It is easy to see the bad in the other guy, it is nearly impossible to see the bad
in yourself. The left and right need to focus on the common enemy and forget
about their differences. Diversion is such a basic ploy that you would think
that both sides would pick up on it. They continue to sling mud at each other
and ignore the 600 pound gorilla shitting on their heads. That the left and
right do not see this with their own eyes is a bit scary.

“Know your enemy better than you know yourself” Sun Tzu

By David Salaam, September 23 at 5:58 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

In my less than humble opinion, most of you are still being misled and don’t
get it. 

nubeewon,

It was said that President Carter was unqualified due to having no foreign policy experience as a simpleton peanut farmer.

President Reagan, the “amiable dunce”, was the senile idiot Anti-Christ due to his name, Ronald Wilson Reagan, added up to 666.

Bush 41 was labeled the lying silver spooned elitist from a crime family.

Clinton was the lying violent rapist felon.

Bush 43 was known as the unqualified, illegitimate, crime family, psychopathic mass murderer whom killed 10,000 black people by causing hurricane Katrina.

Can you show us the undeniable racism you see against President Obama? Can you show us how the overall treatment of the current black president differs from his many white predecessors?

I just want to thank all of you who have specifically and incontrovertibly pointed out how Obama has been unfairly treated by the racist congressman who called him a liar and all of the other racist Republicans who treat Obama badly because of his race.

I also want to thank you for pointing out the denial and lack of self honesty the Republicans have in the matter of their proven, undeniable racism.

Thank you so much.

It strikes me that after 50+ posts no one was able to lend a single example of how the overall treatment of the current black president differs from his many white predecessors.

We’ve certainly had a racist past in the U.S. No thinking person would deny this. To assume that, simply because a majority of voters elected a black president in 2008, we have somehow miraculously eradicated ALL racisim in the country is absurd.

I propose the following:

A) There are still anti-black racists in the U.S.
B) Anti-black racists would not have voted for Barack Obama. Therefore, those racists are most likely among the minority who voted against him.

This leads to the conclusion that while racists are a minority in the country, the highest concentration of them are to be found in the GoP.

Now, knowing that at least some portion of the GoP is racist, are we to assume that when prodded by the likes of Rush, Hannity and Beck they never speak or act on their racist impulses? As reasoning beings we cannot ignore the fact that racism is a component of the rhetoric and vitriol spewed from the right. They may be a minority, but they are there and they are extremely vocal and viscious.

Eugene Robinson and others are using #s 1 and 2 to distract from all the other facts by hinting that logic dictates otherwise than #6.
That’s not true….  I think most people have agreed that there is legitimate protest against the president for his stances, mixed with a racist element. 

In this very article Robinson said:

“So I can say in plain language that Jimmy Carter was right in essence, but wrong in degree. It seems clear to me that some—but not “an overwhelming portion,” as Carter claimed—of the “intensely demonstrated animosity” toward Obama is indeed “based on the fact that he is a black man.”

PatrickHenry, September 19 at 5:14 pm #

Damn ITW, I agree with every tempered word of your post.  I’ve lived to see Carter unfold as a true hero in my life over years and time.
***********************************

Ain’t life interesting?

The rights oposition to anything Obama does is rooted
in racism.  Obama is black, and the little white
supremist in most white folks is upset that he is the
leader.  Sorry whiteys, I have met very few of you who
don’t have some sort of ingrained racism and bigotry.
(for everyones info I am as white as it gets….)

