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Political Hay
Race Pimping With Mistuh Jimmy and White Mo
The shamefully cold-blooded marriage between progressivism and race.
“I think it’s based on racism. There is an inherent feeling
among many in this country that an African-American should not be
president. Those kind of things are not just casual outcomes of a
sincere debate on whether we should have a national program on
health care. It’s deeper than that.”
— Former President Jimmy Carter on Congressman Joe
Wilson’s “You lie!” healthcare outburst during the Obama speech
to Congress.
“Some people just can’t believe a black man is president and
will never accept it.”
—New York Times
columnist Maureen Dowd
They are ham and eggs.
In political America progressivism and racism go together in history past and present, a philosophical pairing as symbiotic as peanut butter and jelly or champagne and caviar. Or, perhaps more appropriately, the classic relationship between pimp and prostitute.
There is nothing new here with the recent remarks on race of either former President Jimmy Carter or New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. As we have previously referred to Ms. Dowd as “White Mo” (see “The Unbearable Whiteness of Being Maureen Dowd”), racial descriptions will henceforth apply in this space to every “progressive” who steps forward to continue defending the idea of judging others by race. This would make the 39th president “Mistuh. Jimmy,” a term the segregated black tenant farmers on the Carter properties of the day bestowed on the son of “Mistuh. Earl” Carter.
What troubles is that here we are in the 21st century, where the most beloved (and by runaway margins the wealthiest) television personality is Oprah Winfrey and the most powerful man by popular election is Barack Obama. Yet to criticize on substance or even use the “L” word (as in “lie”, a term regularly hurled at George W. Bush ) about Mr. Obama is cause to race pimp by an American progressive who was president and a progressive columnist for America’s progressive flagship newspaper. Breaking the rules of the House of Representatives, as did South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson, is unacceptable regardless of who is president. But racism? Sniffed White Mo: “But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!”
Interesting. Telling, actually. Since Wilson’s breaking of House rules involved just two words — “You lie!” — what would ever possess White Mo to hear a word never uttered, the racially derogatory “boy”?
It is important here to lift this conversation out of the realm of not-so-clever schoolyard taunts. As of the “you’re a race-baiting racist,” “Am not,” “Are too! So’s your old lady” variety. Contrary to the impression of some that what happens today has no relation to what happened yesterday, understanding history is in fact not simply necessary to context (not to mention the future), it is everything.
Fair or not (to borrow from White Mo) in the context of history one is led to the inescapable conclusion that, yet again, Mistuh Jimmy and White Mo are race pimping. What is a race pimp? A pimp, of course, is someone who solicits customers for sex in return for economic gain. A race pimp uses race to solicit votes or political support in return for political power and sometimes economic gain as well. That’s a stiff charge, no?
Well, no.
In playing the role of race pimps, both Mistuh Jimmy and White Mo have provided an extremely useful reminder of the malignant marriage that has been that of progressives and racism. This pairing, the use of race pimping to carry the day for the favorite progressive ideas of the moment, has a long if distinctively odious — make that rancid — history. Neither Mistuh. Jimmy or White Mo are by any means the first progressives to wave their hoods on this path. They are only the latest.
How does this malignant marriage work? Let’s walk through what might be called “The Idiots Guide to Progressives, Race, and the Art of Race Pimping.”
First, you need to be putting forth a progressive policy proposal or proposals plural. In prostitution this would be the role of the hooker. The babe, the call girl, the escort. Just drop dead sexy, warm, and inviting in the extreme. There’s a cost, though, but hey. Wanna have some fun? But this is politics, so these policies are invariably sexed up as warm, inviting reforms that in some fashion or another always involve the sexy come-on of enlarging the scope and control of government, be that government federal, state, or local. As with the hookers, there is a cost here too. But hey. It all sounds so good! It’s justice, man! Favorites are expanding the role of government in the economy, education, agriculture and quite specifically embracing this bigger government in the name of “the poor” and various subsets thereof (both real and imagined) such as the elderly, veterans, schoolchildren, or, in recent decades, “minorities.” Using the federal courts to do this is a favorite as well. Correspondingly, this requires sharp condemnations of those who are targeted for control by these proposed expansions of government. Among others this includes “the rich” (always the rich) and various subsets thereof (here too both real and imagined) such as bankers, corporations, agribusiness, “Big Business,” and so on. As we are seeing right this minute, the desired end result of this drive to expand Big Government is nothing less than an obsession to control just about anyone who breathes these days in some form or fashion.
Next, after your hooker is on the streets, you pimp your customers for these “progressive” proposals with direct, vividly racial appeals to a targeted race. The particular race doesn’t matter as long as you get elected, sell papers, get good PR, make a few bucks. Whatever. While it was once a simple matter to play this game when “race” was defined as white and black, in today’s America with whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans the field has broadened considerably.
