The nutroots are up in arms about the blatant racism in Bob Corker’s ads.
Or, I guess, they’re up in arms about the subtly implied racism in Bob Corker’s ads that only they are smart enough to spot.
You see, there’s this TV ad which seems like a regular attack ad against a liberal Democrat, but actually contains the hidden message “Harold Ford Jr. is a black man out to steal your white women!”
Then there is this radio ad that sounds like a regular contrasting ad to most people that plays good music when mentioning the Republican Corker but ominous music when mentioning the Democrat Ford, but it’s actually playing “jungle drums” when mentioning Ford implying that he’s a black jungleman (or, if you add the main message to the implied message, it’s implying that Ford is an elitist jungleman).
I know a bit of you are confused because you didn’t see any racism in these ads, and that’s why the racism hidden in these ads are referred to by the nutroots as dog whistles. A dog whistle is at such a high frequency that only a dog can hear it, and these racist messages are so subtle that only racists will pick up on them. Apparently, Tennessee is full of forgetful racists who hate black people but keep forgetting that Ford is black. Thus the Republicans put hidden racist messages in these ads that only the racists will pick up on and remind them that Ford is black so they shouldn’t vote for him (because they hate black people).
Does it work? I dunno. Maybe some of my racist readers could tell me whether their reactions to those ads were, “Oh yeah! Ford is black! I shouldn’t vote for him!”
There’s something odd going on, though. When a dog whistle blows, only dogs hear it and start barking. When someone “blows a racist whistle” only the racists should hear it and start making noise. But, when each of these ads first appeared, the only barking I heard was from the nutroots. Here’s a DailyKos Recommended Diary from right after the TV ad appeared where lots of Kos Kids seem to spot the obvious racism that all the rest of us missed. And here’s a front page story from the DailyKos about the radio ad where they hear the obvious jungle drums that everyone else never heard.
Now, in the comments, a number of KosKids seem confused because they don’t see the racism, and they’re told that’s because they’re not able to hear the dog whistle. Which begs the question: How come everyone else in nutrootsville is tuned into a message only meant for racists?
Should I go ahead and apply Occam’s Razor, or have you already done it yourself?
Obviously, the majority of the nutroots really hate and fear black people. You see an ad about a politician being involved with a Playboy Bunny, and you think “That’s not a moral man!” (or “Wow! Cool!”). The nutroots see the same ad and instantly think, “What!? A black man and a white woman! That’s an outrage!” They then say that’s what Republicans think through a psychological phenomenon known as “projection.” Similarly, while you hear normal ominous music in a negative ad, the nutroots, knowing and fearing that Ford is black, think “jungle drums” since they obviously think all black people are basically spear-chucking primitives in the jungle. Again, they use projection to say that’s actually the view of Republicans since they can’t come to grips with their own horrible racism.
Now you can see how sinister these ads are. They were a calculated effort to stir up racism– but not in Republicans. Racist Republicans were never going to support Ford anyway. Instead, these ads were to trigger the racism in the huge number of racist liberals. And, it’s working. Kos himself is now distancing himself from Rep. Ford. He says it’s because Ford is against the New Jersey ruling about gay marriage, but notice how this distancing from Ford directly follows the airing of these ads that reminded the nutroots that Ford is black. Thus, Kos is waning in support for Harold Ford Jr. because he, like most of the nutroots, hates black people.
Insidious. I condemn the Republicans for these racist, effective ads.
As I read that I was thinking “Wait a minute, if only racists can hear the dog whistle and yet these liberals can hear the dog whistle..wait..wait..don’t tell me. That means…that means. No no no, hang on..almost..almost.
Oh fine Frank, just explain it for me. That means those liberals are dogs. Er..racists…er racist dogs?
Who is this “Occam” and why is he always holding his razor at the throat of dimwitted liberals? Homeland Security should get right on that. …and why exactly is the security threat level currently set on “vibrate”?
Isn’t Occam’s razor the new one with five titanium blades for a clean, close shave, guaranteed to send women’s loins atwitter?
Oh, yeah, a comment relevant to the topic. I’ve always been amused at how highly tuned the leftards are to any possible whiff of racism, most of which is imagined. At the same time they are shameless apologists for actual real life Democrat KKK klukies like Sheets Byrd, and most of the early 60s Democrats for that matter.
It is not only the Nutroots. DemoCRAPs typically see Racism where none is apparent to anyone else. That is why they have somany Race-Baiters in their party.
Yes, I get it. There once was a day when the mere suggestion of a white woman with a black man would send the bigots into a frenzy. Most often this frenzy was more of a contrived political outburst to get other whites to fall in line.
Apparently, this has not completely disappeared. The entire political left has gone into a racially inspired frenzy. This is of course once again a contrived political outburst aimed at getting other whites to fall in line.
I don’t remember seeing many black folks screaming about racism from these ads. It seems to be all the whitebread folks making a big stink. Now, you’d think that the victimized minority would be the first to speak up on the matter, rather than the folks without a dog in this fight.
Oh, how I hate politics… when I don’t love it, that is.
Harold Ford is black?
That’s what his biography claims.
I don’t mind a Negro running for office but then the Dems told me that he’s after all our White Women and well we have to draw the line some place! What next–dirty Mexicans or–gasp–Joooos running for office and then stealing our White Women? On the plus side, I haven’t heard anyone yet say that Ford will be playing “hide the baloney pony” with the male interns so at least he’s not a homo!