As one who admires both Jimmy Carter and Ron Paul for various reasons, and who despises racism and jingoism in all forms, I would like to make a few points on fact and logic:

1) FACT: There ARE racists (of various types and degrees) and most of them hate Obama because he is black.
2) FACT: Many who mocked and hated GWB and used “chimpy” etc.(not my style, but I certainly sympathized) now cry foul when O is treated to the same.
3) FACT: On issue after issue, (Patriot Act, CIA powers, Iraq and many others) O’s actual policies are closer to GWB’s than to O’s own campaign rhetoric.
4) FACT: On some issues, like Healthcare, on which he differ’s he is still clearly a corporatist and very far from the base that got him elected.
5) FACT: On other issues like Afghanistan, his rhetoric and behavior have always been at odds with his base and both libertarian and progressive agendas.
6) LOGIC: This does not mean all people who disagree with or mock Obama are racist, though it does mean that some are.

Eugene Robinson and others are using #s 1 and 2 to distract from all the other facts by hinting that logic dictates otherwise than #6.

Stop providing cover for Obama’s continuation of the corporatist war agenda!

A)

The only way that the individual has power is anarchy, it is the only fair
system. The ‘rich’ may not be as wealthy as the people, or the ‘rich’
themselves, believe them to be. Real wealth is food, water, energy et cetera
and has nothing to do with the fiat currencies promoted by governments.
Ultimately your success as an organism is based on placing viable offspring
into the gene pool.

By thelibertarian, September 20 at 3:38 pm #

My point was that when America was established “leaving the power of choice
with the individual” it was new and daring. 

But “central planners” sing a siren song.  Sadly, it always ends in dictatorship
and instead of ‘eliminating’ the problems, they ‘eliminate’ some demonized
group == often the rich!

stcfarms
“Lose it? Do you honestly believe that you have it now?”

I must admit, no, we do not.

My point was that when America was established “leaving the power of choice with the individual” it was new and daring. 

But “central planners” sing a siren song.  Sadly, it always ends in dictatorship and instead of ‘eliminating’ the problems, they ‘eliminate’ some demonized group == often the rich!

I can think of nothing Jimmy Carter has said that I have disagreed with, except the time he apologized for calling George W. Bush the worst president in history…...  I understand decorum, but the statement was dead on. 

Had he been re-elected and the cyclical recovery had happened under his 2nd term, he would be regarded today as one of our greatest presidens.  And we never would have had the deficits we began to suffer under Reagan.  In fact, during his last year in office, he actually submitted a balanced budget and the Congress added 69 billion in deficit spending back in…. 

IMO he was a great president, and a wonderful elder statesman now…

Kanye-little-talent West is a racist. There I said it.

He is also a jack-ass, moron, idiot, fool, and child. 
He is right up there with Rush stinky Limberger, Looo
Duds the moron, Glen the asshole Beck, and the
others…..fools are fools.

Wilson of Carolina is a racist, and simply can’t accept
a nigger is the president. (I use the so called N word
ironically here….and I’d bet dollars to donuts that
Wilson secretly thinks blacks are niggers)

Re: Eugene

Your quote: “What I wrote last year about candidate Barack Obama—that to win he had to be seen as “the least-aggrieved black man in America”—may be even more relevant now.”

LOL!... I personally don’t recall your comment, however the whole issue is bogus in all reality.  I wonder… how is that a “black Pres. Obama” who very TECHNICALLY for those folks to whom CLAIM it matters, is ONLY HALF BLACK…. LOL!

These ditwads have NO GRIEVANCE.  They only imagine “grievances”.  As entertaining as they sometimes are, and I admit I find great delight in them EXPOSING themselves….ha, ha, ha,...lol!

For the record, I would like to have a supposed “grievance” with the WHITE PORTION of PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA….(lol).  Here goes…. why is it… Dear President (white portion) of PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA… have you have not engaged my every whiney-assed supposition…?

In addition, I would like to add… “i matter”, “i have feelings”, and “i used to watch Sesame Street” therefore, “I” know, excuse me…, I know and understand diversity. lol, lol, lol.

(the foregoing comment is meant only for those who’ve been “following along”)
Hi GORDON!!!!  Hey Gordon, i just wanted you to know it was “okay” that you were a good guy and all that to my TODDLER, but Gordon…. Gordon…. “people like you should not be in positions of authority.

