Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Mitt Romney/GOP Campaign Playing on Racism To Attack President Obama And More


Mitt Romney's race baiting and appeal to racist whites who are offended by having a Black man for president things getting down right ugly in the GOP campaign against President Obama.



Dog-whistling "Dixie."
Mitt Romney wants to " keep America America ." The dropping of one letter from the Ku Klux Klan’s slogan, “Keep America American,” does not remove the intent behind Romney’s repeated use of such a virulently bigoted phrase. While Mitt Romney can claim ignorance of the slogan’s origins, he is intentionally channeling its energy.


 The "lazy Negro" theme. At the end of May, the Romney campaign rolled out a new campaign based around the theme, "Obama Isn't Working." It was a neat little double entendre, with a surface-level, grammatically tortured meaning that Obama's policies aren't working, while its grammatically correct meaning implied that the African American president is, well, shiftless -- a notion that is a persistent racial stereotype of American black people.


Above quotes from :
12 Bigoted Taunts Peddled By Romney Camp and Allies by Adele M. Stan at Alternet.org, July 26,2012



Some crazy and offensive statements by Conervatives and uber-Evangelical Christians after the Aurora Mass Murder include:



“Ultimately,” (Mike)Huckabee concluded, “We don't have a crime problem or a gun problem – or even a violence problem. What we have is a sin problem. And since we ordered God out of our schools and communities, the military and public conversations, you know, we really shouldn't act so surprised when all hell breaks loose.”

...Extremist evangelicals Jerry Newcombe and Fred Jackson blame the liberal media, say victims who aren't Christian are in hell:




...from the American Family Association's Fred Jackson: "Whether it’s the Hollywood movies, whether it’s what we see on the Internet, whether it’s liberal bias in the media, whether it’s our politicians changing public policy, I think all of those somehow have fit together—and I have to say also churches who are leaving the authority of Scripture and losing their fear of God" are what "give us these kinds of incidents."

Above quotes two of the... The 6 Most Offensive Things Said in the Wake of the Aurora Shooting by Sarah Seltzer via Alternet.org, July 24, 2012

Topics of the day:

1.#ows update: widespread misconduct by police in their role in policing the Occupy Movement

2. #Gun Control/Aurora Movie Massacre: Some Democrats on their own initiative ignoring President Obama have proposed a bill to control large capacity gun magazines

3.and examples of the worse comments made mainly by conservatives and other conspiracy theory nutters.

4. Mitt Romney to appeal to a larger base employs the coded language and racist Dog-whistles to appeal to the bigotry ,racism, nativism ,xenophobia ,white supremacism , homophobia, Islamophobia etc. of large numbewrs of Republicans and other voters.

5. Ann Romney's gaffes

6. Bachmann's Stealth Jihad conspiracy criticized by 41 Religious groups but not by Romney


While President Obama after the Aurora Mass Murder hasn't taken the prudent and logical step in proposing better gun control laws in America some courageous Democrats in the Senate have proposed a new Gun Control Bill.

Democratic Senators Introduce Ban on High Capacity Gun Magazines Like the One Used in the Aurora Shooting by Avia Shen at ThinkProgress via Alternet.org,July 28, 2012

A group of Democratic senators are bucking President Obama and calling on Congress to pass new legislation that would establish federal restrictions on large capacity gun magazines. Identical to a separate bill introduced by amendment sponsor Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), the senators’ amendment to the Cybersecurity Act would ban the sale or transfer of large capacity feeders like magazines, belts, feed stripes and drums that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition with the exception of .22 caliber rim fire ammunition.

The amendment was introduced amid growing outcry from police and gun control advocates who want Washington to take a stand on gun control. New York City Mayor Bloomberg prominently demanded action hours after the Aurora theater shooting. The White House pledged to strengthen existing gun rules but has since clarified that the administration will not promote new legislation.


A collaborative investigation launched by law clinics at four top universities has assembled damning evidence of widespread misconduct.



