What to do when the people you dismiss, kick your ass…

[phantom power]

Politico has a story up about the finger pointing and blame game of Team Mittens and the Wingnuts. These “flow-of-wingnut-tears” stories will be common in the coming days, but one part stood out for me (emphasis added):

Multiple Romney sources buzzed about one number in particular: 15 percent. According to exit polls, that’s the share of African-Americans who voted in Ohio this year. In 2008, the black percentage of the electorate was 11 percent. In Virginia and Florida, exit polls showed the same share of African-Americans turned out as four years ago, something that GOP turnout models did not anticipate.

“We didn’t think they’d turn out more of their base vote than they did in 2008, but they smoked us,” said one Romney operative. “It’s unbelievable that that they turned out more from the African-American community than in 2008. Somehow they got ‘em to vote.”

Here is the thing that Team Mitt and Team Wingnut failed to understand: that when you insult folks and dismiss them, they tend to get mad and they tend to want to kick your ass.

Mitt and the Wingnuts have run a four-year campaign that is only a blond hair’s width away from calling the President a nigger every single day. They are focused like a laser beam on promoting white rage and using every dog whistle they can think of to get the message across. White folks heard them and so did people of color. Team Mitt is surprised that African-American turnout increased over 2008, but that is only because they are incapable of thinking of these folks as people.

As I knocked on door after door in a black neighborhood in Columbus, it was clear that folks heard the Mitt/wingnut code-talking and that it pissed them off. They heard the endless disrespect of the President and the general contempt for anybody who is not white that has become the core message of the modern conservative movement. They heard it and they decided to kick Mitt’s ass in the voting booth.

Mitt’s “Vote for me, I’m white” strategy made my job of getting Obama supporters to the polls really easy.

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2012/11/08/what-to-do-when-the-people-you-dismiss-kick-your-ass/

[gateley]

1. " Somehow they got ‘em to vote"

How dismissive.

[phantom power]

4. Last election cycle some GOP political op got caught saying...

(paraphrase) "Well, you see Candidate Joe Smith (R) would have won, if it weren't for all the blacks and latinos voting"

They really, truly, madly, deeply, don't believe anybody except white male (and probably property-owners) should be voting. Sometimes I'm not entirely sure they're aware of what they're doing -- their surprise when non-white-male people vote seems so genuine.

Yes, Virginia, we gave women, and non-whites the right to vote. It was a while ago, now.

[BanzaiBonnie]

12. They still live in the world of...

the landed gentry. That was soooo 1800s.

[TrogL]

14. Ok, so we're not the only ones having "bozo moments"

Up here we had a candidate say he was more qualified to deal with ethnic matters because he was Caucasian.

[Wayoff]

17. In all fairness...

they do think it is OK for white woman to vote, as long as she is home in time to get dinner on the table. I am so glad that God did not make this white male like those white males.

[calimary]

26. Welcome to DU, Wayoff!

Sounds like your screen name sums up Pox Noise/kkkarl rove's expert campaign assessments in one word! Glad you're here!

Cue the Steve Miller Band!

[VWolf]

9. should be followed by "despite our providing far too few voting machines" n/t

[Blanks]

33. 'They' had time.

If the republican controlled house would have gotten off their asses and passed the presidents jobs bill; maybe 'they' would have been at work and wouldn't have had time to stand at the polls all day.

Republicans screwed themselves trying to screw us all. That'll teach em.

[truebrit71]

20. Of course, don't you know they're all just lazy layabouts waiting for their gubmint check...

...

Fucking racist bastards...I'm as white as the snow but THAT PISSES ME OFF!!!

[libodem]

22. That stood out with me as well

Cripes.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

24. That's what's funny. It wasn't Obama that got them to vote at all....

It was Republicans themselves. Not only for their racism but for the threat that they were going to write down in the history books that our fist black president was a complete and utter failure. They kept saying "worse than Carter".

That whole meme that "black people are lousy at their job" and trying to pin the bad economy a white guy caused on the black guy is what got them to the poles.

Republicans were all set to claim everything was fine and then the black guy screwed things up so a white guy had to fix things.

I'd be pissed too.

