A local guy who I had come to think of as a friend, sent me the email that was going around claiming Obama was a Muslim, he did not wear a flag pin or recite the Pledge of Allegiance. He said "Check this out. This totally disgusted me. If you had ever pondered the idea of voting for this guy, you should ponder it again."
I responded with this rather derogatory post about racists, rednecks and religious people, and we haven't spoken in almost a year!
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_greg_pur_080120_an_answer_to_evangel.htm
My own father, a life long Union-backing Democrat (who passed away two years ago) would have had a great deal of trouble deciding who to support in this election. In addition to being a sexist who despised Hillary Clinton, he was openly racist. I recall him discussing a local county election for sheriff. He said that the Republican incumbent was "as crooked as they come", but "the only person the Democrats could run against him was a (N-word), so he would have to vote Republican or not at all!
He and his predominately Republican friends had apparently developed a "code word" for black people since the 'N-word" has become so socially unacceptable: They called them "DEMOCRATS".
Example of use: I won't go in THAT restaurant because there's too many DEMOCRATS in there!"
I tried unsuccessfully on more than one occasion to explain the obvious irony of a man who had supported the Democratic party all his life to use that term!
Perhaps it's just a southern thing? Unfortunately not. I have white friends in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. I took a mental survey of the 14 northern people I know best, and came to the following conclusion:
8 are admitted racists and Republicans, so there's no way THEY will ever vote Obama.
2 others own a business and would normally vote Republican but they are very concerned about continuing economic problems and have actually considered Obama's message. I'll list them as 'maybe".
One couple is an affluent independent group and we never talk politics, so it could honestly go either way.
The one that concerns me the most is a "fire breathing liberal democrat" who has ALWAYS agreed with me on political issues. Just before Hillary lost he said "The ('little N-Word) is a Muslim!!! I can't believe anyone would support him!". We haven't spoken lately. He and his wife would be an interesting window into the views of how much headway has been made with Hillary supporters.
So out of 14 people, I have 8 'absolutely not". I have 4 "perhaps", and two "unknowns". It’s not a scientific poll, but also not good for Obama! I've heard it said that if you eliminate all the admittedly racist white voters, there is a much larger and more disturbing group, the "I'm not a racist BUT..." crowd.
These people have deep seated racial problems that they either cannot admit to, don't even realize, or that they feel inherently guilty for. These people need a good reason to vote AGAINST Obama. They need to be able to say to themselves (or others) "I'm not a racist, but Obama is a Muslim",
or "I'm not a racist but Obama will raise my taxes" or more commonly: I’m not a racist, but Obama is just TOO INEXPERIENCED! (it has been my observation that Sarah Palin has MORE than enough ‘experience” to satisfy these voter’s requirements in that department!)
Ironically (and admittedly racist to a certain point) I've been able to reach some of these folks by saying "Obama had a black father who left when he was very young. HE was the Muslim. His white mother and grandparents raised Barack. They sent him to a Christian church and school and gave him a good education. If this happened to YOUR daughter would you call the child that you raised a (n-word) when he ran for president?" http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarymanage.php?submit=view&did=9029
Amazingly enough, a white teen pregnancy where the white parents are left to raise the mixed race baby of some "worthless N-word" kid hits closely enough to home here in the south to garner a lot of support for our candidate!
EXPLOITING RACISM IS THE CRUX OF THE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN AGAINST OBAMA: The idea is to present any number of legitimate reasons to those voters already pre-disposed to oppose him for racial reasons.
It's despicable in today's world to aggravate an already widening culture divide, but the most egregious thing this campaign has done is to VALIDATE the nation’s residual racial tension by selecting a vice presidential candidate whose family exudes the radical racial views of the past! She doesn't even TRY to hide her racism in public:
http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/09/05/alaskans-speak-in-a-frightened-whisper-palin-is-%e2%80%9cracist-sexist-vindictive-and-mean%e2%80%9d/
The "Country First" candidate who would rather "lose an election than lose a war" has DECLARED war... on half of THIS country's people in order to WIN his election. McCain, the self-proclaimed “maverick” who has pledged to "reach across the aisle" and “work with Democrats and Independents to change and unite our country” is clearly willing to leave it more divided than at any time in the last 40 years, to destroy this country to “win an election”. He’s banking it all on this question:
Will the Democrats REALLY rally behind a black candidate?
Obama was much more effective with his 'I don't look like the other presidents" line. He immediately backed down when the McCain camp attacked him on it, and he shouldn't have. I don't have all the answers, but if this issue isn't addressed, it will be 2004 all over again.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/8/94116/88327/357/590522
Finally, we now have another OJ Simpson trial that will be nationally televised for the next few months. This could be the next "October Surprise".
I must admit, I'm not optimistic.
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