"Are you saying that if I maintain that Barack Obama was born in Kenya that I am a racist?"

[LaydeeBug]

Yes. That's *exactly* what I'm saying.

[RagAss]

1. Racist and a fucktard !

[Ms. Toad]

19. I'd appreciate it if you would edit your post.

Using the suffix "tard" as an insult only works if being developmentally disabled is insulting - and that is hurtful to those of us who love individuals who are developmentally disabled.

[Bluerthanblue]

38. my dad used to

say "mustard, custard, and you're no rose"-

which was his way of saying "bastard"- rather than using a curse. I always think of this when I hear the word "fucktard" curses are strange things.

I have a son with dd. I don't find this usage particularly offensive. Taking intent into account, I don't think it is intended to demean or belittle those with developmental delays. But that's me-

[LaydeeBug]

50. As a carrier of, and a lover of children with Fragile X, I absolutely agree.

beside that, censorship is just wrong.

Fucktard is a just a word, and not meant to be offensive toward special people. Nor offensive to fuckers either, I'd imagine. But then again, they're fuckers.

[RC]

39. Examples of words not to use because "tard" suffix

bastard
mustard
bustard
costard
custard
dastard
dotard
leotard
petard
retard
unitard

All of these words can be used in a derisive way to disparage someone, somewhere, somehow. Must we ban their use on DU?

However words such as 'idiot', stupid',
moron
· nincompoop
· nitwit
· dimwit
· simpleton
· dullard
· jackass
· ninny
· tomfool
· twit
· dope
· goose
· donkey
· bonehead (informal)
· ding-a-ling (informal)
· dingbat (slang)
· clod
· boob (informal)
· dummy
· clodhopper
· jerk (slang)
· nit (British)
· schmo
· turkey
· loon
· mooncalf

2. (n.) A mentally deficient person:
· half-wit
· cretin
· feeble-minded person
· moron (moran?)
· mental defective
· dullard
· imbecile
· mentally retarded person
· simpleton

moron
· nincompoop
· nitwit
· dimwit
· simpleton
· dullard
· jackass
· ninny
· tomfool
· twit
· dope
· goose
· donkey
· bonehead (informal)
· ding-a-ling (informal)
· dingbat (slang)
· clod
· boob (informal)
· dummy
· clodhopper
· jerk (slang)
· nit (British)
· schmo
· turkey
· loon
· mooncalf

2. (n.) A mentally deficient person:
· half-wit
· cretin
· feeble-minded person
· moron
· mental defective
· dullard
· imbecile
· mentally retarded person
· simpleton

are for the most part A-OK for use? Anyone else see a problem here?
Banning words is hurtful and an insult to educated people everywhere.

[LanternWaste]

42. I saw no demand for a ban on words...

I saw no demand for a ban on words, merely a polite request not to use *obviously* hurtful words (though I imagine a righteous dogmas will prevent one from seeing the two distinct and wholly separate issues, all to better advertise themselves as 1A martyrs...)

[Ms. Toad]

49. The request was not to ban a word, but to be respectful

to people who have individuals with developmental disabilities in our lives by choosing an insult which does not use them as the butt of the joke, because doing so is hurtful to many of us.

With the exception of retard (in the sense of a person with developmental disabilities), the list of words you provided with "tard" as a suffix which you provided have nothing to do with people who are developmentally disabled. Bastard has other problems, and I would choose not to use it as an insult either, because it blames the child for the actions of his or her parents - and using it as an insult can be hurtful to individuals whose parents were not married. (And, in any event, is not abbreviated as "tard" in the way that retard (referring to someone with developmental disabilities often is as a derogatory label) is.

You know the difference, but choose to characterize any request to be respectful to (or with respect to) members in our community as a word game. It isn't.

[rocktivity]

2. Yes -- mainly because IT'S NOT TRUE!!!

rocktivity

[hobbit709]

3. And a stupid one to boot.

[SoutherDem]

4. If the shoe fits.

[librechik]

45. if the white pointy hood fits....

[Thinkingabout]

6. At a minimal you would be wrong.

Since there are folks who knew Obama's mother when she was pregnant with him and knows he was born in Hawaii.

