Comments on: More on guilt by association

By: Mike Devx

Mike Devx — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:42:55 +0000

Apologies, the Rove Article: “Is Obama Ready For Prime Time?” is:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120899654405739949.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

By: Mike Devx

Mike Devx — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:41:39 +0000

Karl Rove has written an article that summarizes perfectly the case against Obama. If the numbers of people grow who nod in agreement at every paragraph that he wrote, Obama will be in real trouble. He’s got to retool his message immediately, but he won’t.

One of the most damning concepts in the Rove article is in comparing the ‘Fierce Urgency Of Now’ with Obama’s lack of substantive legislative effort in the Senate. If there is such a fierce urgency, then where has he been for the last three years? If the house is burning, you don’t run for fire chief… you do everything in your power NOW to put out the fire. But he’s been remarkably listless for three years in the Senate. The perception grows that he is a far-leftist totally surrounded by far-leftists. He can’t even unite the Democrat Party; how is he possibly going to unite America?

It looks as though May is going to be a VERY interesting political month. And possibly once the primaries are done, then the June battle for superdelegates could be even more interesting than that! Given the weakness of the national Democrat party, this fight could go into July and even August… I can’t imagine them allowing that, but weakness has a way of allowing the most destructive of events to simply occur.

By: SADIE

SADIE — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:55:21 +0000

Gringo:

Does “Lie down with dogs, get up with the fleas” help answer the question.

All of us have chosen friends that have not best served our interests in life, but when one makes it a habit..I’d say that person has some very bad personal habits or a penchant for picking loonies. In either case, if these are the people he chooses for friends or associates, who would he choose to head his cabinet.

By: Gringo

Gringo — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:45:28 +0000

I sympathized with SDS way back when, but left before bombing became the agenda. In my year as a hippie dropout in Berkeley, the dogmatism and “purity” of much of the far left turned me off. Arrogant dogmatic types like Ayers turned me off 4 decades ago. Ayers hasn’t changed.
Re Ayers: Having been a leftist 40 years ago isn’t the issue It is the fact that Ayers and his mate are unrepentant. One would hope that in 40 years Ayers and mate would have learned something, and exhibited more than just overweening arrogance. Ayes has upper-class arrogance while denying his roots. Ayer’s father “worked for” Com Ed, according to Ayers’ book, but in fact his father headed the organization!
While a rising politician such as Obama associates with many different kinds, sleazes such as Rezko, crackpots such as Wright, and sectarians such as Ayers have ties with Obama that are too close for comfort. When people like these are Obama’s associates, what does that say about Obama?

By: Bookworm

Bookworm — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:34:54 +0000

It is a pejorative word, Scott, but it’s an interesting pejorative, because it insults people for engaging in civilized and civilizing behavior. For that reason, I’ve always had a huge problem with it. Thus, the term is used by people who have mired themselves in the pathologies afflicting black culture and resent those who haven’t. (As opposed to being used by people who embrace the fact that they have a black heritage, against those who try to pretend that they’re not black at all. As you may recall, in Jim Crow days, people would try to “pass” by claiming that they were, in fact, white.)

An oreo, then, is a black person who rejects Ebonics and who rejects the ghetto culture, and who strives to enter mainstream America — to become educated, capable of speaking traditional English, and refusing to engage in the guns, rap, ‘ho, drug culture that is dragging down black America. In that way, it’s entirely distinct from a typical pejorative that sees an outsider trying to “lower” other people. This therefore is that bizarre pejorative that sees a group tries to control its own and prevent them from breaking free. From my point of view, it’s definitely not an insult, and those in the black community who see it as an insult are dragging themselves and their fellows downward.

By: Scott in SF

Scott in SF — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:36:29 +0000

I feel like you are crossing a line here. The term “Oreo” is used pejoratively to impose conformity on black people. The American ethic demands that we respect the rights of all people to choose and discover through experiment, their own cultural and behavioral affinities. We do not have to respect those affinities, especially if they are idiotic or sadistic, but I’m repulsed by the use of a word which degrades the quest for authenticity itself.