Barack Obama – Page 14

Just when you think they can’t get anymore vile…

Conservatives like Pat Buchanan not only accuse Colin Powell of supporting Obama because of race, but do so in an article titled “Tribal Politics.”

Buchanan also says that Powell “owes his fame and career” to the Republican party, and that his endorsement of Obama “smack of ingratitude, opportunism, and even vindictiveness.” The implication, of course, is that Powell should have been grateful that the Republicans let the likes of him through the door. He didn’t become an accomplished general by pulling himself up by his own bootstraps and working hard like everyone else; no, he was the GOP’s affirmative action candidate.

If Buchanan irks you and you want a good laugh, check out Ben Shapiro’s You Might Be An Elitist If column. Apparently in his years at UCLA and Harvard Law and in his short time practicing as an associate in LA (a totally-not-elitist city where he gets paid the totally-not-elitist salary of at least $160,000), totally-not-elitist Ben has learned that the term “elitist” simply means “someone I don’t like.” Here are some of the things Ben believes reflect elitist values:

You’re an elitist if you think the government should manage the health care system even though it can’t manage to keep the tax code within a 10,000 page limit.

You’re an elitist if you think transgenders ought to have their own bathrooms for privacy reasons, but public distribution of pornography is fine.

You’re an elitist if you think that pro-life folks are fascists unmotivated by true sympathy for the unborn.

…right. I hope his law school finals were this intellectually compelling — perhaps he just wrote the words “Roe v. Wade” followed by a bunch of frowny-faces. It makes me think that Ben got into Harvard Elle Woods-style (or, more likely, Aleksey Vayner-style).

So allow me to help.

Dear Ben:

Here.

Love,
Jill.

p.s. I ate an organic arugala salad tonight and it was delicious.

Voter suppression has already begun

This morning’s headlines on Democracy Now! included reports of people having problems at the polls during the early voting process that has already begun in many states. Two weeks out from Election Day and we’re already hearing this – what does this bode for November 4? The DN! reports include claims from voters in West Virginia that the touchscreen machines they used changed their votes from Obama to McCain, allegations from Democratic Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio that the Republican Party is trying to scare newly registered voters by challenging the status of almost 200,000 new registrations, and this most chilling report from North Carolina (a contested state that has been swinging towards Obama):

McCain Supporters Harass Obama Voters in North Carolina

In North Carolina, over 200,000 residents have already cast ballots in early voting. In Fayetteville, a group of John McCain supporters heckled and harassed a group of mostly black supporters of Barack Obama as they voted on Sunday. The Washington Times reported the McCain backers shouted and mocked the voters as they walked into the voting place. The website Facing South reports the McCain supporters likely broke the Voting Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits anyone from intimidating or threatening a person for voting or attempting to vote. On that same day in Fayetteville, North Carolina, thirty people reported having their tires slashed after attending an Obama rally.

UPDATE: Christina Bellantoni provides video of the hecklers and the heckled in NC on the Huffington Post.

And although it’s not an example of direct voter suppression per se, DN!’s next headline is inextricably linked to Republican efforts to cast aspersion on the newfound empowerment of newly registered, formerly disproportionately disenfranchised voters, many of whom have been registered by ACORN and similar organizations:

Obama Campaign Volunteer Assaulted in Wisconsin

In Caledonia, Wisconsin, a fifty-eight-year-old Obama campaign volunteer was assaulted on Saturday while canvasing. Nancy Takehara was attacked by a disgruntled homeowner who accused her of being connected to the community organizing group ACORN. Takehara said, “He grabbed me by the back of the neck. I thought he was going to rip my hair out of my head. He was pounding on my head and screaming.” Takehara said she was not seriously injured.

Between reports like that and the vile, racially-charged garbage that’s been coming out of the McCain camp and his supporters of late, it really does feel like we’ve been forcefully transported back to a darker time in American history. Or, more accurately, the venom and bile that’s been mostly simmering under the surface all along is boiling up thanks to McCain, Palin, and their surrogates stoking the flames.