A summation of the Michelle Bachmann mindset.

LOL.

Damn ITW, I agree with every tempered word of your post.  I’ve lived to see Carter unfold as a true hero in my life over years and time.

Folktruther, September 19 at 3:32 pm #

gosh, Inherit, your comments are getting better.  Are you feeling alright? Have you moved from New Jersey?  Leanty of room in California.
***************************************

Aw, FT—I didn’t know you cared.

Actually, I haven’t really changed much in my views, merely refined them—and we, in New Jersey, are generally pretty liberal.  Even our Republicans are liberal—except in some enclaves (like my US Cong district…sigh…).

I’m not a native Jersey Boy—only been here about 15 years.  Growing up NJ was a foreign country—and lousy to hitch-hike in back in the 70’s.

gosh, Inherit, your comments are getting better.  Are you feeling alright? Have you moved from New Jersey?  Leanty of room in California.

Lose it? Do you honestly believe that you have it now?

By thelibertarian, September 19 at 2:17 pm #

leaving the power of choice with the individual is the NEW way and we are
about to lose it. 

Policies from politicians at all levels that begin with ‘its for their own good’ should pull up a vision of the Trail of Tears and the Batan Death March.
Autocratic decisions from the central planner(s) are the OLD way.. been around for millenium.. leaving the power of choice with the individual is the NEW way and we are about to lose it. 
Regaining the individual liberty that brought us this far may not come again for centuries.

OK

StuartH,

Fat Freddy, I did miss that—thank goodness.  Point well taken. 
Of course, my point stands.  It’s the lampooning that is the commonality.  No president has escaped the cartoonists’ hands. To now attempt to scare opponents of Obama’s policies by labeling them is the trick of the totalitarian.  Bush used labeling to get us into Iraq without dissent.  Hillary fell for it; the dolt.  Rudy tried it against Ron Paul in the debates by saying Paul was on the side of the terrorists and blaming Americans for 9/11 when he mentioned the blowback causes of 9/11.  The next day, Paul gave him a ‘reading list’ as blowback appeared in the 9/11 report and others as a cause.  think Paul played a major part in Rudy’s political career falling flat.
As I see it, Carter is advancing racist as a ploy similar to ‘unpatriotic’ causing the dixie chicks to be crushed. 
But it’s dangerous in my opinion.  It’s dangerous to make decisions by popular majority as it often forgets the individuals, whose individual choices and liberty, are trampled.

stcfarms:

If you want to quote a previous message, pick out the specific clause you wish to
respond to instead of the entire thing.  That way,  you won’t take up so much
space.  If we want to go back and read it again, it is not too difficult to scroll down
to locate it, or use the search function to located text strings within the page.

If I had been a peaceful demonstrator on the bridge at Selma on that awful day of our past I would have absolutely no problem recognizing today’s vitriolic demonstrations against President Obama as purely racist even if today’s demonstrators may not realize which Pied Piper they are following. The dogs of Selma seem to have been replaced by loaded guns. Former President Carter knows what he is talking about.

Imagine if Obama were pictured as a ‘Chimp’.

I guess you missed this.

Good advice is like a pregnant cat, you cannot give it away. The Americans of
all the major parties are quite insane, they vote in the same type of politicians
year after year and expect a different result each time. The time has come to
create a society of humans that does not require a government to think for
them. The land masses have been filled so the only places where such a
society is possible are the deep ocean and space. Freedom exists only on the
frontier, it has always been that way and it will always be that way. Once we
have ‘tamed’ the oceans civilization will come and claim everything and only
Kirk’s final frontier will remain. It is unlikely that civilization will ever have the
ability to govern space so it should always remain free. Humans have become
like bees in a hive, the leaders are born into power and the drones are born
into slavery. It is time for logical minds to escape the hive mentality and strike
out on our own. It is sad that the vast majority of the hive will never know
freedom but there is nothing that we can do to teach them what they do not
want to know. As of right now there are fewer than two dozen folks that are
building escape vehicles that can handle the deep ocean but the economy,
global warming, wars and other factors will surely drive the numbers up.

