Are Hillary's recent comments about voting demographics racist?

[LoZoccolo]

Poll question: Are Hillary's recent comments about voting demographics racist?

[zanne]

1. She's getting as close as she can to saying "Yes, I know you're racist"...

But that's OK, as long as you vote for me.

[SteveM]

23. And for all that non-stop jazz about Wright, it didn't hurt Obama much.(nt)

[endarkenment]

2. sickeningly yes

[shomino]

3. I wouldn't say the comments themselves were racist

But they do attempt to take political advantage of racism.

[zanne]

28. It seems that nobody is "racist" anymore...

At least they'll scream to high heaven if you call them that. It's just the word "racist" that is not allowed anymore, not racism.

[EffieBlack]

32. I agree

I do not believe that Hillary herself believes that whites are superior to blacks. But she is willing to use the fact that some other people think this way to her political advantage - which is in some ways worse because she knows better.

[ObamaKerryDem]

48. Well said...

and it's pathetic to the core. Shows she will do ANYTHING to win..

[marions ghost]

54. Exactly

when working class whites are racist, it's stupid and f'd up.

But when Hillary Clinton USES that perspective to mine for votes, it's a betrayal of everything we progressives stand for.

I'm no longer concerned about Obama winning the nom. This isn't about that...this is about our core principles--our values! She insults all of us for whatever reason she is using this tactic.

I'm disgusted with Hillary. Period.

[rocktivity]

4. Race baiting with your own race

is STILL race baiting.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Buzz Clik]

5. A month ago when she did this the last time, some important distinctions were made:

You can make racist comments without being a racist.

I'm fairly convinced that Hillary is more of an opportunist than a racist, but her comments (as addressed in the poll) are just horrible.

[KSinTX]

6. Prejudicial - yes/ racist - no.

She neither hates nor discriminates against people of color (any color) I don't believe, but she is playing upon the fears of those who do. As a politician, it may be fair game. As a human being, not so much.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Is it prejudicial based on race?

Wouldn't that make it racist?

[KSinTX]

13. I would say, No ...

Playing on racist fears isn't the same as being racist. She can no more know that in the privacy of the voting booth that comes to a person's mind any more than she can know that a poor person might support an ill-advised gas tax because of a similar fear. BUT she can, and does, capitalize on a base built upon it and it is no more right or wrong than building a coalition on the fear/anger over an ill-advised war.

Politics is about exploiting fears. Seldom is it about lifting people out of them. So, to call her racist is to call her a 'poverty-baiter' and Obama a 'war-baiter' or McCain a, oh hell, can't even start with that one. They are fears and they all play to them.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. "Playing on racist fears isn't the same as being racist"

I'm sorry, I'm not following you.

[KSinTX]

16. My distinction with Clinton, et. al.

I need to step back a moment to get to my previous statement. Fear is what politicians use to divide the American people and we allow it. George Bush, in his attempt to 'one up' Daddy, took us into Baghdad - not because there was a security rationale for it, but because Americans were afraid. Using that fear, he has managed to strip basic freedoms from us - with our permission (based on a lack of outcry). He didn't hate us or believe Americans were "less than human" just thought we were stupid, which on some level we were.

http://www.adl.org/hate-patrol/racism.asp
Racism - It may be defined as the hatred of one person by another -- or the belief that another person is less than human -- because of skin color, language, customs, place of birth or any factor that supposedly reveals the basic nature of that person.

Clinton isn't advocating that people hate others or that they debase them for their color. She is seeking to justify her continued candidacy. To date she has undermined people of color, people who caucus, people who find guns abhorent, people who are activists, people who aren't religious and people who are educated. Basically, she is being dismissive of a number of groups. That is not the same as calling for hatred of them.

I don't feel she is responsible for our fears. If we fear war, if we fear being broke, if we fear death, if we fear people who don't look like us, those are our fears to bear. If she can appeal to them, then in the political arena, they are fair game. She is not advocating them, simply exploiting them.

Look, that she has sunk her campaign to these depths speaks volumes to me. I am merely a means to an end for her and she will slice and dice me however she can to get what she wants. She may personally be a closet racist or, heck, despise people who've served in the military for example, but her advocacy on the trail does not indicate a public play to racism nor to anti- or pro-veteran.

