Code language and he does not understand anything

[nadinbrzezinski]

Folks, McCain did not use those words because he things Obama doesn't understand

For people of a particular persuasion this was a dog whistle.

It means this is an Uppity N, and he's the hired help, he does not know his place

The other reason why at times he laughed, and at others interrupted.

i wish this wasn't the case, but this is EXACTLY what this is. Disgusting? Absolutely, but still a reality of the US

[NMDemDist2]

1. that' and McLame would never look at Barak

it was nasty

[musette_sf]

2. agreed

that was my thought too.

[McCCain4retirment]

3. McCain disrepected Obama many times

It looked like McCain thought Obama should be in his "place"....

[Swamp Rat]

4. Chicken shit McChicken could not look Obama in the eye.

edit: ha! a reported on MSNBC just said that.

[FatDave]

17. Damn, it's good to have you back Swamp Rat

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. GREAT GRAPHIC

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Well, I just learned something

I never knew that.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. It is a fact in the old dominion

you can't use racist language, so you use things like this

[tccturtle]

6. Well said nadinbrzezinski!

I could not agree with you anymore. It is sad that part of our nation just refuses to grow up, and help propel the US into a global power and economy again. One that deserves respect, because we treat others with respect. And you don't breed respect by making comments like that in a speech that is being around the globe. I hope it goes down in the history books as one of the most noxious neocon vitriolic racist remarks ever made by any person to run for POTUS.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. I hope as well, and welcome to DU

:hi:

[Goldfish]

8. McLame was being very condescending.

I think it was very insulting and sneering. He totally disgusted me--I had
to put him on "Mute" many times, especially when he went into his anecdotes
or "war stories"--boring!

[These Eyes]

10. I completely agree…

I was in my car listening on the radio so I didn't have the benefit of watching body language. I couldn't believe how condescending he was to Obama. The tone of his voice was as if he was talking to a child. I could imagine a sneer on his face as he spoke. I was wondering how this came across on tv and what the reaction would be from the viewing public. Mu hope is that McCain turned enough people off this time that when Obama rips him a new one in the next debate people won't feel sorry for the old man.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Welcome to DU...

:hi:

And the body language was telling. A couple times I expected him to pick up his marbles and walk off the stage

[redqueen]

11. Frickin A! "he just doesn't understand" HOW RUDE!

Belittling, condescending, and coming from someone who has been so consistently wrong, and so consistently on so many sides of so many issues... a very bold gamble, and doomed to failure.

McCain looked so uncomfortable, and what was that squinting into the camera?

And talking over Obama near the end? And Obama just waved it off, asked Jim to just move on to the next question, after it was clear McRude was going to just talk over him... I liked that.

That's class.

[anitar1]

12. McCain came across as a nasty little piece of work.

his ridiculous smirking ect was so disgusting. I waited for the POW statement--wishing he had said POS instead.

[wildflowergardener]

13. Condescending

Very condescending - I agree that's the overall impression I got from him through the entire debate, like he was talking down to Obama.

Can you imagine if Biden talked that way to Palin?

Meg

[bertman]

15. Did you think McAnus was going to come into this debate and be nice to Obama? No way.

McAnus wants to win this election and he's going to do everything he can to win it.

Just for the record, I'm a southerner and I have NEVER heard the "he doesn't understand anything" reference you use here in a racial context. Maybe that's more of a northern dog whistle.

What I did take it to be was a demeaning of Obama's stature, hence his ability and qualification to be President. But not in a racial sense, but more like "you're a young whippersnapper and I'm the grizzled veteran, so step aside, sonny". In this context I would have expected the 72 year-old, 26-year Congressional veteran to use that. if he hadn't he would have been a fool.

I thought McAnus' whole plan was to take it to Obama on every issue if it meant tell lie after lie after lie, which it did. But remember that the rest of the world doesn't go to DU to fact check the lies.

All of it was disrespectful because McAnus wants the country to think Obama doesn't deserve respect. Obama, on the other hand, was respectful and even told McLiar he was right SEVERAL TIMES, which may have been nice but was not a very smart tactic, in my opinion.

But, we all interpret things differently.

[coalition_unwilling]

21. What part of "You don't understand (boy)" don't

you get?

I swear to God I thought McBush would say "Boy" at any point tonight. Just unbelievable.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. I was waiting with baited breath for the actual N word

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. No, it is not a southern thing, or a Northern thing.. it is a racist thing

Worked with Cops for years... and even SOUTH of the border, in a border town we had to deal with some of these assholes

It is also a dog whistle that depends on age.

According to one of my profs, yes he grew up deep south... it was used in that way when the hired helped didn't know its place... when he was growing up... way back in the late forties, early fifties.

It is also a way to refer to the hired help in other countries

It refers to inferior people

To a point this is sociology.