Once you’ve absorbed these “how-to’s” you’re ready to pimp in high style as both Mistuh Jimmy and White Mo are pimping today. Remember that while the pimps in this game are usually elected politicians or politicians seeking elective office, in fact the race pimping game is regularly played by other progressives ranging from non-elected politicians to journalists like White Mo to activists like — does this name ring a bell? — ACORN.
About the Author
Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (33) | Leave a comment
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Steve| 9.22.09 @ 7:12AM
Shout it out, brother!!!
*One cannot get inside the heads of these people*
Actually, I think one can. They are bifurcated thinkers, forever splitting people into two groups based on a variety of criteria, including race, class, wealth, education, etc.
This mental gymnastic allows them to comfortably macro-break society into two groups: us (the ruling elites) and them (the great unwashed). And they will do whatever other groupings are required in order to maintain the primary split of Us versus Them.
Race-baiting? Class warfare? Whatever it takes.
Pingback| 9.22.09 @ 8:22AM
More on the Democratic/liberal race-baiters | Worth Reading links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Timothy L. Pennell| 9.22.09 @ 8:25AM
It's just 'PROJECTION'. Democrats ALWAYS project their inner Demons on to everybody else. Like when the RAPIST was in the White House. When he got caught with his pants down, literally, and then he went around LYING THROUGH HIS TEETH about it. The big RAPIST even LIED TO A FEDERAL JUDGE, UNDER OATH. And what was the LEFTS' response? "It's no big deal. EVERYBODY does it." CNN even whent so far, as to run a SPECIAL' on 'Why Lying Is Good'.
Then there was the whole Bhuddist Monk, Chinese Restaurant, Red Army ILLEGAL Campaign Cash thingy. Caught RED HANDED, breaking every Campaign Contribution Law on the books, we were told by the LEFT, and their good buddies in the NON BIASED PRESS, that it 'wasn't really the RAPISTS' fault, it was the CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS that were to blame. And, of course, that EVERYBODY DOES IT.
Now we get 'lectures' on how RACIST we all are. NEWSWEEK even did it's best CNN imitation, with a cover story on how ALL WHITE PEOPLE are BORN RACIST. I don't know about you, but I love getting my lectures on RACISM, from a World Renowned ANTI-SEMITE, and a Magazine that is only available in the Dentists' Office Waiting Room, and the floor of the Gas Station Mens Room.
As for the Spinster at Pravda, Miss Dowdy, she WISHES she had a 'BOY'. Or a Man. Or any Male of any species. Whenever I hear HER SPEAK, and I know it's not fair, but I hear, "I agree with you about Dick Cheneys' evilness, and if you want to go in that closet over there, I have a joint and some condoms. PLEEEEEASE. You don't understand how long it's been." Don't you?
Charles Jackson | 9.22.09 @ 10:29AM
BRAVO!!
d brockman| 9.22.09 @ 8:41PM
I loved this. It made my evening!
Jobe| 9.22.09 @ 9:35AM
These two, Dowd and Carter, know full well that race has absolutely nothing to do with the antipathy that normal working Americans feel toward the poseur in the White House. He is abhorred for the simple reason that he seeks to change the basics of our nation, to sovietize it. He wants a massive, heavily indebted, centrally planned government in the face of overwhelming evidence that this approach to nationhood has always failed by producing so much misery that the miserable finally rebel.
Richard Baker| 9.22.09 @ 10:56AM
Remember, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were only passed due to Republican support. So much for racism. That the regressives want the blacks on their voting plantation is not hard to discern.
WeeWillie| 9.22.09 @ 11:15AM
There is nothing new under the sun. Progressives create a problem and the blame others as they try to "solve" the problem. Federal Civil service was integrated in 1910. The American Military was significantly integrated in 1910.
After accepting Negro support in 1912 Wilson segregated civil service and the military and set race relations back 40 years.
Mrs. Wilson as her presidential wifely duty went around Washington DC and repainted the "colored signs on water fountains and restrooms.
bobmontgomery| 9.22.09 @ 11:29AM
The truth shall set you free.
Alan Brooks| 9.22.09 @ 11:31AM
Liberal guilt. Eating Jim and Mo up. See how sick they both look.
Liberal guilt ate my parents up-- a wonder they both died at 80 instead of 70.
bobmontgomery| 9.22.09 @ 11:31AM
See also Thomas Sowell today.
Anthony| 9.22.09 @ 12:08PM
I guess white MO and Mistuh Jimmy forget that there was a time when Republicans and conservatives were gaga over the prospect of Gen. Powell running for president as a Republican.
In the leftist world of hallucinations, this inconvenient fact would not register with either of them. Hegemony is a rigid construct, no room for divergence.