It’s getting scarier and scarier out there. And we’ll all have to be that much more vigilant and vociferous in our defense of everyone’s right to cast their vote and have it properly counted – no matter who they are or who they’re voting for, and no matter the color of their skin or their chosen candidate’s.

Cross-posted at AngryBrownButch

Only a Matter of Time?

I love PostSecret, but I hope they reported this. It’s something a lot of us are afraid of, but this postcard looks more like a threat than anything else.

..and even more anti-Obama racism

There was the Barack Obama effigy found hanging from a tree at George Fox University in Oregon. There was the “shadow of death” Halloween display. There was the billboard of Barack “Hussein” Obama in a turban. Now there’s a sign comparing “Barrack” Hussein Obama to Marx, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini and Castro (they forgot Pol Pot, but otherwise it’s a Godwin’s dream) — and it’s hung up in a McCain campaign office in Florida. Because, you know, Obama is a Socialist. Which is an interesting point, because I’m pretty sure it was our Republican administration that just nationalized the financial sector.

And you know, if you’re going to make a ridiculous sign, can you at least spell the guy’s name right and punctuate it correctly? “Are you nuts” is a question, not an exclamation.

More Anti-Obama Racism from the GOP

This time it’s an image of Obama surrouned by fried chicken, watermelon and food stamps.

And the ongoing racism is hurting and alienating even their own members:

Sheila Raines, an African-American member of the club, was the first person to complain to Fedele about the newsletter. Raines, of San Bernardino, said she has worked hard to try to convince other minorities to join the Republican Party and now she feels betrayed.

“This is what keeps African-Americans from joining the Republican Party,” she said. “I’m really hurt. I cried for 45 minutes.”

More Racist Republican Fear-Mongering

And like the “Waterboard Barack Obama” graphic, this is coming from the GOP itself, not from random supporters. The Republican National Committee is sending out fliers implying that Obama is a terrorist:

In a stark new brochure Wednesday, the Republican National Committee subtly plays on the false belief held by many Americans that Barack Obama is a Muslim, an Arab, or somehow un-American.

“Terrorists don’t care who they hurt,” says the cover the brochure, arriving in mailboxes Wednesday in the battleground state of Virginia.

The words appear over a picture of someone in shadow eyeing or photograhing the front of an airplane, an apparent reference to the fact that terrorists used hijacked airplanes to kill Americans in 2001.

Flip open the brochure, and the photo is of Obama.
…
“Barack Obama,” it says, “Not who you think he is.”

John McCain: Openly Scoffing at Your Health

I believe that I speak for many American women when I say in response to last night’s debate (video below) that I do not want Senator McCain’s brand of “compassion,” and I sure as hell do not want his kind of “help.” I do not need him to help me have the “courage” to let him make my choices for me about my body.

When it comes to an unplanned pregnancy, the kind of “compassion” I want is not a paternalistic pat on the head. I don’t want to be told how hard this is as if I don’t already know, only to have it explained that for that reason, the decision has been made for me. The kind of compassion I want is the ability to make the right choice for me regarding that pregnancy and any assistance needed to be empowered to make it. It’s the same kind of compassion that I want for each and every woman on this planet, and it’s the kind that McCain is not willing to provide.

I’m tired of the condescension. Do many women who would prefer to not have an abortion need to be provided with the tools and resources they need to feel as though they can carry a pregnancy to term? Yes, absolutely, I’ve said as much and it’s the Democratic platform that is supporting such policies.

But providing resources to carry to term does not solve the problems of every unintended pregnancy. A woman who does not want a child, who does not want a child with the particular man she became pregnant with or has even been raped, who does not want a child at her age no matter how much money she has, who is finished with her childbearing, or who is facing a mental or physical health issue is not “helped” by the McCain “compassion” which would eliminate their access to abortion. And in any case, McCain doesn’t support programs that would do the things he claims he wants to do; that kind of “redistribution of wealth” is for socialists.

