Racial politics hit Obama-McCain campaign

Friday 01st August, 11:22 AM JST

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Betzee at 04:00 AM JST - 5th August

SezWho2,

There is little doubt that qualified members of the majority are turned away--to a greater degree than would be without affirmative action.

As a Yale-educated Mexican-American LA Times columnist observed, "Show me a white man complaining a minority took his place and I'll point to the 50 white men who did get in."

McCain himself in fact endorsed quotas when, in response to a question on what role women would play in his administration, he pledged to increase the number to x amount in every department. Had Obama extended the same promise to blacks, imagine the yowls!
SezWho2 at 01:19 PM JST - 5th August

Betzee,

Excellent point. I admire your ability to come up with the pertinent quotation.
undecidedbout08 at 01:32 PM JST - 5th August

As a Yale-educated Mexican-American LA Times columnist observed, "Show me a white man complaining a minority took his place and I'll point to the 50 white men who did get in."

Why won't you provide his name?

I do hope you're not talking about the, uh, illustrious Agustin Gurza, "music and general Latino culture beat reporter".
Betzee at 01:40 PM JST - 5th August

Actually the quote was a little off, I was paraphrasing something I'd read. Here it is is along with a little more and the link:

Show me a white male who insists that he would have been admitted to medical school if an African-American or Latino hadn't taken his place, and I'll show you 50 other white males who were admitted ahead of him. People need to come up with more credible excuses for their shortcomings.

Yet Yale grade Ruben Navarrette goes on to explain why he has come to oppose affirmative action:

I oppose racial preferences because they hurt the very people they claim to be helping by lowering standards, stigmatizing beneficiaries, perpetuating notions of inferiority, and masking educational failures at the crucial K-12 level. Besides, if their goal is to aid the disadvantaged, they miss the target because - in today's world - such disadvantage is often based not on race but on class. And lastly, these preferences are too often considered a reparation for past injustices, leading people to wonder why they are offered to college-age kids who weren't even alive in the 1980s - let alone the 1960s.

Finally he observes:

By the way, Obama has also said that he opposes quotas and suggested that his own daughters shouldn't benefit from a racial preference because they are far from disadvantaged. That's a nuanced position that suggests Obama has given the subject some thought.

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_10084800
Betzee at 01:52 PM JST - 5th August

My recollection of what John McCain said about women was a little off as well. Here's the direct quote:

"I assure you, with confidence, at the end of my first term you will see a dramatic increase of women in every part of the government, in my administration," McCain said.

Imagine if Obama had made the same commitment to blacks??? Yet McCain is also on record as saying "I do not believe in quotas." So what exactly does he believe in?
undecidedbout08 at 02:01 PM JST - 5th August

Imagine if Obama had made the same commitment to blacks???

He has over 90 percent of the black vote sewn up. My guess is he has made or made convincing appearance of delivering on other 'commitments.'
Betzee at 02:09 PM JST - 5th August

But does McCain believe in? It seems he says whatever is expedient to the specific audience he is in front of without even being aware of the implications. He cannot dramatically increase the number of women in every part of the government without implementing some type of quota system on new hires. Duh.....
Sarge at 02:24 PM JST - 5th August

"He has over 90% of the black vote sewn up"

Must be some of the black voters are going to vote for him just because he's got some black blood in him. I suppose there are some white voters who are going to vote for McCain just because he's white...
cleo at 03:48 PM JST - 5th August

some of the black voters are going to vote for him just because he's got some black blood in him.

What about the white blood in him? Doesn't that make white voters want to vote for him?
skipthesong at 05:46 PM JST - 5th August

Blacks voting for Obama out of loyalty, whites voting for McCain out of “racism.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121781107977608809.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Race will always be the issue in the US. Other countries its laughed off.
Sarge at 10:36 PM JST - 5th August

Cleo - Those black voters don't care about the white blood, apparently.
teaabe at 09:22 AM JST - 6th August

ya'll can count on the south to do obama in.
zurcronium at 10:14 PM JST - 6th August

Now John McCain is pea-green with envy. That’s the only explanation for why a man who prides himself on honor, a man who vowed not to take the low road in the campaign, having been mugged by W. and Rove in South Carolina in 2000, is engaging in a festival of juvenilia.

The Arizona senator who built his reputation on being a brave proponent of big solutions is running a schoolyard campaign about tire gauges and Paris Hilton, childishly accusing his opponent of being too serious, too popular and not patriotic enough.

Even his own mother, the magical 96-year-old Roberta McCain, let slip that she thought the Paris Hilton-Britney Spears ad was “kinda stupid.”

McCain’s 2000 strategist, John Weaver, was equally blunt with Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter: “It’s hard to imagine America responding to ‘small ball’ when we have all these problems.”

Some of McCain’s old pals in the Senate are cringing at what they see as his soulless transformation into what he once scorned.

“John’s eaten up with envy,” said one. “His image of himself was always the handsome, celebrity flyboy.

“Now somebody else is the celebrity,” the colleague continued, while John looks in the mirror and sees his face marred by skin cancer and looks at the TV and sees his dashing self-image replaced by visions of William Frawley, with Letterman jokes about his membership in the ham radio club and adventures with wagon trains.

McCain could dismiss W. as a lightweight, but he knows Obama’s smart. Obama wrote his own books, while McCain’s were written by (his aide)Salter. McCain knows he’s the affirmative action scion of admirals who might not have gotten through Annapolis without being a legacy. Obama didn’t even tell Harvard Law School that he was black on his application.

Obama didn’t even tell Harvard Law School that he was black on his application.

McCain upbraids Obama for being a poppet, while he’s becoming a puppet. His mouth is moving but the words coming out belong to his new hard-boiled strategist, Steve Schmidt, a Rove protégé, nicknamed “The Bullet” for his bald pate.

Schmidt has turned Mr. Straight Talk into Mr. Desperate Straits. It’s not a good trade.

MAUREEN DOWD
sailwind at 10:29 PM JST - 6th August

COOL!!!!

Thanks Zurc...The New York Times strikes back agaisn't McCain.

Guess he was right about them after all. Maureen Dowd is employed by who Zurc????

Guess we should have expected this after the headline two days ago....

McCain, New York Times continue long-running bout
zurcronium at 10:34 PM JST - 6th August

Sailwind,

NY Times has Bill Kristol on the same editorial staff. If you dont know who he is, he is the Neocon of all Neocons.

Endless whining from the wingers about their make believe world. The MSP is hopelessly far right and is therefore worthless for real news. The NY Times had a Rove plant writing stories cheerleading for the invasion of Iraq.