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Following Barack Obama’s speech yesterday the media has been dissecting every syllable and nuance. Reactions have been mixed and the right is now trying to portray Obama as “the black candidate” who just wants to blame whitey. That’s why it comes as no surprise that right wing tool, Joe Scarborough, can’t stop talking about Obama and Reverend Wright and has now picked up the Free Republic line on the speech — how dare he say ANYTHING bad about his grandmother!
“I really wonder why anybody, why any man would throw his grandmother under the bus during a political speech, regardless of the point he was trying to make.”
Now that Tucker no longer has his own show, Joe has taken on the role of wingnut concern troll and on this morning’s Morning Joe, he was in rare form. He kept saying over and over how Obama’s speech was one of the greatest speeches on race ever, then can’t shut up about how white folk in Ohio and Pennsylvania will never buy into it. It’s true, some people weren’t impressed with the speech, but Joe constantly yammers on about how Obama supporters are all latte-sipping yuppies from midtown Manhattan and Georgetown, which is patently false.
Will Bunch asks if we’re ready for Obama’s post-racial politics v.2.0. Given Scarborough’s remarks, I’m not so sure. Pam Spaulding hopes so:
People who know me well are quite aware that I’m not one prone to great waves of emotion; I’m Ms. Even Keel to most. The emotion was because there I sat, reading elements of wisdom about our desperate need for engagement on the topic of race that I have written about on this blog for years. At times I have almost pleaded with readers to feel safe to open up to discuss the difficult issues of difference — putting up posts with a dearth of comments because few were willing to put themselves out there.
Sometimes I feel like a tiny, insignificant voice attempting to bridge a Grand Canyon-sized divide. I can’t imagine what it felt like for Barack Obama to write and deliver this speech, knowing the audience that would be receiving the message.
Because of that, in Obama’s speech I was reading the words of a man that gets it, regardless of the fact that he is a candidate for President of the United States of America that resonate with me on this issue. That he is this close to becoming president of this country — and to risk it all by cracking open this door on a painful area of this country — is something I thought I would never see. He is giving voice to a healthier view on race relations that needs to be embraced from a stage where it’s hard to argue that it is not an issue worth tackling.
Filed Under: Barack Obama, Campaigns/Elections, Election 08, MSNBC, Morning Joe/Joe Scarborough, Racism/Bigotry, Republican Hypocrisy, Republican Party, Right Wing Stupidity, Smears
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The Repugs refuse to let this non-story go.
Is it time for C&L to put this story on ignore?
Shit, I blame whitey! Where’s the beef?
primero!!!
This is silly Obama loves he grandmother.
He was just trying to explain that he understands how some people feel.
Try to have an adult conversation with an angry child, and this is what you get: Joe Scarborough.
joe scarborough is a republican politician.
that is about all that matters.
Forget it this is all we’re going to be hearing about in a few months or so OBAMA-REV WRIGHT!!!!!!
We’re going to be carpet bombed with it expect it and be ready for it.
We should not be shocked that the Republicans want to keep this debate going. This Wright hoopla is truly about the Republicans trying to seize back control of the news cycle and messaging. The Republicans are geniuses at three things:
1. Applying tried and true consumer Marketing/Branding techniques to politics. E.g. Taking a talking point, reducing it to a bumper sticker slogan and then ensuring every mouthpiece / Republican pundit repeats it ad-nauseum until the public buys it as gospel truth (pardon the pun)
2. Taking an opposing candidate’s strength and finding a way to turn it against him or her in true Rovian fashion. E.g. Obama is young and dynamic / a breath of fresh air (Obama is inexperienced, I mean, what do we know about this guy – he’s a complete wild card), Obama is of mixed race and actually has a variety of cultural perspectives and experiences from which to draw upon to start bringing Americans together (Obama is a closet anti-white racist and/or Muslim who is secretly trying to get into office to enact the Black and/or Muslim Agenda), etc…
3.Distraction. For the LOVE of GOD, we had better get the public’s attention off
a) The 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, the nearly 4000 dead American soldiers, deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc..,
b)the fact that the presumptive Republican Nominee doesn’t know enough about the Middle East to keep Sunni and Shia straight. Hint to McCain: There is no Frickin’ way that Iran, a predominantly SHIA population would help Al Qaeda – a SUNNI / Wahhabist extremist group. Although some experts have speculated that some Shia militia groups may eventually (temporarily) unite with some Sunni tribal groups to fight their “common enemy” (the US) and get them out.
