Is McCain losing his mind?

[Fallakin Kuvari]

I believe racism is a learned value. You learn it from your parents etc. and wen you get out in to the greater world it is reinforced or suppressed by the attitudes of your peers.

Of course racism is a learned value, but in some cases it's learned through observation. I wouldn't say I'm as bad as Fallakin, but I have my moments - and they definitely weren't acquired through parents or peers.

My views on race definitely weren't learned through my parents, though my exposure to African-Americans in the middle of nowhere Ohio was very limited...

The racial makeup of the county was 96.15% White, 1.71% Black or African American, 0.20% Native American, 0.40% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.27% from other races, and 1.24% from two or more races. 0.72% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

I guess what did it is actually being around African-Americans of all types down here on campus, and most of the ones I had contact with were your typical stereotype (though choosing the school I did surrounded by the worst neighborhoods in Cincinnati probably helped with that). I've met some great black people here, but as I've said before... they're a diamond in the rough. Most around campus are loud, annoying and ignorant... the people on campus are generally nicer, smarter and easier to have an intelligent conversation with (though not all of them).

Cincinnati is a very racial city and its probably the worst city in Ohio in regards to racism, as an example the riots that occurred due to a white cop shooting a black kid happened right before I moved down here. So I'm sure the racial climate, in addition to my friends down here, certainly haven't helped with how I've become. I still have an open mind about African Americans when I first meet them, but I definitely notice a difference between when I'm on campus versus when I'm not... and that's unfortunate, but is a wall I put up to "protect" myself.

[Lurker]

That sounds like an honest account and makes your views much more understandable. It's similar to what happens to some cops after too many years of seeing only the worst in society.

I think you need to take a step back and re-evaluate. Your racial bias has come out on these boards in ways that can't be justified by what you see in your neighborhood. The absolutely racist distortion of the Citibank lawsuit is a prime example.

So take a step back. Maybe you'll find that your bias is spilling over into areas that can't be rationalized or justified.

[Freecare Spiritwise]

Yeah, that's some good honesty Fallakin. It takes a big person to admit your flaws like that, but we're all flawed, and we're all fucked up. The randomness of life gives us all slightly different demons, but it's the same fight (against ourselves). As you get older, you see that shit for what it really is - obstacles of your own making, and you get tired of climbing over them.

It's like Sisyphus, condemned to roll the boulder for all of eternity except he doesn't realize that the boulder and the hill are both his own creations, and the condemnation is self-imposed. Some people grow old and die never realizing this, and some people get tired of carrying around all that baggage and just let it go. It's not an easy thing to face your own demons, but there's really no other alternative if you want a good life. It's that or roll the boulder, and fuck that.

But you can't tear down the walls until you admit they are there. Congratulations on that first step.

[Harlowe]

Honestly dude, your people should make sure your smearing ad campaigns spell shit right.

EVERBODY!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmZ3o0Di7Go

[Harlowe]

What a slimeball....can McCain's camp getting any more sleazy and bigoted.

Time.com CNN.com Home

Thursday, October 30, 2008 at 3:50 pm
And Lower...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCaOCWYpPk4
Here we have the McCain campaign's execrable Michael Goldfarb slinging around accusations of anti-semitism--a favorite pastime, as we've seen this year, among Jewish neoconservatives. I've never met Rashid Khalidi, but he is (a) Palestinian and therefore (b) a semite, so the charge of anti-semitism is fatuous. Khalidi is also a respected academic, the sort of person who is involved in foundation work that John McCain, for one, was willing to support financially. I'd say that if we have a bigot here, it's Mr. Goldfarb who, if he's intent on calling people antisemitic--or any other epithet--should be required to provide chapter and verse, which he does not do on CNN. (I'd also like to know on what basis CNN's Rick Sanchez can stipulate that Khalidi is antisemitic.)

[Lurker]

can McCain's camp getting any more sleazy and bigoted.

Yes.

[Harlowe]

WTF...is wrong with this man.

'PRECONDITIONS'.... The new McCain campaign ad argues that Obama will negotiate with Ahmadinejad about the elimination of Israel and the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from every country in the Middle East. It is, as Andrew Sullivan accurately noted, "disgusting, stupid, inflammatory and, in its use of Arabic-sounding music, bigoted."

I was planning to break it down and tear it apart, but it looks like Joe Klein beat me to it.

There is so much desperate, crapulous spew from the McCain campaign right now that it's hard to keep track of it all -- but this ad, via Andrew Sullivan, marks some sort of low. Yet again -- in a last, desperate attempt to scare the elderly Jews of Florida -- McCain posits Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the "leader" of Iran, even though he has no control over Iranian foreign or military policy. (Ayatullah Ali Khamenei is the guy in charge in Iran, which is why they call him -- you guessed it -- the Supreme Leader.) Yet again, McCain brings up the notion of "preconditions," only now the preconditions are Ahmadinejad's: namely, that the U.S. would have to leave the Middle East before he'd be willing to talk.

