Chris Matthews

Wow. Did Chris Matthews really just ask if Obama was un-ethnic? Yes! He did. So I guess the implication here is that all black men act like Flava Flay.  Can you believe it kids!? He didn’t even use ebonics! A+! This reminds me of how all the pundits and bloggers are asking “why is Obama so cool, why doesn’t he get angry!” I think Eugene Robinson’s answer in the above clip pretty much answers that question. That is, Obama has to come across as the “least aggreieved black person in America”. There is a stereotype of the “Angry Black Male” that is pervasive. He can’t once, loose his cool. I think most minorites (well black folks at least) understand this.  But the punditry is mostly white, and they do not. But I garuntee if Obama start flailing his hands and getting in McCain’s face it would be a game changer. Just look at McCain’s debate perforemces. If Obama had done what McCain did, he would be minced meat. There is an invisible double standard that he must tread. Well maybe not so invisible to some.

~Beve

Post Debate Post

by Beve

Ok so I kinda sucked at liveblogging. My eyes were glued to the tv! Sorry Rudy, I think I deleted your comment. (Feel free to comment on this post though!).

A couple points:

1. McCain saying Obama “doesn’t understand” and calling him “naive” didn’t work and here’s why. Obama is smart. He’s been called professorial and long winded (b/c he has so much detail).  These are not traits of a dumb person who “doesn’t understand”.
2. I think an interesting post debate story is how all the pundits seemed to call it for McCain and yet when the instant polls came out–one from Fox News (!), and CBS and CNN mostly of independent voters they overwhelming thought Obama won–like by a lot. Seems as Nate Silver points out, McCain did well with reports because that was his intendend audience while Obama reached out to the people at home.

Another Condi in Obama’s Administration?

by Beve

If Obama wins, who will be his Secretary of State? Susan Rice? I say “another Condi” cause Rice and haha, look at that Rice, are similar in only their gender and race..oh and their last name. Another black woman as Sec of State? Probably not, but at least we can bet she won’t be an enabler to war.

WAMU Foretelling?

By Beve

The most interesting thing a/b the WAMU failure: looking back at their commercials with a new set of eyes. RIP WAMU.

Hey, will I still have Free checking?? I HATE Chase by the way.

Are You a WalMart Mom or Shopper?

by Zorah N

The WSJ reports that Walmart, through independent pollsters, has polled its shoppers, mostly women, mostly “uneducated”, mostly blue-collar women.

Wal-Mart’s customer poll found that Wal-Mart women were slightly more likely to support Sen. John McCain in Ohio and Florida, and Sen. Barack Obama in Virginia, Nevada and Colorado, though only a few percentage points separated preferences in each state.

What is funny (and not ha-ha) about Walmart is that they are not really the best advocates for blue collar workers. With their dismal history on healthcare coverage and wages for its employees, Walmart is the last . Reminds me of this one party the Republican Party, who pretend to care for the rights of the people in the pretext as Rudy says in the post below, : whatever is good for business is good for the people. More from WSJ:

But as Wal-Mart Women take center stage in this year’s race for the blue-collar vote — and the economic slowdown makes Wal-Mart’s fixation on low prices fashionable with growing numbers of Americans — the criticism has quieted, a shift that is boosting the company’s efforts to burnish its image.

Let’s not forget who Walmart is, although they would like you to know that they have your interests at heart:

With more Americans turning to Wal-Mart for essentials such as food, health care and gasoline, candidates run a risk of alienating voters by assailing the company, said Neil Newhouse, a partner with the Republican polling firm Public Opinion Strategies. The firm coined the term Wal-Mart Women a year ago to categorize the voting bloc expected to be this season’s equivalent of the soccer moms of 1996 and Nascar dads of 2004. It found in a poll this month that nearly a third of expected voters now shopped at Wal-Mart. “You’re not going to bash a place that 30% of likely voters go to on a weekly basis,” Mr. Newhouse said. “It doesn’t make political sense.”

It is interesting to note that in the past year, Walmart has given more money to Dems than to the GOP (quite uncharacteristic), this according to WSJ. However, I remember during the primaries, some Walmart administrators were asking their employers to vote against the Republicans. (they are fearful that a Dem win would favor workers unionizing).

Unions or not, Walmart should realize that save for its CEO bonuses and such, the middle class, and Walmart thrive best in a Dem government.

The rest of the WSJ article here.

Interested in watching Walmart, during the elections and after? Visit this Wal*MartWatch.

Election Ramble

by Rudolph

Man, this election is getting ridiculous.

