McCain Says Racism Will Barely Affect Election
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AP, Oct. 30, 2008
Republican presidential candidate John McCain says racism will play virtually no role when voters head to the polls next Tuesday because it will be trumped by the nation’s economic problems.
In a transcript of an interview taped for broadcast Wednesday night on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” McCain said people will vote “for the best of reasons, not the worst of reasons.” He said most people will vote based on who they want to lead the country.
Referring to people who might vote against Democrat Barack Obama because he is black, McCain added: “It would be a tiny, tiny, minority. Because people are hurting too much now. I mean, they’re worried about staying in their homes, keeping their jobs.”
The sharp economic downturn and calamity in the financial industry has become the campaign’s dominant issue.
McCain also repudiated a suggestion by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh that Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama was because both men are black. Powell is a Republican and served President Bush as secretary of state.
“I reject it,” he said of Limbaugh’s statement. “Look, there is racism in America. We all know that because we can’t stop working against it. But I am totally convinced that 99 and 44 one-hundredths percent of the American people are going to make a decision on who is best to lead this country.”
McCain’s comments came six days before Election Day. Polls show only small percentages of people saying the race of the candidates will be a factor in their vote, but analysts and political professionals will be watching the results for evidence of any role racial attitudes may play.
{snip}
(Posted on October 30, 2008)
Comments
“Republican presidential candidate John McCain says racism will play virtually no role when voters head to the polls next Tuesday because it will be trumped by the nation’s economic problems.”
This is why those like me are really voting for Palin. She won’t say so, but she knows better.
For this McCain to conclude that all the blacks are voting for Obama instead of race reveals his out-of-touch status with the average working citizen, plus he’s really lost his grip on reality.
Such a disgusting duo to choose from: A racist black who wants to convert our system to socialism so he can uplift blacks en masse, and an out-of-touch Republican fool who never really had any grounding in the real world to begin with.
The system doesn’t work anymore and hasn’t for a long time now. It may as well end in civil upheaval. It’s worthless in its present form.
Posted by ice at 5:30 PM on October 30
I will vote against Obama because he scares the heck out of me, not because he is black.
But I believe McCain is wrong. When you have 95% of the black voters backing Obama, and many admitting it he because he is black, then, yes race does play a large part in this election.
Posted by Ron at 6:00 PM on October 30
So all those Black voters voting for Obama because he is Black constitute only .56 percent of the vote? Talk about math challenged!
Posted by at 6:06 PM on October 30
Did he forget the black vote at 90% for obama? Does he not consider that race plays heavily into that? McCain is just another white man who is afraid to state the obvious truth.
Posted by Douglas at 6:20 PM on October 30
So, McCain somehow knows that 99.44% of the people will vote based on who is best to lead, not race. Doesn’t he consider that many of those 99.44% do think that race is a qualification for being a good leader?
Posted by Question Diversity at 6:42 PM on October 30
It goes without saying that they’re talking about whites here. Everyone knows that blacks are voting for Obama based soley on race. Howard Stern proved that beyond any reasonable doubt.
Posted by at 6:48 PM on October 30
“Look, there is racism in America. We all know that because we can’t stop working against it.”
Yeah, and we couldn’t stop battling witches during the middle ages.
Posted by Tim in Indiana at 7:21 PM on October 30
“Look, there is racism in America. We all know that because we can’t stop working against it.”
What an eerily Orwellian example of circular reasoning.
If McCain loses this election, it will be in no small part because of his unwillingness to confront the racism aligned against him.
He has refused to condemn the overt racism preached by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and he also missed a chance to fight racism when he declined to challenge Rep. John Lewis’ provocative accusation that he was using “segregationist” campaign tactics.
In fact, he has passed on an ever-present opportunity to comment on the racial lock-step of the Congressional Black and Hispanic Caucuses.
Far be it from me to call this war hero and ex-POW a spineless wimp for doing the predictable Republican dodge and dance; but he might’ve at least tried to make a case against racism by saying something like, “Look, we just aren’t all comfortable in this experimental melting pot, and our racial differences pose a threat to our common security and tranquility; but I’m committed to trying to resolve those differences and finding ways that we can better co-exist. As a proven maverick who has often reached across the aisle to achieve bi-partisan co-operation, I’m the best man for the job of representing ALL Americans.”
That might have been half-heartening to hear. But, alas, as Dana Carvey unflatteringly said of him, “He looks like an albino chipmunk.”.
Posted by KonfederateKarl at 8:10 PM on October 30
Only 0.56 percent are racist?
But I thought blacks were 13% of your population, huh?
Oh yeah that’s right they can’t be racist, sorry I forgot.