By thelibertarian, September 19 at 11:11 am #

The Serb was correct we are in for it now.
Remember ‘Clinton Haters’?  Remember those who hoped for Cheney’s
pacemaker to go bad?  Remember pictures of ‘Chimp Bush’? 
Imagine if Obama were pictured as a ‘Chimp’.  OH MY GAWD.. what a video
moment that would be.
Face it; every president is lampooned after the time for rhetoric is gone and
the rubber hits the road. 
“Reform” has been a wonderful campaign slogan for generations.  Just because
Obama used the word, “Change”, doesn’t mean he is any different.  Once that
change is written into law, the populist dreamworks is over.  Populists can give
us little actual meat and we can all dream that the final product will be what
we dream of… when has that ever happened?
Although there are racists left in America, many of the disallusioned in
America are progressives.
Both parties are growing the central power and planning and stealing the
rights of the individual to give it to favored groups.  This ‘ism’ of central
planning caused the European mess we found 60-70 years ago. 
“To build a better world, we must have the courage to make a new start. We
must clear away the obstacles with which human folly has recently
encumbered our path and release the creative energy of individuals. We must
create conditions favourable to progress rather than ‘planning progress’.”
“It is not those who cry for more ‘planning’ who show the necessary courage,
nor those who preach a ‘New Order’, which is no more than a continuation of
the tendencies of the past 40 years, and who can think of nothing better than
to imitate Hitler. It is, indeed,those who cry loudest for a planned economy
who are most completely under the sway of the ideas which have created this
war and most of the evils from which we suffer.”
“The guiding principle in any attempt to create a world of free men must be
this: a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy.”
Hayek (who lived in Europe and documented the causes)
http://www.iea.org.uk/files/upld-publication43pdf?.pdf

The Serb was correct we are in for it now.
Remember ‘Clinton Haters’?  Remember those who hoped for Cheney’s pacemaker to go bad?  Remember pictures of ‘Chimp Bush’? 
Imagine if Obama were pictured as a ‘Chimp’.  OH MY GAWD.. what a video moment that would be.
Face it; every president is lampooned after the time for rhetoric is gone and the rubber hits the road. 
“Reform” has been a wonderful campaign slogan for generations.  Just because Obama used the word, “Change”, doesn’t mean he is any different.  Once that change is written into law, the populist dreamworks is over.  Populists can give us little actual meat and we can all dream that the final product will be what we dream of… when has that ever happened?
Although there are racists left in America, many of the disallusioned in America are progressives.
Both parties are growing the central power and planning and stealing the rights of the individual to give it to favored groups.  This ‘ism’ of central planning caused the European mess we found 60-70 years ago. 
“To build a better world, we must have the courage to make a new start. We must clear away the obstacles with which human folly has recently encumbered our path and release the creative energy of individuals. We must create conditions favourable to progress rather than ‘planning progress’.”
“It is not those who cry for more ‘planning’ who show the necessary courage, nor those who preach a ‘New Order’, which is no more than a continuation of the tendencies of the past 40 years, and who can think of nothing better than to imitate Hitler. It is, indeed,those who cry loudest for a planned economy who are most completely under the sway of the ideas which have created this war and most of the evils from which we suffer.”
“The guiding principle in any attempt to create a world of free men must be this: a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy.” Hayek (who lived in Europe and documented the causes)
http://www.iea.org.uk/files/upld-publication43pdf?.pdf

Is it really racism, or the fact that many Southerners still can’t accept the fact that they lost the Civil War? I’m not saying there isn’t racism present, this is The USA, where everyone has the God given right to be racist, if they want. We all know the geographic of the demographic. Many still see the North as Free Thinking Abolitionists.