LiveBlog: Final Debates

Welcome to the Presidential Debate Live-Blog! We’ll be snarking away throughout the debate, and you all are more than welcome to contribute — just type your comments into the liveblog box, and provided that they’re appropriate (i.e., not trolling) we’ll approve them as they come in. We’re hoping that the Feministe live-blog will be more like a big reader-and-blogger back-and-forth instead of just the bloggers talking, so feel free to participate and comment away.

The Final Debate Drinking Game

I’ll be wine-and-cheesing it like a true East Coast elite at my friend’s pad in Brooklyn (we’ll probably even use old editions of The New Yorker for coasters) while I live-blog with you all. Whatever you’re doing, I hope you have some booze, because the Feministe team has got a game for you. Add your suggestions in the comments.

SIP whenever McCain smiles inappropriately or speaks out of turn.

SMELL your wine appreciatively whenever Obama gives that knowing, brow-furrowed, I-am-very-serious nod.

DRINK if Obama panders to anti-choicers before stating a strong pro-choice position. Ditto for marriage equality. GULP if McCain references Dredd Scott — it means he’s getting the dogwhistles down.

DRINK whenever Obama talks about his parents or McCain talks about being a POW.

TAKE A SHOT when McCain brings up Ayers (because you know he’s going to). Follow that shot with another if he actually uses the phrase “pallin’ around with terrorists.”

TOAST if Obama follows up the Ayers mention by pointing out that one of McCain’s major donors also sat on one of those boards, and/or that McCain has his own connections not only to anti-choice terrorists, but to the U.S. Council of World Freedom, on whose board he sat — an organization that Hendrik Herzberg describes as “the American outpost of the World Anti-Communist League, a sort of clearing house for former Nazi collaborators, Central American death-squad leaders, and assorted international thugs.”

TAKE A SHOT if Obama mentions the Keating Five.

DRINK if McCain uses the phrase “My friends” or “My friend” like a bad salesman. Also drink for “American people.”

SIP when McCain tells us how much he understands.

DRINK whenever the moderator has to scold the candidates for not following the time rules. Drink double if it’s McCain who keeps breaking the rules and Obama who keeps getting scolded.

TAKE A SHOT if McCain refers to himself as a “maverick.”

SIP for every mention of Main Street vs. Wall Street.

DRINK whenever someone makes a lame joke. Take a shot if you actually laugh.

CHUG if either candidate calls the other “that one.”

POUR YOURSELF ANOTHER GLASS whenever the debate becomes mind-numblingly boring.

Don’t forget to tune in to the Feministe live-blog!

“Waterboard Barack Obama”

Lately, there have been a lot of stories about racist and/or threatening remarks directed at Sen. Obama from conservatives and McCain supporters. I personally think McCain and Palin are partially responsible for breeding a hateful and negative environment, but the excuse so far has been that the comments like “Kill him!” have come from lone wackos at rallies, and the racist and threatening images (like Obama next to a noose or Obama as a monkey) have come from lone wackos on blogs.

That excuse doesn’t hold anymore.

The image Andrew Sullivan posts is from the offical Republican party website for Sacramento County. For those who don’t feel like clicking over, it’s a picture of Obama next to a picture of Osama bin Laden with the words, “The only difference between Obama and Osama is BS. Waterboard Barack Obama.”

It kinda makes me agree with Christopher Hitchens, of all people:

It therefore seems to me that the Republican Party has invited not just defeat but discredit this year, and that both its nominees for the highest offices in the land should be decisively repudiated, along with any senators, congressmen, and governors who endorse them.

…

One only wishes that the election could be over now and a proper and dignified verdict rendered, so as to spare democracy and civility the degradation to which they look like being subjected in the remaining days of a low, dishonest campaign.