Jackson Lee: Congress complicating debt ceiling because Obama is black

[Horse with no Name]

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/171807-sheila-jackson-lee-suggests-congress-complicating-debt-ceiling-because-obama-is-black#.TiCtzG7URac.facebook

>>>snip
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) on Friday strongly suggested that members of Congress are making it difficult for President Obama to raise the debt ceiling because of his race.

"I do not understand what I think is the maligning and maliciousness this president,” said Jackson Lee, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. “Why is he different? And in my community, that is the question that we raise. In the minority community that is question that is being raised. Why is this president being treated so disrespectfully? Why has the debt limit been raised 60 times? Why did the leader of the Senate continually talk about his job is to bring the president down to make sure he is unelected?”

Jackson Lee said Obama has been targeted unlike any other president.

"I am particularly sensitive to the fact that only this president — only this one, only this one — has received the kind of attacks and disagreement and inability to work, only this one," said Jackson Lee from the House floor.

"Read between the lines," she continued. "What is different about this president that should put him in a position that he should not receive the same kind of respectful treatment of when it is necessary to raise the debt limit in order to pay our bills, something required by both statute and the 14th amendment?"

[hedgehog]

1. She's right.

[The Magistrate]

3. That Is All There Is To Any Of This, Ma'am

The entire Republican mass line boils down to 'This used to be a White man's country...'.

[Zebedeo]

41. And when Senator Obama voted in 2006 AGAINST raising the debt

ceiling, was he being racist also?

Here's his reasoning from the time:

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."

Sound familiar?

Maybe, just maybe, our political opponents are opposing the President based on policy, not on race. Wouldn't you agree that this is a plausible explanation?

[The Magistrate]

67. No, Sir: It Is Not A Plausible Explaination

The whole history of the Republican party, since the '64 election, is one of cultivating racism and racists, to the point that white people of racist feeling are pretty well segregated within the Republican voting bloc, and dominate in its organizing cadre, from which candidates for office are drawn.

[Drale]

8. Well she's got the major reason but

I suspect they would be doing the same to any democrat because the GOP no longer has any goals other then to make the rich richer and to defeat the democrats.

[joeybee12]

10. I agree...her explanation is part of it, maybe a large part...but any dem

president they would do this to.

[DevonRex]

14. Why do you downplay racism?

[joeybee12]

24. Nice reply...I said it was a large part of the eplanation..

Why do you ignore what they did to Bill Clinton...Jesus Christ.

[DevonRex]

26. Okay. I agree that what BC went through was pretty bad.

I just don't think it's the same thing. And that's because my siblings are all RW fundies and I have heard the difference first hand. They would be just as bad or even worse to our first gay President as they are to Obama. No, I can say definitely worse. Because they wouldn't have to pretend they aren't homophobic since they think they have the bible on their side.

[DevonRex]

2. It's about time someone said it aloud on the House floor. Huge K&R nt

[RandySF]

4. I think much of the overall disrespect of Obama by Republicans is due to race

But the debt issues is ideologically driven by tea-baggers.

[DevonRex]

5. I know teabaggers personally. They are racist

to the core.

[Horse with no Name]

7. Yep. The ones that I live amongst are. n/t

[The Magistrate]

6. And The Tea-Baggers, Sir, Are Just Klu-Klux In Mufti....

If it were not for active and residual racism, the Republican party would not net more than fifteen percent of the national vote.

[patrice]

9. Limbaugh doesn't have millions of believers for nothing.

Boy! wouldn't you just love to do a religious denomination study of Rush's audience!!!

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

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[Horse with no Name]

13. But the rich don't matter..what matters is how to best manipulate the sheeple

and the best way to do this is whip the crazies into a frenzy. Which they have done.

[FiveGoodMen]

16. Sure, but my point is you have to understand your enemy

Otherwise you waste all your time wondering, "why are these Congress Critters so stuck on race?"

When, all the while, the Congress Critters are just taking advantage of the sorry state of their voters.

The rich DO matter, because they're the ones that pick the message and tell the M$M what to tell the great unwashed.

