Byron York Says Obama Isn't Really As Popular As He Appears; It's Just Because Blacks Like Him

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Byron York Says Obama Isn't Really As Popular As He Appears; It's Just Because Blacks Like Him

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/byron-york-says-obama-isnt-really-pop



He actually said that:

On his 100th day in office, Barack Obama enjoys high job approval ratings, no matter what poll you consult. But if a new survey by the New York Times is accurate, the president and some of his policies are significantly less popular with white Americans than with black Americans, and his sky-high ratings among African-Americans make some of his positions appear a bit more popular overall than they actually are.

So you African-Americans? According to Byron York, you don't actually count. My buddy and former C&L contributer Steve Benen:

For crying out loud, what the hell does that mean, exactly? I read the rest of the piece, hoping to see York explain why the president's seemingly popular positions are exaggerated or inflated. Why, in other words, these positions "appear" more popular "than they actually are."

But all the piece tells me is that African Americans tend to support Obama in greater numbers than white Americans.

The problem, of course, is that damn phrase "than they actually are." York argues that we can see polls gauging public opinion, but if we want to really understand the popularity of the president's positions, and not be fooled by "appearances," then we have to exclude black people.

There's really no other credible way to read this. York effectively argues that black people shouldn't count. We can look at polls measuring the attitudes of Americans, but if we want to see the truth -- appreciate the numbers as "they actually are" -- then it's best if we focus our attention on white people, and only white people.

[mod mom]

1. Man, when the GOP implodes it sure get desperately ugly.

[butterfly77]

31. The problem with the GOP is ..

everything is about color, they don't see blacks as americans unless they want them to fight a war. They are trying to call back their base.

[kestrel91316]

2. Byron York obviously doesn't consider blacks part of the human race.

Let me guess his party affiliation.........

[Occam Bandage]

19. Now, now. He only doesn't consider them Americans.

It's possible he'd think their opinions would count if Real Americans shipped them off to their home country of Negrostan, and asked them their opinions on the King of Africa.

[malaise]

29. He probably thinks we're 3/4 human

Doesn't matter he's 4/4 racist asshole.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Disgusting on too many levels.

How dare they wonder why the GOP is dying.

[butterfly77]

32. How do they think that they will win blacks to their party when...

they can't even accept Michael Steele,they hate him as much as the President.

[bdamomma]

39. they are just too rude for me.

and whiny!

[SoxFan]

4. 3/5 as popular, I guess

:puke:

[prolesunited]

13. You read my mind

I can't wait until these people just finally fade away.

[Betty]

5. by that logic, then bush was really more popular

than it appeared, once you discounted all the sane people.

[Sal Minella]

6. Neat trick, to get a 67% approval rating out of 12% of the population, eh......

Ya gotta admire people who can master that kind of mathematical skillz.

[aquart]

7. And he honestly has no idea what he said.

But that's exactly what he said: only white opinions count.

And if he were being really honest with himself, only white male opinions count.

[Marr]

11. Only wealthy, white, landed male opinions.

York was born a couple of centuries too late.

[WeDidIt]

8. I'm confused. Is Byron Tork suggesting we repeal the 13th amendment?

so that the value of an African American goes back to 3/5 of a human?

[theoldman]

9. I overheard a white guy say that white presidents are popular.

I wonder if Chinese people would support a Chinese president? Don't these people have nothing else to talk about?

[Marr]

10. That class/racism is the heart of Conservatism--

especially to the group for whom York speaks.

Obama's "actual" popularity is his popularity with a specific part of the white community. It's the same sort of thinking that said only landowners should have a vote.

[Towlie]

12. It's another epidemic! The "gaffe flu" is spreading through the Republican party.

Really! I'm reading all sorts of reports here of Republicans writing and saying things they later regret.

[sofa king]

14. It is revealing in one sense.

I find it hard to believe that approval for President Obama among African-Americans has dropped below the 90% support enjoyed by Al Gore back in 2000. Of course, Republicans cared enough about that to illegally disenfranchise thousands of African-Americans in Florida that year.

You really have to screw over a group of people to make nine out of ten of them agree on anything. That's precisely what the GOP did, and now they're paying for it and will continue to do so for the rest of my lifetime. Consider how difficult it must have been to do that, to maneuver the party that freed the slaves over to being the party that keeps down the you-know-what.

But from today's Republican party point of view, African-Americans must represent a formidable and completely untouchable bloc of voters which can be reliably discounted from political calculations--at least the calculations that determine where votes can be picked up. Beginning in the 1960, when the GOP actively sought to lure away racists from the Republican Party, to future Chief Justice Rehnquist's elucidation of the "Southern Strategy," to Lee Atwater's targeting of the African-American community by the Reagan and Bush the Smarter campaigns, to the studied indifference of the last gangsters, the GOP has almost totally and almost permanently alienated that minority.

Most African-Americans (and their friends) will never forgive, never go back, and will teach their children and friends to never go back. I am not an African-American, but just knowing what the Republicans have done to that community would be enough to swing me, too (and like the rest of you, I have plenty of other reasons as well).

At this point, it's a safe bet that African-Americans will strongly support the current President and his party, and strongly oppose everything the GOP does, even if it is somehow not malevolent and shallow. Somewhere between twenty and forty million voters--assuming they are permitted to vote next time--are already a completely known quantity, a permanent partial counterbalance against the 23% of Americans who are effectively fascists. When one also counts the other social out-groups which have been intentionally marginalized by the GOP: gays, Native Americans, Central Americans, and so on, the Republican Party must be running some very depressing numbers right now.

