Obama is the president of the United States. A position that Donald Trump will never attain. I’ll repeat that: a position that Donald Trump will never attain, no matter how badly he wants it.

Paula - April 28, 2011 | 6:06 pm · Link

@sistermoon:

Well, DougJ’s OP wasn’t the offender for me. It’s willfully obtuse crap like this:

But you know what? We’re done. It doesn’t matter. You’ve convinced yourself that Barack Obama is the only President in history to ever have his humanity degraded by his political opponents for sport and profit, and nothing would convince you otherwise.

Mostly because it’s a signal of why there is no progressive/left/liberal movement in this country. Because if the people who claim to be on some kind of “progressive” vanguard, who are, apparently well-educated and well-off enough to follow news on the internet CANNOT, for the life of them, understand why racism in America is distinct, and how it affects people on both sides of the color barrier—their political goals, the opportunities, their way of thinking about themselves and America—they should be made to understand that THAT’S WHY THEY’RE LOSING TO CONSERVATIVES. BECAUSE THEY ARE SO DUMB ABOUT RACE IN AMERICA.

Anya - April 28, 2011 | 6:13 pm · Link

Via The Obama Diary, on CNN last night Tom Foreman, was still doing the two sides crap. He was talking about how some people, still have questions

Paula - April 28, 2011 | 6:14 pm · Link

@Mako:

Hey, here’s another nice example for my point. THANKS, MAKO.

EDIT: The old-guard Marxist theorists couldn’t really have anticipated the heterogeneity of the modern metropole. But Foucault eventually got to something he called “bio-powers”, which you might be interested in.

Bob Loblaw - April 28, 2011 | 6:20 pm · Link

@Paula:

Well, as the person who wrote that, you should know that it was as a first-generation American of middle eastern descent who was talking to an Indian-descended Brit. Neither one of us is deeply bound to the American tradition of slavery and disenfranchisement of African-Americans. It isn’t our shared history. And so, yeah, I was being more clinical about it than emotional.

It seemed pretty vile for the right to accuse a President and First Lady of murdering one of their friends and employees to cover up financial crimes. Is that worse than the racism shown to Barack Obama and the black community by extension? I’m not sure that’s a particularly relevant question. They’re both heinous. And it might be instructive to see if there’s a broader pattern at work.

Paula - April 28, 2011 | 6:34 pm · Link

And so, yeah, I was being more clinical about it than emotional.

You start off like this, so … MY point is NOT that somehow you’re not “taking seriously” people’s emotions as much as you are being a dumbass about where those emotions come from and how they affect people’s participation in political discourse. In other words, you’re not being clinical, you’re mostly parroting mainstream logic about [brown] people being “oversensitive”.

The fact that you’re brown too doesn’t really add anything to your argument. There are many brown people who like the “I don’t let it bother me” POV, and that’s certainly their right. And in most situations it’s the POV I personally take. But not here, not with a POTUS, who is, after all, symbolic of the “body” politic.

Again, Bill Clinton being hassled by the GOP re various things does not affect the candidacy of other upwardly mobile, self-made white men. Barack Obama, first Black POTUS, being asked to produce proof citizenship affects how other people of color see his office and their relationship to America and to political participation. It also affects how white people will see/treat other possible candidates of color. Just like HRC crying/not crying affects how female candidates as a whole are seen. I really don’t understand why this is such a difficult concept. it’s not about the level of personal nastiness aimed at particular candidates and comparing “which hurts more”.

t jasper parnell - April 28, 2011 | 6:36 pm · Link

@Villago Delenda Est: It’s actually both. Until you open the lid, that is.

Mako - April 28, 2011 | 6:36 pm · Link

@Paula:

THANKS, MAKO.

No worries, Harry Potter.

transmaniacon - April 28, 2011 | 6:51 pm · Link

@Bob Loblaw:

I’m not sure that’s a particularly relevant question

Then why did you ask it?