[Horse with no Name]

18. I have a migraine today so I am having a little trouble conveying my thoughts

but I agreed with you. When the fog clears I will try to reestablish my point.:)

[babylonsister]

12. Disrespect all over the place; I'm glad she said this. Rec'd. nt

[valerief]

15. Yep, the racism is so thick it's suffocating. nt

[damntexdem]

17. That is the truth.

It doesn't diminish my upset with Obama over his approach and the unacceptable things he thinks should be "on the table," but I strongly believe that racism is added onto the general Repuke loathing of any Dem president, their putting ideology and party above the good of Americans, their service to their rich masters, and their moronic obsessions with serving the above even if that's not really the smart thing to do.

[harrose]

19. It become much clearer when you remember...

... that each and every ReThug is a racist -- and the louder they deny it, the more racist they are.

[treestar]

20. Exactly, raising the debt ceiling was routine

But, Americans elected a black president, so it may backfire. IOW they may be angry at McConnell and the racists for making an issue out of something routine.

[tritsofme]

22. In 1995 the debt ceiling fight was a cause of a government shutdown.

Hardly routine. Republicans are hypocrites surely, as these increases were routine in the Bush years. But Clinton faced this same script in 1995.

[BumRushDaShow]

25. Did anyone yell out "You Lie!" in the middle of Clinton's State of the Union speech?

Answer: NO. They are RACISTS and I hope they ROT IN HELL.

[TorchTheWitch]

28. They hunted Clinton from day one and impeached him

for something totally ridiculous. Yelling out "you lie" at Obama's SOTU address is small potatoes.

This racist claim is horse shit. They're all friends and golfing buds, and all this other crap of rabid R vs. D is nothing but theater to keep the sheep preoccupied with stupid shit so we don't notice them all happily trampling the hell out of us while they laugh all the way to the bank and giggle over what idiotic blind fools we are. And, sadly, we are. Reagan brought this team sport ugliness and stupidity into the political discourse for a reason - it fucking WORKS and it's STILL working better than they could have God-damned dreamed of.

IT'S ONE BIG CLUB, AND YOU AIN'T IN IT.

[uponit7771]

35. So many of the GOP leadership either mentrioned Clintons race or sat by WHILE it was being done ...

...in such a racist manner?!?!?!

Come one people, lets not ignore the obvious

[IndyPragmatist]

39. well, at least someone is rational in this thread

Funny how people forget the powerful black people in Bush's administration. What's the excuse for that? I guess Powell and Rice were just Uncle Toms? Because obviously, the entire republican party is racist and they would never support a black man or woman.

Oh wait, you mean they had a black man lead their party? Doesn't count.

They have a black man running for president? Still doesn't count.

They are racist because I say they are damnit! And no amount of logic or facts will change my mind!

[treestar]

46. Clinton gave them that

If he had behaved, it would not have been something they could have done.

[treestar]

45. Exactly, that was an eruption

Racists try to hide it, but sometimes, they cannot control themselves.

[treestar]

44. Was that over the debt ceiling itself, or just the budget?

I don't remember the terms debt ceiling. The threat was a government shut down, which did occur and yet did not cause the disaster this debt default is expected to cause.

[tritsofme]

68. Part of the fight was over the debt ceiling.

http://www.gao.gov/products/AIMD-96-130

There would be a government shutdown well before a default this time as well.

[madamesilverspurs]

21. She's right.

No other president in my memory has ever been subjected to the massive and continuous disrespect delivered to Obama. He's routinely interrupted by members of the press, he's been accused of falsifying his eligibility requirements, he's been accused of lying about his education while simultaneously enduring accusations of intellectual elitism, he's been painted as "not like us", he's been accused of being unpatriotic for not wearing a flag pin, he's been accused of trying to brainwash our children by encouraging them to work hard in school, he's been shouted at during the State of the Union address, his appointees languish while deliberately ignored by petulant Republicans in congress, Republicans think nothing of walking out of meetings if this president presumes to disagree with them, Republicans decline White House invitations because they are needed at cocktail parties --- seriously, does anyone really believe that the Republican party, officially or otherwise, hasn't curried the favor of supremacists and other racist groups (and,yes, I'm including the Tea Party in that because the Klan and Stormfront view the tea partiers as kindred spirits) in order to increase the discomfort level for this particular president?

The guy who lives around the corner from me has two bumper stickers in the back window of his pickup. One is that acrostic that reads "One Big Ass Mistake, America". The other says, simply, "white power". And yes, he accuses me of racism for asking about his racist bumper sticker. The republicans sought this guy's support and the support of those who think as he does.