Plus, it makes it much more difficult to steal elections, which I contend is the only way the Republican Party maintained its relevance in this millenium.

They're screwed, and it couldn't have happened to a more deserving group of people.

[sofa king]

34. And there's that 23 percent again.

By coincidence, Greg Sargent today wrote about self-identified Republicans. Turns out that the number is down to... 23%.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/republican-party/the-incredible-shrinking-gop-party-shrunk-by-one-fourth-in-five-years/

That twenty-three percent likely heavily overlaps with the 23% of Americans who can be identified as right-wing authoritarians, the same suckers who were *'s "basement" of approval, the same fools who swallow the propaganda on the AM radio dial. We can likely mark this month as the lowest possible ebb of Republican popularity.

At this moment, I think it is safe to say that there are no Americans capable of rational thought left to support the Republican Party.

[Odin2005]

43. It is Ironic that the party born out of Abolitionism dies as a regional party of Southern racists.

Lincoln is rolling in his grave.

[classysassy]

15. "fools rush in where rangers fear to tread"

hello fool.

[Kazak]

16. Riiight, blacks really don't count...

:shrug:

[Uncle Joe]

17. Byron, Byron, Byron, you racist ass-wipe.

Quit trying to divide the American People, we're one whether you like or not.

[Occam Bandage]

18. That only makes sense if a black person does not count as much as a white person.

How disgusting.

[yardwork]

20. What a profoundly racist comment. "African American opinions don't count."

There it is.

[DearAbby]

21. This shit wouldnt happen

if those taking the polls stop breaking them down according to race.

[LynzM]

22. Wow. Damn....

I can't figure out a way to read that that doesn't mean that "black people aren't Americans" in his eyes.

What. An. Asshat.

:banghead:

[sinkingfeeling]

23. Again, I've got to ask: who the hell is Byron York? Never heard of him.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

27. Wikipedia: "Byron York is a conservative American commentator & author who lives in Washington DC"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_York

[Catshrink]

24. Byron York: Your not as smart as you think you are

You think you're smart because you wear those dorky glasses.

[GreenTea]

25. Republican eltist Byron York - Lying, hateful, greedy corporate swine!

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

26. The picture with the article seems to imply he said it on Meet the Press - is that the case?

I just looked at the transcript from last Sunday and Byron York appears nowhere in the transcript. So on what show did he say it ans was there any reaction from the host or other guests?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

28. That's just the photo Crooks & Liars used...

...the quote is from an opinion piece York wrote for the Washington Examiner (it's also linked in the C&L piece):

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/black-white-divide-in-obama-popularity-43923897.html

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

30. Byron York - classic fop

from wiki

"The fop was a stock character in English literature and especially comic drama, as well as satirical prints. He is a "man of fashion" who overdresses, aspires to wit, and generally puts on airs, which may include aspiring to a higher social station than others think he has."

[Puzzler]

33. And we all know that "blacks" opinions don't count...

... {sarcasm}

[Catherine Vincent]

35. Racist Jerk!

[Common Sense Party]

36. Byron York attempts to explain:

I wrote my post because of the striking numbers in the New York Times poll. Those numbers raise a question: What if a president were wildly popular with one group, and only middlingly popular with another group and yet was often portrayed as being hugely popular with the whole group? It seems worthwhile to point that out that there are differences within the group -- something that is done all the time with political polls. The president's job approval ratings are what they are -- the Times had him at 69 percent approval -- but the numbers inside the numbers are striking.

For example, according to the Times, 34 percent of white Americans believe the country is on the right track, while 70 percent of black Americans believe the country is on the right track. Fifty-five percent of white Americans approve of President Obama's handling of the economy, while 91 percent of black Americans do. And black Americans, who as a group have a higher unemployment rate than white Americans, have a more positive view of the economy than whites: 27 percent of blacks say the economy is "very good" or "fairly good," while just 10 percent of whites call the economy "fairly good" (and none say it is "very good").

Perhaps some people find those numbers entirely uninteresting, but I think it is entirely reasonable to point them out. It is also entirely reasonable to point out that a poll result can be shaped by an extremely high number in one component of the poll result. It's the old joke: Six people are in a bar. They're all middle class; their average net worth is about $100,000. Bill Gates walks in. Seven people are in a bar; their average net worth is in the billions. A wealthy group, right? Internal numbers are revealing.

So I wrote that citing Obama's "sky-high ratings among African-Americans make some of his positions appear a bit more popular overall than they actually are." I thought the word "overall" conveyed the idea that there was a difference between the total job-approval number and the complexities of opinion of Obama on various issues. Maybe "across-the-board" would have been better than "overall," but I doubt that would have kept a left-wing activist like Matthew Yglesias, or Andrew Sullivan, who has himself been accused of racism and, quite recently, anti-Semitism, from branding me a racist. The numbers inside the Times poll are newsworthy, if the critics would take the time to read and analyze them.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/More-on-The-black-white-divide-in-Obamas-popularity-44059142.html

[dem629]

37. Looks like everything's been said here, so I'll just add: He has some fucked up looking hair.

[bdamomma]

38. boy these guys are desperate to do or say anything.

[Odin2005]

40. WTF? Do these numb-nuts even realize what they are saying?

:crazy:

[WI_DEM]

41. York is just jealous because he's only popular among RW nuts.

[spanone]

42. he wishes