[frickaline]

22. Good post, I agree completely

What she's doing is pretty sleazy but I can't call it racism.

[EffieBlack]

33. Well-said!

[ProgressiveEconomist]

20. Didn't many people say the same thing about Bilbo, Eastland, Stennis, Thurmond.

Wallace, etc?

See also the CLASSIC DU thread applying the reasoning of USSC case Palmore v Sidoti to the use of other people's racism for your own personal gain, at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5876600&mesg_id=5876600

And wouldn't you make distinctions between "passive" use of others' prejudices and DTIRRING UP others' racial prejudices with "dog-whistle" sound bytes ("Fairy-tale", "naive", "elitist" = "uppity" in the ears of some of the "booboisie")?

[KSinTX]

25. Those people lived the moment and reinforced it

the Clintons have been incredibly proactive in not doing so. They have spent many years battling prejudice and racism. At the crossroads between raw ambition and civil rights, they have chosen the former because it is the easiest path.

That 'elitist' = uppity in the ears of some doesn't make their use of the word racist. It makes their use of the word opportunistic, it makes their use of the word hypocritical, it makes their use of the word the antithesis of everything they have worked their entire lives for. But I don't think it makes them racist.

The dog whistle belongs to us. Their use of it is political fair game. The folks you mention in the headline here truly believed in what has now become known as an unjust system of treatment for minorities. In their attempt to cling to that system, they each called openly for its maintenance. Hillary Clinton has not and will not. She wants to be President more than many people want life itself. She will dismiss us each and every one by category in the process, but she won't become a racist to get it - ONLY because this is the Democratic party and it won't fly.

[Liberal Veteran]

27. Not sure I can agree with that.

To capitalize on something morally repugnant is certainly no better than doing the act itself.

If you didn't own slaves but made money off the crops produced by slaves knowingly, are you really better than the slaver for buying his ill-gotten goods?

[Cosmocat]

30. She keeps getting a free pass from the media ...

the base assumption in this is that

1) the white folk won't vote for the black guy ...
2) the blsck folk will just get in line behind the white woman ...

the media absolutely refuses to call her on either ... She gets to say the white people just wont' vote for BO, but without saying it, gets a complete assumption that the black folk get get behind her ...

IMO, it is counterintuitive ... I believe at this point, if BO does not get the nomination, African Americans will not support her ... AT BEST, not go and vote ... And, bail on the party as a whole for at least a few cycles, really debilitating the party ...

Conversely, most of the voters she is talking about are "the republicans have never done anything for the working man types" ... She gets them because her last name it Clinton ... Given the choice between an R and a D, they break D most often ...

Media just NEVER calls her on this ... A simple and what should be a clear question - Senator Clinton, do you just assume the african american vote will fold back in ...

That simple question forces her to push this meme to an untenable position ...

[rucky]

7. Not really. Just as negative, cynical and wrong as many of her assumptions

that have led to her failure.

[The Night Owl]

9. Cool! A poll measuring the stupidity level in GD:P today. So far, stupidity is winning. {EOM}

[emilyg]

12. It wins every day.

[Rubiconski2009]

10. Hillary wants to run for President of White America.

"He (Obama) can have the darkies," she said.

That is going to be hard to swallow for many voters like me.

I am proud as a white woman to be a member of the party of all people, regardless of race, ethnicity or background.

That is who we are as Democrats.

Every voter is of equal importance, regardless of education, or skin color, or gender, or region.

The sooner Clinton learns that the better off we will all be.

PULL THE PLUG NOW SUPERS! Save HRC from herself.

[Arrowhead2k1]

11. Hillary is setting us back decades.

Fuck her, get her the fuck out of this race!!

[uponit7771]

14. She can make her point without all the adjectives in front or "white voters"

[NorthernSpy]

17. the best word for it is "invidious"...

IMHO.

[denem]

18. The word "white" is racist?

As in the word "white" that appears in every exit poll. The same polls Hillary is referencing? BTW - I'm support the nominee, Barack Obama.

[H2O Man]

19. They are

appeals to racism.

