Right-Wing Anti-Anti-Racism
If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times, but it’s continually striking how thoroughly defined modern American conservatism is by opposition to opposition to racism. Isaac Chotiner observes a National Review article chuckling over the fact that John Derbyshire’s bigotry discomfits liberals while Adam Server brings us folks who wouldn’t necessary make the kind of racist statements Rush Limbaugh makes nonetheless circling the wagons to defend him from his critics.
Next time Republican strategists are wondering why Michael Steele’s embrace of hip slang hasn’t brought black people flocking to their doors, conservatives might want to consider some of this behavior. I suspect it’s not helping the right with its endless quest to woo Jews, either.
68 Responses to “Right-Wing Anti-Anti-Racism”
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October 16th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
“If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times”
More like a million times, but who is counting?
October 16th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
I’ve never met a Republican who wasn’t a racist. Maybe I should get up north more often, but that’s just my non-scientific sample.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
As opposed to the political Left, which is just plain racist.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Al, you’re a tedious, dishonest drooler. There, I said it.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Give him a pass, it’s Friday afternoon, and it’s pretty obvious that he’s just half-assing it at this point.
We expect you to be at the peak of your troll game on Monday Al.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Al’s back in circulation? Where you been dude? Got tired of embarassing yourself at Kevin Drum’s place I guess.
I think what we’re seeing is that what’s left of the GOP is essentially an updated version of the Confederacy.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Because … ?
…
[crickets]
October 16th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
matt-people lied about limbaugh’s quotes. what’s the harm in defending him from that?
October 16th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Matt, you’ve just made Al’s Friday night! He gets to sing his favorite song. Too bad his performance never improves.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Because … ?
Oh please, don’t ask. Look up any prior Matt post on racism and you’ll find Al in the comment thread ranting about Robert Byrd and Joe Biden’s 7-11 joke.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
To people like Smith, showing any discomfort about actual racism is all so P.C.
but Isaac Chotiner cashes a CanWest check for his work on TNR, delivered weekly by Marty Peretz, so not only must he know something about the casual acceptance of racism, but probably finds this topic of Derbyshire’s racism rich with irony. aaaah, expertise.
but don’t you still owe us one more link from The New Racist today? I only count one.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
you’ll find Al in the comment thread ranting about Robert Byrd and Joe Biden’s 7-11 joke
Because racism in the Democratic Party is rewarded. Democratic Racists can be Senate Majority Leaders. Or Vice Presidents. Or Supreme Court Justices.
Right wing racists can’t even be minority owners of fottball teams.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Biden is sooooooo racist that he let a black dude be president as a diversion
October 16th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Because of their traditions of tolerance, liberality, education and intelligence? All qualities that tend to issue in wealth, which is where they get confused.
Seriously, until they get this straight its not good. One looks at California and wonders if it might never happen.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Because 800 years ago Robert Byrd was in the KKK.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
You’re so right, Al. Rush Limbaugh has never been rewarded in any way in his career.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Secret GOP strategy memo:
This is perfect. We get Steele to front the party and talk that rap shit. Palin gets the chicks fired up. Jindal gets us the ragheads. Mexicans love Alberto Gonzalez. We also need a Chinaman so someone check to see if Chiang Kai-Shek is still alive, and get him to make a speech or something. Or that guy from the Jon and Kate Show. Wolfowitz wins us the Jews and Larry Craig gets us the fags. We’ve got to embrace diversity, people! Show these idiots we address their needs.
We do that, we get the nigger chink kike wetback raghead fag vote, with tits. Plus we work the cranky racist white vote for all it’s worth. That’s all the votes! Brilliant!
PS BE SURE to put the ads for the white guys on Fox and the ads for the wierdos on NBC. We might lose some of the wierdos if they hear the stuff for the white guys.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Al loves him some Tiger Woods and Beyonce. It is only the scary poor blacks that he finds subhuman.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
More like a million times, but who is counting?
Oh! SNAP! You did NOT just virtually say that!! Woo boy! You totally ate his fucking lunch, you did!! God-DAMM right!
