David Duke stands before a gathering of white people from Louisiana, and states the foillowing:
Bill Clinton is out of touch. Bill Clinton does not share our values.
What would your reaction be?
Tren Lott stands before a gathring of his constituents, and states about his political opponent:
My opponent is not from Mississippi. He does not understand our way of life. He does not share our values.
How long would it be before the ‘southern strategy’ would be mentioned? How long before the ‘all Republicans are racist’ meme would be revived? Why then, is it acceptable for Cruz Bustamante, in front of an Hispanic audience, to state the following:
He (Arnold S.) does not share our values?
Just let me know what the difference is and I won’t make a big deal about it.
*** Update ***
I finally found it:
If Hispanic voters turn out, they could represent about 15 percent of the votes cast.
“Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn’t have our values,” Bustamante told the crowd. “He doesn’t live lives like we do. He doesn’t have the same worries that we have. He won’t fight for our families, our neighborhoods, our schools. He doesn’t understand our lives.”
Bustamante has played up his Hispanic roots and has applauded Davis’ recent signing of a bill allowing illegal immigrants to get drivers’ licenses, a bill the governor opposed before the recall initiative.
That is playing the race card. Period.
peggy
I don’t think all Republicans are racists, but it might be true that Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn’t really share the values of many Hispanics, you know?
Many things are possible to contemplate, when one steps beyond polemics.
greg
I don’t think it’s a particularly big deal, but it gives Arnold’s advisors/supporters a chance to kind of put the idea out there that Bustamante won’t be the Governor of all of California, just the Governor of Hispanic California, and they can do so simply by using Bustamante’s own words.
It may not be true, but they can throw it out there.
A couple years ago, while giving a speech to a group of black journalists, Philly Mayor John Street was talking about how he placed more blacks in high positions than any other previous mayor. Then, in a moment of stupidity and in front of what he thought was a friendly audience, he threw in this statement: “The brothers and the sisters are running this city. The brothers and sisters are in charge”. Or something to that effect.
I don’t think John Street’s a racist or anything, but don’t think that statement isn’t being brought up just about every single day in the current mayoral campaign.
markus
without a link and context it’s hard to tell.
That said, I wouldn’t object to the first two cases either, but that may be just me. Anyway, following peggy I’d add that it’s likely Bustamante spoke to his followers or at least to people who are interested in him. So talking about our values makes sense. For instance a hypothetical Bush talking about our values to a devout Christian audience would be justified to say I and other nonbelievers like me don’t share their values, because I/we don’t. A Republican talking before a “tax=theft” crowd would be just as justified (to claim no shared values), because I don’t share their values. Of course there’s a bunch of values we all share, and it’s nice to note that even politicans sometimes remember that. Still IMO much of politics is about promoting your values, usually at the expense of someone else’s values.
Karen
I don’t usually comment on your blog, though I certainly enjoy reading it. I couldn’t help myself after reading the above however. Everybody has flunked the exam John gave you. My impression, correct me if I’m wrong, was not to find out whether reasonable people would find the Bustamante remarks racist but why the reaction of
the media and various pundits did not treat them as such. If spoken by a Republican or conservative, would the media be in full-blown outrage now? If you’re going to be honest, the answer has to be yes. Assuming Republicans and conservatives are racists is the default position.
bg
well karen, if you’re right about what this pop quiz is about, then i think the subject is plain silly.
For instance, if a democrat spoke in front of planned parenthood and said something similar, conservative pundits would surely declare them beholden to special interest groups. And if the same politician said something similar before the NAACP, then they’d be accused of pandering.
Like i said, this is silly and pointless, not to mention pretentious.
GFW
Well gee, the first guy is a former klan member.
The second guy hangs out with them.
The third guy is the hispanic Lt. Governor of California.
That’s one difference at least.
Dean
Yeah, but GFW, until the people of West Virginia turns out Robert Byrd, I guess Lott has no choice, eh?
John Cole
Lemme see GFW- What you are saying is that appeals to race are acceptable if you don’t have a track record with racist groups?
GFW
Dean-
I was thinking more along the lines of the Council of Conservative Citizens, irridentist ex-Sovereigty Committeemembers, and assorted Sons of the Confederacy.