[goclark]

44. Yes ~ and the Birth Announcement in the News

does it for me as well.

My mother's Birth Announcement is on the web and she was born around 1920.

For that announcement to be forged, the newspaper would have done a
really amazing TRICK by somehow taking it out of the printed edition that was seen all over Hawaii.

http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/obamabirth.php

I like this quote from part of that link...

"Now, McCain's (Rove's) useful idiots will scream that these are fakes, that they are part of this grand conspiracy by Obama's parents to smuggle a newborn baby from Kenya into Honolulu to obtain a birth certificate and birth announcements. But what is lacking in their story is MOTIVE. It's not like Obama's parents knew back then that Barack would go into politics, and need to be "Natural Born." Why bother with such a deception, which includes a very risky flight half way around the world with a newborn baby. Under US law, Barack is a US citizen no matter where he was born because his mother was an American citizen, born and raised in Kansas. The question of location is only relevant to the "Natural Born" requirement to be President. Barack's parents could not have known at the time of his birth that this would be an issue. "

[Spike89]

48. Location isn't even germane to "natural born" status

Natural born simply means you are citizen at birth. Although being born on U.S. soil is one way of being a natural born citizen, it is not the only way. Having a U.S. citizen parent is another, equally valid path. Even if Obama were born in Kenya (he wasn't), he would still be a natural born U.S. citizen due to his mother's status.

There were attempts by the birthers to show that Obama's mother had lost her citizen status somehow (something weird about not living in the US for enough years past her 18th birthday I think). It would take BOTH establishing that (impossible) and proving Obama was born outside the US.

Quite simply, even if he were born in Kenya, he'd still be a natural born US citizen.

[goclark]

56. Right!

[Jim Lane]

59. Wrong! This is an error, and I wish progressives would stop saying it.

At the time that Obama was born, the law was different from what it is now. Under the law in effect in 1961, if Obama had been born in Kenya, with a noncitizen father and an eighteen-year-old citizen mother, he would NOT have been a natural-born citizen. (For foreign-born with one citizen and one noncitizen parent, the law then was that the citizen parent could convey U.S. citizenship at birth only if he or she had resided in the United States for at least five years after attaining the age of fourteen. Stanley Ann Dunham was a bit too young to meet that standard.)

The psychological danger is that, if people keep repeating the it-doesn't-matter-if-he-was-born-in-Kenya mantra, then that becomes the issue that people focus on -- and it's an issue we'll lose, because it does matter.

[Spike89]

62. No one that matters really focuses on this issue

We can't lose, and it doesn't matter. Despite what the cheesy "polls" asking if people believe Obama is a citizen or not seem to show--the reality is that the true believers are a tiny impotent group. Most of the people saying he's a "furriner" in those polls know full well that it is a settled issue, but like skewing poll results. If you asked if Obama were from another planet, you'd probably get pretty close to the same results.
But back to the issue, well, no it isn't an issue. He was born in Hawaii. The law is no longer what it was (and I've heard disputing views on whether the 5+ years after 14 requirement actually applied in cases where the mother wasn't at least 19). It does not matter.

[liberal N proud]

7. Can you say ignorant and too stupid to breed as well

You would think that right wing lie would have been laid to rest.

[LaydeeBug]

52. Oh no! They've bred. At family reunions all across our nation....

[struggle4progress]

8. Asshole, Idiot, or Racist: you can pick two out of three

[Honeycombe8]

9. Yep. I can see why they wouldn't realize it at first. Until we 'splain it to 'em. nt

[TheKentuckian]

10. That is correct

[NYC Liberal]

11. At this point, you're either stupid or a racist if you believe that.

You're stupid if you get suckered in and don't do any of your own minimal fact checking.

You're a racist if you deliberately push the lie.

[TahitiNut]

15. It should go without saying that "racist" INCLUDES "stupid."

[Incitatus]

17. Yes, but not all stupid people are racists.

[Turbineguy]

12. Maybe a racist

but certainly an idiot.

[ThoughtCriminal]

13. Well.. there is a slight chance that they are just an idiot

but odds are they are both.

[Jamaal510]

14. Donald Trump's not a racist;

Arsenio Hall won on his show once!