Sarah Seltzer at Alternet points out 6 of the most offensive said by public figures after the Midnight Movie Massacre in Aurora. These statement reveal how those against gun control or who buy into the secualr humanist conspiracy or some other outlandish conspiracy such as the Illuminati conspiracy thory or the various conspiracies created to explain how Obama a black American became president ie "birthers", Obama as Manchurian Candidade as a secret pro-Jihadist Muslim or out to destroy white Christian America.



The 6 Most Offensive Things Said in the Wake of the Aurora Shooting by Sarah Seltzer via Alternet.org, July 24, 2012


Conservatives accuse liberals of politicizing the tragedy, but here are the worst examples of people using Aurora to push an extreme agenda.

After reeling in shock from the horrifying details of the Aurora, Colorado massacre, many of us were soon reeling from the callous, exploitative reactions.

I'm perhaps not the only person who was aghast by the number and intensity of responses declaring the problem with Aurora was that not enough citizens were armed. There is a race to come up with the most farfetched things to blame--anything, essentially, besides the ease of purchasing firearms and a system that doesn't provide for the mentally ill.

Even Mitt Romney has gone on the record saying he doesn't think gun laws had anything to do with the tragedy--even though the alleged perpetrator easily purchased 6,000 rounds of ammunition and deadly weapons with complete legal immunity.


...1. Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert says the attack is the result of an attack on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and that the killings might have been avoided if the country returned to the ways of God.

...2. Mike Huckabee blames sin.

“Ultimately,” Huckabee concluded, “We don't have a crime problem or a gun problem – or even a violence problem. What we have is a sin problem. And since we ordered God out of our schools and communities, the military and public conversations, you know, we really shouldn't act so surprised when all hell breaks loose.”

...3. Extremist evangelicals Jerry Newcombe and Fred Jackson blame the liberal media, say victims who aren't Christian are in hell:


...from the American Family Association's Fred Jackson: "Whether it’s the Hollywood movies, whether it’s what we see on the Internet, whether it’s liberal bias in the media, whether it’s our politicians changing public policy, I think all of those somehow have fit together—and I have to say also churches who are leaving the authority of Scripture and losing their fear of God" are what "give us these kinds of incidents."

...4. Internet conspiracy theorists blame government, Obama, Illuminati.

"This is somebody who was selected for a mission, given equipment to carry it out, then somehow brainwashed into getting it done." Okay then. There's also the guy who declared [sic] "Not one week from the rumored Obama signing of the UN Gun Ban Treaty, on Friday the 27th and Obama is 'Gift Wrapped' this horrific slaughter, that he can take and use to Obliterate our God given Second Ammendment Right's."

...5. Russell Pearce blames victims:

“Where were the men of flight 93???? Someone should have stopped this man,” he wrote. “…All that was needed is one Courageous/ Brave man prepared mentally or otherwise to stop this it could have been done.”

...6. The Daily Mail blames women. A common, and irritating, media narrative surrounding violence is that it's fueled by sexual rejection: had some woman just taken pity on the poor man, he wouldn't have acted out.

...7 (sorta). Rick Warren appears to blame the massacre on evolution: " When students are taught they are no different from animals, they act like it ."


and more quotes from Ann Romney which underscore her elitism and the gab between herself and her class and average citizens. Lynn Parramore in her article at think progress dissects 5 of Ann Romney's most reidiculous public statements .

5 Most Ridiculously Offensive Quotes From Ann Romney
Keep talking, Ann. The little people are all ears. July 26, 2012



By now, Lady Romney’s serene indifference to the world of – oh, just about anybody who doesn’t do horse ballet-- has reached legendary status. On her privileged planet, income inequality is a noble thing and you get through college on your man's stock portfolio. For a tour of her best foot-in-mouth musings, we’ve assembled a list of items filed under, “Wow. She really said that!”



1. What, Me Rich?
2. It’s Great That Some Women Don’t Have a Choice
3. College, Wall Street-Style
4. Unzip Mitt
5. Enough of You People

And a critique from Adele M. Stan at Alternet.org on Mitt Romney coded and Dog Whistle bigotry and racism.
So it appears given Mitt Romney coded language that the Republicans have revived their campaign strategy which they used against Obama in 2008.