STFU-Carter, September 18 at 7:03 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Why would anyone believe what former president Carter says? In the words of Alan Dershowitz (no right-wing nut), “there is no person in American public life today who has a lower ratio of real to apparent integrity than Jimmy Carter.”
***************************************

Yeah, STFU, Alan Dershowitz is REALLY well-respected here for his insights and unbiased opinions.  We denizens of Truthdig put him right up there in the pantheon of other great unbiased philosophers, like:
Rush Limbaugh
Bill-O-The-Clown O’Reilly
Sean Hannity
Glenn “Sob, Sob!” Beck
Darth Cheney and
Bill “Brainless” Kristol

Only difference between them and Dershowitz is Alan actually claims to be a liberal.  Hasn’t Dersh been silent on whether Wilson is racist or not?

Jimmy Carter, while politically inept as President, had a prophetic vision for America 33 years ago that has proven profoundly correct.  Whether it was urging energy independence and alternative sources, pushing education as a competitive weapon, to collegial relations with nations, even if we didn’t get along, wiser economic policies (he appointed Paul Volcker—and Reagan got the credit), Jimmy Carter was right about just about EVERYTHING we should have been doing.  But, like Cassandra, nobody listened to him and the worst of his predictions all came true.

Carter predicted, in March of 2003, that the coming Iraq invasion would be a complete cluster-fuck and begged the President and the nation not to do it. Of course, he was right, as he usually is.

And he’s clearly right about Joe Wilson.  This guy has voted for every code-phrase piece of segregationist legislation, and is a member of a blatantly racist org—Sons of the Konfederacy, a virtual front for the KKK.

So, until you can get your facts straight, maybe YOU should STFU.

Eugene,

Have you read “Mein Kampf” by Adolph Hitler?  The answer is POWER.  Republicans are trying to appear to the people as the only party with POWER—this was Hitler’s way to get into power and the Republicans are using Hitler’s ways to try to get back into power.

“Obama disagrees. “The president does not believe that criticism comes based on the color of his skin,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday.”

Obama is too smart to agree with that statement. He knows that it would be counterproductive for him to agree. That must be Obama’s official line, but he is smart enough to know that many are being racist, some blatantly like doughboy, Rush Limbaugh and others less blatant like those carrying placards of Obama as the Joker (black and clown in many minds). Much of this has been orchestrated by the moneyed interests, including the right-wing think tanks. The think tanks have had social psychologists working overtime to spread neocon propaganda and they’ve done a good job.

The public fool system has taught you well, you are the poster child for those
that rewrite history. The congressional record backs Mike up, you might want
to read it.

By Rodger Lemonde, September 18 at 4:49 pm #

The technical term for mike112769’s little speech is:
bullshit.

The technical term for mike112769’s little speech is:
bullshit.