Just Some Fuckhead - April 28, 2011 | 6:54 pm · Link

@MagicPanda:

In an earlier thread, I said that birtherism seemed rooted more in xenophobia than racism. I now retract that. It was a stupid point. I was trying to make a distinction without a difference.

Nice.

Linnaeus - April 28, 2011 | 6:55 pm · Link

@Mako:

It IS Capitol vs Labor.

Yeah, that’s a major conflict in our society. But it’s not the only one. In fact, sometimes the various threads of conflict, ahem, intersect.

Jack Bauer - April 28, 2011 | 7:00 pm · Link

I originally put down this birther shit to nothing but hating liberals. However watching Trump shift from birther STRAIGHT TO affirmative action baby, has taught me otherwise. As has his leap to the top of the polls for R candidates.

Paula - April 28, 2011 | 7:06 pm · Link

@Mako:

“Let it soak in”?

Look man, if you want to play Marxist in here, don’t be all shallow and buzzword-y about it. “Capital” and “labor” actually mean specific things in “the real conditions of life”. To argue without context is NEOLIBERAL and, therefore, reactionary.

transmaniacon - April 28, 2011 | 7:09 pm · Link

@Caz:

Settled science.

Omnes Omnibus - April 28, 2011 | 7:10 pm · Link

@Mako: Capital, by the way. Your point is noted.

JCT - April 28, 2011 | 7:11 pm · Link

@Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people): This is the essential point. He won, he won convincingly and he had some truly meaningful achievements in his first two years in office. Remember how many folks were screaming about how he should have focused his energies on other issues, not Health care, for example. In retrospect, he was exactly right to go headfirst into that fight. DADT? The recent budget fight – he rolled the Republicans. C’mon, yes it feels like the assholes are winning, but they are not and they know it. This is why they are squealing like the pigs that they are.

We can’t diminish Obama’s achievements by wallowing in despair over the bleating of ridiculous dead-ender racist/opportunists like Trump. We’re stuck with them until they die off.

As noted upthread, he is the embodiment of all that is shallow and ignorant and hopeless in this country. We can’t change it but we can focus on making sure that they are powerless. We will do that by re-electing Obama in 2012 and giving him some real partners in Congress. That we can do.

Meanwhile—as per Thinkprogress, Groupon pulled their ads from Trump’s website—I wrote to every one of his advertisers last night, it’s the only thing that truly matters to that waste of protoplasm.

The Populist - April 28, 2011 | 7:32 pm · Link

@gex: Gex, http://www.dailyemerald.com/op.....-1.2208901

This is the best article in terms of links I’ve found. The MSM is NOT covering this (what a surprise!) outside of Rachel talking about it a few nights back.

Do a google search for the actual PDF: A National Strategic Narrative by Mr. Y

Mako - April 28, 2011 | 7:38 pm · Link

Phoebe - April 28, 2011 | 8:10 pm · Link

@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:

The thing to realize is that it isn’t THEIR America anymore. Its OURS. So stop with the Fuck America, and start with the FUCK THEM.

This is a very fabulous point. Cannot be said enough.

My own take: This may be depressing, this Trump/birther/uglyfest, but what is actually going on is NOT that people are getting more racist, but that people’s already there racism is being revealed. It was always there, and now, thanks mainly to the internet and the black president, it’s coming to the surface. The surface is a good place for it to be, because that’s where we collectively deal with it.

And as for the existence of racism, the total racism quotient when you add all the racism from each beating heart on the planet? I think that’s going down. Also due to the internet and the black president. The truth will out.

mikefromArlington - April 28, 2011 | 9:08 pm · Link

Fuck Trump.

The Raven - April 28, 2011 | 9:38 pm · Link

“It does not matter how long we’ve been in these United States. We will never be American. [...] It hurts more than I thought it would. I’m taking it more personally than perhaps seems rational, but I feel sucker-punched.”