[OKNancy]

2. thanks for posting... kick and rec

" when you insult folks and dismiss them, they tend to get mad and they tend to want to kick your ass. " - LOVE IT

[JustAnotherGen]

3. Best. Analysis. Ever.

And folks running for Congress both in a seat on or trying to get into one on Tuesday that wanted to touch the 14th Amendment as a way to 'get rid of illegals' was really really dumb.

The 14th Amendment elevated us from being 2/3 of a person/subhuman animals into actual living and breathing human beings in America.


The 14th Amendment. Let the Republicans know - never that way pass again. It's non negotiable. . .

[yardwork]

5. One of my cubicle mates is African American

Until this year she was moderate. By the time the election rolled around this week she was radical. I've never seen such a rapid transformation. She listens to NPR on her way into work every morning. Some of things she heard infuriated her. I remember the day she came into the office after hearing some woman interviewed on NPR saying that Michele Obama didn't look like a First Lady.

The Republicans' vile racism cost them this election.

[siligut]

15. The wing-nuts were disgusting regarding Michelle

Their venom was just unbelievable. It was like hating on a da Vinci's art, just irrational.

[IMG][/IMG]

[yardwork]

23. They were things that many Americans believed were only in the past.

The Tea Party has encouraged the filthy racists to crawl out of their sewers and spew their foul ignorance in public. I think it was a shock to a lot of moderates.

[Blue_Tires]

29. I work on a college campus and the black students were even MORE fired up than four years ago

Talk about "splitting the atom"!

There is a lot of truth in how tone-deaf the GOP was in all of this...You think we don't see/hear the insults (especially for those of us in the south)? You think we can't decipher your racially-coded buzzwords when tossing red meat to your base? You think STILL dredging up the birth issue more than FOUR FUCKING years after it was settled is funny, or cute? You think we forgot about all your racist bumper stickers, t-shirts and posterboards? You think we forgot about any number of thousands of instances of disrespect to the office of the president from congress and the USSC (and I'm referring to the stuff that goes way beyond partisan one-upsmanship)? You think we forgot about some no-name podunk congresscritter calling the president a liar during the state of the union address, and getting fucking CELEBRATED for it??

I could go on, but my hands are starting to tremble so I'll stop here

[Blanks]

34. Did you see Obama on Leno?

Talking about how he and Donald Trump grew up together in Kenya.

It was hilarious.

On edit: added clip.

[yardwork]

35. I hear you. We prevailed.

[Cha]

36. That's funny..she looks exactly like my

First Lady!



http://theobamadiary.com/

[yardwork]

41. She's smart, graceful, professional, gorgeous....she's the best First Lady in my lifetime!

And that includes Jackie. Loved her, but Michelle is even better.

[loudsue]

6. Plus, I think the first time around, a lot of black people never thought America

would elect a black president, and they didn't vote just out of that disbelief, and the fear of the disappointment.

This time, they knew better.

But, yes, it was also time to kick ass on all the insults. I am white, but as sick of these insults as I can be. Here in parts of the rural south, we have a bunch of faux news-loving, gun totin' white supremacists that make me want to puke.

[phantom power]

7. And they didn't just piss on non-whites...

they pissed on women (52% of the population) and the middle class and the poor (making up 98% of the population).

It was truly astonishing, when you add it all up. Literally the only demographic they didn't manage to directly insult was wealthy white men. Seen from that point of view, the only thing that's amazing is that Romney got more than about 5% of the vote.

[PA Democrat]

11. In right-wing wacko world wealthy white men are "job creators"

to be worshipped and obeyed.

[calimary]

27. Yeah, you can call 'em that. You can stick the term "job creators" on an elephant's butt, too.

Doesn't mean anything unless you're the guy who cleans up the elephant poop.

[Tennessee Gal]

8. Yes, that is an apt description of the faux news-loving people

in my area of the south. They are not really visible with it so much. However, observing posts on Facebook this year has definitely proven it exists.

There is minister in my small town that went on tirades on Facebook about Obama being a Muslim, etc. I attempt a polite exchange with him, but it did no good. I unfriended him because I did not want his vile attitudes on my news feed. Previously I had known him to be someone deserving of my respect. I was greatly disappointed in him.