The technical term for Carter’s little speech is: bullshit. The vast majority of Americans (especially the younger ones)are not racist. You will always have a few fools, black or white or yellow, who will always be racist, mainly out of fear and ignorance. The most racist people I can think of are politicians and the media. THEY are the ones keeping racism alive. As far as getting mad because someone wants to fly the rebel flag goes: grow up. The rebel flag means nothing more than an assertion of states’ rights. Always was, always will be. Slavery was not the reason the civil war started. It was states’ rights. Slavery was abolished when Lincoln determined that doing so would end the war quicker. If he had tried to abolish it at the start of his term, his own party would have impeached him. The vast majority of Southerners during the civil war disapproved of slavery. Most of them didn’t even own slaves. They fought to keep the Federal government out of their lives. They were not fighting to keep slavery. Most people consider racism to be a non-issue, and rightly so. Obama getting elected should show how far we have come in so short a time. Obama is also an excellent example of equality. Isn’t he doing just as poorly in office, at this time and with these circumstances, as any white man would do? After the mess The Shrub left us in, nobody in the world would have an easy time being president now. His difficulty in getting anything accomplished is not due to racism. It is because he promised too much. He said he would help us get “change”, but keeps the same old advisors around him. He wants peace in the Middle East, yet he vows to keep killing Afghanis after we leave Iraq. He wants medical care for all, then lets the insurance lobbyists and big business tell him what he is allowed to do. The level of hate directed against Obama is far from new, yet some say they have never heard it being this bad. That may be due to the fact that the media didn’t keep harping on it before. Obama truly is a groundbreaker. Like most groundbreakers, though, he is going to take a lot of abuse simply because he’s the first. I like the man, and most of the time respect his intentions. I do feel that he is extremely out of touch, like all politicians, with what we as a country really feel. He doesn’t really care about this country in the right way. He seems to think if it is good for his party and his campaign coffers, then it’s good for the country. He’s wrong. Obama has what he thinks are good intentions. What is the road to hell paved with? His policies are destroying this country. My great grandchildren will be paying off these programs he wants. He lost my confidence in him when he went along with the bailouts. Not ONE of those companies were “too big to fail.” They didn’t need bailed out. We don’t need more government health care. What those industries need are REGULATED. If Obama will stand up against all of those who paid for him to get where he is, and do what is right for the people of America, not the corporations, then I will be right back beside him. If he would help us like he is supposed to do, he would have my total support, even he he were purple with orange polka-dots. By the way, Joe Wilson did not call Obama a liar. He said “You lie.” There is a difference.

certainly you’re a racist, Bojan.  You don’t have to be an American to be bigoted, as you obviously are.  You justify it by your anciestors being enslaved and being victims of homicidal racism.  Since they were vicims, you apparently feel nothing should be done to prevent other groupings from being victims.

Rousing the people agasinst racism, what you call ‘bitching’ is how you fight it.  It is how the Indians and Asians fought it as well.  We’re not going to stop bitching Bojan.  We ARE at work.

The racism is becoming overt now, due to Obama’s election.  Rush Limbagher, with an audience of 14 million, yesterday stated openly that buses should be segregated, and other racist garbage.  and Inherit is quite right about Joe’s racism.

According to a large, historical book by Leonard Zeskind BLOOD AND POLITICS, there are thirty thousand full time cadre and two hundred thousand active supports for White Christian racism.  this is an anti-semitic racism, as opposed to the neozionist racism against dark skinned Muslims and Arabs supported by the neoZionist lemmings. 

This White racism will increase, according to Zeskind, as Whites become a minority in the US and incresingly so in a world of non-Whites gaining power.  So the 21st century will see the end of the racist struggle, one way or another, that was so prominent in the 20th century.  In an eea of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass distruction, this not a wholly comforting thought.

Mr. Robinson is absolutely right, and Jimmy Carter did do us a favor in saying what most people are not willing to say.

Racism runs deep in our culture, and although it is politically incorrect to play the so-called race card, it is played in subtle ways.

It is true other presidents have been vilified, but none to my knowledge have been called the Anti-Christ, an illegal alien, or likened to the worst evil of our world. I don’t recall a Christan minister playing for Obama to die of brain cancer, and I don’t recall anyone saying the president, his wife, and “stupid children” should die. Obama has faced all of that vitriol because, I contend, he is black. As Robinson said, Obama is as American as apple pie. To his detractors, I say: get over it.

Indeed, there are people all over our country, especially in Washington, D.C. who have not accepted the legitimacy of his presidency. Some, like Wilson I suspect, can’t stand to see a n***** in the White House.

As a U.S court judge said recently when dismissing a frivolous case filed by the LaRouche crowd, Obama spent two years running for office against some of the most formidable opponents possible. In that length of time he was vetted by the media from his plantar fasciae to his hair follicles.

We need a national discussion on race, and until it takes place, racism will live on, and on, and on. One can deny it’s a problem, but that won’t make it go away. The economy, the wars, health care reform—all are important issues we must deal with, but the racists among us tie his hands, thus putting our nation in danger.

