Comments on: Joe Biden — The Democrats’ Answer to Trent Lott and George Allen

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 23:40:00 +0000

I don’t think leadingDemocrats should bash him. it would be like kicking a dog. hhe’s screwed himslef and his candidacy will wimper to a close.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 18:34:00 +0000

I agree, very well put about the “underlying” racist tone to his statement. However, in some ways I’m inclined to give him a pass for this latest statement, if only because I think we all know what he was trying to say. He was trying to be complimentary.
This is actually similar to John Kerry accidentally implying that our troops are uneducated. We all know the point he was trying to make but it just came out completely wrong.
But it’d be hypocritical of me to not also consider his past statements. When you throw in the 7-11 comments, I think you do have to strongly question him, and I am surprise there hasn’t been more outrage.
I think most democrats are just sitting back, letting him self destruct, rather than take a chance at “going negative” this early and attacking an opponent. He may be DOA, which is too bad, because I really like his Iraq plan.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 02:37:00 +0000

From my perspective, what made George Allen and Trent Lott's words so damning was that both had long histories of association and/or voting records w/those opposed to the civil and minority rights communities. It was only in their unscripted moments that their records and beliefs could be seamlessly taken together to demonstrate their prejudicial beliefs against non-whites.

That isn't the case w/Joe Biden. Was it fair for Rev Jackson to be painted as anti-semitic for referring to NYC as "hymietown"? Both men have records/actions which run counter to what a passing comment should be able to undo. Willing to bet Joe Biden's NAACP voting record, etc is down the line w/the community.

I've heard the audio tape (was posted on Drudge, as well as other sites) Biden's intent was clearly to be complimentary. Whether as a function of the reporter's grammatical editing (ie, where a comma goes can matter) or an incomplete thought (would we be having this conversation if Biden had said clean slate, which many news outlets have said is the perspective of voters who don't know anything about Sen Obama, but want to believe in him) or simply an awkward attempt at vernacular (which I've seen posted by others, for whatever that's worth)

I've experienced the, "you really have a good command of the english language" even though I was born in the US and speak no other language. I've experienced the, "where are you from originally" even though I was born in the US. I know something about code.

But part of knowing the code is perceiving the intent of the messenger. Easier to do in person than in print. We make judgements, that doesn't make them accurate.

And while it is clearly the case that Joe Biden needs to have a better understanding of contemporary society's dialect, where "clean" can be taken as insulting and "articulate" as demeaning, none of those definitions are in the dictionaries of his generation.

By: rikyrah

rikyrah — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 20:13:00 +0000

It's meant to diminish our uppity ambitious behinds, our accomplishments and poise, and put us right back in our place.

I think this is one of the best explanations I've ever read about why 'articulate' is so offensive.

And Biden's Macaca moment about the Indians is too much for words.

By: Arcor DSL

Arcor DSL — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 18:49:00 +0000

Please visit http://www.GiveAway24.de.vu to get Ipods, Laptops and the new XBOX 360 for FREE!