[uponit7771]

32. +1

[Spitfire of ATJ]

16. I also tell them they are denying Hawaii it's first President.

They were thrilled to consider Obama to be a Native Son.

Think about it. The media for over three years could have been going to Hawaii and been barefoot at the beach but instead decided to focus on the "Chicago style politics" crap thus sticking them in the winter in a place where their shoe fills with slush at the curb.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

18. If his daddy's name was Barry Winthorpe III from England. None

Last edited Tue Jul 10, 2012, 11:10 AM - Edit history (2)

of these jagoffs would't say a peep.

Edit: hate this fucking phone!!!

[Fumesucker]

26. Your edit is hilarious..

Don't tucking change it for tucks sake..

I've had the same problem.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

29. AAAAARGHHH!!! I swear I can spell. This is just ridiculous!

[treestar]

20. Yes, especially if you do not have equal "concern" and zeal to get Birth Certificates

for other presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

[LaydeeBug]

22. perzactly. nt

[uponit7771]

33. +1

[irisblue]

23. yes, you are racist

and you should feel shame at that.

[progressivebydesign]

24. haha. and an ignorant moran, to boot. ;) n/t

[ilikeitthatway]

25. and an idiot.

n/t

[Fumesucker]

27. No, I'm saying you're a racist with a room temperature IQ..

Keep talking and I'll let you know if it's Fahrenheit or Celsius..

Then walk away while they're scratching their heads trying to figure it out.

[unblock]

28. "i can't be racist! last election i voted for the panamanian!"

[uponit7771]

30. PLEASE HELP articulate why, I think a LOT of people feel this way but can't come up with the proper

...words to express to people a rational reason why.

My thoughts are that saying he's born in Kenya is directly pointing to this race as a factor because there are very few non blacks in Kenya, making Obama's nationality and race the "other"

[LaydeeBug]

55. because they aren't asking for Mitt Romney's long form birth certificate, and won't nt.

[spanone]

31. yes.

[Flashmann]

34. "Are you saying that if I maintain that Barack Obama was born in Kenya that I am a racist?"

Not absolutely,although probably.....Mainly,if you are saying that,I,in turn,am saying you are stupid...Extremely stupid..

[goclark]

54. Yes I do say so ~ maybe you belong at

that other website ~

The replies to your post provide overwhelming evidence that OUR PRESIDENT WAS BORN IN HAWAII.... you don't get it ~ so , I say you would feel far more comfortable in another place ~ say hi to " The Donald" when you get there.

[LeftishBrit]

35. Yes.

[Quantess]

36. Not necessarily racist.

But the tile grout in my bathroom is smarter.

[Bluerthanblue]

37. a bigot and a liar

would fit well.

[Douglas Carpenter]

40. I suppose it's possible that someone might think that because they are naive and misinformed

People do believe a lot of things because their little world reinforces a lot of misinformation.

But I would tend to suspect that most people who would promote the idea that the President was born in Kenya are probably deeply racist.

[Orsino]

41. Not necessarily.

The person who holds such a view could just be an opportunist not even principled enough to be racist.

S/he could just be a dumbass tool of racists or opportunists.

But Occam says racist.

[Tom Ripley]

43. And a xenophobe

[RZM]

46. Many are, but not all. Some are just idiots

Presidents are usually at the center of at least one stupid conspiracy theory. For Clinton it was Vince Foster, for W it was 9/11, and for Obama it's Kenya.

I have no idea what the CT about the next president is going to be. All I know is that there will be one and it will be stupid.

[hifiguy]

47. Indeed. And as dumb as a bowling shoe, to boot. nt

[Blue Owl]

51. dah, OK boss...

n/t

[RandySF]

53. Yes!

[backscatter712]

57. They say he's Kenyan/Muslim/Communist because they can't call him an n-bomb. n/t

[gollygee]

58. It's a safe enough bet that I would be very comfortable making that assumption.

It is of course possible that they are just very very stupid but not racist. But I think the overwhelming majority are racist, enough that it's safe to assume so.

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

60. No, and anyone who claims as much should probably rethink his or her position.

However, you do probably suck dog balls.

[Prophet 451]

61. Yes, you are

And also an idiot.