This Black DUer wants a word with you....

[FrenchieCat]

Anytime the discussion turns to Race, we lose ground.

I hope folks keep this in mind as they panic or get worked up at what McCain and his campaign are scooping at us.

AT this point, it's best left ignored for the most part.


I'm telling ya'll. Focus on this will not help us in a long or short run.

We really need to be focusing on the economy and anything shit you can dig up on McCain.

I'm amazed that the paramilitary stuff came out via AP, and no one seems to give a shit,
including here.

[Howardx]

1. why? n/t

[FrenchieCat]

10. Because what should be important in voters' minds is the economy,

not the candidates' race.

We are reacting exactly the way that the McCain camp wants us to.

They need to be made the Fringe, and that can only happen if folks stop paying so much attention to every frigging thing they say.

I refuse to look at videos of their rallies, etc.
It is a circus freak show that brings me no solace.

Those DUers posting those rally Youtube rallies are only doing these fools a favor, IMO.

Folks in large numbers can become crazed. Our job should be to limit their numbers,
not to make it seem like something to be curious about.

[TheDonkey]

13. It's a distraction. People won't vote Obama because they feel bad for him

They'll vote for him if they feel he can make their lives better.

I agree, the MSM's newfound obsession with the hate rallies is not a positive for us. They are using it as a distraction. Just like the racial charged "celebrity" crap from a month or so ago and during that dust up McTroll rose in the polls.

[FrenchieCat]

30. Well said.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. THAT is what I think too. I am really pissed at the play the media is giving these

mentally deficient, mouth-breathing, slack-jawed dimwits. I include the barracuda in that group...and all the KKK members that she is appealing to.

[EFerrari]

3. I agree 150%. We don't need to remind people of their shortcomings.

That doesn't mean I don't believe this horrible crap should be confronted and every f#cking time.

It just can't be done by the campaign. That's the country we live in right now.

[TwilightGardener]

4. Agreed--they're baiting in earnest now, sending Princess Bitchface out to

friendly RW interviews to spew racially provocative comments without challenge, in the hopes of getting the Obama campaign to respond so they can scream "race card"--Obama is just going to have to go Jackie Robinson on this.

[knowbody0]

5. absolutely

the fire will go out on its own. attention feeds it

[blondeatlast]

6. Agreed. Nonetheless, I fully expect the DU Concern Patroll*

to be very concerned about this.

There needs to be a dialog--but it has to wait until January now. Please.

Wise words, FC.

*spelling utterly intentional.

[Tarheel_Dem]

7. I have so been wanting to say the same thing, but I thought I'd be

drowned out. As an African American myself, I don't think every utterance from some racist POS deserves a headline. While listening to the my favorite talk shows, it seems to be the white folks that become most animated by the hatred directed at Obama. I've got news people, black folks are used to it. There's always gonna be racism, but I wish we wouldn't spend so much energy on every instance. It only helps the McCain campaign, because they would rather us be talking about anything but the issues.

[knowledgeispwr]

17. Another black Tar Heel...

and I completely agree. We are used to this stuff and broadcasting the very evident racism directed towards Obama doesn't help him get elected.

I also agree that appears to be white folks that are most worked up about hate directed at Obama.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

25. A third black Tarheel feels the same .

You summed up what I have been feeling for months.

[OneGrassRoot]

8. Thanks. I posted an OP several days ago, asking specifically...

for black DUer's input on this, as I can't walk in your shoes and I wanted to try to understand it from your viewpoint. I got nuthin'. ;)

What about the paramilitary stuff?

[OneGrassRoot]

11. Another question:

now that it's devolving into flat out calling Obama a terrorist, what are your thoughts about that, versus old-fashioned racism and race baiting?

I saw it going in this direction but am surprised it "went there" so fast.

It's beyond the racism aspect now, even though that is what is underlying it and has fueled it.

Thoughts?

