Filed Under Politics, Racism, U.S. Studies

Well It’s about Time You People Said What You Really Think

I learn via Shakesville that Republicans are finally starting to say what they really think about Barack Obama (via The Hill)

Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland used the racially-tinged term “uppity” to describe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Thursday.

Westmoreland was discussing vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s speech with reporters outside the House chamber and was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama.

“Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity,” Westmoreland said.

Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.”

Side note: what is “a member of an elitist-class individual”?

Well, y’know there’s nothing elitist at all about any Republican (via Vanity Fair)

Cindy McCain
Oscar de la Renta dress: $3,000
Chanel J12 White Ceramic Watch: $4,500
Three-carat diamond earrings: $280,000
Four-strand pearl necklace: $11,000–$25,000
Shoes, designer unknown: $600
Total: Between $299,100 and $313,100.

This woman is wearing three hundred friggin’ thousand dollars in clothes and it’s the Obama’s that are elitist? The disconnect from reality is mind-boggling.

Now, black bloggers and other bloggers of color have long recognized that the “elitist” charge is code for “uppity,” so it should really be no surprise that someone finally just up and said it. It’s almost as if, after learning that Obama hit the 50% mark in a Gallup Poll, they figured the code-words weren’t working and decided to go all out. And it’s this same attitude, this idea that black folks are getting a tad too uppity, that fueled Sarah Palin’s comments on community organizing last night. It’s not that Sen. Obama was a community organizer that is the problem. News Flash! Being involved in the PTA is community organizing. Being involved with your church is community organizing. The problem is that Obama was a community organizer in the south side of Chicago. In other words, he dared to work to uplift black people, and therein lies the problem. You start uplifting black folks, and next thing you know more of them might start thinking they can go to Harvard, be a lawyer, and even (GASP!?) run for president. Next thing you know, the US will be run by angry black people! And those black people from the south side might have slave blood, which could make them even angrier than those Muslims like Obama!

Come to think about it, I suspect the McCain camp is hoping to see something like that scene in Head of State, when all of the sudden all the white folks in California realize that a black man is actually about to become President (sorry for the poor vid, but it’s all I could find).