Huckabee Fears American Minorities, Not Actual Terrorists

Now, I've already discussed less credible charges of veiled racism from within the McCain campaign, but here is an example I think deserves a closer look:

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, mentioned as a possible running mate for presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, yesterday said he feels safer in Israel than in American cities.

...

"I have no fear to go to Israel," Huckabee said before boarding a plane at Kennedy Airport.

"I felt more fear in American cities. I can walk down the streets of Tel Aviv at night without a problem. But I, of course, have the knowledge of which places not to go at night, just like any other city in America."

Uh huh. And how do you know that, governor? Oh yes, when black and brown people are standing outside....

Make no mistake, America has some very terrible neighborhoods (most of which are heavily dependent on the government dole, might I add). But poor and black (or Hispanic) does not mean dangerous.

I'm not saying Huckabee is a racist, but what he said is certainly more likely to be construed as such than the now notorious "Celeb" ad. (That said, coming from a Baptist good ol' boy it strikes me as entirely plausible that it is.) Statistically speaking, he may very well be right to say he's safer in Tel Aviv than he is in New York City or Washington,DC, but the added "where not to go at night" comment was questionable, at best.

It will be interesting to see what kind of attention the media gives the comments.

UPDATE: A friend emailed me to disagree with what I wrote in this post. I think her criticisms are fair, although I stand by what I wrote. In response to her, however, I wrote the following which I probably should have included in the original:

Euphemisms and political correctness have replaced overt racism in the broader American lexicon...The language is benign, often masking a more malicious or callous intent. He would never say "I know better than to go into poor black neighborhoods" -- but in fact, he just did.

UPDATE II: It should also be noted that I don't mean to pick on Israel as a particularly dangerous country. It was the characterization of US cities and the implications of certain sections of them which offended me, not the comparison to Israel. My headline is admittedly overstated, but in no way to dispute that there are places more dangerous in the US to live than Israel.

"Save it for 2050"

From HRC's intra-campaign memos on how to deal with Obama:

All of these articles about his boyhood in Indonesia and his life in Hawaii are geared towards showing his background is diverse, multicultural and putting that in a new light.

Save it for 2050.

...

Let’s explicitly own ‘American’ in our programs, the speeches and the values. He doesn’t. Make this a new American Century, the American Strategic Energy Fund. Let’s use our logo to make some flags we can give out. Let’s add flag symbols to the backgrounds.

Wow. I must give HRC a little credit here: she didn't take the advice to paint Obama as essentially non-American. Granted, in any other profession such a move would not be a compliment--but this is electoral politics.

Read the remarkably revealing details of the Clinton campaign meltdown at the Atlantic here.

Mood Music Monday

Bernie Mac (1957-2008), R.I.P.

One of the unsung giants of comedy has passed away.

Bernie Mac was been a staple of black comedy for over 30 years, only relatively recently receiving his due appreciation from the mainstream (read: white) audiences. His status within the world of black comedy can be noted in his placement as the closing act in Spike Lee's 2000 Original Kings of Comedy--a more prominent placement than three other more commercially successful comics Cedric the Entertainer, Steve Harvey, and D.L. Hughley. Mac's talent was his vivid tell-it-like-it-is, no bullshit storytelling. This probably hindered his career as far as the wider audiences, but no doubt endeared himself all the more to his fans.

Here is his opening bit from Kings. Needless to say, the audio is NSFW:



R.I.P.

I Am Now a (Reluctant) Jets Fan

And I really can't stand Jets fans. (Yes, I am aware of the minor overlap with Yankees fans. I. Don't. Care.)

But, so long as the Jets aren't playing the Saints or the Colts, I'll be pulling for them because Brett Favre is what football is all about. He loves the game and plays it with the passion of a kid; he's got one of the most amazing arms you'll ever see; and he plays through all sorts of pain. He is my all-time favorite QB.

Arguably, and I tend to agree, there have been better QBs. But none have the full appeal that Favre does -- and he deserves better than what he got.

Senator Strangelove

Given my airing of two McCain ads yesterday, it seems only fair that I should put up this gem:

"Deliberately and Deceptively Racist"

Over at Politico, my friend and reason editor Michael Moynihan has a thoughtful piece on race and the race.

In a web-only column, The New York Times editorial page charged that the ad [comparing Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton] was a “racially tinged attack” like the one that “ran against Harold Ford, a black candidate for Senate in Tennessee in 2006. That assault, too, began with videos juxtaposing Mr. Ford with young, white women." The American Prospect’s Ezra Klein huffed that the McCain campaign is “running crypto-racist ads.” Bill Press, former co-host of CNN's Crossfire, proclaimed that the “Celeb” spot was "deliberately and deceptively racist." Polk Award-winning blogger Josh Marshall wrote that “the McCain campaign is now pushing the caricature of Obama as a uppity young black man whose presumptuousness is displayed not only in taking on airs above his station but also in a taste for young white women."

Deceptively racist? What, pray tell, does that even mean? To establish such a claim would be to say that while the ad itself wasn't racist, it was intended to be, but so slick as to not appear so. (Thus defeating the purpose of expressing a racist sentiment.) Er, comparing Sen. Obama to two vapid pop stars is about as racist as comparing him to Charlton Heston's Moses from "The Ten Commandments."

Oh wait...

But it wasn’t just the Britney-Paris ad that channeled voters’ inner Orval Faubus. McCain’s follow-up video joked that the star-struck press corps had anointed him “The One,” a man that could not only “do no wrong” but could also probably, with powers bestowed by the media, part the Red Sea. Cue the clip of Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments.

Here, too, was the specter of racism. “When you see this Charlton Heston ad, ‘The One,’ that’s code for, ‘He’s uppity; he ought to stay in his place,'” political consultant David Gergen told his mystified co-panelists on “This Week.” “It’s the subtext of this campaign. Everybody knows that.” To no one’s surprise, Brazile agreed.

What????

I know more than a few people who don't recognize legitimate prejudice, race-baiting, and racism. Genuine racism, however, isn't something that forces reasonable people into mental contortions to see.

If Democratic strategists are thinking all these things when they see the ad, perhaps they are the ones who need to reevaluate their thoughts on race.

This is in no way an endorsement of McCain, but just view the ads for yourself:






I don't see it.