But if you’d like to compare the civil rights records of Robert Byrd and Trent Lott, we can do that too.
GFW
John-
Are you suggesting that we (the public, the press, etc) should interpret Bustamante’s statements with the same analytical framework with which we interpret statements from David Duke? Or is there context involved?
dwight meredith
Context is important. One of my best friends came up to me recently at a PTA meeting and said “Give me your car keys.” I handed them over figuring that he would explain later. He did, my car was blocking his and he needed to move it.
If a stranger holding a pistol walked up to me in a mall parking lot and said “give me your car keys” I would have had a different feeling, although I certainly would have handed them over in that instance as well.
John Cole
The moral of the story is that it does not take much to separate Dwight from hs car keys.
Seriously, though. I do not think Cruz Bustamante is a bigot or a racist, I could give two hoots in hell what groups he joined during college, but I find it unfair and hypocritical for minority candidates to blatantly pander regarding race, while white cadidates would be murdered in the press for the same reason. Change David Duke with Bob Dole and Trent Lott with John McCain- they are not racists nor do they carry any racial baggage. If they made the statements I have above, the press would murder them.
Chuck Smith
Context please. Bustamante was attacking Arnold who he said “lives on Planet Hollywood.” According to the L.A. Times, he then followed the morals line with “He doesn’t live like we do. He doesn’t have the worries that we have.” Bustamante is attacking Arnold as an out of touch rich guy. This is hardly breaking new ground or treading into some anti-austrian territory. The only reason Cole reads racism into the statement is because Bustamante is Hispanic. Appararently, only white candidates without a history of racism can make “values” criticisms.
John Cole
Chuck- I did not hear the entire speech- I heard only the line I quoted on the news- I even searched for it via google news, but came up short.
Regardless, my point still stands. If a white person in the south made the same remarks to a white audience, Dave Niewert and the rest of the left would see it as ‘code’ for the southern strategy.
GFW
I honestly don’t think McCain or Dole would make those kinds of statements to a white southern audience. And even if they did, the SCLM would probably give them a free pass, like they do all the time. Usually, it’s only when somebody with a history like Trent Lott makes that kind of statement is it news to the SCLM.
markus
Regardless, my point still stands. Chuck tells you you’re out of context, others told you that _no_ we think a white person in the south can make that remark, but your point still stands? Please reconsider, you seem to be at odds with the facts.
Ricky
FYI, Dick Gephardt sought the endorsement of & spoke before a group that splintered off into the CCC. (Metro South Citizens Council)
cameron
John Cole wrote:
“Chuck- I did not hear the entire speech- I heard only the line I quoted on the news- I even searched for it via google news, but came up short.”
Classic regurgetation.
There is too much of this “hear a quote and run with it” with out checking the context, creating an opinion on just one sentence out of an entire speach. Both sides do it and it’s just stupid.
But people do eat this stuff up, hence its survival as a tactic in politics.
Matthew
I’m glad to see liberals arguing that the context of quotes is important. I’m sure you’ll stop to think before laughing at the next Slate Bushism column ;-)
markus
@matthew: don’t read ’em, but even if, as you mentioned Bushisms are about getting a quick laugh (an arguable motive, but still). What John brought up was a bit more serious, hence the standard is a little different and context is more important.
GFW
“That is playing the race card. Period.”
Race card or class card?
John Cole
Considering the only thing they had in common was being Hispanic, it had everything to do with race and nothing to do with class. Cruz is, after all, pretty well off and using the words OUR- so he wasn’t talking about class. It was simple racial pandering, period.
richard t
Isn’t Cruz just like his mexican political brethren? Rich and White?
Mexico is 9% white and the whites run 95% of the government.
Don’t want to be an illegal in Mexico either, they don’t take to kindly to that.
Kimmitt
Yeah, Bustamonte was taking advantage of his background to give the impression that he was more like a given set of voters than other ones. He was saying, “I’m a Hispanic like you, vote for me.”
That’s exactly what Trent Lott does, too. The difference is that when he does it, he’s saying, “I’m a vicious bigot like you, so vote for me.”
The code come in on what kind of amity is being proclaimed, not whether or not amity itself is sought.