Cokie Roberts on Obama's "foreign, exotic" vacation (MediaMatters)

[jefferson_dem]

Cokie Roberts on Obama's vacation: "I know his grandmother lives in Hawaii and I know Hawaii is a state," but it looks "foreign, exotic"

On the August 10 edition of ABC's This Week, ABC News political analyst Cokie Roberts criticized Sen. Barack Obama -- who was born in Hawaii -- for "going off this week to a vacation in Hawaii," which she said "does not make any sense whatsoever." Roberts stated: "I know his grandmother lives in Hawaii and I know Hawaii is a state, but it has the look of him going off to some sort of foreign, exotic place." Roberts continued: "He should be in Myrtle Beach, and, you know, if he's going to take a vacation at this time."

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported on August 9 that "fter delivering a campaign speech, Sen. Barack Obama's first stop on his Hawaii vacation was a visit to his grandmother's Makiki apartment, where he also lived during his youth."

From the August 10 edition of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos:

JAKE TAPPER (ABC News senior national political correspondent): A lot of Democrats on Capitol Hill wringing their hands about Obama. He's not hitting back hard enough. Do you agree?

WILL: I don't. Part of his charm, such as it is for those who feel it, is his aristocratic languor, his sort of relaxed, laid-back attitude, and as a result, he gives the impression sometimes as a candidate, not with an instinct for the jugular, but for the capillaries, that he goes for small responses. You pointed one out one this morning, talking about a war going on in Europe and he's worried about some lobbyist working for McCain. But I don't think this is his main problem.

TAPPER: What is his main problem?

GEORGE WILL (Washington Post columnist): His main problem is that people have not yet decided that he ought to be the one sitting across the table from -- to pick a name out of the ether -- Putin.

ROBERTS: Yeah, that he has certainly come nowhere near closing the deal. As we've talked about before, in this year that should be such a Democratic year given all the other indices, he is tied in the polls and stage-sided in the polls and going off this week to a vacation in Hawaii --

VICTORIA CLARKE (former Pentagon spokeswoman): Right.

ROBERTS: -- does not make any sense whatsoever. I know his grandmother lives in Hawaii and I know Hawaii is a state, but it has the look of him going off to some sort of foreign, exotic place. He should be in Myrtle Beach, and, you know, if he's going to take a vacation at this time.

CLARKE: Well, and --

ROBERTS: And I just think that, you know, this is not the time to do that.

<SNIP>

http://mediamatters.org/items/200808100001

[IndianaGreen]

1. She is an elitist white woman who prefers Myrtle Beach

to a beach with too many brown people.

[CitizenPatriot]

13. myrtel beach

is where the bikers have their annual thing...what is it with the repukes and bikers this year? Geez.

certainly not like Hawaii or seeing your beloved family! Why does cokie hate grandmothers? :-)

[WinkyDink]

25. (Wrong post!)

[DCBob]

2. Cokie is biased

I saw that and was shocked. Such a dumb comment -- Hawaii is foreign?? She made several anti-Obama statements. She sounded like a McCain surrogate. Disgusting.

[harun]

56. She's a RW shill and very biased.

[Vinca]

3. This must be one of the stupidest remarks ever made in punditry. nt

[Frances]

4. I seem to remember that she railed against Clinton

for having sex with Monica, but I haven't heard her say anything about McCain's dumping his loyal first wife for the woman he was having sex with.

[Clear Blue Sky]

5. Fiji or Bali might be exotic. But Hawaii??

[Fleshdancer]

6. Sorry Grandma, Some idiot named Cokie thinks home is too "foreign"

It's a FAMILY VACATION. A FAMILY is visting another member of the FAMILY. You don't get to pick and choose where grandma lives Cokie.

I can't believe she's attempting to use this against him. How stupid would anyone have to be to believe this crap? :wtf:

[depakid]

7. These shows really insult peoples' intelligence

Might as well turn on Gerry Springer re-runs-

[NYC_SKP]

18. Worse than stupid...

It's like these racist-xenophobes are coming out of the woodwork.

What's stupid is how transparent they are, probably don't realize it.

And if they know it's code, then they should all just go to hell.

Fuck.

