Don't even try to make this about racism!

[wndycty]

[auditguy]

1. trick is...there were pictures of Bush as the Joker

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2008/07/bush-as-joker.html

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GGIG_en&resnum=0&q=bush+as+joker&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=I5-zSpbeF4ygMI27hNoO&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4 (a lot of these are the same)

and comparisons of Bush to Hitler/Nazis were rampant and still going on...

the Muslim & African things are of course new...and VERY ugly

[uponit7771]

2. Yeah,...mmmmmk. A black man in white face is = white man in white face....nah, no semblence

...of race there at all.....NONE.

[auditguy]

3. seems to me the point is more

the destructive nature of the character ...it's hard for side A to make a case that side B can't do/say a given thing when side B did it a lot to the prior guy...

[noiretextatique]

10. that argument doesn't fly because "the other guy"

wasn't some benign or intelligent or fair or competent president. bush deserved all the derision he received and then some. what has obama done to deserve the treatment he's getting? absolutely nothing in my mind...except continuing bush's policies.

[jenmito]

4. Not only that, but Bush was portrayed as those things because of what he DID while Obama is

being portrayed as those things because of who he IS-a Black man.

[Solomon]

8. Bingo. This is what they refuse to see because after all.

white people are not racist. Anything that happened to Bush didn't happen until his last couple of months in office. After 8 years of lying and screw-ups.

Obama doesn't even get started on his presidency and out come the deniers with the "they did it to Bush bullcrap".

Stunning the blind refusal to admit what is really going on.

[Arkana]

16. Yep, I remember liberal protestors

waving signs with Bush painted as the Joker and I remember that painting going absolutely viral in liberal circles.

And I remember no one objecting to the only documented mainstream instance of a Bush/Hitler comparison.

Oh, wait...no, I don't remember any of that. Because it NEVER FUCKING HAPPENED. The MoveOn ad was breathlessly denounced in every corner of the media and even Democrats fell all over themselves to distance themselves from it. I don't hear any Republicans backing away from this tasteless display of overt racism and hatred.

Don't equivocate. Don't even try to equivocate.

[GivePeaceAchance]

5. I'm sure President will address it when the time is most appropriate...

but I feel he's more aiming to be encompassing of all the electorate, no matter what their issues with him. Even though Jesse Jackson and Sharpton have done good in their actions they have been a motivating force to keep the rights base motivated. He's just trying not to define himself that way. As a mixed race person I can see what he's doing, it's mostly about the next generation of African Americans, racism does exist that's blatant, but he's focusing on striving for success against all odds despite their being racism. It'll always be around in some for or another all across the globe, in the end you work out as a person of color you have to work your way around it with persistence and determination.

This is not a discussion he needs or wants to have because he'll always come back to it and he's here to be President, than deal with peoples personal issues, his success on its own should eventually turn folks around. Part of it comes from hard times and that will turn around. I can see he has no personal issue with Carter, it's just not how he's defining his presidency. You learn as a person of color to let it bounce off and keep on rolling, only their enlightenment and evolution can change it. And part of that evolution will be seeing an African American President pull a country back from the brink, they'll be hard pressed to admit but inwardly they will know he done good. there are no magic words he can express to magically erase racism, only his actions of being the most successful President he can be can in some part convince people and unlock their hearts to acceptance. I think people with negative views feel they grow to and adult and that's all the growing they do but a real grown up keeps on growing and understanding through the mind, especially an obligation of people who want to be genuine Christians, but not soley Christian alone.

This can't be a conversation of one man with America magic racism gone, it's long term process of conversations each person has with each other. Getting to understand how folks feel the way they do and what most can be done to change their minds.

[jonnyblitz]

6. I don't understand what the joker has to do with socialism or

Obama, the 3 concepts (obama, socialism, the joker) having NOTHING TO DO with each other. And I can't believe (naive me) anybody would be so BRAZENLY RACIST as to carry that vile "lyin african" sign! :wtf: they should all have just dropped the pretense and broke out the white sheets and burned a friggen cross on the whitehouse lawn. I take much issue with Obama on many things politically but I don't care to put up much with this BRAZEN, RACIST BULLSHIT. all this PLUS the AA moms getting smacked around in front of their kids is NOT FUCKING COOL.:mad:

[Indigent]

7. I don't find the joker poster racist

It was created by a Kucinich supporter from Palestinian descent,and he did not even use the word "socialism." Someone else added it to it in order to paint Obama as "socialist."