Posted by Gen X in Oz at 9:07 PM on October 30
I would almost say it sounds like McCain is conceding the election.
He might as well said: “Show everyone I’m right and just vote for Obama. Show the world that we don’t have a racist electorate. My loss will not have been in vein to prove this point.”
Posted by COI at 9:27 PM on October 30
The republicans could not have nominated a more verifiable dunce than John McCain. Any idiot can see blacks are voting for obama because he is not white. McCain is so far removed from reality that I consider him as dangerous as obama. As bad as I would hate to see bho become president, I can’t help but think McCain would be just as bad for America. There really was no choice in this election.
Posted by at 9:49 PM on October 30
C’mon, get off McCain’s back! Do you expect him to be candid about this issue running as President of the United States? When I think about, no Republican I can remember has ever talked about race realistically. It’s always the Democrats that can get away with it like when Joe Biden talked about DC schools being bad because the students were black. Or the Clintons and their remarks about race during the primaries. There never seems to be any backlash either.
Posted by at 10:11 PM on October 30
“sounds like McCain is conceding the election. He might as well said: ‘Show everyone I’m right and just vote for Obama…’”
LOL Here in North Carolina the pro-Obama commercials, promote Obama, and the pro-McCain commercials, promote Obama.
The only regular Joe I know was almost disgusted at McCain’s performance during a debate, a bit like I was. Sometimes your critics really are your friends. One of the things that was sad about the debate was, “My friends, I have a plan for fixing this economy (I just can’t tell you what the plan is).”
Posted by at 10:12 PM on October 30
McCain is about as wrong as you can get. Racism will and is playing a role in how black people vote. Other then that McCain is right racism among whites will not decide this election.
However he is dam wrong if he thinks 99% of whites are not some how race realist. For a example my mom and steppa are voting McCain, they are voting for him because they are Republicans. They are not voting for him because he is white but only beause their brainwashed into voteiing ether Republican or Democrat.
They like many white Americans are race realist and just because they don’t show it in the polls or voting, does not mean they int reacally aware. They are very much aware of the problem whites face, and they think by voteing Republican will help stop the raism against white people. I continue to encoruage them vote third party. But this election I can’t get them to. Maybe next election will wake them up and show them the nether Republican nor Demorcart care for them. And this is not just with my family. But seems to be with every white person I have met this election year.
Infact just about every white person I have met this election seem racially aware. Yet some of those I have met will vote Obama. Most white voters don’t vote along racial lines like blacks or hispanics, even though a maority of white voters are race realist. If whites had a real viable 3rd party then they wouldn’t be forced to chose between McCain or Obama. The realilty is most whites are racally aware and proud of who they are. They just don’t show it all when it comes to voting.
Posted by thoughts at 10:28 PM on October 30
I too have thought that it is as if McCain himself has already decided Obama is the next President . And that has lead me to wonder if it even matters how you vote . Maybe the powers that be have already decided who is going to be the winner . Choreographed , like professional wrestling . Now that’s scary . We may be living “1984” and just do not know it.
Posted by at 2:53 AM on October 31
McCain is right.
Blacks will vote 90% Democrat even if David Dukes was on the ticket. Just look at the past election the way Blacks voted. It really doesn’t matter to Blacks if it is Obama, Gore or Kerry. They vote the way they are told by the Black leadership. And the Black leadership is little more than Democrat lapdogs that sold their race out long ago.
Those Whites that won’t vote for Obama because he is Black will probably cancel out those Whites that will vote for Obama because he is Black.
Posted by Southern Hoosier at 4:29 AM on October 31
McCain is an idiot. 90% of blacks are voting for the black candidate on the basis of his race. That is simple racism.
I voted early, but have been watching the early returns and am reluctantly preparing myself for Barry Obama and his horse-faced wife to take over the White House. Four years of gross celebrities like Barbra Streisand and Joy Behar cackling with glee - ugh. I already shopping for my “Don’t blame me. I voted for McCain.” bumper sticker
Posted by at 6:53 AM on October 31
Do you guys really believe that if you had a private conversation with McCain that he doesn’t realize that blacks are voting for Obama because he is black?
You know he does. To say so, especially at this point in the election, would be foolish. Do you really think proclaiming that fact would help McCain win? Winning is the goal.
Posted by GWS at 8:01 AM on October 31
FTR, the peculiar, even baffling statistic of “99 and 44 one-hundredths percent” was not simply pulled out of the air by McCain. Ivory Snow used to advertise itself as being “99 and 44 one-hundredths percent pure.” Because the company wasn’t legally allowed to claim 100% purity, they went instead with the scientific sounding (but quite possibly baseless) claim of 99 and 44 one-hundredths percent — meaning, “for all intents and purposes, 100%.”