Between snow machines, increasing foreclosures, right-wing Christians, “red-neck” baby daddies, economic collapses, and postponed debates (I didn’t know you could do that!). What’s next?

All this is happening while this country is at such a critical time. We are no longer the supreme empire that we once were—we are now teetering on the edge of third world status.

I don’t say that to add to the paranoia around the condition of our country, but rather, to encourage urgency in everybody, not only in our elected officials, but in ourselves. We can no longer believe that a free market will work for us. It never has, and it never will. Fortunately, while republicans have long stood by their belief that whatever is good for business is good for the people, they are now seriously retrenching and seeing the benefit of regulation. Unfortunately, we need bailouts in not only the financial sector, but also in the inner-ciy, in the classroom, in the hospital, and in the home.

With all that said, I believe that with every crisis, there is opportunity. We have an opportunity to get engaged in what’s going on, vote for someone responsible, and encourage our elected officials to think in a nuanced way about the economy, foreign policy, and the serious issues happening in our community.

Let’s be responsible in November.

Sidenote: I’m watching CNN and they’re showing clips of poor Senator McCain running around the capitol trying to find something to do while Congress was finishing up an increasingly urgent bailout. Meanwhile, Obama is so graciously holding himself back from blaming the man for holding everybody back, and Palin is looking like a blithering idiot with Katie Couric. Also, Wamu just failed.

Bailout Analogies

by Beve

Here’s mine: an heir or heiress crashes his/her brand new Aston Martin and after consulting with mom and dad and promising that he/she will never, ever, ever do it again……gets a new on that weekend.

or….

An episode of Mad Men (which is a great show!) where “Peggy” goes to work and finds her things have been stolen out of her work locker.  However, instead of finding out who the culprits are or even doing anything about securing the locker, management fire the custodians who were on duty that night. Its pretty deep because they were black so of course they had to be involved in the thievery. But the audience knows that it was at the annual staff Christmas Party that her locker was broken in by mid-level staff.  What were they after? A some liquor for the par-tay of course.

The Cookout Vote

By Beve

For all the talk about hockey moms and working class, (another euphimism for white independents) it would be funny if Barack Obama wins this election because of the black vote. That is, if black people show upt to vote at 90-95% of the total black vote. I think that would be significant enough in some states (like North Carolina) to tip the scales.

The Race in Minneapolis

by Zorah N.

Well, its not really Minneapolis, but one of the outlying cities here. Anoka is a city/town about 30 minutes from Minneapolis. Not so far from civilization, but maybe they are!

The twin cities– Minneapolis and St. Paul- is very liberal. A recent report by Minnesota Public Radio made me sick to my stomach. And it was not because I have since discovered, Minnesota is not as blue as I thought we were… but is some shade of purple.  Let me just get to the point, by quoting George Ziegler, from Anoka, who was interviewed by a reporter from MPR:

“I wouldn’t vote for that n—-r,” he said. “I wouldn’t vote for him. No way in heaven’s name would I give him a chance to take my vote and go in there. I’m smarter than that.”

Ahem. I bet you are now as angry as I am?

Perhaps you read a recent poll that showed that a third of Democrats and Independents still harbour racist attitudes towards black people?

MPR quotes Karen Ackerman, who says that unions, representing blue collar workers in Minnesota, need to address the race issue head-on. According to her, it is in the best interest of unions to discuss race with its members. She suggests identifying individuals who harbor these sentiments, and discuss the issues at hand.

“The Republicans have used gays, guns and abortion in past elections as an emotional issue to overcome our own self interest,” the activist said. “This year, very candidly, it’s going to be race. I have talked to a lot of union members who are having a difficulty just because he’s black. How are we going to deal with that? Is the AFL-CIO going to deal with the issue of race? We can’t let it go unsaid because a lot of members feel that way.”

And this is not about being pro-Obama or not, neither is it about being Republican or Democrat. Instead, it is about how much race is a really big issue in this election.

You can read the MPR article in its entirety here.

Paging Mr. Bill Clinton!

By Beve

What’s up with Bill? Today I read how he thinks McCain’s political stunt move was not because he was “afraid” to debate McCain and that he did it out of “good faith”.

huh?

Bill, who’s side are you on? A quick yahoo news search for “Bill Clinton and Palin” finds a bunch of positive praise emitting from the former President towards the Palins and McCain. Worth the read is this piece by Slate’s John Dickerson about “Why Bill Clinton is a Lousy Surrogate“. Also check out this hilarious take on Bill’s Brutus-ing by comedian Chris Rock.