[TheDonkey]

14. I think you call them out as being erratic, unpatriotic, disgraceful

but just leave the "race baiting" out of it. No need and it's too loaded for many people. Call it for what it is worth, deranged unhinged rethuglicans knowing they are going to lose and foaming at the mouth.

[blondeatlast]

16. Maybe it's time to STOP differentiating between the hatreds.

Hatred of a fellow human is hatred--PERIOD.

[FrenchieCat]

21. I think we have to fight back based on what we know about

McCain and Palin. They are both too dirty with their own trails for us to stay fixated on what they are saying about Barack.

It is unfortunate that unlike when folks were trying to figure out who's baby Trigg was, we don't see to have the same energy in digging up dirt that would be twice as harmful as anything that they can come out with on our guy.

See, we are being reactive....when we should be proactive with the AIP stuff, as well as the questionnable associations that McCain has.

It's like we get excited about the things that aren't that helpful to us.

[OneGrassRoot]

28. Is it my imagination, or is this one fucked up election? LOL

It just dawned on me how ridiculous (albeit dangerous and serious as shit) this is.

You've got a stand-up, intelligent black guy with a foreign name going against a veteran with some stage of dementia, who has a selected a VP who is a religious extremist!

That's what I'm going with: McCain is erratic and seemingly incompetent, not to mention Bush's twin. Palin is a religious extremist, with Cheney's ideals. Batshit crazy religious extremist, with a husband who is a secessionist. Too many "ists" in their family.

[FrenchieCat]

34. Exactly right. It has nothing to do with race,

and everything to do with the fact that the GOP ticket is not fit to be elected, period.

[FrenchieCat]

20. Here's the Paramilitary associations.....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/06/why-mccains-time-with-cou_n_132470.html

http://www.crooksandliars.com/john-amato/mccain-tied-us-council-world-freedom-na

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015061.php

http://wizbangblue.com/2008/10/05/mccain-pals-around-with-racists-and-antisemites.php

http://www.wordofsouth.com/myblock/showthread.php?t=68073

[OneGrassRoot]

22. Awesome. Frenchie, can I be a pain in the ass and ask for something else?

I bookmarked it but quite a few things went "poof" with the bugginess at DU yesterday, so it's gone.

Could you please post the link to that great OP with all the media contact information?

Thanks. :)

[FrenchieCat]

29. I don't think I can....cause that OP is too old.

I'll probably do a new one, if it looks like DUers aren't going to calm the fuck down.

We really need to be active in a way that is constructive to us.

We should be writing the media telling them that we want certain stories looked into out of fairness.

You see, this smear campaign is totally lopsided, and the media is not at all doing their job.

Again, they want the focus to be race.......and we are being played right into their hands.

We really don't have much time, but the point is to have folks forget that OBama is Black....
we want him judged on his character, not the color of his skin.

[LooseWilly]

43. It seems unlikely that anyone who isn't already decided might care about this stuff....

I mean, most of that stuff pales in comparison to Cheney's involvement with Iran Contra... not to mention shooting someone in the face. If the fools who vote Republican have no issue with that, then what're a couple of Latin American death squads to them?... Especially if the squads are just killing commies (which they are, de facto, if they're killed by anti-communist death squads... just like everyone interred in Gitmo is a terrorist, because Gitmo is for detaining terrorists... so if you're detained there you are, by definition, a terrorist).

If you wanna go after McCain, use his dipshit plan to buy up all the mortgages that've lost value. THAT'S something that will matter to people who might consider voting for him.

Ohh yeah, and the whole race baiting thing is being dealt with pretty well by Obama, I think, by just calling him erratic...

[EmeraldCityGrl]

9. Thank you . I needed to be talked down.

There was a radio show on Air America this weekend that connected McCain to a Russian oligarch
in Madagascar. Apparently Rick Davis was involved as well. I caught
the tail end of the show and haven't been able to find anything on the internet.