So what McCain is trying to say here is that the American electorate is, for all intents and purposes, completely free of racism, and are voting their conscience not their color. Even though I’m sure he’s just as aware as any of us here at AmRen that isn’t true, it’s nevertheless the kind of banal, happy-faced blandishment that major politicians are expected to utter. Although we would all prefer that he (and other pols) felt free enough to tell the people harsh realities rather than “comforting” nonsense, McCain’s statement is not in itself all that surprising. On any campaign trail, this sort of silliness gets said all the time, and by all sides.
That said, what’s troubling to me about this statement here is not that McCain is “lying” to voters, but that he chose to express this idea using a catchphrase that has been out of usage for many decades. Ivory Snow’s slogan is associated with the mid-century America. It is hopelessly out of date. That is why, of all the intelligent people who’ve commented here, nobody before me has brought it up. Some of the commenters are questioning McCain’s math, as if this (obviously incorrect) number came from the Republican Party’s latest polling results — rather than from a box of dishwashing detergent that that Sen. McCain remembers from his Granny’s kitchen in the 1940s.
By using such a phrase from the distant past, McCain only reminds voters that he himself is something from the distant past. It makes him sound like a senile geezer. When you’re some three decades older than your opponent — and you LOOK more like FIVE decades older than your opponent — the very LAST thing you want to be doing is reminding voters how ancient you are!
But then, that’s characteristic of McCain’s entire campaign, isn’t it? Blowing one opportunity after another, until undecided and otherwise sensible middle-of-the-road voters end up tilting toward The Halfbreed Prince (hat tip: the new Steve Sailer book) more-or-less by default.
If McCain loses this one — and in contrast to my predictions of earlier this year, I’m beginning to think he WILL lose — the old fool will have no one to blame but himself for running such a tepid, anemic and gutless campaign.
Posted by at 10:08 AM on October 31
Every time Bob Dolt, er…McCain, opens his mouth on a subject touching the culture war, he sounds like a damned fool. Am I the only person who has noticed that the Republican party is irrelevant?
Posted by Xenophon at 10:22 AM on October 31
“Polls show only small percentages of people saying the race of the candidates will be a factor in their vote, but analysts and political professionals will be watching the results for evidence of any role racial attitudes may play.”
This scrutiny of ‘racial attitudes’ is not something motivated by an attitude of scientific neutrality. The ‘political professionals’ are operating on a philosophy that incorrect racial attitudes are morally wrong and need to be cleansed from human nature — specifically, the ‘malady’ of ‘white racialism.’
Posted by Thrasymachus at 11:24 AM on October 31
So whites voting for McCain because he’s white are racist, but the 90%+ blacks voting for Obama because he’s black aren’t. Wow. Either this is a paradox or your modern-day double standard when it comes to race. Gee, I’m having having a tough time with this….
Posted by at 4:09 PM on October 31
McCain is so lame and I hesitate voting for him but there is no other choice. I just hope he doesn’t appoint Colin Powell to a position in the White House when he gets elected. That’s the kind of person he is!
Posted by at 4:28 PM on October 31
“Republican presidential candidate John McCain says racism will play virtually no role when voters head to the polls next Tuesday because it will be trumped by the nation’s economic problems.”
Laughably and ominously, what does the word “racism” even mean anymore?
It has two definitions in my book:
The first, is white people having any independent thought processes that acknowledge reality, and reject the Marxist mutation we call multiculturalism;
The second is, a trump card for nonwhites and Reds to shout when they have lost an argument, and now must silence any member of my class of white people described in the first definition I gave above.
By considering these two definitions of “racism,” Senator McCain had better hope that there are far more “racist” whites in this country then he has ever dreamed of.
As always, God help us all!
Posted by John PM at 4:57 PM on October 31
The Republican Party is the Stupid Party.
Posted by Harvey at 8:58 PM on October 31
McCain just embarasses himself intellectually when he and others like him make proclaimations like this.
But Konfederate Karl is right, the statement, “Look, there is racism in America. We all know that because we can’t stop working against it.” Makes no logical sense except as a formula to ensure racism remains there to complain about.
Posted by Whiteplight at 10:52 PM on October 31
………” Other then that McCain is right racism among whites will not decide this election. “
Posted by thoughts at 10:28 PM on October 30
I think you are wrong. Most if not all of the Whites voting for Obama are doing it for racist reasons, just not the anti-Black sort of racism. They are either consciously voting for a Black man because they really think a Black man ought to have his turn out of a sense of “tit for tat” historical justice, or they are so brainwashed that they buy the myth that just as only Black men can jump, only a Black man can be a superstar president. Which is also why an Obama presidency will be a bad time for us when Blacks find out how little he really can do for them.