12 Bigoted Taunts Peddled By Romney Camp and Allies by Adele M. Stan at Alternet.org, July 26,2012


Corporate media largely ignored the subtext of Romney's earliest race-coded comments, and have been content to let more recent and blatant examples die after a day in the news cycle.

1. Mitt Romney's named campaign advisers want you to know that they had nothing, nada -- oops, didn't mean to use a foreign word -- to do with the assertion of an unnamed campaign adviser that Barack Obama just doesn't get that special relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States on account of his father being from Kenya. From the Telegraph:

“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” the adviser said of Mr Romney, adding: “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have”.

2. Dog-whistling "Dixie."

Mitt Romney wants to " keep America America ." The dropping of one letter from the Ku Klux Klan’s slogan, “Keep America American,” does not remove the intent behind Romney’s repeated use of such a virulently bigoted phrase. While Mitt Romney can claim ignorance of the slogan’s origins, he is intentionally channeling its energy.


3. The "lazy Negro" theme. At the end of May, the Romney campaign rolled out a new campaign based around the theme, "Obama Isn't Working." It was a neat little double entendre, with a surface-level, grammatically tortured meaning that Obama's policies aren't working, while its grammatically correct meaning implied that the African American president is, well, shiftless -- a notion that is a persistent racial stereotype of American black people.


4. Using homophobia in a race-based, anti-Obama ploy.

As it turns out, this strategy has been less effective than partisans on either side would have predicted. Since Obama announced that he personally favors the legalization of same-sex marriage -- following an endorsement of same-sex marriage by the NAACP, African American opinion has moved significantly in the direction of approval of marriage equality


5. The booing strategy. And speaking of the NAACP, when one considers that Romney is still playing for the racially resentful Republican base, one has to view his seemingly hapless appearance before the civil rights group's national convention as a stroke of mastery. First of all, the kind of white people who are afraid of black people are likely to view one's appearance before a nearly all-black audience as an act of bravery. Secondly, if you say something that insults that black audience in a way that is lost on your target living-room white audience, one can be guaranteed a vociferous response from the black audience that will be viewed as impolite by the target scaredy-cat white audience. Roll 'em.

6. "Free stuff": the 21st-century "welfare queen." If you think I'm reading too much into the thinking behind Romney's NAACP strategy, consider what he told supporters at a fundraiser later that same day, when discussing the audience reaction to his speech. From my earlier report:

"I hope people understand this, your friends who like Obamacare, you remind them of this, if they want more stuff from government, tell them to go vote for the other guy -- more free stuff," Romney said, according to a pool report. "But don't forget nothing is really free."

7. Subliminal reduction. ... Mitt Romney and his message gurus have displayed a diabolical cleverness in word choices that appear to be benign on the surface, but provoke a more precise and malevolent meaning, often subconsciously, in the minds of their target audience. And because of their subtle evocations -- nay, their inherent deniability -- of malicious content...


... I have been struck by the consistency with which Romney claims that Barack Obama "denigrates" things. He doesn't ever, in Romney's lexicon, "demean" these things, or "disparage" them: he "denigrates" them. Here's a bit from Romney's victory speech in Florida, from my AlterNet report:

"Like his colleagues in the faculty lounge who think they know better, President Obama demonizes and denigrates almost every sector of our economy," Romney said.

In Ohio earlier this month, Romney said:

“Barack Obama’s attempt to denigrate and diminish the achievement of the individual diminishes us all.”
Last week, speaking in New Hampshire, Romney twisted his own syntax into a pretzel in order to accommodate the insertion of that word, saying that Obama was "denigrating making America strong." Now, check out the etymology of the word "denigrate":

denigrate --1520s, from L. denigratus, pp. of denigrare "to blacken, defame," from de- "completely" (see de-) + nigr-, stem of niger "black" (see Negro). of unknown origin. "Apparently disused in 18th c. and revived in 19th c." [OED]. Related: Denigrated; denigrating.