[Writer]

21. You can't talk about this issue, because unfortunately I think the truth is a very non-PC.

Sooooo...

:hide:

[sandnsea]

39. What truth would that be?

:shrug:

[Bad Thoughts]

24. It was a great "white hands" moment

Arguing that the white population is not being represented by the party--unlike the black. A play straight from Jesse Helms' book.

[Alexander]

26. Other: Race-baiting.

She's playing the race card.

[Aloha Spirit]

53. +1

[styersc]

29. She is accurately describing recent polling.

Many smart, professional political pundits are also wondering if Barak's narrow, McGovern, Dukakis-esque coalition is another recipe for defeat. McCain is banking on it.

[Bucky]

31. You need a vote for "gray area".

Why do you hate grays?

[SeaLyons]

34. To say "white" voters is NOT racist...

anyone who thinks that is racist, is probably a racist themselves. I'm am sick to death of this bullshit. What Hillary said is perfectly truthful and NOT racist, and she has every right to say it. Anyone that thinks Hillary Clinton is a racist is fucking crazy and can kiss my ass.

[wrando]

35. I agree but

the Clinton loving press is very sensitive to this

they can't handle thew truth

at least and be honest about it

bill from ct

[scheming daemons]

40. To say "hard-working voters, white voters" IS racist....

It implies that non-white voters are NOT "hard-working".

[wrando]

45. ridiculous

your heart must be dark if that's where you're going

she is stating a fact about two different categories of people

one white
one hard-working

the comma separate the categories

white is white

hard working implies no race

bill from ct

[OzarkDem]

36. I'd say your allegation is sexist

Male candidates discuss campaign demographics routinely and no one attacks them.

But a female candidate who is running in a tie with a male candidate is accused of racism for having a typical discussion of demographics.

You're not only wrong, you're advancing a double standard that says "its ok for men to have this discussion, but not women".

[PassingFair]

38. It's not OK for ANY politician to have "this discussion" in front of

...cameras, on the campaign trail.

What they discuss in their bull sessions is something else.

Plus, she is WRONG.

White America is more likely to vote for Obama
than for Hillary.

She has a LOT of hatred (undeserved, up to this point)
going against her.

[LoZoccolo]

46. lol

(you lost!)

[totodeinhere]

49. Give me a break. If a male candidate said the same thing, the reaction would be the same.

And where is this "running in a tie" thing coming from? You need to face up to the reality that it's over for her. She even trails in super delegates now. It's not possible for her to win now, yet you call it a tie?

[PassingFair]

37. PC or NOT, she was a total IDIOT to have said it....

in front of cameras, on the campaign trail.

Not only is she WRONG,

...she proves herself IDIOTIC and IMPOLITIC with her remarks.

[CreekDog]

41. Racist? No. Stupid? Yes And they make her less electable in the fall

she couldn't win with her current coalition, but that's not the problem. the problem is that statements like these will make it very difficult to make inroads outside her coalition now that she has sort of "spurned" them.

[lojasmo]

42. They play to racists.

They are race baiting, dogwhistle politics.

[stillcool]

43. The New and Improved...

Democratic Party of white blue collar workers, plus Michigan and Florida. Everybody else find your own party.

[ecstatic]

44. The next question is: Will her race baiting work?

It's possible that her message is resonating with the intended audience.

[anonymous171]

47. No. But she desperately wants people to say that.

She wants that white backlash sooo bad.

[crankychatter]

50. Racism is the belief in the genetic superiority of one race over another

so that's a little strong

but her unspoken message to superDs and voters is clear as a bell

she's unquestionably playing up the race question

[CindyKay]

51. Yes!

[JBShakes]

52. They're not racist, they're just STUPID.

She's been the one all along pushing the idea that people who are voting for her are voting based on POLICY, not identity politics. Given the fact that her policies and Obama's are virtually identical, and almost 180-degrees opposite from McCain's, how do you advance the argument that the people voting for her WON'T vote for Obama, unless you imply that your own supporters are all going to suddenly discover their "inner racists" between when we have a definitive nominee and the general?

To be honest, if I were a Clinton supporter who based my vote on policy, I'd be pretty fucking offended by her right about now.