[chat_noir]

8. Doesn't McBUSH take every weekend off from campaigning?

[madaboutharry]

9. She is a very stupid woman

I came to that conclusion during the Elian Gonzales fiasco. She made the dumbest comments about how the American people just don't want to see things like a raid on the home of the relatives...blah,blah,blah. I was one of the people who was very pleased to see a raid on the home of those loony relatives of that poor child. She is an idiot. She thinks her point of view is universal.

[gaiilonfong]

10. Cokie Roberts is a reTHUG HAGG

she is just awful and has been demeaning dems for years...she should STFU

[L0oniX]

51. ...more like a repuke media whore.

[Chloroplast]

11. She's only doing what the GOP excels at which is alienating fellow Americans.

[PCIntern]

12. She's a snot-nosed pseudo-aristocrat...

He sister was the mayor of Princeton for years and had infinitely more class and dignity than Cokie.

[Fridays Child]

14. I didn't know Cokie was a travel agent.

Maybe she could book Obama on a trip to one of her favorite uber-white, big-money destinations. Hey, Senator Obama, call 1-800-No Souls for a fabulous, Cokie Roberts-approved, inner sanctum vacay!

Isn't it fascinating how they can't help oozing elitism, even as they accuse Obama of that very thing?

[TheDonkey]

15. she should be deported.

Shameless un-American twit.

[showmemo]

16. Why not visit Hawaii

Barack should visit Hawaii. Many reasons to do so.

1. Grandma Obama is there and he has not seen her for 19 Months.

2. Great-Grand kids deserve to have fun with 85 year old Great-grandma.

3. Family needs time off for the greuling home stretch.

4. Great family beach photo's.

6. Possibly location of new western White House.

Cookie, Give us a pass this time as Barack needs a Break. Family time is most imprtant and how often do we get to meet Grandma who raised Barack.

I hope we all get to see the family photos.

[NYC_SKP]

17. Fine, whatever Cokie. Then I want an exotic, foreign fucking president.

I give up, fuck it, he's exotic and has a funny name.

Lamborghini, that's foreign and exotic. I want one of those. And I don't care if it's red or yellow or black.

We deserve foreign and exotic.

I'll take one, thank you.

[Quixote1818]

19. That was one of the strangest things I have ever heard from a reporter.

Ok, Obama has now upset perhaps 1 person in a hundred million for going to Hawaii. So, out of the three people in the U.S. who are upset, we know one of them is Cokie dipshit Roberts.

[JaneQPublic]

20. Cokie hardly has her finger on the pulse of the ordinary citizen

She's the daughter of congresspersons, she's hobnobbed all her life with the Washington elite, she gets all her information from other Washington elite at exclusive Georgetown dinner parties and restaurants... I doubt she's even bought her own groceries or pumped her own gas in decades... and she somehow knows that the average voter is going to recoil at a candidate vacationing in Hawaii?

She assumes the voters will feel more comfortable with McCain because SHE feels more comfortable with McCain. Hell, they probably all go to the same dinner parties.

[Overseas]

50. Exactly! Cokie is more comfy with JSM III, son & grandson of Admirals, with 7 homes, $520 shoes,

unlimited credit, a net worth of $40 million and an heiress wife he married after having an affair with, who brings an additional $100 million plus to the table.

Cokie has always been far too conservative for my tastes.

[a la izquierda]

21. "oooohhh fear the brown people...

i command you from the pulpit of the idiot box. i am lou dobbs, er, wait, cokie roberts and i demand obedient, insane hatred of hawaii and mexico and all things foreign sounding."
what a twat. i'm glad i'm in mexico where no one hides their racism on tv. it's still hateful but at least no one pretends it's not there.

[Maria Wr]

22. Cokie has the GOP taliking points down pat

managed to get exotic and foreign in there. 2 mcsame points for her.

[Withywindle]

23. Wow, America just keeps getting smaller and smaller.

In 2004 we learned that New England isn't really part of REAL America.

We already knew that northern California isn't.

Now Hawaii is "foreign" and "exotic."

I'm guessing Alaska's next, probably long overdue. After that, Minnesota - damn stealth-Canadian fifth-columnists.

(Due to global warming, Florida will already be underwater by then.)