October 16th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
I’ve never met a Republican who wasn’t a racist. Maybe I should get up north more often, but that’s just my non-scientific sample.
nah, up hear they’re all just assholes.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Pfft. Biden’s a piker. Sonia Sotomayor is so racist she was born Puerto Rican as a diversion.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Up here, Republicans say things like “You’re exaggerating,” and “You’re just focusing on the loonies,” and “Well, there are bad people on all sides.”
A lot. You get to feeling a little sorry for them.
October 16th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
So which Limbaugh statements were racist? The fake one attributed to him on Wikipedia that everyone unthinkingly swallowed whole? The McNabb quote? That was a critique of the media, not black quarterbacks. What else ya got? That’s it? 20 years on the radio and you have the McNabb quote?
October 16th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Because racism in the Democratic Party is rewarded.
As evidenced by the tremendous flocking of Democratic primary voters to reward that big racist Joe Biden with their support in his presidential campaigns.
Or is it: As evidenced by his being named to the VP slot as a reward for his 7-11 joke and not any other considerations.
Or no, it must be: As evidenced by massive turnout for the 2008 ticket by Democratic voters who wanted so badly to reward Biden’s racism (though not, oddly, enough to actually back him in the primaries) that they totally didn’t notice that the guy on top of the ticket was a darkie.
Al, your logic is impeccable.
Meanwhile, it’s certainly true that Trent Lott, Jeff Sessions, Strom Thurmond and William Rehnquist have never held important political positions. Shut right out of power by the GOP, yep.
October 16th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
[...] about Rush Limbaugh as of October 16, 2009 Right-Wing Anti-Anti-Racism – yglesias.thinkprogress.org 10/16/2009 If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand [...]
October 16th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Al loves him some Tiger Woods and Beyonce.
I do like Beyonce. But mostly because I like Jay-Z.
October 16th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Haha! Good one!
October 16th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
#23: “The NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.”
No racial context to that comment whatsoever, nosiree.
October 16th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Let’s also remember that the current President hates black people. After all, only a President that hates black people would ignore New Orleans the way that the current President has ignored it.
October 16th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Thats some weaksauce Al.
October 16th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Rush Limbaugh has acknowledged and defended every one of these statements.
October 16th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
If #29 isn’t just someone making fun of Al, if it’s actually the real troll Al, then he needs to hang it up. That is the weakest shit I’ve ever seen.
October 16th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
It’s a critique of the media based on such a glaringly, appalling underestimation of McNabb’s abilities and accomplishments that only resentment of black success can explain how someone who knows so much about football could make such an error, while furthering a racially-divisive narrative about black success in general being undeserved and based on handouts.
October 16th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
“So which Limbaugh statements were racist?”
How about his statement that Obama’s social policies are “forced reparations”? And no one’s even touched “Barack the Magic Negro” yet.
October 16th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
That has to be someone spoofing Al.
From the article:
Therefore, Obama’s the racist.
October 16th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
The dittoheads – seriously, you call yourselves that? Really? – are taking a page out of OJ Simpson’s playbook.
Regardless of the mountain of evidence, “If they don’t fit, you must acquit.”
The difference being, of course, the gloves didn’t actually fit OJ’s hands, while the provenance of two of the Limbaugh quotes has merely been questioned.
October 16th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE REAL RACISTS, PLEASE LOOK AT THIS VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1rWaviRfDY&feature=fvsre1
<>
October 16th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Dameon has certainly convinced me! WAKE UP, WHITE PEOPLE!!!!! The impure mud people are attempting to destroy you, just like they tried to do to the Aryan Supermen of Germany!!!!
Thanks for opening all of our eyes, Dameon.
(Any accusations that this is racism is itself the purest racism that has ever existed.)
October 16th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
It’s a critique of the media based on such a glaringly, appalling underestimation of McNabb’s abilities and accomplishments that only resentment of black success can explain how someone who knows so much about football could make such an error, while furthering a racially-divisive narrative about black success in general being undeserved and based on handouts.