c)The fact that Bush Jr.’s abysmal foreign policy has actually followed the Al Qaeda playbook perfectly by getting the US mired in a long-term military quagmire, which, by the way, the Presumptive Republican Nominee seems to want to continue indefinitely.
d) The economy – Spiraling deficit, record trade deficit, inflationary pressure, loss of jobs, etc…
No. By all means, let’s continue the debate on Obama and his Pastor.
Who cares what Joe Schmo says?
el matador, the fighting chicken @ 2:
i NO! El Matador..segundo!
joe scarborough is a dick.
I guess Joe missed that part where Obama said he wouldn’t disown his grandmother. Why does the “Liberal” media keep hiring right-wing propagandists?
Joe, she was old and a drain on society. Sacrificed for the common good. What’s worse, somebody saying you threw your grandmother under the bus, or finding dead females in YOUR office?
Samson- @ 5:
Indeed…a republican politician who had a dead woman in his office.
I have stopped watching MSNBC because of Joe Scarborough. He is ignorant, childish, and dangerous. He actually thinks he knows something. He makes me sick the way he treats people. Mika doesn’t even try to stand up to him and she ends up looking pathetic. She usually tries to say something then he goes after her and she just gives in.
The only times I have found it pleasant to watch him was when Keith Olbermann put him in his place during election coverage one evening and when I saw Rachel Maddow tell him off once. Why MSNBC puts up with him is beyond me. I am all for free speech, but I don’t have to listen to it.
anyone who would actually THINK, much less say, that barack obama threw his gramma “under the bus” is way past any energy it would take to convince otherwise…
i’m sorry… and maybe another day i’ll be more inclined to educate such an oaf, but not at this time…
It was a despicable moment from Obama.
You don’t need to be a Republican to see it. Not only that, Obama lied. According to Obama’s autobiography, there was ONE large aggressive panhandler his grandmother feared, who happened to be black. There was no pattern of racism.
HIS family had the slaveowner roots, btw, and HIS father was the lying polygamist.
By the way, why didn’t Obama mention how he avoided the other black kid when he was in grade school?
liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 13:
Yes, but she wasn’t thrown under a bus, so, there’s the difference I guess in the Republican world of non-reality.
Joe has yellow dirt on his soul.
liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 10:
Ole’
liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 13:
well, to be fair to the squinty-eyed-dolt, she was alive when she entered his office…
look race politics in this country is no longer just black and white. add brown to that mix. race is a hot button issue in america. just look at los angeles, many have accused our mayor of only helping latinos, while letting blacks to hang out to dry. race is huge and just can’t be ignored. also for whitey that is mad at all miniorities for jobs, education, blame your politicans not your miniorities.
Shorter Barack Obama: After shouting “AMEN!!” from the pew for 22 years, I am rejecting Rev. Wright’s words–now that they’ve become a liability. In spite of my own campaign’s attempts to portray the Clintons as a pair of Klansmen, I’m also calling for the Racial Eternal Victim Card to be placed out-of-bounds for the moment–but as consolation, I am hereby publicly depicting my own grandmother as Archie Bunker. It’s all very Christ-like of me.
…I’m going to bring CHANGE!
Talk about grasping for straws. Throwing her under the bus?! WTF?
Obama did a magnificent job with his speech. And he didn’t throw his grandmother under the bus. Joe Scarborough is a very mean spirited republican who openly supports Hillary (just like Rush Limbaugh tells them to do) and every day is another outrage with him! I have written MSNBC numerous complaints about him — and yet they discharge Tucker Carlson.