Sympathies. I have more to say about this. But that’s for another day. For now, my sympathies.

micah616 - April 28, 2011 | 10:30 pm · Link

@Karen: Exactly

Balloon Juice » It should be an awkward night at the Washington Post table… - April 29, 2011 | 12:06 am · Link

[...] The video that ABL posted earlier should fill us all with shame—as the man said it is 2011. And yet, we are still dealing with this crap. The old racism is moving out of the shadows. A lot of white folks are embracing a variety of codes that basically just call the President of the United States a nigger over and over and over again. And all of this code talking is tolerated and even promoted by our so called liberal media. [...]

Mnemosyne - April 29, 2011 | 3:17 am · Link

@ABL:

Even more, as we’ll see, it ignores perhaps the most important political lesson regarding the interplay of race and class: namely, that the biggest reason why there is so little working class consciousness and unity in the Untied States (and thus, why class-based programs to uplift all in need are so much weaker here than in the rest of the industrialized world), is precisely because of racism and the way that white racism has been deliberately inculcated among white working folks.

Race and class are so intertwined in the US that your race actually defines your class in most instances.

Here’s the example I like to use: let’s say you put Spike Lee and my white best friend next to each other on a stage and ask 100 people which one of them was raised on the wrong side of 8 Mile Road in Detroit and which one grew up in a nice middle-class home with a mother who was a teacher and a father who was a professional musician.

I guarantee you that the vast majority of the people there would point to Spike as the one who was raised poor in Detroit, not my blonde, blue-eyed friend. He’s automatically assumed to be lower-class because of the color of his skin, and she’s automatically assumed to be middle-class because of the color of her skin.

You can’t talk about class in this country without talking about race. They’re conjoined twins.

Joe - April 29, 2011 | 8:08 am · Link

What a bunch of horse shit. Some people will forever wallow in their self-loathing. The facts are that there is a constitutional requirement that our president be born in the U.S., there were questions surrounding his place of birth as first raised by none other than a Hillary Clinton supporter, and former Clinton machine lawyer, and that Obama himself could have put the thing to rest immediately back then by releasing his long form. He was the one who had to milk this for all it was worth with the goal of whipping people up into a froth like we have here. Mission accomplished, I would say. And he was going to be the great uniter.

Comrade Mary - April 29, 2011 | 11:22 am · Link

@Joe: Moron.

Those “questions” were raised by fringe nutbars who refused to recognize that the official document released in 2008 was not only repeatedly verified as genuine by Hawaii state officials (both republican and Democrat) and corroborated by historical record (the newspaper announcements place by the Board of health, but that the so-called “short form” CLOB is completely sufficient ON ITS OWN as proof of birth in the state of Hawaii.

Obama produced exactly the same documentation that any other person born in Hawaii would have been able to produce. Why was he expected to go above and beyond the legal standard just because some “people” had suspicions?

Meanwhile, almost all Republicans asked about the topic stuck to some variation of “I take the President at his word”, as if this was some great, charitable step they had taken, instead of simply accepting what the state of Hawaii had produced as a fully valid legal document. When asked to criticize birtherism, they said “Gosh, we can’t tell anyone else what to think.” and “I can’t denounce that.” and “Opinions differ.”

And it crept further and further into the media because nutbars frothed and Republicans played semantic games and Fox fanned the flames. You have to be five flavours of special fuckwit to blame Obama for this combination of racism and political opportunism.

Milk? Froth? Clean the moustache off your own lip first.

On the Birthers of a Nation « From Pine View Farm - April 29, 2011 | 4:09 pm · Link

[...] ABL at Balloon Juice.   « Virginia Beach Democratic Party Fourth Fifth Saturday Breakfast | [...]

Obligatory Osama bin Laden Blog Post | Ben Blog - May 2, 2011 | 8:54 pm · Link

[...] that was proud to have a been a part of making the this nation’s first non-white president prove he’s a citizen of his own country, surprisingly didn’t care for the digs at [...]