Exactly. Exactly. This is one of Rush’s favourite, and most racist, themes. I listen to him on rode trips, and every single time he is going off on how black people have it so much easier, and no one is allowed to criticise black people b/c they’ll be called racist, and how we can’t say anything bad about Obama b/c he’s black (actually, he went into a whole half-black argument at that point), and how if Obama weren’t black we’d be allowed to go after him for admitting drug use (b/c that really hurt the very non-black G. W. Bush. And anyway, the *only* reason Shaheen even brought up “selling” drugs is b/c Obama was black…a white guy admits mild experimentation, no one jumps to drug dealing.)
It’s all pretty racist, and anyone not disgusted enough to turn it off is racist too. (Well, unless they are, like me, listening for anthropological reasons.)
October 16th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Dameon, that video convinces me that you’re pretty damn racist. I take comfort, though, that you’re part of an irrelevant fringe in our society. Try not to tear your mom’s basement apart in impotent rage; wouldn’t want you to ruin the confederate flags.
October 16th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Al had better not be billing this thread on his troll timesheet. Very poor.
October 16th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
To: Daemon (@ #37)
Good video.
Check out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP2nuv-he1c
October 16th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
As Sailer said, Matt has said it a million times; this is probably because it excuses him from making an argument.
For instance, conservatives clearly oppose some forms of opposition to racism. Fabricating racist quotations in order to accuse someone of racism, for instance, is a pretty twisted form of anti-racism. It would be interesting to hear Matt defend or denounce this activity. Instead, he places this activity in the larger category of “opposition to racism.” This allows some equivocation, so that the sympathetic but casual reader thinks he has read a persuasive case that conservatives are against opposition to racism generally, and will fail to notice that no argument of any kind has been made.
RE: the McNabb comment: At the time Rush made the remark, McNabb had never completed 60% of his passes in a season or averaged more than 6.6 yards per attempt. It was also true that the media was transparently desperate to treat him as a success because of his race (read any magazine article about him during the period.) Though it may have been a bit unfair to McNabb to point this out (he didn’t write the articles,) it really isn’t any kind of moral outrage.
October 16th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
It was also true that the media was transparently desperate to treat him as a success because of his race (read any magazine article about him during the period.)
Ahh, so you buy into Rush’s racist view. Good to know how seriously to take you.
October 16th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Hey Matt, Chotiner seems to be a clueless dipshit, but it is hard to tell since he gives us a snippet without contest.
He writes:
” Smith’s next paragraph, however, reads:
Borrowing (mischeviously) his terminology from the racist CCNY professor Leonard Jeffries, Derbyshire notes that “Ice People” (Asians and whites) are almost completely segregated from Sun People (blacks and non-white Hispanics) in public schools…[Derbyshire] can’t resist adding that “Sun People kids are, in the broad generality, unacademic and unruly.”
Yeah, yeah, the natives never know how to behave. But note Smith’s tone here. He finds this all so charming and “mischevious”"
Do you know why Smith considers it mischievous of Derbyshire to use Jefferies racist terminology?
It’s probably not because Smith considers racism charming. It’s probably because Smith understands, like Chotiner and apparently you do not, that Jefferies is a black supremacist, and an anti-semite.
Tell me, if you were to be described as mischievously using the words and phrases of someone you were known to vehemently disagree with, and then to go on and make even worse statements, what are the chances you be writing seriously, or just otherwise mockingly and snarking?
We can’t tell because Chotiner doesn’t give us enough to go on. But it is telling that Chotiner doesn’t seem to understand that Jeffries is a black supremacist.
As always, go fuck yourself.
October 16th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Anon: hilariously stupid, or just pretending to be hilariously stupid?
Always so hard to tell.
October 16th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
And, as promised, if you go to the video on You Tube, you see that the top comment reads:
So there you have it: THE REAL RACISTS are…people who like this video.
October 16th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
I wonder if the anon guy felt a whooshing sensation across his scalp when reading Chotiner’s piece.
Wow. Just wow.
October 16th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Anthony: Rush has a racist view of the sports media?
October 16th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Anthony: Rush has a racist view of the sports media?
No, Rush has a long history of arguing that black people have it so much easier than white people, that no one is allowed to criticize them, that their success is handed to them and anyone who criticizes them is labelled a racist.
This view of Rush’s–and, presumably, of yours–is itself racist. And not true.