The facade was flimsy to begin with. It's well into its crumbling phase by now. So, yes, the Republicans own the racism they have fostered and practiced.


-

[BumRushDaShow]

23. K&R

:applause:

Sheila was telling it like it is! Folks are dancing around the race issue but the past 2 years have been a goddamn disgrace.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[pipi_k]

54. So...someone making that statement about a white man...

that would be fine?

No problem?

[Name removed]

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[Ikonoklast]

58. Enjoy your stay.

[JonLP24]

60. He/she will be here awhile

I don't even know why I bother hanging around here.

[Ikonoklast]

61. Amazing, no?

Right-wing nonsense, from the gate.

[Name removed]

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[Ikonoklast]

65. Sure, whatever.

Seen many, just like you, come and go.

Mostly go.

Hugs and kisses.

[Ikonoklast]

66. ....aaaaand, they are outta here!

Thanks, mods.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=user_profiles&u_id=273019

[Name removed]

63. Deleted message

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[DainBramaged]

27. Wait I said that first today

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1497433

[Tx4obama]

29. Here's a LINK to the VIDEO

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x712206

p.s. She says quite a bit on the video.

[Le Taz Hot]

30. OH fer crissakes!

No, it's because they're playing obstructionist politics with a weak president. They did it with Carter.

[Obamanaut]

31. . nt

[mfcorey1]

32. The real reason is that those right wingers at the table are just plain ignorant.

[BlueCheese]

33. Right, because they treat white Democrats with so much more respect...

The Clinton years weren't that long ago...

[uponit7771]

34. Clinton had leadership in the GOP talk perjoritivly about his race to this degree?

No, they didn't...yes is IS partially because of his race and that's a fact that's not in dispute

[uponit7771]

36. The "born in Kenya" shit is racist to the core IMHO, they never cared about where a white prez was..

...born to THIS degree

[treestar]

47. +1000000000000000

The proof is right there. McCain and Palin - no such demands. Hell they don't demand proof that Biden was born in the US. That's telling.

[madokie]

37. There is no doubt in my mind that is the problem

The pukes are afraid if President Obama is seen as a good President that will put an end to the good ole boy network of Presidents. It'll encourage people of other races and genders to run and win the White House. The pukies are scared to death of this. The white man 'hold' on the the Presidency is what this is all about.


I'm looking forward to when we have an Indigenous Person as our President, woman or man either one will be getting my vote when that time comes. For now I'll be voting for Obama again as I've voted for him twice already, third times a charm.

[IndyPragmatist]

38. Wow, really?

It's politics, not racism.

It has to do with the D. Not race.

When Obama voted against raising the debt level? That must have obviously been because Bush was white. That damn racist Obama.



"Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." --Martin Luther King Jr.

But what the fuck did MLK know. He would be called an Uncle Tom by Lee because he wouldn't buy into the bullshit that Lee is spewing.

Remember the hundreds of pictures comparing Bush to a monkey? Those were pretty hilarious. Everyone agreed that the pictures were saying that Bush is as dumb as a monkey. But, using the same pictures against Obama is racist! No matter that the people making these think Obama is as dumb as we think Bush is, it's racist because Obama is black.

Fuck Shelia Jackson Lee...she is the fucking racist. I hope she has a challenger in her primary election because we need to get idiots like her out of Congress. She is promoting racism. The debt talks have nothing to do with his race, but some stupid congresswoman wants to scream racism to try and scare people into voting the other way. Fuck her.

My grandfather was black. I am 1/4 black, but you would never guess it from my appearance...the cut of my father's Jew was much stronger than my grandfathers black in my genetics. My great uncle was in Birmingham in 1963 with Dr King, and sadly, both my grandfather and great uncle have passed. However, they both heard Dr King speak many times and were heavily involved in the civil rights movement. If they were alive today, the comments by Jackson Lee would have made their blood boil. They lived by King's words "Hate does not drive out hate". They experienced racism quite often, and always responded with love, compassion, and kindness. Calling out racism when it is obviously not a factor does more to hurt blacks than anything. People do not like being called racist, especially when they aren't. But if there is one thing I've learned from DU, if you don't support Obama, the only possible reason is that you are racist. Unless of course, you are a democrat, then you just disagree with his policies.