[Fleshdancer]

12. I prefer Obama stick with the issues while I personally go batshitcrazy on racists

It's more productive for Obama, and fun for me. :D

[MISSDem]

15. I agree. Just let them alone to show their true colors for

the whole world to see. They won't be able to say it is not so after everyone has seen it with their own eyes. Yesterday in my local newspaper there was an article about an elected official using government email to send an email to folks asking them to pray that Obama does not get elected. He went on to say that Obama is a Muslimm, yada, yada, yada. He should be fired! we'll see what happens here.

[Hatchling]

18. What paramilitary stuff?

BTW. I said the same thing as your op in a post yesterday. We can't let them turn it back into a discussion of race. We're post racial now. Obama is our very best chance, if not our only chance to turn this disaster around.

[Born_A_Truman]

19. Frenchie Cat, I respect you totally

but this racist crap pisses me off bigtime. I cannot know what it is like to be black but I have had black friends most of my life, was run off the road outside of Springfield, MO in the late 60's when I had a black friend in the car with me. As much as things are changing, to see the McCain camp whipping up this issue makes me want to puke and I have a real hard time keeping my mouth shut. Sorry.

[FrenchieCat]

26. Discussing our candidate's race will not get him elected.....

People are not going to vote for him out of guilt. They are only going to vote for him because he is the better man. If we start making it appear that electing a Black man is going to be too divisive for this country to handle, that's a strike against him.

Whenever race comes up in this contest, it is only Barack that will be harmed, and us in the process.

This is what John McCain is trying to do....and we are helpig him succeed. It may be primal to get pissed, but we need to be as cool as Obama is being on this......

We can't afford to make a mistake to feel that we did the right thing. It ain't about being silent, it's about not building some kind of outrage. Our candidate is a great choice, and that is why he will win, as long as we don't fuck it up for ourselves.

[1corona4u]

23. It's not that I don't care about the paramilitary stuff

but more that I think I KNOW why they are here. They are expecting riots I believe, lots of them.

[DrPresident]

24. Obama hasn't been focused on it, has he?

I mean other than calling McCain erratic, etc. He's been focusing on the economy.

[FrenchieCat]

27. Correct.

But we here are talking about it so much until the media is picking up the chatter, and are starting to report on it more than is required. They want nothing better than an excuse to keep talking about race, and pointing out the fact that the Democratic candidate also happens to be Black.

[Pithlet]

31. And finger wagging at DU and telling us what we should discuss has only ever inflamed things worse.

This is a discussion board. Not the Obama campaign. I support Obama 100% and if anyone says that he should make sure this battle stays on message rather than going to a race war, I would certainly agree. I think if the national discourse about the election turns to race, then that is indeed a bad thing. I don't think a few posts about it on DU will accomplish that. Telling people to be silent only puts people on the defensive. For example, I think it's ridiculous when someone posts a link to an utterly ridiculous and racist piece of crap article at the National Review, and gets shouted at and accused of racebaiting. One of the functions of a message board is to get these things out of our system. That article WAS ridiculous, and worthy of scorn, and if DU isn't the place for doing that? I don't know what is. I don't know how people can be expected to see such upsetting things as these rallies and NOT be affected and upset by them. If DU isn't the place to let off steam about that, what is?

Obama's campaign is on fire, and he's way ahead in the polls. The last thing I'd do if I wanted a topic discussed less is start another thread telling people why they shouldn't discuss that topic. Things are going great. I think Obama's campaign is good enough to handle this latest shitstorm. The media is going to make a big deal out of it whether we discuss it here or not. So, there's no point in rattling everyone's cages even further about it. I think people who don't want to talk about the racist campaign moves by McCain should just stay out of those threads.

[FrenchieCat]

36. You can call it finger waving.....

I just call it friendly advise.

If someone decided to have a KKK parade and no one came, would it be a parade, or just a bunch of fools walking in a line?