[sakura]

24. "Sorry, Grandma,

I know it's hard for you to travel, what with your severe osteoporosis and all. But Cokie Roberts thinks that where you live is just too darn exotic. Could you fly 4700 miles out to Myrtle Beach so we can visit in a normal, American state? I know, I know, the humidity's only 46% where you are, and it's 67% in Myrtle Beach, but you can shower 2 or 3 times a day to get rid of all the sweat. Just pack some extra clothes and towels, and I'll make sure the hotel bathroom has a grab bar in the shower. We'd better do what Cokie says-- she just doesn't think it's the time to do foolish things like visit the state where you raised me. And, sorry, but you'll have to do the 13 and a half-hour trip in coach. I'd hate to hear what Cokie might have to say if I flew you first class, or used the private jet. One more thing. You'll have to pay the $1450 cost yourself. I know you're on a budget, but I wouldn't want Cokie to think I was using you as some kind of campaign prop. Grandma? Grandma?"

[WinkyDink]

26. Cokie, you ignorant slut.

[MasonJar]

27. Cokie is GOPer all the way. Who would not go to Hawaii and visit his

grandmother and his hometown and home state instead of tooling off to the crowded environs of Myrtle Beach? And this stupidity passes for journalism? George S should be drummed off the airways. He got mad at Clinton for Monica, but has not blinked at the horrid lies, distortions and crimes of Bush/Cheney. Making a lot of money now, George? It is the only possible explanation. Does your conscience ever bother you, even a little bit?

[MasonJar]

28. Also where can we reach the witch? And where is a list of places she has visited lately?

Are they all in the continental USA? And even if they are, why should that influence any of us, including native Hawaiian Barack Obama?

[Faygo Kid]

29. Jokie Roberts is as Inside-the-Beltway as David Broder. That's saying a lot.

She is as completely out of touch and incurious as they come.

On Mondays, she is on NPR in the 8 a.m. segment. I can't listen to her, she is so out of it.

[MasonJar]

30. I am sorry; I should have put all this in one response, but this just makes

me so mad that I just keeping of things to rant about. And if Michelle and Barack had wanted to take their daughters to Bali or Tahiti, what is wrong with that? One of the big problems with Americans today is that are so smug and self-satisfied with so little reason. We are so untraveled and so uncultured; we think we are better than other civilizations, most of which have a longer history than we do and more art and architecture and music and all the different things that make life worth living. My husband and I wanted our children to see other countries as soon as we could send them. Libby went to France the year after her Junior year in high school, Dodd went on a European tour the year he graduated from high school and Libby accompanied him. LeeLee went to Japan after her Junior year and then to Italy in college and to France several times (French beau.) My husband sailed around the world as part of the Yankee crew at 16 and I got to go on a European tour after college graduation. These were not always easy to pay for, but they added invaluable lessons to prevent our developing the provincial attitude so often encountered in the USA (example extraordinaire: GWB.)

[Major Hogwash]

31. What an ignorant slut!

Hawaii is one of our favorite states TO vacation at!

What a moran!!

Gezzus Sesame, like I would vacation in Kansas, famous for it's world class renowned beaches!!
Fucking idgit!

Seriously, Cokie is one of the stupidest people on tv.
I don't know who she slept with to get on those shows!

[Skittles]

32. LOL

what a fucking stupid thing to say - the man went WHERE HE HAS FAMILY - the same reason I will be in Illinois next month. WTF is WRONG with these neocon whores? :puke:

[bermudat]

33. Myrtle Beach?

Last time I was there, they were flying the confederate swastika from every storefront window. Obama vacationing in Myrtle Beach would not change one 'hardworking white peoples' mind. I'm almost embarrassed for her.

[Hekate]

34. That is exceptionally asinine even for Cokie, stunning in its arrogance...

... Hawaii has only been the 50th state for a half-century, come next year. "Of course it is all filled up with brown people, so it must be "foreign" anyway. And we all know what that means for Obama."

What a mindless twit.

Guess what, Cokie: Barack Obama was born in an actual state of the Union, unlike John McCain, who was born in Panama.

