Bellicose Bumpkin

In another IM chat with my buddy Mike we discuss the role that racism plays in national politics since the election of President Obama.

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Mike: Obama getting back on track article
Mark: Hmm,,, I’m not so sure that article is saying very much. Rather vague.
Mike: I suppose… I think the crux of it is that Obama needs to stop playing Mr. Nice Guy (which I totally agree with). His comment about the Reps landing on shore and burning the boats leaving no option but moving forward seems about right. I whole-heartedly want Obama to do that too… I may not like everything he decides to to, but trying to please everyone will never work. I think he should scale back is objectives for health care too… do it in a series of changes that people can stomach one at a time.
Mike: I think it’s a fair question to ask: Why was Bush able to get through so much with only 50 senators, and the Dems are complaining about having only 59 now and treating it like the apocalypse.
Mark: I think the answer is that the Democrats are more willing to play ball with the Republicans than vice-versa. This started in earnest with the Gingrich/Contract with America crowd
Mike: Right. I don’t disagree with that. It might be time for the Dems to stop playing two-hand-touch and start playing full contact NFL style football.
Mark: This says it all and is right on:
http://www.liberalvoices.com/2009/09/rightwing-effort-to-bring-down-obama.html
Mike: I suppose… but consider the source… with a name like "Liberal Voices", of course they’re going to see that. However, the story I sent you a link too is by Roland S. Martin. a liberal, and supporter of Obama’s, acknowledging the deficiencies and pointing the way forward rather than just pointing the finger at the other side. If someone from a conservative site had written what you sent, it’d have more teeth.
Mark: I get these pseudo racist things all the time – they are flying all over the ‘net
Mike: what pseudo racist things?
Mark: Like this
Mike: OK… there’s nothing pseudo about that… it’s downright offensive. Even if I don’t agree with Obamacare, I respect my President, his intelligence, and his motives. That shit just pisses me off.
Mark: This stuff is EVERYWHERE which is why I say that there was a racist component in the Brown victory. Did you see the video of him questioning whether Barack was born out of wedlock? Pure pandering to white fears of the single black mother.
Mike: No, I never saw that, and if had, it’d have bothered me.
Mark: homophobe – check
teaparty donations – check
racist innuendo – check
teabagging homophobe racist – check
Mark: who was that numbnuts that said in some phone meeting with constituents that if the Republican could kill healthcare, Obama would be finished.?
Mark: The Republicans want to BRING HIM DOWN – JUST LIKE CLINTON. That’s why I have NO USE for them.
Mike: I’d have to see the whole video IN CONTEXT before I’d agree. He’s not a homophobe (we’ve had that discussion). He doesn’t believe in gay marriage. Honestly, I don’t believe in marriage at all, as far as civil law is concerned. We need to wipe it completely out of the law books. Give everyone a Civil Union, and leave marriage as a religious ceremony that ends up with a Civil Union, which you can get with a judge also.
Mark: look at the video in comment number 4: http://nemasket.net/coakley-brown-and-fox-fud/
Mike: Interesting that the video cut out right when he was going to clarify his statement. I don’t know what he said after that, but I’d have to take that video with a grain of salt.
Mark: Regardless. Pointing out the Obama’s mother was young(18) and implying that she was unmarried is an INTENTIONAL effort to play in the fears of white people about the black welfare mother., No doubt in my mind.
Mark: And then there’s this numbskull shouting out "shove a curling iron up her butt" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28u3vPExxp4
You see these sorts of antics all over the place being staged by the tea baggers.
Mark: Check out the beginning of this where the young girl apes and calls obama the monkey from tarzan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vagD-4AH4Vc – it’s everywhere
Mike: Right… just to be clear… I have absolutely NO USE for the tea baggers (which, I think is an absolutely hilarious moniker. )
Mark: toward the end of this – calling obama an arab http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf6YKOkfFsE
Mike: Well… that’s beyond stupid. It’s like the people that demand to see his birth certificate…. it’s a non-issue… if you do a little research.
Mike: First, he was born in the US to a US mother.
Mark: and the n-word at palin rally http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9T0FI2axbU I could go on and on but you get the idea
Mike: BUT, if you say he was born in Nigeria, it doesn’t matter. His MOTHER is a US Citizen at birth, and therefore, according to law, it doesn’t matter where he was born, since she is, so is he.
Mike: PERIOD.
Mark: Don’t you have to be born on US soil to be president?
Mike: NO.
Mike: That is a complete falacy.
Mike: fallacy
Mike: Read through this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_born_citizen
Mike: Here’s the important piece that everyone points to: No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President;
Mike: However, NOWHERE is Natural Born Citizen defined in the constitution. It wasn’t defined until later with some legislation.
Mike: "Congress first recognized the citizenship of children born to U.S. parents overseas on March 26, 1790, stating that "the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens"
Mike: So, the whole issue is a red herring. It is COMPLETE IRRELEVANT.
Mark: Provided, That the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States
Mark: Current U.S. statutes define various categories of individuals born overseas as "citizens at birth," including (for example) all persons "born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents both of whom are citizens of the United States and one of whom has had a residence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions, prior to the birth of such person[s]."[14]
Mark: So there seems to be a requirement that both parents are US citizens. Agreed?
Mike: According to an April 2000 report by the Congressional Research Service (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Research_Service), most constitutional scholars interpret Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution as including citizens born outside the United States to parents who are U.S. citizens under the “natural born” requirement. This same CRS report (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Research_Service_Report) also asserts that citizens born in the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands are legally defined as "natural born" citizens and are, therefore, also eligible to be elected President.
Mike: So, I suppose, but it’s never been tested.
Mike: Besides, you can see his birth certificate on his page.
Mike: So again, it just doesn’t matter.
Mike: It’s some of that pseudo racism you’re talking about. And it’s disgusting.
Mark: They’re just being racist assholes trying to make trouble. Right.
Mike: BUT, of course we knew this was going to be the case as soon as he got elected (and even during the campaign). There are definitely racist people in the United States (as there are EVERYWHERE), but that does not make this a racist country, or even make the Republicans a racist party… it just makes the racists… to quote you, complete maroons.
Mark: So – while Olberman was way out there – there is quite a lot of truth there …. and it was funny as hell.
Mark: I don’t think for a minute that everyone who opposes obama or votes republican are racists. But there is a component of racism in SOME of the anti-Obama sentiment
Mike: agreed.
Mark: This is pretty funny – why white people shouldn’t be allowed to vote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtIYpBGlv1U
Mark: You just got a "go mike" comment on my blog.
Mike: hehe