Frnak,
Your logic astounds me, Holmes. Bravo!
I like drums.
Does that make me a librul?
Only if you like drum circles in the park.
I’m offended for white women. That ad makes us all look like Playboy Sluts who are extremely interested in semi-black men. I, for one, have a preference for Nipponese looking Kryptonians…and burly men named Jayne.
I like parks.
Does that make me a racist? No, wait, it makes me a barking dog? I know, it makes me a Koskid? I’m so confused.
Ever notice that this new ultra-sensitivity to racism is very similar to Islamofacist hyper sensitivities?
Thats right …the demo’s are taking a page right out of the enemy’s playbook.
And well they should…4 out of 5 islamofacist prefer the dem’s (and not just muslim denstist either)
I think it means all Playboy white women sluts are Republicans.
Frank J., is this a bad thing?
Man, I am so tired of victims and victimhood. Seems only the Dems can claim the status…you know, blacks, gays, Michael J. Fox, etc. Politics is not a bean bag game.
As a southern white female engaged to a South Asian male, I’d have to say I’ve gotten a lot of opposition for dating out of my race — but all from northeastern liberals who think any white person dating a non-white person either has “jungle fever” or wants to coopt and destroy the other culture…. Good old southern folks down here don’t seem to care… but I suppose they’ve hidden their indisputable racism so much that they never show it to anyone else or to themselves and never act on it. That must be it…
It’s not a “dog whistle” reminding us Tennesseans that he is “black”. It’s a dog whistle reminding us that his last name is Ford, he is a Dem politician, and he is from Memphis. You see, in Tennessee math, Ford + Dem politician + Memphis = crook. If you’ve any doubts about this, do a search and see how many Memphis Dem Politician Fords are: convicted, on-trial or are suspected of having dead people vote for them.
Adrianne,
“Good old southern folks down here don’t seem to care… but I suppose they’ve hidden their indisputable racism so much that they never show it to anyone else or to themselves and never act on it. That must be it…”
That’s it exactly. We’re hiding our undisputable racism from ourselves. It’s called denial, damn it. If we weren’t such rabid racists, we could face up to the fact, blame ourselves, hid in shame, seek atonement, attend self help seminars, change out politics, and complain about others who don’t recognize their own inner racist demons.
God, I love proxy outrage.
It’s a trick question, and if any of you had EVER watched Oprah you might know this. Since I am a white male I am incapable of knowing what racism is, as I am too racist. So, I must depend upon blacks and liberals to inform me what racism is.
So, you got some repubs that make a satirical ad, trying to judge the content of Ford’s character.
And then you got some dems that look at the ad and try and judge the race by the color of Ford’s skin.
Wasn’t there some famous civil rights guy that had something to say about judging people by the content of their character or by the color of their skin?
Or was that just some crazy dream?
This would be spun against Corker no matter what. If the commercial had used a black Playboy Bunny the left would complain that:
a) “The only black woman in the ad is a slut. Typical Republicans, steryotyping minority women as sluts.”
and
b) “Of course they pair Ford up with a black woman, because it never even occurs to them that a black man could date a white woman. Those small-minded Republicans are still stuck in the 1950s — if it were up to them, miscegenation would still be illegal.”
The smart thing for the GOP to do would have been to put Ford with a whole bevy of sluts, one of each race, like Captain Planet and the Planeteers.
Also one slut would have to be in a wheelchair, one could be a lesbian, one a tranny, etc.
I realize the demos are allergic to logic but here goes.
If there are hidden racist messages in ads, that only racists can see and if only radical libs can see these messages, doesn’t it follow that radical demos like Kos are racists.
After all radical libs are the ones who are always telling minorities that they can’t get ahead with out their help. I guess they figure minorities are not smart enough to make it on their own. I call that racist, sexist and any other ist you can think of.
Remember the motto of the Radlibs is “never let the facts get in the way of a good cause.”
Hammer meet the nail-head.
The reason why conservatives can’t see the racism is because we keep using that outdated definition that you might find in, say…a dictionary.
In the Kosiverse and the other parallel versions of reality in which the Left spends much of its time, “racism” is defined as the act of saying/writing/implying/thinking anything negative about a minority person by people of pallor (particularly estrogen-challenged, opposite-sex-liking, non-Democrat-voting people of pallor).
When you view the ad, in this manner, through THEIR eyes, it’s easy to see the overpowering levels of “racist vitriol”.
However, as viewing ANYTHING through their eyes would probably cause us to gouge out our own, we just continue to view the ad normally, and miss out on all of that “evil racist-ness”.
2006-2007 Daily Kos, Nutroots Election Model:
All the anti-Semitism you’ve come to expect, and now with one-third more racist bells and dog whistles.
Frank, I too commend the Republicans for these racist, effective ads.
Frank J. —that analysis was utterly brilliant. I have used the same analogy of the whistle only dogs can hear. I didn’t think there was anyone out there as brilliant as me. You peeled all the nuances in this thing like an onion. I look forward to seeing more of your stuff, if only I knew where to find it. I am now watching Hannity and Colmes, and just heard Pat Caddell ,who I used to think tolerably smart and capable of seeing “the other side”, call that ad “racist”
and express his “outrage” at it. So we cansee another dimension of this type of thing swing into action, and prod bitter-end liberals into a kind of involuntary knee-jerk response of
“finally! At long last I get to call something “racist” with impunity!”
Woof, woof!
i think this is the best post which could possibly be writted about this stupid farce.