Political Punch

"Words fail me."

I'm with you.

This is unbelievable.

that sort of comment shouldnt ever be tolerated, and the press is right to ask him what his intentions with that comment were; but too often the press overlooks sexist comments made about clinton, or about nancy pelosi. that steinem oped was right in saying that the media is much more conscious of racist rhetoric, and much more guarded, than it is about sexist rhetoric. and i also dont understand why the stories in the past week about the bitter comments, wright, et al, have all been written about not as possible obstacles in the general election. the stories have focused on how hillary clinton is making the case that they might be troublesome in a general election. the stories have become about what a shrew clinton is, not about obama's possible general election chances, which are legit concerns to raise.

Dave J. said: "Geoff has no reason to apologize. His statement was entirely accurate and appropriate. I know him and his family personally, and I can say with great confidence that there is not a racist bone is his body."

Typical answer from a Conservative/Republican. "His statement was entirely accurate and appropriate." Obviously you and Geoff don't have any brains. If you did you would know that some white guy referring to a black MAN as"boy" is gonna spark racial controversy or have you been living in a cave and fail to realize that.

Historically, in countries such as the U.S. and South Africa, "boy" was not only a 'neutral' term for domestics but also used as a disparaging racist insult towards non-white males (especially of African descent), recalling their subservient status even after the 20th century legal emancipation (from slavery, evolved to race segregation, viz. Apartheid) and alleged infantility, and many still consider it offensive in that context to this day.

The boy comment was bad, indeed. But, just for a second, listen to the rest of the message. Obama didn't do very well in the simulation and shouldn't be trusted in that situation.

Um hey letsbhonestnow -- From Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton: "It's hard to tell what is more outrageous - Representative Davis' condescending and personal attack, or his absurd and offensive claim that Barack Obama is not prepared to defend America..." etc. etc.

Any time a Republican slips up even in the slightest, he gets crucified and has no choice but to apologize. Conversely, any time a Demagogue spews the most incendiary, elitist rhetoric, everybody and his dog rushes to his defense and explains it all away. The hypocrisy of it all is simply staggering. Like I said, let's be honest about it.

Let me also be clear. Obama is young, inexperienced and incompetent. He has no business in the White House. I don't give a rip how eloquent he may be. Just like Hillary, he got himself elected to the Senate for the sole purpose of launching a presidential bid. He's a rank opportunist who is taking advantage of his race to shield himself from true scrutiny and just criticism.

I never thought I would say such a thing, but here goes -- Geraldine Ferraro was right. But for Obama's race, no one would be taking him seriously. Peel away that little layer of teflon, and all you have left is a feeble joke that people laugh at only out of strained politeness. Geoff Davis hit the nail on the head.

Um hey Dave- Obama hasn't even addressed this yet- this is just people's own personal outrage here. Matter of fact this story happened yesterday and got coverage on like one show.... and your friend was the one that called Obama and apologized. If you look at it , it creates a pattern for the Republicans and I think that may be where everyone is questioning what your friend said whether he meant it racially or not. First thing to come to mind when I heard this was McCain's other surrogate telling us we could have our Tiger Woods.. Idk I am telling you what comes to my mind immediately following one of these statements- you don't have to agree with me. I remember McCain from years ago and have always respected him, this disappoints me more then anything - but I wasn't going to vote for him anyway- I would just like to see him play a little classier campaign here. Actually that should go for all 3 of them ..

Geoff has no reason to apologize. His statement was entirely accurate and appropriate. I know him and his family personally, and I can say with great confidence that there is not a racist bone is his body. Anyone with a functioning brain knows that Geoff’s statement was a commentary on Obama’s youth (relative to most of our presidents) and utter incompetence to discharge the office he seeks. It had no racial overtones whatsoever, except to the people who wanted there to be. Obama, who supposedly transcends race issues, shamelessly seized upon Davis' comment as yet another opportunity to play the race card in an effort to distract attention away from his own recent gaffes (which he "regrets" but does not retract).

Isn’t it interesting that Obama, whose comments were far more incendiary, demands and expects a pass for his words, or at least an opportunity to explain them away, yet he is quick to crucify Davis for far less? Obama (and his surrogates) ought to hold himself to the same standards that he applies to Davis, but of course that is unthinkable to the liberal mindset. Let's be intellectually honest here, shall we?

I see some people are saying that maybe Davis used "boy" to call Obama a friend. People, please don't be so naive. It was meant to degrade Obama and that is it.

