Race and Politics Redux

In spite of recent disturbing events, there have been a number of wonderful articles lately examining current issues with cool heads and thoughtful perspectives, and I'd like to share a few today.  

First, the sad case of Ashley Todd, the McCain campaign volunteer who is so afraid of an Obama presidency that she faked a mugging and scratched a backwards "B" into her own face.  Lots has been said about her, but I don't think I've seen anything as thoughtful and constructive in terms of perspective on the event as this post from The Kitchen Table. This is an excellent article, and ends with a positive note. Two Princeton professors who are African American women started this blog as a conversation with each other about race, politics, religion, popular culture – not surprisingly, they have some great insights:
http://princetonprofs.blogspot.com/2008/10/mccain-supporter-lies-about-attack.html

Next, a different perspective, from a former southerner, who examines the racism with which he grew up in light of some recent events surrounding Obama's candidacy. It is a wonderful, thoughtful article on racial attitudes in this country, from a personal point of view:
http://beyond-school.org/2008/10/28/race-and-voting/

Wonkette, on the other hand, wasn't so gentle! Here's her post, "A Children’s Treasury of Wingnut Reactions to Cut-Nut Ashley Todd Confessing Her Racist Fantasy" making fun of the right wing reaction to the story. If you're tired of all the thoughtfulness of the previous two posts, enjoy! http://wonkette.com/403804/a-childrens-treasury-of-wingnut-reactions-to-cut-nut-ashley-todd-confessing-her-racist-fantasy

And of course, the Twitterati, Twitterverse, Tweeple, whatever - folks on Twitter, were merciless.  That's why I love them.  Tweets Give Race-Baiting Hoaxster a 'B' for Effort

Updates on racism and violent rhetoric - some good reads

I started this earlier and news has overtaken it! Comedy to follow this tragedy shortly, I promise!

This one is heroic – and if I had seen it before sending, I would have included it in the Race section of the last email:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95591135

“A top U.S. labor leader is making an unusually blunt pitch to working-class white voters in key battleground states. Longtime United Mine Workers President Richard Trumka, who is now secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, is making the case for Sen. Barack Obama.”

And this is an excellent letter to McCain, from a Republican and former supporter, in the Baltimore Sun, regarding his dangerous campaign that encourages hatred and potentially violence:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.mccain10oct10,0,7557571.story

And it looks like McCain’s campaign is completely unapologetic. Unbelievable. I hope Obama wins a landslide as people desert his sinking campaign!
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/10/1529529.aspx

UPDATE: McCain is now, too little, too late, attempting to put the genie back into the bottle:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/10/mccain-defends-his-rabid_n_133710.html

At least he is finally speaking up. I don’t think McCain is evil, but I think great evil could be done by people who take campaign rhetoric literally, and that is frightening. I hope McCain realizes what he has done, or has allowed to be done in his name, and is genuinely horrified. He was booed by his own supporters when he tried to tell them Obama was not an Arab terrorist, but a decent man with whom he had fundamental differences.

Irrationality, Anti-Science, Dangerous Tactics, and Race in the race

Okay folks, so I’ve been waiting for a coherent theme to develop before sending, but it’s getting more incoherent all the time. Maybe that’s the theme.

So here’s some random tidbits, after which a theme should emerge:

Responding to the “Palling around with Terrorists” accusation, some of Palin’s un-American activities:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/10/07/palins_unamerican/

And this is not a joke:
http://www.observer.com/2008/media/hugh-hewitts-how-sarah-palin-won-election-and-saved-america-does-not-yet-have-publisher

Neither is this:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081010/ap_on_el_pr/palin_troopergate_15
But we’ll find out the results of that probe soon. Either way it turns out, exonerating yourself is a little silly.