Posted by Whiteplight at 11:01 PM on October 31
You know he does. To say so, especially at this point in the election, would be foolish. Do you really think proclaiming that fact would help McCain win?
Posted by GWS
Yes it WOULD help! Many whites who are disgusted with McCain would suddenly decide to vote for him. Just read thesse coments up above.. Nine thenths of them are sickened with his weaseling and expect him to lose. Many would change their minds if he only showed some backbone. Whites are hoping and waiting for some one who is brave enough to speak out and represent US. So what if he offended blacks and lost their votes? He’s not going to get them anyway, and there are still many more whites than blacks. As 6:53AM already said — “McCain is an idiot.”
Posted by at 2:40 AM on November 2
McCain Says Racism Will Barely Affect Election, Says only 0.56 percent of voters are “racist.”
Then he has dismissed us as irrelevant. So why, then, should he get my vote when he has effectively disowned me?
Posted by at 3:30 AM on November 2
Yes, there is certainly “racism in America”. That being said, why shouldn’t Whites vote (and otherwise organize)for our interests and our defence the way everyone else seems to be doing for theirs?
The presence of Preposterous figures like McCain and Obama for the next Presidency of the United States tells us that the government they will run represents nobody—least of all White Americans who built, operate,and grow this country—and are only good for turning what was left by the Corporate/Media/politial criminal elite of the past 50-odd years into a wretched third world slum! This will be done openly under Obama, and more covertly, as usual, under the Republicans.
Awareness of these problems will be intensified by the coming economic crisis. Both O and McC voted for the bailouts which are going to bankrupt White America. Since both parties not only fail to represent us, we must look to third parties—Libertarian, Constitution, or (perhaps) Independent Ralph Nader. All three are somewhat flawed, but they at least will allow us to rebuild from the wreckage inflicted by the New World Order of McCain/ Pailin and Obama/ Biden. A vote for one of the third parties will also send a message to the above elites that we White Americans are just not that STUPID and we won’t be fooled again!!
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!!
David K. Meller
Posted by David K. Meller at 7:44 PM on November 2
Whites wont vote for Obama because he is a stereotypical
race baiting ghetto hustler. Its a racial stereotype and it
fits to a T.
Posted by at 9:57 PM on November 2
David K. Meller, I like your post but I wish to would add something that is always left out, KNOWLEDGE IS POWER—if it is put into ACTION. Otherwise it is as dead as the dusty books that contain it. The ACTION part, is what is missing in the lives of most Americans who truly want positive change for their culture. I don’t see it anywhere on the horizon. There’s no organizing, no feeling of urgency, not even much talk in public, aside from forums like this.
Posted by Bobby at 3:07 PM on November 3
“McCain Says Racism Will Barely Affect Election”
- - - - -
Oh no? Well, that misguided fool should only hope and pray that it WOULD affect the election — otherwise, it looks like he’s toast.
No wonder they’re called the Stupid Party!
Posted by voter at 5:08 PM on November 4
Dear Bobby- Knowledge is power IS being put into action today, in the only way that racially concious and concerned Whites can…by (re)learning our history, by finding—and enouraging—like minded people in fora and discussion groups like this one, by (where possible)exercising our rights to free speech, free press, and free assembly, under attack but still available for those who wish to use them.
When and where White activist groups—like New Century Foundation, like Council for Conservative Citizens, like American Nationalist Union, and others—are active, we participate and contibute. There are others who are not explicitly (and probably shouldn’t be)attached to our agenda—Libertarians, Paleoconservatives, and (some of)the “Religious Right—but they DO support our right to dissent, our freedom of association, and our right to protect our children from government assault through the Public School system and the dominant media. There is also Ron Paul’s Campaign For Liberty.
Bobby—and fellow White Nationalists generally—we didn’t get into this mess overnight, and we won’t recover overnight. We still face the task of finding EACH OTHER. We also can improve our ways of working together, perhaps even with sympathetic people who disagree with us and yet who will come to understand that Obama, “diversity” and “tolerance” are not panaceas, and that White racial conciousness and pride is not necessarily the evil they had been misled to believe. I think that an Obama Presidency can only be helpful here.
“Action” is not only running for political office, winning Supreme Court verdicts, or apppearing (favorably) on the prime time evening news. Action is starting from where you are, patiently building for the future, taking little steps today so that we can take larger ones tomorrow, and helping our fellow Whites do the same.
with best wishes, I remind us
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!!
David K. Meller
Posted by David K> Meller at 5:31 PM on November 15