When Will They Be Toilet Trained?

Brad DeLong, September 19th, 2005, explaining to his peers why he deletes comments from his blog:

I'm trying to run a discussion on my website, not a food-fight. I'm going to keep trying...

Let's check his progress:

I cannot help but wonder to what extent Condoleezza Rice, nominally an African-American, is indeed African in background. Aside from her inherited pigmentation, that is.Still, it is probably not correct to say that melanin expression is only an ancillary issue for slave state Republicans. The visit to Bob Jones University and the whispering campaign against John McCain's adopted child show that while slave state Republicans may accept the principle of legal equality of non-Caucasian peoples, they are nevertheless grossed out by (I'll use the pejorative term here) miscegenation. It is one thing to mouth the rhetoric that all men are created equal, we are all the same under the skin, we are all God's children...et cetera. It seems to be quite another thing to embrace the biological truth of those phrases. Did not Wendy Graham become the target of vicious attacks when her husband was testing the presidential political waters?

Posted by: MTC Sep 21, 2005 11:58:51 PM

....What about gay folks...Does Bush personally hate fags?

Maybe not personally in a Phelps kind of way, but he certainly doesn't see them quite as human and deserving of rights. Their struggle is invisible to him. Gay pride and gay empowerment are threats to his moral order and political power. Supports legislation which disempower, hurts and excludes Gay people and explicitly appeals to the homophobe vote.

Yet when has the Compassionate President uttered the words "I hate fags" in public? Why never, so he can't be a homophobe, right?

With racism, it's the same game. Yes, Bush is a racist. He supports policies which are racist in intent and result. He's a lot like a Holocaust denier--"yeah it happened, but it wasn't as bad as the victim-mongers say, it was a product of the times, and besides they probably had it coming somehow".

He doesn't confront the racism in his own party. The GOP is built on a "cultural supremacy" doctrine that welcomes racists with open arms. It's key that homophobes and racists feel comfortable in the GOP. BushCo makes sure the signals are sent.

Examples:

Explicitly visits Bob Jones University, a racist institution. Mmmm, sensitive.Snubs the NAACP. Hmmm, respectful.What's his stand on the confederate flag again? Winks and nods.Executed how many black people as Governor? Riiiiight.Were James Byrd's murderers executed? Hmmm.

Is he David Duke? No, but his policies are about the same and the neglect is calculated. I guess intentions and PR don't count for much in my book--the results of his actions and inactions, and their results, have said it all. At least David Duke is honest about where he's coming from.
It's amazing how much people still want to believe that Bush has redeeming features. That his faults are just incompetence, not personal malevalence. Nope. Absolutely wrong.

In a different age, Bush would have gone to and enjoyed lynchings...as a cheerleader...with a case of beer. And totally disconnected from how it was a reign of absolute terror for black Americans.

That's the kind of man he is. And isn't.

Posted by: Tim B. Sep 22, 2005 1:31:45 AM

....There is little question that Bush is, in fact, a racist. Midland Texas, where he spent his formative years, was segregated to the extent that blacks could not appear in public in "street clothes", only work clothes. His father ran for the Senate on a vehemently anti-Civil Rights platform---a position that Pappy later renounced, but Junior learned very early on that exploitation of racial animosity was a perfectly acceptable means of attaining power. The Texas Air National Guard was so segregated that it wasn't until 1972 that it enrolled its first black female (keep in mind that the US Armed Forces were integreted in 1948....) And at no point in his early career is there any evidence that suggests that Bush was concerned with the impact of the racism and segregation that surrounded him --- to him, it was the "natural" environment.

Posted by: p.lukasiak Sep 22, 2005 8:57:00 AM

....Rich black folks are OK, and poor whites are barely tolerated, but minorities have truly special treatment. Compare the treatment of "white Taliban", John Walker, with Jose Padilla. The first was treated appalingly, but he got a modicum of fair trial. Padilla was basically excluded from human race -- with complicity of equally racist courts. By the way, racism is not entirely consistent, and Arabs are apparently "honorary Blacks", whatever they actual racial affinity may be (like with Jews).

Posted by: piotr Sep 22, 2005 10:56:15 AM

....AFAIK Colin Powell is half-Scottish. He even got a title from the Queen.

Posted by: Oskar Shapley Sep 22, 2005 3:56:43 PM