A little bit on McCain’s claim of a three million dollar earmark for an “overhead projector” for the Adler Planetarium. That one’s gotten a lot of science and education folks’ hackles up! McCain is seeming pretty anti-science for his comments. This is a great blog post by “The Bad Astronomer” Phil Plait (he exposes “Bad Astronomy” in various places, debunks hoaxes, etc.)
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/10/08/

Dangerous Tactics
The McCain Campaign is getting truly dangerous and also irrelevant – lets hope their new tactic (or, wait, is it a strategy?) causes moderates and thinking Republicans (and yes, I still believe in them – I leave Obama buttons under my pillow at night hoping to wake up and find donations...) to leave the McCain/Palin camp in droves.

A Seattle blogger said it very well here:
http://weskimcom.tumblr.com/post/53894436/an-open-plea-to-all-american-voters

And Andrew Sullivan names the fear out loud:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/the-dangerous-p.html

Some thoughts on race as a factor:

Dear White Voter:
http://www.racialicious.com/2008/10/10/an-open-letter-to-white-voters-or-what-mccain-really-thinks-of-you/

These are older, and I may have sent them before, and I’m sure most of you have seen them, but they are good food for thought about racism. I love that the Obama campaign is downplaying this, and focusing on the issues. But racism is no doubt a factor in this vote as it influences our thinking in subtle, invisible ways:

White Privilege:
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/1755

How Racism Works:
http://seriouslythough.tumblr.com/post/50281935/what-if-john-mccain-were-a-former-president-of-the

Donna Brazile, also rising above, but at the same time not mincing words. I really like this woman!
http://jezebel.com/5059945/donna-brazile-is-not-going-to-the-back-of-the-bus

And a hopeful, positive note about race:
Obama’s Race is Receding:
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/09/obamas-race-is-receding/

“We are witnessing something remarkable here: Obama’s race is receding as he becomes more familiar. His steadiness has trumped his skin color; he is being judged on the content of his character.”

That is the America in which I want to live. It’s a good short post that goes on to say what we need from Obama, and I agree.

And it’s looking good:
http://www.npr.org/news/specials/election2008/2008-election-map.html

But we cannot become complacent – we need a “landslide” - and it would be great if it were not only an electoral landslide.

Why?

The Bradley Effect: if you haven’t heard of this, it’s when former LA Mayor Tom Bradley ran for governor, and the polls showed him winning by a large margin. He lost, though. People did not want to admit they would not vote for him in polls, but in the privacy of the voting booth, their true nature showed. It’s been many years since then, and I hope we, as a people, have moved beyond that.

Voter Registration Challenges:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/us/politics/09voting.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

“Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times.
The actions do not seem to be coordinated by one party or the other, nor do they appear to be the result of election officials intentionally breaking rules, but are apparently the result of mistakes in the handling of the registrations and voter files as the states tried to comply with a 2002 federal law, intended to overhaul the way elections are run.
Still, because Democrats have been more aggressive at registering new voters this year, according to state election officials, any heightened screening of new applications may affect their party’s supporters disproportionately.”

Voter Intimidation: Hear about the anonymous fliers in the poor areas of Pennsylvania warning people not to vote, “for their own protection”? False warnings that if they had any outstanding warrants, parking tickets, etc, there would be undercover police there to arrest them.

So we need a substantial margin to feel confident of victory. Keep doing good work out there people!!

Also, I believe today is the last day before the election to register to vote, so if you aren’t registered yet, get your butt in gear!!
http://justvote.org/

(**Great Quote: “Voting is the best way to avoid feeling like an asshole when someone asks you, ‘did you vote?’”)

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/im52?source=pm-info-t-web

I'm a little confused

I'm a little confused.

Let me see if I have this straight... If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.'

Grow up in Alaska killing and eating moose, you're a quintessential American story.

If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

But if you name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with fewer than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive (and according to the actuarial tables, you have a greater than 30% chance of succeeding the president during your first term).

If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, left your severely handicapped wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school systems while your un-wed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family values don't represent America's.

If your husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now! Whew!!! ........I was worried there for a minute.