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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Monday, April 14, 2008

Sidenote - Real, committed racism

You know that Republican Congressman who called Obama "boy" and then apologized for it today?

Rep. Geoff Davis is only 49 years old!!!!

It's not like he's some old Strom Thurmond coot. This guy would have graduated college around 1981.

posted by mikevotes at 9:44 PM

4 Comments:

  • Davis was right to apologize for the remark, given the obvious racist overtones of the word in this context.

    But his use of the word could have been entirely innocent. My father used to call his friends and contemporaries "kid" (as in, He's a good kid) until he died, and he died at 84. Imagine calling an 80-year old 'kid'? ;-)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:20 AM  

  • Yeah.... I don't think so. In the American context -- and especially in the South -- there's just no way this is a naive slip. Considering, particularly, that this was in the middle of a demeaning, insulting character-questioning rant against Obama.

    By Blogger -epm, at 8:54 AM  

  • Abi, It coulda been innocent, but somehow I doubt that a man who came up in deep Republican circles of Kentucky wouldn't know.

    I think it's more of a "YouTube" type moment where the folks thought they were in a closed environment, so they just let themselves hang out. That wasn't the only bad remark from the meeting.

    ....

    EPM, I concur. I don't know if it was made for publication, but I think he used it with intent.

    This is a pretty minor thing overall, but still....

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 1:42 PM  

  • "This is a pretty minor thing overall, but still...."

    If true, then oh, how far we've slid... Thirty years ago Archie Bunker was made to be the out-of-touch throw back for saying such things. Now, it's A-OK in "respectable" Republican circles.

    Deep thoughts: Has the radicle right wing, along with eight years of Cheney/Bush slash and burn of the US government, set us up for an American Dark Ages... no matter who gets in office. (Speaking from political, cultural, economic, scientific and leadership points of view)

    By Blogger -epm, at 2:23 PM  

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