Here is Terry Neal, writing for The Root, on the GOP’s dog-whistle politicking:
“Uppity” used to be the preferred term for Negroes who didn’t know their place. There was a time when it was regularly applied to any number of black men and women who strived to be more than day laborers, nannies or sharecroppers.
The GOP, ever aware of the connotative power of words, has steered clear of the direct usage of that loaded term. When they speak of Barack Obama—a man in pursuit of the most lofty of prizes—they simply use the words that define the term. Snobbish. Arrogant. Presumptuous.
…
The fact that the mainstream media has embraced the uppity-Obama storyline is further evidence of the right’s ability to advance whatever preposterous storyline it chooses, despite its persistent whining about the liberal media.
Republicans have long been able to win races by doing a better job of negatively defining their opponents with coordinated media attacks. What the right does particularly well is not just framing the arguments but coordinating the response to the fallout.
When Obama suggested that McCain was attempting to make him seem different and scary, McCain and his supporters wailed that Obama was “playing the race card.”
That term, of course, has become the de facto line of defense for whites who want to immediately end any uncomfortable conversations about race. “Are you calling me a racist? You’re calling me a racist!”
Interestingly, calling someone a racist has become a worse offense than actually being one. [Emphasis added] And thus the media will allow McCain and his defenders to have it both ways—play to racial sensitivities and express mock horror than anyone would have the audacity to question their motives.
Neal goes on to say that he doesn’t think McCain is racist—he’s just willing to play the role for the sake of getting the racist vote. McCain himself admitted as much after the 2000 primary. Here he is talking about how he censored his true feelings about the Confederate flag:
I should have done this earlier when an honest answer could have affected me personally. I did not do so for one reason alone. I feared that if I answered honestly, I could not win the South Carolina primary. So I chose to compromise my principles. I broke my promise to always tell the truth.
You can admire his candor here, but the troubling fact remains: McCain sacrificed his most cherished principle—straight-talking honesty—when it became politically expedient to do so. And what’s worse, he sacrificed it—and continues to—in order to appeal to the very worst aspect of our country’s character—our persistent racism.
The Economist calls John McCain’s latest television ad “disgraceful.” The spot seeks to equate Obama’s “celebrity” status with that of Brittany Spears and Paris Hilton (it even shows pics of those two) and claims that Obama stands for higher fuel prices simply because he opposes off-shore drilling—the same drilling that every knows will do nothing to change short-term gas prices.
I heard a great NPR interview this morning with David Quammen, a nature writer and defender (sort of) of mosquitoes.
While acknowledging the utter havoc disease-carrying mosquitoes cause, Quammen notes three things that may make you soften your stance – a little.
Half of mosquitoes (the males) don’t even bite.
The ones that do are just trying to feed their little mosquito babies. (Aw)
Mosquitoes have effectively protected our planet’s great biodiversity by keeping humans (and our rapacious development) out of tropical rainforests.
Of course, that last point could stand some clarification. We’re currently doing a pretty good job of plowing under the globe’s rainforests, but maybe we can thank the mosquito that we haven’t already decimated them.
He’s from Texas. He’s a longtime oil man. He has been very involved in Republican politics. He was the money behind the Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry in 2004. He also owns what looks like a Pomeranian.
The very same T. Boone Pickens is now putting $10 billion of his own money toward building the world’s largest wind farm in Texas. What’s more, he’s put forth an audacious plan to wean us from our addiction to foreign oil—almost all oil, actually.
According to Pickens, “the United States is the Saudi Arabia of wind power,” and the sooner we realize it, the sooner we’ll see economic revival in the heartland, where most of our country’s wind potential resides.
Unlike Al, Pickens is motivated less by the fear of climate change than by a distaste for high fuel prices and an addiction to foreign oil—an addiction that harms our economy and holds us hostage to petro-dictatorships in the Middle East. He also knows that drilling our way to oil independence is pure folly:
World oil production peaked in 2005. Despite growing demand and an unprecedented increase in prices, oil production has fallen over the last three years. Oil is getting more expensive to produce, harder to find and there just isn’t enough of it to keep up with demand.
The simple truth is that cheap and easy oil is gone.
In addition to erecting windmills, Pickens’ proposal, which he calls “Pickens Plan,” would have us fuel our cars entirely with natural gas and biofuels. Wind would supply the rest of our energy needs.