Not that "socialist" is a racist word anyway. It's a political slur.

I think painting the joker poster as racist is akin to saying that Bill Clinton's "Obama's Iraq policy is a fairy tale" is racist.

As of the "WHITEFACE," claim, whiteface is not something that has been used against blacks in the past as a racist tool, nor can the Joker's face be painted purple because it is white after all, with red lipstick. The other signs are racist though.

[Hansel]

11. Well there then everyone. A Kucinich supporter did the poster.

Nothing to see, move along.

:sarcasm:

The poster is offensive and is racist. He took a Black man and made his face white in one of the most offensive ways possible--a very obvious takeoff on blackface which no one can argue was not racist.

It's kind of a naive statement to say it's not racist because a Kucinich voter made it.

Although I'm not sure that Bill Clinton's statement was meant to be racist, it was definitely meant to be condescending and belittling. I think it's possible that is all it was meant to be. It can't be easy to see your wife losing to someone who you believe is so much less experienced. I think it was more family emotion getting out of control than racism. I truly think that he thought Obama wasn't as qualified as Hillary and that's a legitimate emotion. I thought he did more to hurt himself than anyone else, though, by wearing his emotions on his sleeves. And I can see how some think it was racist and I'm not arguing with how they felt about it. It wasn't what he said, it was how he said it and the context in which he said it that was offensive.

[Zavulon]

19. Neither do I.

I think you have to work at finding racism in that poster, as it's a takeoff on a fictional character, but finding racism comes naturally to a lot of people.

[Peacetrain]

9. I know it when I see it, and smell it... Racism has a peculiarity to it, that goes straight to the

bone. And it is usually followed by.. "well it is satire, and some of my best friends are" ...... Its racist.

[Cha]

12. I got a newsflash for you, fucktard..

You already did.

[Zavulon]

21. I assume

you're talking to the cartoon figure and not the OP. I hope, anyway.

[myrna minx]

13. K&R n.t

[Indigent]

14. Obama says racism is not the overriding issue of the opposition

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5get9vRIDEVIaUOE7dowIp5aOUdMQ

[Forkboy]

15. Obama is being wise to defuse the issue in his position as President.

In many ways, as crucial an issue as race is, it's somewhat of a distraction in his position as he has to govern ALL races, and the issue can make the healthcare quagmire look a blip on the radar, and he's got a full plate already. Getting entangled in this issue is a no-win for him right now. That's why people have surrogates do the dirty work and take the hits for speaking what they see as the truth. Bush did it with people like Kristol, Novak, etc. Clinton did it with Carville and Begala, Bush Sr did it Baker, and on and on through the history of America.

How much of an issue do you yourself feel racism is playing in the criticisms of Obama?

[Zavulon]

20. I really don't.

Obama's trying to help people and level the playing field a little, and Republicans don't put up with that shit from anyone - regardless of skin color. I don't think Wilson's assholery was racism, I don't think the Joker poster is, I don't think Carter was right, either. Crying racism is, unfortunately, the default position of way too many people.

The other posters reek of racism, but with the exception of the "Lyin' African" one this is the first time I've seen any of them. The criticism I'm hearing is based on policy disagreements and ideology, and it's sad that we can't debate anything without someone crying "racism."

[Arkana]

17. Whatever Obama feels on the subject, he had to say this.

[spanone]

22. what else can he say.

[PurityOfEssence]

18. Are you familiar with the concept of facetiousness?

The thread-starter was indulging in an arcane moment of sarcasm.

Apparently the joke light needs to be lit for some people, but this was OBVIOUS.

Bear in mind that the poster has been a steadfast supporter of the President since first joining the fray here during the primary season. As for the epithet, by the rules of the board, we're supposed to rise above such recess-yard baiting here; agree or not, this person does not deserve that kind of smearing.