[PA Democrat]

10. I heard them talking about this on Morning Joe today

and thought back to all the talk on the right of how much more motivated their base was.

I'm thrilled that their racism and code talk about African-Americans came back to bite them in the ass.

[CakeGrrl]

21. And their likely assumption that the AA community was too stupid to notice or care.

They really need someone sane to get hold of that party or they go over the cliff.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

25. LET them go over the cliff.....

One of the things that I keep seeing is Democrats trying to save the Republicans from themselves.

Then Democrats get frustrated because Republicans refuse to listen to them.

This is based on the idea that we are both in the same car.

It's more like trying to talk someone off of a ledge who already jumped.

[calimary]

28. Fuck 'em. LET them go over a cliff.

Time to take out the trash.

[TahitiNut]

13. They weren't "dog whistles."

It wasn't the sound of barking dogs that awakened the neighborhood, it was the screeching racism and fingernails-on-chalkboard misogyny. "Subtle" isn't part of the Reich Wing's lexicon.

[zentrum]

16. In other words,

...it was TeamMitt and the Wingnuts that turned out the Obama base! Nicely done!

[siligut]

18. It makes it easier for them to believe they lost because of African-Americans

But we know they lost because Mitt was unfit to be president, he would just be an activist figure-head to lead our country further into a fascist-theism.

[Cha]

37. They lost because of a ton of reasons.. African Americans are our

citizens just like everyone else. They lost because We The People Beat the Plutocrats.

[NYtoBush-Drop Dead]

19. Kicked the clock of Mittens...

And his Aryans...

[Rozlee]

30. ...Aryans.

That's exactly the term my step-daughter used when we saw the crowd at Romney HQ on election night. We had first been watching the huge crowd waiting for the president to appear in Chicago to give his victory speech. I remember seeing these two Asian-American toddlers squealing and playing with three other little African-American children while their parents chatted excitedly. Nearby, several college-age young people of every imaginable human shade talked animatedly and waved flags. Everywhere you looked, you could see Obama supporters ranging from white, Hispanic, Asian-American, African-American and others that could have been of East Indian, Arabic, or other diverse national origins. Then, they switched to Romney HQ and the throng of his supporters. It was a shock. The only variation was in blonds brunettes and redheads. This one guy was suspect, but he might have just tanned well. As far as the camera panned, I saw a sea of white. It was the same at the Republican Convention and at Romney rallies. The wind is not at their back as far as demographics goes. In the way of race, social issues and their outdated ideas, the times have changed. Hell, in the South, they're still acting like the Civil War happened yesterday.

[DCKit]

39. Lots my my friends and family are not yet evolved.

I think we need to be kinder to them.... because we are better than that. Not better than they are, just that we're not threatened by "the other". I think that's the difference between us - my own family and me.

Despite all that, and whether or not you agree with me, the scene you described made my heart leap with joy. My own neighborhood has become radically diverse over the past 20 years, and I'm loving it. It's a much nicer place to live now. We have every race and color represented here in SW Washington DC, and that's the only way I'd have it. If you haven't lived in a multi-racial neighborhood, you haven't lived. Every year, it gets better.

[felix_numinous]

31. Mitt's sense of entitlement

had so many layers of ignorance going, it made this a very frightening election cycle. I felt my whole body relax after the results were in. What a freaking relief.

We have to fix our voting system pronto, to ensure that this much election fraud does not happen in 2016--this man got TOO CLOSE to the WH!!! After each election we put election reform off and move onto other priorities--but this has to be taken care of and nipped in the bud.

[DCKit]

32. Our Moms and others here on DU made sure that wasn't going to happen.

I've got friends and family on "the other side", and I feel for them, but not so much.

We kicked their asses!

[DCKit]

38. Not calling them "they" would go a long way toward your cause.

But I don't want you to do that. Keep calling all of us "the other" and see where it gets you. It won't be the WH.

[FrenchieCat]

40. This, I knew would happen!

Glad I didn't gloat about it.

Payback is a biotch.....
and was certainly called for...
cause their shit was getting on many's last fucking nerve!

[Blue_Tires]

42. +1000