It's all inflammatory nonsense, of course. Obama has said that he would meet with the Iranian leadership without "preconditions" -- namely, the Bush Administration requirement that the Iranians stop processing uranium. Of course, the Bush Administration doesn't seem so set on that precondition anymore, either. Again, this is a purposeful effort to mislead on Obama's actual position: he would begin lower-level negotiations with the Iranians, and see how much progress could be made. That is a position supported by many of McCain's own diplomatic supporters.

But that's not really what this is all about: this ad -- with its Middle Eastern music -- is all about implying that Obama isn't one of us, that he's one of them. It is shameful, in the extreme. It's also really bad policy.

I'd just add one tangential thought to this. There's going to come a point, probably in a couple of weeks, at which John McCain is going to express some kind of "regret" for just how disgusting his campaign became. He'll do this if he wins (hoping to generate some pre-inauguration goodwill), and he'll do this is he loses (hoping to improve his tarnished and discredited legacy). McCain will probably say, with apparent sincerity, that things "got out of hand," and he's filled with "regret" for not having intervened before his campaign became too pathetic.

But an ad as offensive as this new one shouldn't be forgotten, or forgiven. McCain, under pressure, is putting his character on the line for all to see, and post hoc remorse should be irrelevant. McCain had a choice -- lose his honor or lose the election. Whether he ends up losing both remains to be seen, but either way, McCain did not choose wisely.

[Partha]

If you think THAT'S bad, you should check stuff like THIS out.

November 5 will be a day of mass psychosis metastatizing, if ya get what I mean.

[Lurker]

Partha,
As nutty as that stuff is there's a difference between that and the absolute filth coming directly from McCain.

[Fallakin Kuvari]

I'll be honest, I think its somewhat peculiar that they've sealed his Birth Certificate records. Beyond that, though, I don't care to speculate.

[Lurker]

Obama released his birth certificate months ago. Factcheck.org held it in their fat grubby hands.

[Harlowe]

Dude he is totally Malcom X's baby, but was secretly raised by two gay Islamic Marxists from Pakistan.

[Fallakin Kuvari]

Ok, so Factcheck has held it, smelled it, someone probably licked it and photographed it... That doesn't make me any less peculiar about Hawaii sealing the file on all his birth certificate records (though if I did some research it might just be a customary thing to do a couple weeks before the election, I'll look into it).

[Fallakin Kuvari]

Dude he is totally Malcom X's baby, but was secretly raised by two gay Islamic Marxists from Pakistan.

Don't you know anything about the internet Harlowe? This is how crazy rumors get started!

[Lurker]

That doesn't make me any less peculiar about Hawaii sealing the file on all his birth certificate records (though if I did some research it might just be a customary thing to do a couple weeks before the election, I'll look into it).

Have you ever tried to get a copy of your own birth certificate? They are official documents and they don't just hand them out to anyone. Here are the requirements to get a copy of your birth certificate in Hawaii. It has nothing to do with the election. No state hands out personal official documents without the permission of the individual in question.

*note: I updated the link

[Fallakin Kuvari]

What Information You Should Be Prepared to Provide

An applicant/requestor must provide the information needed to 1) establish his/her direct and tangible interest in the record and 2) locate the desired record. This will normally include:

* Applicant's name, address, and telephone number(s);
* Applicant's relationship to the person named on the certificate;
* Reason why you are requesting the certificate;
* Full name(s) as listed on the certificate;
* The certificate’s file number (if known);
* Month, day, and year of the event; and
* City or town and the island where the event occurred.
* For birth certificates, also provide the full name of the father and the full maiden name of the mother.
* If you are applying for a certificate on behalf of someone else, you must provide an original letter signed by that person authorizing the release of their certificate to you.

Should any organization want his Birth Certificate all they'd need to do is ask Obama's permission, get a signed letter from him allowing them to obtain it and then send all that information in... That doesn't seem that difficult at all.

[Lurker]

Not exactly.

I updated the link to the correct page. Joe Blow off the street, or in this case swiftboating scumbag Jerome Corsi, wouldn't be able to get a copy of anyones birth certificate just because they had a letter from the person in question. They need to meet the qualifications.

[Select]

Your racial bias has come out on these boards in ways that can't be justified by what you see in your neighborhood.

This. And only this.

[Fallakin Kuvari]

Thanks Select, thats helpful.

[Harlowe]

His birth record is no more sealed than anyone else in Hawaii and the document has been deemed authentic. That was Jerome Corsi's story and he lied. He has been unable to prove this. Again, do you honestly believe that in this day and age of homeland security, illegal wire-taping and all around state dept paranoia that someone can just make it all the way to the Presidency without a thorough and complete background check & vetting?

Not only factcheck has authenticated it, a Time reporter did as well
http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/polit ... izens.html

McCain faced the same thing, being born in Panama

Republican candidate John McCain faced, and overcame, similar questions because he was born in the Panama Canal Zone while his Navy father was stationed there.