Scarborough should have been the first out the door.
ByeByeBarry @ 17:
Why didn’t Hillary mention that her “experience” while being first lady was……
Caviar and salmon? My how that prepares you to be fully qualified for Prez.
Its funny but I actually thought the same exact thing when hearing the speech — I am a democrat living in Philadelphia — so I dont think it is a crazy repub reaction necessarilly — I just thought that there are a thousand ways to deliver that speech without mentioning his g-mom — I think it was cetainly bad taste for Obama to use his gmom to make a political point —
That being said I thought the speech was good on the whole —
Scarborough comes across as someone who often misses the point and this one is no exception. Joe is not exactly the brightest light shining on TV.
This is the sad Republican talking point. Obama spoke with great respect about his grandmother, a seemingly decent woman who happened to have race issues….like all of US! I thought it was so honest and the natural way Obama conveyed his feelings of her good and bad, I have never heard from a politician before.
I am a white, gun owning, deer hunting, latte drinking gay guy from colorado who makes a lot of money. Obama crosses all demographics. Scar is a moron.
Obama has my vote!!!!
A renowned psychiatrist on a nationally syndicated radio station - about 2-3 years ago now - said that one in five Americans were psychopaths.
That accounts for the numbers I guess. Some of them even get their own media forums to parade it to the rest of the world.
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Tony @ 30:
Ya, but are you a transvestite? Cuz I hear Hillary has the transvestite support. A RuPaul supporter said so.
Scarborough’s a moron!
Tony @ 30:
Ahhhhh!! but he DOES NOT have the vote of grandmothers who have been thrown under the bus.
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Maybe Olbermann will give Scarborough a Worse Person nomination tonight.
Trittydi @ 34:
Or politicians with dead women in their offices
This is obviously a right wing talking point because I heard callers on C-SPAN this morning with the same mock outrage and using the same phrase - ‘throwing his grandmother under the bus’.
Being liberal means that not everything has to be about “you.” I’m a middle class white male and after reading a few paragraphs of Obama’s speech I was very excited by what he said, and I instantly knew the power of what he spoke, before I read any media reactions to it. It re-affirmed that this is a man I want to lead our country.
I’ve never witnessed the flow of crap through a sewage pipe but it must surely resemble the stream of information pumped through the television sets of today.
Listen, we need to stop bickering about Barrack and Hillary. We’re the good guys remember! Mr. Scarborough loves it when we talk trash about our own, because we’re giving George W. McCain a free ride to the White House. Don’t let them outsmart us again. We need to work our butts off getting either Obama or Clinton in the White House. I don’t care which one it is, because either one will be a heck of a lot better than a republican that has to have Joe Lieberman tell him who is and isn’t in Iran.
This is kind of true, why in the world would he bring her into this?? Is she still alive?
ByeByeBarry @ 17:
Buzz off, Hillary!
In response to #17
Are you insane? I’m sure you know so much more about Obama’s life then he does right? Because you read his book!? Get back on the wagon.
Apparently Joe does NOT underestimate the intelligence of his audience.
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Don’t expect the silly putty pundits like Scarborough and the half-baked donuts like Buchanan to get anything that Obama says because Obama speaks the “truth” and they can’t handle the truth.
Happenstance @ 23:
Wow, you must be one of them “compassionate” conservatives.
Black people had to endure centuries of abuse, but those very Christian white people have to endure a 5sec clip of an uppity black person… and all of the sudden them WASPs get to frame what the racial discourse in this country should be by getting their panties in a collective twist.
chris @ 41:
Tekras @ 37:
Go away troll!
katy @ 16:
I’m right there with you, katy. I don’t have time for him, Robertson, Cheney, Rove, Limbaugh, or Malkin. They may not be lost causes, but they’re not my causes.
Happenstance @ 23:
Don’t have time for this newcomer either.
Tony @ 30:
Great. Tell your latte hunting friends too.
I’m going to be proud of my vote for Obama.