8. Explaining America to the black guy. In a story that barely survived the 24-hour news cycle, Romney surrogate John Sununu, the former New Hampshire governor and chief of staff in the George H.W. Bush administration, said of Obama: "I wish this president would learn how to be an American."


9. Painting president with African father as "third world."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in his guise as Romney surrogate and running-mate hopeful, to describe Obama. As the Romney campaign's resident Latino, it was left to Rubio to challenge Obama's assessment of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez as not such a big threat to the U.S., as he did on July 11.

But after Sununu's stellar performance, Rubio, not to be upstaged, took to Twitter to compare Obama to Chavez and his ilk:

Listening to @barackobama wage #classwarfare in #Jacksonville #Florida.Parts of it sound like speech by left-wing 3rd world leader.#sayfie

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 19, 2012

10. "Foreigner" affairs. And in case those angry white people didn't get the message that Romney and his pals just "know" that the black president with the Kenyan father and the internationalist mother who says he's from Hawaii isn't, like, really from here...

11. Courting the birther vote.

...On the very day he hosted a fundraiser for Romney, casino owner, reality show star and failed presidential candidate Donald Trump took to the airwaves to assert the perennial trope Barack Obama's birth certificate is not authentic and that Obama is ineligible for the presidency. That didn't stop Romney from appearing at Trump's side later in the day. On his campaign plane, Romney told reporters, according to Reuters:
"You know, I don't agree with all the people who support me," Romney said. "My guess is they don't agree with everything I believe in. But I need to get 50.1 percent or more and I'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people."


12. Michele Bachmann's Islamophobic crusade

...Bachmann endorsed Romney, with the presidential candidate at her side, at a high-profile event in May, and Romney hasn't uttered a peep about the Tea Party leader's preposterous attack against State Department aide Huma Abedin, who Bachmann has suggested is tied to the Muslim Brotherhood. (She also alleges a broader infiltration of the Brotherhood into the U.S. government.)

It's hardly a subtle attack; Obama has been a target of Islamophobes since it was learned that his father's family is Muslim. The timing of its revival seems geared to energize the anti-Muslim segment of the GOP base just in time for the election, and to stoke fears among swing voters.

Its not just a few Republicans such as John McCain, John Boener who publicly have decried Bachmann's Islamophobia Conspiracy Theory AKA Stealth Jihad but also a number of Christian religious groups.

Michele Bachmann's Muslim Brotherhood Claims Condemned By Catholic Bishops, 41 Other Groups by Amanda Terkel at Huffington Post, July 26,2012


WASHINGTON -- Forty-two religious and secular organizations united on Thursday in condemning conservative lawmakers' allegations that Muslim-American individuals connected to the U.S. government may be trying to spread the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood.


They directed their criticisms at Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Thomas Rooney (R-Fla.) and Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.), who recently wrote to various government agencies and asked them to investigate the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood. In their letters, the lawmakers targeted top State Department official Huma Abedin and several advisers to the Department of Homeland Security.


"[W]e write to raise our voices in protest of your recent letters regarding prominent American Muslim individuals and organizations," the 42 organizations wrote in a letter to the lawmakers on Thursday. "These letters question the loyalty of faithful Americans based on nothing more than their religious affiliations and what is at best tenuous evidence of their associations. As such, your actions have serious implications for religious freedom and the health of our democracy."


The signatories include the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which often sides with Republicans on social issues, along with the Interfaith Alliance, American Civil Liberties Union, American Baptist Churches USA, NAACP and United Church of Christ.


"Far from supporting the safety of our country, these accusations distract us from examining legitimate threats using proven, evidence-based security strategies," the groups wrote. "Moreover, we know all too well the danger of casting suspicion on loyal and innocent Americans simply because they hold particular beliefs. We will not stand idly by and allow our country to revive federal investigations into innocent individuals based on their religious adherence."


The Anti-Defamation League has already condemned the lawmakers, calling their allegations "anti-Muslim conspiracy theories."


The accusations stem from a report by the Center for Security Policy, a group run by Frank Gaffney, who has been crusading against the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and Sharia law for years.


Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have condemned their colleagues' accusations.


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