October 16th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
I agree with points two and four that Anthony attributes to Rush above, but that is all independent of the claim I made that the sports media was desperate to treat McNabb as a success because of his race. That could even be true if McNabb was objectively an awesome QB at the time (and maybe he was- his running ability compensated somewhat for the mediocre passing numbers he put up, and if I recall the Eagle’s defense was good but not as great as Rush made it out to be, so the offense deserved some credit for the team’s success, such as it was. It’s a debatable point.)
October 17th, 2009 at 1:08 am
But Matt is also an anti anti racist. He critices those people that think criticiting Israel is racist.
October 17th, 2009 at 2:06 am
@52 Yahweh, you are fucking stupid
October 17th, 2009 at 2:30 am
Rush was basically right about the media pushing black QBs in the NFL who weren’t that good. The year he made that comment, 2003, was the peak of the black QB bubble, with blacks passing for 26% of the yardage in the NFL that year. Every year since, yards passing by black quarterbacks has been down around their share of the population, not much over half what it was in 2003. And since then, two #1 overall draft picks have, at least so far, been wasted badly on black quarterbacks, Vince Young and JaMarcus Russell.
October 17th, 2009 at 2:37 am
There was never any reason to believe that the black genetic advantages that help give blacks a monopoly on all 32 starting tailback and all 64 cornerback jobs in the NFL would translate into making them better than whites on a per capita basis at quarterback. The positions require very different skill sets.
Yet, the media pushed for blacks to be over-represented at quarterback, too, and got very mad at Limbaugh when he pointed out their agenda.
At the moment, Limbaugh has been vindicated: the top 15 quarterbacks in the NFL in passer rating are white.
October 17th, 2009 at 3:07 am
Vince Young wasn’t a #1 overall pick. Indeed, he has picked one slot after the slot Ryan Leaf was picked; I guess the latter proves that white QBs are overrated and don’t earn anything they get…
October 17th, 2009 at 3:16 am
If you are using passer rating to judge QBs you know absolutely shit about the NFL. But just so you know there are two black dudes and a Mexican in the top 15 for career passer rating.
PS
Vince Young was the third pick in 2006, Alex Smith however was the first overall pick in 2005.
October 17th, 2009 at 4:56 am
John Derbyshire has been very upfront about essentially being a White Nationalist. His complete and utter disdain for blacks & browns — and his colleagues’ acceptance of this bigotry — kind of undercuts the whole “we’re not racists” shtick the NR crowd is always trying to pull.
October 17th, 2009 at 9:17 am
claim I made that the sports media was desperate to treat McNabb as a success because of his race.
well, limbaugh made the claim, you just gave him a high five and patted his gelatinous booty.
claims are not proof. your feelings about something do not objectively legitimize the factual basis regarding that thing. what this sounds like is that you have already made up your mind about things like “the media” and “race,” you know big scary things, and now everything that you are inputting into your brain is filtered through those narrow little notions you have scrawled into your consciousness.
hey maybe i’m wrong here. maybe you actually study this kind of thing for a living. maybe you don’t base off all of your beliefs on what you hear on the radio and read on blogs or that one issue of espn the magazine you read in the doctor’s office. maybe you have a mountain of evidence you have accumulated on media and race and are just waiting to pull the trigger on publishing once that last grant comes through. but like most conservatives, i’m guessing that all that stuff is not true and that you wallow in your ignorance like a pig in shit. ’cause dude your claims are gold…
October 17th, 2009 at 10:18 am
This is stuid. Black players actually get underestimated, not overestimated even on gambling markets where people backup their claims with money.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Modern conservatism, opposed as it is to the concept of society as an organism that determines individual success and failure, must deal with the nagging reality that minority groups are statistically disadvantaged. If you accept the conservative view of free will and human nature, this is powerful evidence that some races are superior than others. If you do not, this is powerful evidence that minorities have gotten an unfair deal and society owes it to them to try and guarantee some level of improved equality – whether through education, health care, etc.
This fundamental conservative opposition to the very concept of inequality makes them largely opposed the very concept of racism itself.
I’ve recently blogged about this here.