@To bojan1
And all the tough racist guys on this thread:

You couldn’t squash a grape with Welch’s permission, so stop with all this tough guy talk. I can see that you are angry and cannot wait to start hurting people. I hate to be the turd in the punch bowl at your party, but I have to tell you, there are some folks out here, of all races, who support Obama, but we are not handcuffed by some “non-violent, love your enemy ideology.” We are poised and ready, because we fully understand that people like you speak the language of hate and violence and we are proficient in that dialect; so there won’t be any miscommunications. We are fully are that evil only retreats in the face of greater evil. Believe me when I say, you are riding the back of a tiger, hoping the tiger isn’t hungry, but the tiger is famished.

So whenever you start feeling froggy, please do not hesitate to jump.

bojan1
So we can assume you are the expert on racism?
In your own unique way are you saying that you are a
racist and we should fear your retribution?
If that wasn’t your intent please clarify.

Yeah, lets all fight over racism and ignore global warming, wars, poverty and
all the real problems. Once again a loud vocal minority from both parties seeks
to raise a cloud of bullshit to obscure the fact that neither party has ever done
anything for the people. If you get sucked into the argument then you are not
holding their feet to the fire on their poor performance.

Racism exists but as an atheist ubernerd half breed I can tell you that race is
irrelevant. Americans that would never utter the ‘N’ word seem perfectly happy
to denigrate intellect and would kill an atheist if they could get away with it.
Only those with the IQ of a bag of doorknobs will elevate race to the level of
concern that should be reserved for the economy, the environment and
colonial wars.

Is President Carter Right?

I have yet to see an example of the same outrageous behavior and smears that had been directed toward Nixon, Reagan, Clinton and Bush 43 (white men).

Every nasty caricature imaginable has been directed toward all of the above. Each of these past presidents had been the object of the most outlandish attacks imaginable. Each of them the subject of countless lies and distortions of their respective positions and agendas.

Imagine, during the primaries, if President Obama had been accused of violent rape by his opponents. Imagine if the president today were accused of being an amiable dunce and the Anti-Christ/spawn of the devil. Or an clueless elitist criminal. Imagine if people who didn’t like his winning had thrown eggs at his motorcade on inauguration day. Imagine if someone released a movie depicting the assassination of President Obama.

I have simply not witnessed anything that meets the level of disdain and hatred directed toward previous presidents.

I ask with complete sincerity; can anyone lend us some examples of how the overall treatment of the current president differs from his predecessors? Mr. Robinson gives only abstract and vague reasons for his conclusions.

I seek an adult, sincere and succinct dialog.

Those who deny that Carter is right are themselves in denial.

I grew up in Central Texas.  I remember the way it was, and I know how it still is.  Racism is seldom as clear cut as it used to be.  But the sickness is still there.  Of course, people are in denial. 

In 1981, in Austin, which is the most progressive city in Texas (local newspapers in other towns, such as Waco, ran main editorials that referred to it as “the People’s Republic of Austin”) I participated in the local city council race.

A prominent chemistry professor at Huston Tillotsen College, a Historically Black institution, ran for city council.  His plywood, hand stenciled signs were shotgun blasted and had to be sort of wired back together.  A pickup truck belonging to the sign volunteer was firebombed.  I rode in it.  The guy had simply gone to the junkyard, gotten a new front seat which didn’t match the floor bolts, and continued on.  They all soldiered on.  The election was won and the chemistry professor served several terms and was greatly admired in the end. 

This is a national time of referendum on multiculturalism.  If you live in a city like Seattle, you already live in the future.  If you live in a small town or rural area, you may live in a place that doesn’t have diversity - in either the population or in terms of media voices.  That is the main reason for “red state” areas.

