"My country is gone" or "I want my country back" = "I'm afraid of a black man being president"?

[bbernardini]

That's what I'm hearing whenever I hear those first two statements, anyway.

[BlooInBloo]

1. Everybody knows it. Many lie about it.

[Critters2]

2. That is precisely the correct translation. nt

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Exactly right.

They are really racists...

And they cannot stand the fact that their guy lost.

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. Or that they are pissed they are out power?

:shrug:

[Mz Pip]

9. A combination of the two

There were plenty of conservatives who didn't have a problem with a Black SOS in the Bush Administration, so I don't believe that everyone who opposes Obama is a racist. Some are, certainly the birthers are. Some of the signs at the tea parties are about as racist as you can get. But some just don't like it that they lost and are very upset about it.

We were pretty upset when Bush was POTUS and I remember similar rhetoric though it never got the same attention that it is getting now.

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. Perhaps though I still think it's mostly about loss of power.

:shrug:

[hileeopnyn8d]

22. The loss of power

explains the people fomenting the rage, not the clueless ones at the townhalls saying they want their country back.

Those people can't even articulate what it is that is different about "their country" now compared to before Obama was elected. I know what's different, and I know it's killing them.

[jakefrep]

5. Maybe they would have kept "their" country if they hadn't fucked it up so badly.

It was the same crap they spouted during the Clinton years, so I have no idea if it's racist.

[Sub Atomic]

6. Recommended to offset the inevitable unrec.

:thumbup:

[Bucky]

7. You're right. It has nothing to do with them being programmed to fear liberals. It's only about race

PS, you're wrong. It's more complex than that. Certainly "fear of the Other" is a factor in many of their cases. But don't expect to understand a three dimensional problem with a one dimensional perspective. If any other Democrat had been elected last year, we'd be seeing the same shit with equal levels of irrational hysterics.

[hileeopnyn8d]

17. But it would have been something different

maybe abortion again, or gay marriage.

It wouldn't have been this thing that they can barely articulate, that spews forth from their mouths, red-faced with so much anger and hate that some of them are reduced to tears.

Those are the people who say they "want their country back", and it is about race.

[Bucky]

24. No, it would have been health care. They want "their" country back from liberals

Race is an agitation here; but it's not really about race. It's about millions of idiots being manipulated by corporations and their right wing enablers.

[LondonReign2]

8. That is only one aspect

They've been thrown out of power, see all non-white people as a threat, and realize anti-sceince screeds are laughed at. Obama's race is just the icing on the cake.

No matter which Democrat became President, they'd be out there with their Clinton-era craziness turned up to 11.

[SammyWinstonJack]

15. I think it's more about being thrown out of power. nt

[Tim01]

10. That's why they fucking HATE Condoleezza Rice. nt

[glowing]

11. Yes, this is a correct translation.

Its actually, "I don't want that N$#%^r spending my money on those other people". I think that's a better translation. I heard one guy I never expected say to me, "someone needs to shoot that motherfucker or at least take away his checkbook". I guess the shocked look on my face made him realize that my similar white skin did not represent similar views. (I work at a hotel.. its amazing the many repeat customers assume that I am white skin means racist asshole.)

[bluestateguy]

12. "I want my country back", sounds whiny

and to tell you the truth it sounded just a bit whiny when the Howard Dean people said the same thing 5 years ago.

Americans don't like people who give off a whiny vibe---left or right.

[Liquorice]

13. They want their agenda to be pushed. When it isn't, their

country is "gone" and they want it back. I really think it's that simple.

[SammyWinstonJack]

19. I think so, too. nt

[sailor65]

16. That's the official DU translation.......

at least when the other side says it.......

Back when our side was saying it, I guess it meant something else. Nothing like a flexible dictionary, eh? :-)

[SammyWinstonJack]

23. .

:evilgrin: :thumbsup:

[LeftinOH]

18. It sure as shit has nothing to do with healthcare -n/t

[Orsino]

20. I'll assume that some are honestly afraid of talk radio's bogeymen...

...but for the most part, I think it is nearly as simple as you say.

[loyalkydem]

21. The third one

is the main one. They aren't going to come out and admit it, but we know that's what they are thinking.

[bain_sidhe]

25. I don't think you can reduce it that far

I had a t-shirt that said the same thing when Bush was in office. What it meant to me, and I suspect what it means to those now using the same phrase, is that the people in charge are doing things that I think are counter to what America means to me. For example, the sentiment expressed by the DU t-shirt "This is our country, not your church" fit right in with MY meaning of "I want my country back."

Now, I'm sure that for some people, having a black man as president IS counter to what America means to them - but that's a symptom, not the cause of the statement. The cause is that the country has become something that is counter to their conception of what the country should be.

[Froward69]

26. go tell it to the Indians!

is my retort.
I then add I am quite happy living in this "evolving" country.

[hfojvt]

27. you,might wanna ask the DUer GiveMeBackMyCountry

he's been a member since 2004 when that was a campaign slogan for Howard Dean. He's a DUer I have actually met too, at a meet-up in KCMO not too far from where he lives.

So I think you are hearing it wrong, because some white liberals were saying it when a white faux-Texan was Pretzeldent.

[Liquorice]

29. Exactly. It's how the other side always feels when they are out of power. nt

[hfojvt]

30. not always

as Americans, perhaps 70% of us agree on 70% of things. Most of us, for example, hate the New York Yankees. It is when one side only acts to throw raw meat to his 30%, rather like Bush did, or when the pundits of one side claim that the other side is only throwing raw meat to their 30%, the way Beck and BillO do. We used to have people like Cronkite and Rather, sorta calling it from the center-left and both sides being more reasonable.

[newtothegame]

28. Well, that's certainly the easy and politically convenient way to look at it.

However, if we really want to keep these dousches from rising up again, perhaps we oughtta expend just a LITTLE more effort in examining the issues?

[opihimoimoi]

31. Too easy to whine about the Victor...the GOP should analyze WHY they fell from POWER

Poor choices

let the NeoCons/PNACers take over so easily and insist on W Bush...that was the beginning of the death spiral. it all went bad after that.

[barbtries]

32. i'm still occasionally making that claim

(i want my country) since the patriot act is still the law, the wars go on, i have the impression that everything i write online and every word i speak on the phone is being gathered somewhere, bush cheney et al are not imprisoned or facing charges and so on.
but to a great extent i felt i got my country back when obama was elected. i think the people saying it now are afraid of any and all change to the status quo - regardless of how screwed up the status quo may be - and are so ignorant racist and childlike that even if for some of them the statement isn't the whole story it may as well be. i think there is a huge element of racism informing the unrest these days and a hella lot of denial of that from a lot of corners.