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 Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:26 pm |
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http://www.observer.com/2008/politics/black-congressmen-declare-racism-palin-s-rhetoric?page=0%2C0
Congressmen Declare Racism In Palin's Rhetoric
'Racism Is Alive, Well' Says Democrat Ed Towns; Greg Meeks: 'Racial'
by Jason Horowitz | October 7, 2008
As the McCain campaign ratchets up the intensity of its attacks on Barack
Obama, some black elected officials are calling the tactics desperate,
unseemly and racist.
"They are trying to throw out these codes," said Representative Gregory
Meeks, a Democrat from New York.
"He's 'not one of us?'" Mr. Meeks said, referring to a comment Sarah Palin
made at a campaign rally on Oct. 6 in Florida. "That's racial. That's fear.
They know they can't win on the issues, so the last resort they have is race
and fear."
"Racism is alive and well in this country, and McCain and Palin are trying
to appeal to that and it's unfortunate," said Representative Ed Towns, also
from New York.
In recent days, as polls have shown a steady lead for the Democratic ticket,
Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin have used reports of Mr. Obama's loose association
with Bill Ayers, a former member of the '60s radical group the Weather
Underground, as evidence that he is different from them.
"Our opponent," Ms. Palin told donors in Englewood, Colo., "is someone who
sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's
palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."
She added, "This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America,"
she said. "We see America as a force of good in this world. We see an
America of exceptionalism."
An Associated Press analysis characterized those remarks as
"unsubstantiated" and carrying "a racially tinged subtext."
Neither Mr. McCain nor Ms. Palin has backed off the line of attack.
Again invoking Mr. Obama's intermittent encounters with Mr. Ayers, Mr.
McCain asked a crowd in Albuquerque, N.M., on Oct. 6, "Who is the real
Barack Obama?" Someone in the crowd screamed in reply, "a terrorist!" Mr.
McCain grimaced, but kept going.
Before Ms. Palin took the stage in Estero, Fla., at the Oct. 6 event, one of
the introductory speakers, Mike Scott, the sheriff of Lee County, referred
to the Democratic candidate as "Barack Hussein Obama," a practice the McCain
campaign has distanced itself from in the past. Apparently, no longer. Ms.
Palin also said that she had advised Mr. McCain to "take the gloves off" and
said Mr. Obama was "not one of us."
David Bositis, senior political analyst at the Joint Center for Political
and Economic Studies and an expert on African-American issues, said that
most Americans were too busy worrying about their economic future to
concentrate on Mr. McCain's comments on the stump. To the extent that people
were listening, though, he said his remarks would be "not just crossing the
line but introducing serious ugliness into the race."
Other black members of Congress, all Democrats who support Mr. Obama, said
they were dismayed by the new and vicious tenor of the McCain attacks.
"If McCain's attacks don't cross the line, they're certainly teetering on
it," said Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois. "He is certainly
appealing to people's fears and not their hopes."
Mr. Jackson took issue with the McCain campaign's attack on Mr. Obama's
connection to Mr. Ayers, who committed acts of domestic terrorism when Mr.
Obama was 8 years old, and contrasted that with Mr. McCain's long
relationships with erstwhile supporters of segregation in the Senate like
Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond.
"Should McCain be held responsible for having served with segregationalists
when he was 8 years old, 18 years old, 28 years old, 38 years old, 48 years
old, 58 years old, 68 years old?" Mr. Jackson said. "Did he ever meet with
any of them? Did he ever conference with them or work with them? Did McCain
quit the Senate instead of work with them?"
He added: "Did Sarah Palin throw her husband out of the house for advocating
secession from the union?"
"I guess they are suggesting that he is a terrorist; it's just patently
absurd," said Representative Bobby Scott of Virginia. "John McCain himself
said he wouldn't participate in such things, but I guess that changes when
you're losing."
"Some may say their true colors are showing," said Representative Yvette
Clarke of New York. "Others may say they're just not being thoughtful. But
certainly a lot of the language I've heard I consider to be incendiary. I
believe it is meant to generate a certain sentiment within their base that
engenders fear and certainly appeals to a group of people within our society
who would pursue this along racial lines.
"It's very clear," she said.
Ms. Clarke also found a racial subtext in Ms. Palin's repeated appeals to
"Joe Six-Pack" and "hockey moms."
"Who exactly is Joe Six-Pack and who are these hockey moms? That's what I'd
like to know," she said. "Is that supposed to be terminology that is of
common ground to all Americans? I don't find that. It leaves a lot of people
out."
New York State Senator Bill Perkins, an early supporter of Mr. Obama, said,
"They are obviously playing on people's fears and prejudices in a desperate
way. While not explicitly relating to race, they are clearly creating the
opportunity for those inclined to come to those conclusions. I think it is
going to become more explicit as we move forward. It's subtle now, but not
so subtle as to be mistaken."
And Kevin Parker, a New York state senator from Brooklyn, said, "If you have
to remind people that Barack Obama is African-American, you have reached the
bottom."
In response to the Obama supporters' comments, McCain campaign spokesman
Peter Feldman provided the following statement: "It is disappointing that
Barack Obama and his supporters continue to play the race card from the
bottom of the deck. This is a tactic that the Obama Campaign has used
before, and which McCain campaign manager Rick Davis correctly called
'divisive, shameful, and wrong.' It is legitimate for John McCain to ask
questions about Barack Obama's relationship with the unrepentant domestic
terrorist William Ayers because Senator Obama has not been truthful about
this relationship. Many Americans want these questions answered. Despite
the fact that Barack Obama has been running for president since joining the
Senate, many Americans are still wondering, 'who is Barack Obama?' These
comments are a sure sign of a flailing campaign that refuses to be honest
with voters and that is bordering on desperation."
The Obama campaign did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.
jhorowitz at (no spam) observer.com |
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