[Pithlet]

44. It's friendly advice. It's also the kind of advice that never goes over well.

Take it from someone who's been here for years and has moderated a few times. It isn't just this issue. It doesn't matter what the topic is. Someone proclaims "DUers, you must stop talking about x!" Guaranteed that x will get talked about more because of the indignant flamewar that follows. Every time. Nature of the beast, these discussion boards. People want to talk about things. It's particularly the case if it's a highly charged issue, like racism. I also feel it's pretty pointless to tell them to stop, because again, it's a message board. It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things what we talk about here. It's not going to affect the outcome of the race. If people see these awful rallies, and are so upset about them that they want to talk about how it makes them feel, I don't see the point in stopping that. The attempts won't go over well, and I think that's understandable. If it makes them feel better, the only response if one is compelled to pay attention really is "I know, isn't it awful?" Give them the metaphorical pat on the back, and then move on. Tell them to stop it, and indignant "How dare you try to silence us!!" responses are bound to follow. And the topic doesn't go away. People call it board nannying. It never works. Personally it grates, no matter the subject. I'm with you that Obama is running a good campaign and knows what he's doing, and I think most of us are when it comes down to it.

[ProSense]

32. Is calling out

racists and race baiters allowed?

[FrenchieCat]

37. It doesn't have to be countered by calling them racists.....

as it would be much better countered by sending information about Ms. McCain's own drug use while she was an adult.....

Again, we are not going to be able to shut them down, if we are always calling attention to them. They want attention....and since McCain doesn't have a lot of advertising dollars, media focus on this will provide him with some room to maneuver these distractions into the public conversation. Do we really want that? Pretty soon, folks will be afraid to elect Barack, thinking that in electing him, we will incite the crazies to explode. I'm just saying we have to keep the stress level down. In the words of that great Obama photo......we need to chill out!

[ProSense]

39. So don't call them racists but attack Cindy McCain for her drug use?

Sorry, exposing racism is not a game. It didn't work for George Allen and it's not going to work for McCain.

[FrenchieCat]

41. George Allen wasn't running for President against a Black man....

Sorry, but I don't believe it to be the same.

Also, I'm not saying that folks should stop what they are doing,
I was just providing reasons why it may not have the desired effect
that they are hoping for. In fact, it could have unintended consequences.

Meanwhile, clearly the economy is the GameChanger that we have been looking for,
if you look at the polls and their progress.

Focusing on that will set us free.

[ProSense]

46. Did it work for Hillary?

Sorry, I think this is a bogus claim. People will try to use race and racist will chime in. They have to be vigorously countered. Pretending they aren't there is ridiculous. They still have the capacity to poison the atmosphere.

[Tatiana]

33. Obama is doing a great job. He can continue.

However, I, as an American citizen will call out racism and racist slander/threads as I see them.

We should continue to focus on the economy. However, if we don't clamp down and put a stop to the solicitation of racist fearmongering, I think we are allowing the potential for something awful to happen.

Team Obama is smart. They will find a way to do this and we'll follow their lead.

[BlooInBloo]

35. Nope. Only when "the buzz" is that *a black person* started it.

[Uzybone]

38. I agree, it should be ignored

or dismissed as the politics of distraction and desperation as Obama has been doing. This shit is only playing to our advantage. Undecided voters are voting on the issues at this point. I think any one swayed by race baiting is still in the undecided group. They racists are already for McCain.

[TxBlue]

40. Thanks Frenchie Cat for centering and calming down the rhetoric

It is about the economy!

And what we think and focus on expands, so let's rise above the rabble and focus on what we can.

I just feel like crying. I can't wait until election is over. I listened to idiot hannity... he is so hate filled and anti biblical is takes my breath away.

[Essene]

42. amen. i got flamed all morning on DU for saying this.

[FrenchieCat]

45. Well hopefully some will think about it, and chill.

We always knew it would get to this......we just have to take a deep breath.

The gamechanger is the economy. There is nothing additional needed at this time. And in fact, adding stuff in will muddle the real message; the economy.