October 17th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
#59: “ESPN mag in the doctors office…” regarding the question of whether the sports media was desperate to treat McNabb as a “black QB success,” examining the contents of sports magazines is a good primary source way of answering the question. I subscribed to SI and ESPN at the time and they ran several articles focusing heavily on the racial angle; their investment in him was quite obvious. I note that people have ignored all the arguments I made at 43, except for the claim about the sports media.
October 17th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
urgs #52: You are, of course, correct. For that matter, playing this game we could say that people who criticize Glenn Beck are more alarmed by anti-communist excesses than they are by radical chic communists in government (to be clear, I don’t myself endorsed being as alarmed as Beck is on the matter); or join the Weekly Standard types in saying that liberals who oppose torture or other policies nominally intended to combat terrorism are more concerned with denouncing anti-terrorist excesses than with denouncing terrorism. Neither of these statements would really contribute anything to discussion, but like Matt’s post they would create the appearence of making an argument.
October 17th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
It seems to me that all the negative vibes this blowhard (Rush Hudson Limbaugh A.KA. Jeff Christie) has been spewing over these many years has come back to blow back on his face (A classic “Blow Back”). He always tries to give off the airs that he can have anything he wants but as we all witness those with more money and more influence tossed him aside like sack of potatoes and the ultimate insult was that it was done in public (money don’t buy you everything butterball).
Now of course he blames everyone else (Michael J. Fox, Perez Hilton, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Sonia Sotomayor, Hillary Clinton, Olympia Snowe, ESPN, NFL, the media, basically people of color, the handicapped, women and gays) when of course all you have to do is listen to his show and plainly hear his daily prejudices filled sermons. So NFL, I salute you decision, job well done. And to the whaling cry baby perched on his self made pedestal, quit your whining it was your own fault. Don’t we all feel better?
October 17th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
I think “Conservative” is perhaps not the right term for American conservatives. It would be better to call them “the Prejudiced”. With a capital P because it’s not about prejudice about any one thing, it’s prejudice as a lifestyle.
And prejudiced people would typically want to stay with the status quo if it’s good enough for them so “conservative” – as in staying with the status quo – is secondary.
October 17th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Not really. It’s just that their incompetance makes them look that way.
Passer rating doesnt tell the whole story but it is an important stat. JaMarcus Russell’s horrific passer rating gives a pretty accurate view of just how much he sucks.
Unlike most blacks to play the position, McNabb is a great QB, but he is the exception, not the rule. Generally black QBs are total bums like Vick, Leftwich and Young. Blacks certainly make much worse QBs than whites (there will never be a black Manning or Brady) and everybody knows why.
October 18th, 2009 at 5:01 am
Great post. Republicans have largely given themselves over to overt racism, just look at the insanity & excesses of the McCain/Palin campaign. Not so sure about your last sentence, though, you seen any of Max Blumenthal’s videos from the last few months?
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:13 pm
The NFL decides who becomes an owner not the other way around.
All this blowhard (Rush Hudson Limbaugh A.KA. Jeff Christie) has to offer is his money and his opinions, (which in my opinion are on the fringes of racism, one mans opinion). There are many more groups biding for the Rams, not just his group. Lets face it there are more men with money (Marshall Faulk) that will gladly fill the slot and the Rams will win or lose depending on how well they work as a team and not on whether or not Rush is an owner.
As for Vick, well he is a player (he has talent not like you, Rush or I, unless you are a NFL player?) and he served his time and the NFL decided we live in the land of second chances, so why not (I personally don’t like it but, oh well). Life has never been fair (NEWS FLASH!)
Now as to the “Free Speech” argument, I guess many of you like myself heard Rush on Thursday “Almost in tears”, priceless. But the last couple of days he now is in his normal ranting and will continue until someone surpasses him, “Free Speech” continues, so what is being stifled, it simply is not true, of course, you may not have a radio, so you might want to get one.
http://www.chasingevil.org/2009/10/rush-limbaugh-in-his-own-words.html
PS – I am sure someone is working to put the tapes together maybe all you subscribers can help, since you are all about getting to the truth?
PPS- Beauty Pageant Judge – Now I understand why he lost the weight, to find a new wife, creepy.