There is no doubt this pot is being stirred by millions of dollars in spending by the insurance industry and the banking industry to stall reform efforts.  If they succeed in getting angry tea bagger types elected in 2010, it won’t be because they have a constructive agenda, but to sabotage any effort to move forward. 
Strategists like Karl Rove realize all too well that they don’t have ammunition when it comes to new ideas, so if they can pump up the intensity of those most motivated by anxiety and negativity, perhaps that can compensate.

If you grew up in the South and have common sense, you know there is a lot of dog whistling going on right now.  No question about it.

People are trivializing this dangerous stew that the republicans are brewing, as simply, “if you disagree with the President you’re rac!st.” No, that is not the case. When you carry guns at a protests; send out emails with racist innuendos; call him a Nazi or an Indonesian Muslim welfare thug; print cartoons in newspapers depicting police officers shooting a monkey, while making reference to the president; make false claims about his birth and the legitimacy of his presidency; those are beyond disagreements. Those are overt rac!st practices. Nancy Pelosi is right, the republicans are riding the back of a tiger, hoping the t!ger isn’t hungry. But I have news for them the tiger is famished.

This is simply crap.  It’s just another way to demonize those you disagree with.  Add Racist to Nazi and Fascist as words that have simply lost meaning due to their irrelevant usage.

Carter’s right and I believe Obama knows Carter is 100% right.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Mr. Carter and Mr. Obama talked about this, and they agreed that the White House would feebly deny racism and Carter would loudly condemn it, so they’d look like they are at odds.  You know, good cop, bad cop.

IOW, Carter would be the stalking horse.

Friends say Wilson isn’t racist??? These days, not even the KKK admits to being “racist” so that’s no surprise.  It’s also a lie.  Wilson’s history and membership in the Sons of the Konfederacy prove he’s a racist, representing old-fashioned redneck bigots in one of the historically most redneck-filled states in the nation, South Carolina.

No, the president doesn’t get a free pass because of the color of his skin. Our country showed what it was made of when we elected our first black president. That was a moment to be proud of. I myself voted for the man and wished him well, even though I opposed his candidacy in the primaries. But Obama believers have been crying racism all along, and it’s been old and it’s been obnoxious for a long time. Bill Clinton didn’t get to cry racism, and George Bush didn’t get to cry racism, and they both were savaged far worse than anything that Obama has experienced so far. All he has to do is to serve the people and to do his job. If he can’t take critisism, he shouldn’t have run for the office. We are all equal in this country, and this man’s win in November, 2008, proved that.

Joe Wilson and Kanye West are a couple of rude buffoons, but I don’t hear anybody calling Kanye a racist. Some of the same people who applauded the guy who threw a shoe at president Bush are condemning Wilson, who threw a word. Left, right or center, whether you love Obama or hate him, race does not give anyone special protection from criticism.

The Rightwingers savaged Rooseveldt, too. Called him a socialist and a comunist. But it didn’t do them any good, because the people supported him. Obama’s getting it from both sides because nobody believes him anymore besides a handful of acolytes. That’s his own fault, and it doesn’t have anything to do with race.

Jimmie Carter has always been Right. That’s the problem with the Democratic Party. It’s been wormholed and turned into a capitalist tool.

Well said, Mr. Robinson.  I believe that as
Americans, we need to follow this example and not
accommodate racism any longer.  This means not
accepting the thinly veiled racism that passes for
political dissent lately to calling an acquaintance
on it in private conversation.  We need to face
racism for what it is, stop pretending it doesn’t
exist, and stop accepting it as legitimate
conversation.

You are correct in saying that racism is behind
“birthers”, calling Barack Obama a fascist, a
socialist, or whatever. If people want to have a
discussion about the size of government, or foreign
policy, or spending, or any of the myriad of actual
issues or philosophies that can be discussed, that’s
fine and welcomed.  But come out and call the
President a liar, or a witch doctor, or Hitler, and
your opinion is not worth the breath that was used to
utter it.

B.S.