[ronnykmarshall]

47. This shit they are pulling out are signs of desperate people.

Keep our eyes on the prize, kids.

Bill Clinton made a good point the other day "You don't have to talk negative about your opponent ... but just say how much better Obama is for this country".

Frenchie's right. Stay focused. These little thugs will be toast on election day.

[BlueIdaho]

48. K & R Frenchie!

Its the economy - the economy - the economy. If we stay focused and address the needs of ordinary Americans we will win this thing. If we lose our cool and crawl in the mud with John, Cindy, and Sarah - we let them back in the game. People are suffering here and around the world - all the republican party offers is a fucking circus sideshow. They will be punished for this by the voters on November 4th.

A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall.

[TexasObserver]

49. I disagree. Here's why.

We are in the home stretch. Voters are deciding who they think sounds and looks more presidential to them. Part of the ugliness of McCain are the chronically nasty attacks on Obama by McCain, Palin, and others in their campaign. Because McCain has taken the low road, we must make certain that the undecideds in play get a clear choice.

Do they want to be associated with the angry, backward looking, 1950ish racism, bigotry, and jingoism of McCain, or the hopeful, forward looking, multi culturalism of Obama?

There are several conversations being had in the public eye, and one of them is the racial component. I disagree that as long as we're talking about race McCain benefits. Not true. If the only thing being talked about were that, maybe so.

We can talk about multiple topics, and should.

[KT2000]

50. I see your point BUT

the hate speech has to stop. You may recall the MO head of the state democratic party was shot dead by a man who hated Democrats. He was likely fed by the constant drumbeat of hate coming out of RW media.
Have you listened to the calls to Washington Journal (C-Span) lately? There are some real nuts out there and they are calling into the show in a frenzied state. They are likely being fed by the RW media as they repeat the same lines.
Throw into that crazy/already incited mix the hate speech that is now coming out of the McCain campaign and this is a sign of trouble. I for one am not going to sit back like this is normal or OK.

[Raschel]

51. I disagree.

This cannot be tolerated. This is uncharted territory for a Presidential race and I won't let the old man push his vile crap unchallenged.

He needs to be called out by the citizens so that this won't be tolerated the NEXT time a Black man or minority runs.

I'm for setting the standard. Not letting McCain set it. Obama can remain focused. Decent Americans can demand more of U.S. candidates.

[malik flavors]

52. I completely agree. If the discussion is about race we lose. If it's about the economy we win.

[Waiting For Everyman]

53. It'll get addressed in the last debate - O. & B. called McC out.

McC's going to get creamed for his lies at the next debate - he has much worse connections to defend than Obama. I'd just say...

1) Concern for Obama's safety is legitimate (and for ourselves if this gets worse).

2) McC's inflammatory actions will turn off lots of Independents.

Other than that, as an issue itself right at this moment, I agree with you Frenchie Cat. It's still important to counter the lies with truth, but that's being done, from what I can see - as well as is possible.

If McC needs extra sinking, there's always Cindy McC putting down PTSD vets today, and Troopergate. The remarks about PTSD are almost as dumb as McC's threat to cut Medicare and Social Security last week.

[Raschel]

54. BTW, since when has Obama "lost ground"? His numbers have gone up continously.

So you can't say "anytime the discussion turns to race, we lose ground". Not true.

[Top Cat]

55. Thanks for keeping it real.....

We need to discuss what matters and right now the economy is totally F_cked up....

[SweetieD]

56. I agree.

[ProSense]

57. I love it that Obama

can walk and chew gum at the same time.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

58. I'm right there with you, FC. Sadly, I think a lot of our black brothers and sisters

are being demoralized by the "race baiting" memes. I am sometimes hearing that blacks won't vote because 'the election is going to be stolen anyway, so why bother,' or 'Obama will assassinated,' etc. We must not allow it to deter us; there is still more work to do.

[democracy1st]

59. K & R