McCain and the Race Card

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Geez!  I go out of town on business for a few days and the McCain campaign decides to go bat sh*t crazy.  How about a heads-up next time, boys?

When last I examined the McCain campaign’s in-house swiftboat attacks on Barack Obama, I briefly touched upon the Paris Hilton and Britney Spears "Celebrity" ad. 

Talk about sending a mixed message.  For many weeks the McCain campaign had been trying to portray Obama as an out-of-touch elitist egg-head from Harvard.  Now all of a sudden the McCain campaign wants to portray Obama, as Jake Tapper of ABC News reported, as a "ditz," or an "air-head" whose only claim to fame is their celebrity status?

First, the McCain campaign stepped all over its own previous campaign message with this contradictory message.  Clearly the campaign is throwing sh*t at the wall to see what, if anything, sticks.  This spells "d-e-s-p-e-r-a-t-i-o-n." 

Second, for an attack ad to be effective it has to have an air of believability to it.  This ad does not.  No one, not even John McCain, believes that Obama is anything less than a highly educated, articulate, successful and skilled politician (and constitutional lawyer and law professor, I might add), who came up through the hard-ball ranks of Illinois politics from the south side of Chicago.  That ain’t bean bag, let me tell you.  Obama defeated the well-oiled and vaunted Clinton machine at its own game, something no Republican was ever able to do.  Obama is a politician who is both respected and feared by the Republicans.  Don’t let anyone tell you any differently.

One interesting aspect of this "Celebrity" ad that I had not fully considered but I have heard discussed from commentators ranging from John Stuart at The Daily Show to a talking heads panel discussion at This Week with George Stephanopoulos was the subtle sexual overtone to the ad (a black man and two white women), similar in a way to the "Call me Harold!" ad the GOP aired against Harold Ford in his senate race in 2006.

I personally do not know John McCain to be a racist.  He tends towards misogyny, not racism.  He is frequently disrespectful towards women particularly with his tasteless humor and vulgar comments aimed at women, for example, Janet Reno, Chelsea Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and even his own wife. 

McCain is more of a political opportunist when it comes to race.  He opposed the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday in Arizona until it cost the state a Superbowl and the attendant revenue, then he suddenly found religion and supported the King holiday.  McCain opposed an attempt by the Arizona legislature several years ago to ban affirmative action programs (when he was honing his "independent maverick" image), but now, as the presumptive GOP nominee, says he supports the divisive Ward Connerly anti-affirmative action initiative which may appear on the ballot this fall in Arizona (in an attempt to convince his GOP conservative base of his pro-White credentials, just like Saint Ronnie – infra).  McCain will go whichever way he thinks the wind is blowing on matters of race.  He is a man without any firm principles or convictions. 

Republicans since Lee Atwater and Ronald Reagan have fore-sworn the overt form of racism which lasted well into the 1970S in favor of a more subtle form of racism which speaks in coded language.  For example, Ronald Reagan began his 1980 general election campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi – site of the infamous murders of civil rights workers Chaney, Goodman and Shwerner (historically portrayed in the movie Mississippi Burning) during Freedom Summer – and delivered a speech about "states rights," long understood as code language for "segregation."  This was Saint Ronnie’s wink and a nod to racist white voters in the South that he stood with them and against African-Americans.  Don’t let anyone tell you any differently.

Lee Atwater’s protege was Karl Rove, and he and his acolytes are now running the McCain campaign.  These A-holes would not hesitate to inject racism into this campaign, both subtle and overt if necessary, if they become more desperate.  (I fully expect to see a "Willie Horton" genre ad).

McCain’s "Celebrity" ad, similar to the Harold Ford ad from 2006, uses images of white women with images of Obama to subtly suggest the age-old "brute" caricature of Black men that developed during the Jim Crow era of segregation.  "Black brutes are depicted as hideous, terrifying predators who target helpless victims, especially White women." The Brute Caricature (Ferris State University).

"The ‘terrible crime’ most often mentioned in connection with the Black brute was rape, more specifically, the rape of a White woman.  At the beginning of the twentieth century, much of the virulent, anti-Black propaganda that found its way into scientific journals, local newspapers and best-selling novels focused on the stereotype of the Black rapist.  The claim that Black brutes were, in epidemic numbers, raping White women became the public rationalization for the lynching of Blacks."

"In 1900, Charles Carroll’s The Negro a Beast claimed that Blacks were more akin to apes than to human beings… and said that mulatto brutes were the rapists and murderers of his time."  The Brute Caricature 

Viewed from this historical context, McCain’s misogynist joke about the woman who enjoyed being savaged (raped) by "that magnificent beast" (a gorilla) can take on a whole different meaning.  (I have infrequently heard white’s refer to African-Americans with the hateful racist terms "yard ape" and "porch monkey," demonstrating the lasting influence of racists like Charles Carroll).  Unfortunately, racism is still alive and well in America.

The Black brute caricature has become ingrained in American popular culture.  One does not need to be overtly racist in order to conjure up this racist stereotype through imagery and coded language.  Here is a classic example from the movie Blazing Saddles (1974):

The McCain campaign feigned indignant outrage over Barack Obama allegedly "playing the race card" by stating his entirely accurate forecast that "Republicans are going to try to frighten you" ("fear and smear" is the McCain strategy) and that he does not look like those other presidents on our currency (dead white guys?  An accurate observation). 

"Playing the race card" is a tactic by which a white candidate will bait his African-American opponent through attack ads into alleging that he is being a racist, and then the holier-than-thou white candidate can claim that his opponent is "playing the race card" (and when carried to the extreme, "engaging in reverse discrimination" against whites.  Expect to hear this insanity from Fox News and talk radio).

First, there is absolutely no strategic or tactical advantage to Barack Obama to inject race into this race.  He has no desire to do so, and has astutely avoided doing so. Obama would like nothing more than a race in which he is the candidate who just happens to be an African-American, not the African-American candidate (which is how the McCain campaign wants to portray him).

Second, in order for the white candidate to cry foul and disingenuously allege his opponent is "playing the race card," he must first tacitly admit that he was baiting his African-American opponent through attack ads into alleging racism in the campaign.  McCain has, in fact, stated that "I am proud of my campaign ads" and "we think it’s got a lot of humor in it, we’re having fun and enjoying it."  So McCain’s idea of "fun" is lying about his opponent?  And he is enjoying a "fear and smear" campaign?  This is not the campaign McCain promised the American people. 

I have not done an exhaustive search, but my research so far shows no statements by Barack Obama alleging racism in this campaign.  To the contrary, Obama responded to the feigned indignant outrage from the McCain campaign by saying "In no way do I think John McCain’s campaign was racist. I think they are cynical. Their team is good at creating distractions and engaging in negative attacks."  So the McCain campaign jumped the gun by playing their "playing the race card" card.

By the way, I seem to recall that Britney Spears endorsed George W. Bush in 2004 (delivering the all important GOP trailer-trash vote), and Paris Hilton’s parents are maxed out contributors to the McCain campaign (this is how McCain demonstrates his gratitude, by demonizing their daughter?  More misogyny from McCain). 

It turns out that Paris’ mom, Kathy Hilton, is a  pretty savvy political observer.  She objected to McCain’s attack ad stating:

"I’ve been asked again and again for my response to the now infamous McCain celebrity ad. I actually have three responses. It is a complete waste of the money John McCain’s contributors have donated to his campaign. It is a complete waste of the country’s time and attention at the very moment when millions of people are losing their homes and their jobs. And it is a completely frivolous way to choose the next President of the United States."