Let's not confuse the context of this comment. Boy is sometimes used in the South to refer to a close friend or acquaintance. However, the statement was negative and there is know way to take the "boy" reference as not being a big deal. He is not Obama's friend and doesn't pretend to be. He didn't say "My boy Obama is this or that...." He said, "that boy." You don't have to put race in this situation. It smacks you in the face unless you want to ignore it. However, I bet CNN won't have a week-long forum about this comment.

Ill give the Congressman the benefit of the doubt on this one. I'm from Alabama and we call friends and family "boy" all the time when you are trying to be serious. It's just a figure of speech. I know if I called Obama boy I wouldn't think nothing of it just like the Congressman probably didn't or at least I hope he didn't. LOL

Perhaps he should of called Obama a "Monster"- apparently that is less offensive than calling someone a boy.

But it didn't outrage the broadcast networks enough to include it in their broadcasts I see.

Stupid, divisive REPUBLICAN remarks, but Obama's not even African American!

BARACK OBAMA is BIRACIAL!

"Boy"?

Yikes!

I remember when the side of KFC boxes carried the original lyrics to "My Old Kentucky Home" (Poor Uncle Tom Good Night) The State Song of Kentucky.

"The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home,
'Tis summer, the darkies are gay;
The corn-top's ripe and the meadow's in the bloom,
While the birds make music all the day."

It wasn't until 1986 that the state of Kentucky swapped the word "darkies" for "people"

I guess we can be glad that Geoff Davis
didn't say, "That darky's finger..."

Davis stepped into it, no doubt, but I think this is really generated to spin the news cycle again.

On the other hand, before the hatemeisters get too much credit, I grew up in the South in the 1950s and 60s too.

Boy: pejorative slang used in many situations that are not always racial or involve blacks. Older men call younger men "boy". It isn't racial as much as it is dominating, somewhat like calling their dog a mangy mutt. As we say here, it's pissing on tree behavior.

When I was a kid as a member of the TV generation who learned to talk by listening to Bob Keeshan, one of my friend's grandfathers called me "Yank" for years. That was an insult, BTW.

:-) Go nuts.

Calling Hillary c*nt, b*tch, or monster are not that ambiguous. They are simply and directly offensive. The Annie Oakley thing isn't clever. It's just a put-down from a man who lost momentum. Otherwise, it's a cheap shot.

I'm looking forward to the debate. That ought to be good TV, but as divisive campaigns go, this one is succeeding wildly.

This man is only 3 years older that Obama. Calling another mana boy is just disrespectful

BTW, I think the most offensive comment thus far was the attack on voters - the Obama surrogates and the Obamedia pressuring Clinton to quit and let Obama win.

I seem to remember there being an election no so long ago where the person with the most votes didn't win, and democrats were kind of upset about that. Are we hypcrites to that degree now?

As for the "rules is rules" argument, here's a rule for ya. FL's and MI's votes are officially part of the popular vote total. DNC has NO authority over votes - that's state election law and those votes have been certified by the secretaries of state in those states. Obama nixed the idea of a do over, and he voluntarily removed his name from the ballot in MI, something Clinton and Obama supporter Dodd did not do. Apparenlty he thought better of doing that in FL, which again, reminds me of 2000 - Gore followed the state's recount rules and picked the counties he wanted recounted, and Bush refused to pick his counties saying, It's over! I won! I won! My Daddy's judges will give it to me!

So, Obama, per the rules, is only 94,005 votes ahead of Clinton. There is NO reason anyone in their right mind would quit.

The super delegates chosing the candidate who gets the most votes is CERTAINLY well within those precious rules.

IF Obama had consented to re-votes, we wouldn't even be dealing with this issue - OBAMA'S fault. The DNC CANNOT, without risking losing the general election, disenfranchize FL and MI - the DNC's fault for not dealing with this better.

NONE of this, however, is Sen. Clinton's fault, and she shouldn't be penalized to the point of having the nomination taken from her nor being forced out on a flawed delegate count.

I find it pretty slimy that Obama is jumping up and and down basically saying, GOTCHA, those are the rules, I win on a technicality (one that abuses the voters to boot), so you have to quit.

@russell:

Right back at ya. Put your Chevy against my Ford this weekend; Crown Royal if you win, Jim Beam if I do...

Time to sign off for me...g'night folks. (By the way, excellent point Ray Lopez - I thought much the same, but the Bush/Cheney years have shown why we may not want a strong Executive Branch).

My dad who past away at age 97 said that no matter what age he was the white man still called him a BOY. He wondered when he would become a man.

mattie: so much for what obama said about " getting compromise from both sides of the aisle" and "uniting people of all Parties", huh?