I'll look for some references for you

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Here are some references for you

RPT-When it comes to race, US politicians talk in code
Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:55pm ED

By Matthew Bigg

ATLANTA, Aug 14 (Reuters Life!) - The issue of race in U.S. politics is so sensitive and explosive that it has a language all its own. For outsiders, the code can be hard to break.

Indirect words, phrases and euphemisms have long been used to discuss race in the United States, and the subject has drawn more attention this election cycle because Democratic candidate Barack Obama is black.

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLE374825


CODE-BREAKING
What Politicians Say When They Talk About Race

...
The dynamic had been different once — when African-Americans had begun to vote Democratic as well as Republican and presidential candidates of both parties competed for their votes; in 1948, Harry Truman, courting swing voters in a close election, became the first presidential candidate from a major party to campaign in Harlem (and ordered an end to segregation in the armed services right after he won the Democratic nomination). In the early 1960s, opinion polls found that a majority of Americans saw civil rights as the dominant issue facing the country. And President Lyndon B. Johnson, in one of several memorable 1965 speeches on race, said, speaking before a joint session of Congress after the “Bloody Sunday” voting-rights march from Selma, Ala.: “Their cause must be our cause too. Because it is not just Negroes, but really it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.”...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/weekinreview/23scott.html

Hope this helps... and there is scholarly material as well

[misanthrope]

29. Good post, I agree...

..."I thought McAnus' whole plan was to take it to Obama on every issue if it meant tell lie after lie after lie, which it did. But remember that the rest of the world doesn't go to DU to fact check the lies.

"All of it was disrespectful because McAnus wants the country to think Obama doesn't deserve respect. Obama, on the other hand, was respectful and even told McLiar he was right SEVERAL TIMES, which may have been nice but was not a very smart tactic, in my opinion."

-spot on

[Ichingcarpenter]

16. nadinbrzezinski you don't understand anything!

Only because you do....

Great Point.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Thank you....

and how are you this evening? And I hate to bring out the decoder ring but some folks are genuinely confused about this

[bertman]

33. I'm not in the least confused. I've lived around racists all of my life, including some of the most

despicable kkk types you could ever meet. I know about code. And you are so brilliant for picking up on it after reading about it in Reuters or whereever. Thank you for the references but I have lots of first-hand knowledge of this and don't need a decoder ring or some academic treatise to decode it for me.

This is what I find so frustrating about trying to talk with the "insufferably guilt-ridden egalitarians" who feel that every word and every negative statement made by a white person about a black person is laden with racist intent. The worst effect of your kind of bigoted view of everyone else is that it poisons the atmosphere to the point where white people and black people or brown people or yellow people or red people cannot have a legitimate disagreement without the white person becoming a racist for saying the other person "doesn't get it" or "doesn't understand". Here's a newsflash, nadin, some people don't get it and don't understand.

Sadly, there are lots of racists of ALL races. But that doesn't mean that thinking a person of another race is an obtuse, ignorant, uninformed individual (aka dumbass) means that you are a racist.

I find John McCain to be a despicable human being in many ways, and I thought that he was disrespectful to Obama, as I have said already, but I have no doubt that he would have used the same terms to demean any other candidate we Dems selected as our Presidential candidate. He really does think that we Dems "don't understand". His whole public life is a testament to that.

[unblock]

18. nadine, don't you worry your pretty little head about that. now get back in that kitchen!

:hide:


you know, i just thought of it as amazingly condescending, especially when he KEPT ON SAYING it, what, 6 times? 7 times? once for each house? could anyone really think there were THAT MANY THING covered in the debate that obama really didn't understand?

but you're right, he's not just pressing on the silly theme about obama's supposed inexperience; he's pressing on the disgusting theme about a black guy not belonging in the white house.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Can I least keep the shoes?

:-)

[Supersedeas]

22. lack of eye contact in Mississippi -- not acknowledging the presence of a man that doesn't disserve

to be on the same stage as a white man.

Message to the Mississippi Country Club set?

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. And other places in racist America, absolutely

[Twinguard]

24. McOld just doesn't understand...

that Obama DOES understand.

He understands and he's smarter than you are, John.

[lostnfound]

30. Magna Cum Laude Harvard. Bottom 1% Annapolis. nt

[Uncle Joe]

31. Do we have transcript of this debate floating around here?

McCain said something that caught my ear as a weasel word, but I worked all night and forgot what it was.:(

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. I am sure the transcript is at the news services...

they always post them

[dgibby]

36. Every word that came out of his mouth was a weasel word!

:rofl:

[earth mom]

32. What was said exactly? I missed the debate. Anyone have a transcript of the code words? nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. It is a combo... he kept saying he does not understand

or he is naive

And did NOT even acknowledge his presence by meeting eyes, or even looking at Obama

it is what you do with the hired help.. not an equal

[dgibby]

37. Agreed!

Some general code words:
uppity (doesn't know his/her place)
exotic (not white)
intellectual (putting on aires)
doesn't understand (low intellect)

Feel free to add your own!