[Name removed]

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[pipi_k]

53. Everything I would say and more...

And, you know, I really dread the day we ever elect a woman president.

We've already seen what happens when there's a black man in the WH.


A woman president...can you imagine? Anybody who went against her would be accused of being SEXIST. Oh, and if she happened to be black? Wow. Just think of the mileage that could be squeezed from that. Sexists!!! Racists!!!


I would really be interested in knowing why people need to use race or sex or gender to make someone else look bad.

[IndyPragmatist]

57. You are right, some use it as a crutch

It's always been weird when people find out I am 1/4 black. I do not look like it at all. People often tell me that 1/4 black doesn't count, and I can't speak on racial issues.

My response usually is that I see racism in a very different way than someone who is completely black. People never treat me poorly for no reason. I don't get looks if I am with my white girlfriend. I don't have security guards paying extra attention to me in department stores.

However, when people find out that I am 25% black, I get to see just how much race really matters to them. I went out with a girl 3 times and had a great time, and on the 3rd date, I told her I was 1/4 black. Within 5 minutes she said she was tired and wanted to go home, and she never answered any of my calls or text messages again. I had a boss at a restaurant that let me pick which shifts I wanted to work, but didn't allow any other employees to do so. He did that because we got along great and we were sort of friends. Not outside of work, but we always joked around alot and had a good time. He met my mother, who is half black, but has very dark skin, and all that stopped. He stopped letting me pick my shifts, and I was often forced into taking the worst shifts quite often.

That is racism. No, I've never had someone call me a nigger. That's because really only my friends know that my grandfather was black. However, I do get to see how changing one thing can change everything. I mentioned twice where people found out that I was 1/4 black and there racist roots came shining through. However, there have been many times where it wasn't as obvious, but I could tell that finding that out made them think differently of me.

The debt issue is not racist. It's politics. If there was some remarkable discovery that Obama was not black, that he was adopted, and he just had a skin disorder that made it darker than it should be...the Republicans would still act the same way they are now. If Obama resigned and Biden took over, the Republicans would still act the same way they are now.

I just wish we could get past our obsession with race.

[sendero]

40. No......

.... they are complicating it because he is WEAK.

[Name removed]

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[sendero]

52. UHC?

There is NO UHC. What was passed was written BY the health care industry FOR the health care industry and it was a victory only in the minds of those who know fuck-all about how it all works.

Obama LOST the day he decided against the public option, the only REAL cost containment strategy possible in a "we name our price" health care system, and without cost containment there can be no universal access.

And he has bent over for the Repukes in some sort of naive "bipartisanship" gesture time and time again and he may be finally waking up with this debt ceiling deal but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

Keep in mind - NO OTHER PRESIDENT//CONGRESS HAS HAD TO OFFER SERIOUS CONCESSIONS TO GET THE FUCKING DEBT CEILING RAISED. IT WAS ALWAYS PERFUNCTORY UNTIL OBAMA CAME ALONG.

[Name removed]

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[JonLP24]

56. I experienced for-profit health care in this country

and I hate it. Can't get help when I feel ill because of no health insurance or can't afford the costs?

You really think the health insurance reform is UHC(Universal health care)?

[sendero]

62. I don't want..

.. to live in a country where everything you worked for your entire life that you were planning to leave to your kids is wiped out because you got sick.

I will take my chances with "socialized medicine". Nothing could be worse than what we have now.

[TBF]

50. There are miles of difference between myself and PO on the issues -

but I have to say she is right about this. The republicans (and especially the Teabaggerati) are racist pigs and demonstrate that daily.

[pipi_k]

51. Well, God has spoken...

via Sheila Jackson Lee.

:eyes:


Of course the anger and resentment could NEVER be that Obama rose from a virtual unknown to President of the US.

And the anger and resentment could NEVER be because, in doing that, he beat the virtual poster child for the Republican party...Sarah Palin...albeit she was only the VP candidate.

And it could NEVER be that they're still carrying around rage from their unsuccessful attempts to bring down Bill Clinton.

Noooooo....

Of course not. No question about it. God has spoken, and he's spoken through Sheila Jackson Lee.


It's because he's....

drumroll, please...

BLACK!!!!!!


OH THE HORROR!!!!!


I'm sorry, but Sheila Jackson Lee is a vile woman to use race in this manner.