Hekate

[WinkyDink]

35. She's simply pushing the "he's not one of us" theme. They'll say anything.

[davidpdx]

36. Cookie Roberts is a ******* moron

[Marrah_G]

37. She is such a moron. She really is. I bet that went over great in Hawaii

[CTyankee]

38. Does anybody have an email address for this show?

I was in absolute disbelief when I saw it yesterday morning. I want to go on the record with the show about the utter stupidity of her remark. Really, is THIS her fine tuned political "analysis"?

[bullwinkle428]

39. She was pushing this same horseshit, this morning on NPR!!

:banghead:

[saltpoint]

40. I looked up "entrenched xenophobe"

in the dictionary and there was Cokie Roberts' picture.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

41. To most of the world's inhabitants, someone like Cokie looks "exotic."

:eyes:

[liam_laddie]

64. Yep, only about 85-87% of the world isn't Caucasian

She pulled that "exotic" meme out of her behind again this morning (Monday) on NPR's
"Morning Edition." She and her husband Steve Roberts (another pundit-on-call-for-your
DLC-talking-points) are flacking for the status quo, inside-the-beltway elite. Fuck 'em!
:puke:

[woo me with science]

42. Americans wouldn't elect some foreigner from Hawaii, would they?!

They have dark skin over there!

[yardwork]

43. Has Cokie Roberts ever vacationed in Myrtle Beach?

[TheZug]

44. What do you think about McCain's EIGHT homes, Ms. Roberts? That's not "exotic"?

[npincus]

45. Poor Cokie... doesn't know Hawaii is one of our states.

Sad.

[Diamonique]

46. What an idiot!

Watching the Olympics last night, I thought about this.

I wonder how "foreign" Hawaii would be to Cokie if a Hawaiian won a gold medal.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

47. Tapper, Will, Clarke and Roberts?

Nice to see such balance.

[uponit7771]

48. This story is being picked up in a lot of places, people are starting to notice the stupidity...

...of some of the Obama critique

[Hutzpa]

49. You delete Cokies

don't have time for cookies because I delete them.

:evilgrin:

[KansDem]

52. Eight years ago, Cokie was "reporting" on the Bush charm offensive...

She was gushing about how, if elected, Bush was going to DC and get things done because he was "charming, oh so charming..."

But now she criticizes Obama for vacationing in the state he was born in?

She is one media whore...

[snooper2]

53. Cokie is just mad..

she hasn't had an orgasm in 20 years :rofl:

[TrogL]

54. Hawaii is "foreign"? Last time I checked it was one of the States

Part of World War II was fought to keep it that way.

[rocktivity]

61. TRANSLATION: "Foreign and Exotic" = "Nonwhite"

Though he's NOT nonwhite...


rocknation

[Ganja Ninja]

55. Is there anything that isn't too trivial for the GOP media whores to

try and turn it against Obama? Hawaii seems foreign? Yeah and Cokie sounds like crackwhore's nickname.

[Colobo]

57. Foreign? What the hell is wrong with her?

[Retrograde]

58. East Coast bias

Everything in the universe revolves around DC and NYC, dontchaknow? He should go to Florida or the Caribbean like normal people.

Cokie, dear, from where I sit just south of San Francisco, Myrtle Beach is exotic and foreign. And it's further away than Hawai'i, as is Washington, New York, Boston, Florida, and a lot of other parts of this country. Most of its residents are non-white, but they're citizens too, right? Is that where the exoticism comes in?

BTW, I'm going next month and I can't wait!

[rocktivity]

59. I once won a prize in a bar because I was able to display "Hawaiian currency" to the MC

I explained to the crowd, "Hawaii's a STATE, dorks--they use the same money the other forty-nine do!"

:rofl:
rocknation

[LisaM]

60. Cokie Roberts is against grandmothers!

Who'd have thought?

I also think that Myrtle Beach makes no sense as a vacation spot for Obama. I actually think it's odder that he hasn't seen her in 19 months! That seems like quite a while.

[Blu Dahlia]

62. She's faulting him for visiting someone who is like a mother to him

Instead of going to KKK central? And did that woman ever stop to think that maybe the kids want to see their grandparents?

[dsomuah]

63. He has a funny name, and he vacations in places that don't sound "American" enough

Perhaps he should vacation in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, so that people think he has enough heartland in him.