As much as I've come to be completely repulsed by Powell over the course of the past few years, nonetheless, his presidency might very well have precluded that the incompetent who now holds the office would have been elected. Of course, Powell would have had to contend with MoDo and her hate filled fellow wingnuts at the Times. I bet a Powell presidential run would have caused multiple MoDo auditory hallucinations. Might she have heard phrases like "Uncle Tom" or "sell out"? Let's ask MoDo and see which personality of hers answers.
Pingback| 9.22.09 @ 1:53PM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : Race Pimping With Mistuh Jimmy and W links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Marc Jeric| 9.22.09 @ 3:04PM
Imagine my surprise after arriving to America, having escaped from a communist hell, to read the NY Times and the Washington Post, and finding no difference between them and the Moscow Pravda and Izvyestiya. And that was back in late 1960's.
Michael L. Hauschild| 9.22.09 @ 4:11PM
Mr. Lord,
I will categorically state that in the case of this submission you should plead temporary insanity. Who are you talking to? Who are you trying to persuade? A wordsmith of your craft certainly does not need to resort to the buzzwords contained in this piece, and certainly should be able to get his point across without using the horrific quote you included. It is gasoline on the fire and will be fodder for all the Huffingtonettes with the cut (out of context) and paste (with your by-line) who seek red meat.
You certainly should be able to communicate and we conceptualize what you write without resorting to including, even in a quote, the most offensive epitaph possible.
Pingback| 9.22.09 @ 4:48PM
Steele Slams Jimmy Carter about Democrats’ ‘Pathetic Distraction’: “This Isn’t about links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Angel| 9.22.09 @ 4:57PM
"White Mo." Perfect name for the frigid, thin-lipped shrew, Dowd. Ouch!
Jeffrey Lord| 9.22.09 @ 5:15PM
Michael L. Hauschild...
The "horrific quote" appears intact and exactly in Mr. Wooten's book on Carter, which was at the time (1978) well received and well within the mainstream. Mr. Wooten. then a NY Times reporter and later a correspondent for ABC News, did not flinch, as the quote exactly demonstrated the kind of man with whom Jimmy Carter quite deliberately sought out to help get him elected.
It is indeed offensive, and originally I did the "N...." bit. But in fact, I was disturbed by Mr. Carter's casual attack on those whose only sin is to disagree with their elected president (Obama)on a major issue of the day. These disagreements are certainly not about race. The casual nature...and it was casual...of Carter's latest words dictated that the accurate - the dead accuarate - sentiments of a Carter ally be expressed in the original. Suffice to say, I found them extremely offensive. Having spent considerable time in the political world, the notion of dealing with someone like this is something that would never, ever be on the board. It was for Jimmy Carter...and there are people aplenty today who have no idea of his record.
Now they do. It is not pretty, and I for one refuse to clean it up. This is his problem - a problem that I believe he still has, or he would not so casually and apparently without concern impute that millions of his fellow Americans are racists because they have a different view on health care.
Jimmy Carter is, self-evidently, shameless. I have no hesitation in shining a light on the exact historical record to remind with precision - a precision supplied by Mr. Wooten - just how Mr. Carter got where he is.
Apologies if you take offense. I share the offense. Jimmy Carter does not - and the generation of today needs to know.
Angel| 9.22.09 @ 6:28PM
Don't sugarcoat the truth, Jeff: Jimmy Carter is an ugly human being--and so is Maureen Dowd. It's about time we fight fire with fire. I'm sick and tired of having the cr@p kicked out of us.
I, for one, admire your courage; keep it up. You have lots of fans!
Michael L. Hauschild| 9.22.09 @ 7:32PM
Apology accepted.
Nobama| 9.22.09 @ 8:40PM
Now, will someone PLEASE apologize for the existence of Carter and Dowd? That's what I call offensive!
American of the ages| 9.23.09 @ 1:59AM
Wow. Even your regular racist commenters are staying away form this trainwreck.
I have heard that Jeffrey Lord like sucking cocks. I support this.
Nobama| 9.23.09 @ 3:29AM
Typical liberal--no argument, just vicious personal attacks. Another perfect example of a piece of human excrement liberal.
Pingback| 9.23.09 @ 10:32AM
“Carter Is a Blowhard”: Mark Levin’s Take on Jimmy Carter’s Racism Remarks, ACORN’s links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
drudge ette obama| 9.24.09 @ 6:58AM
I remember reading a story in the Atlanta Journal/Constitution sometime in the 1980s about the starvation problem in Africa. Jimmy Cater was quoted something to the effect that he didn't know how many black children's lives would equal one of his Amy's life. I have tried very hard to find that quote, but haven't been able to yet. I remeber at the time how bizarre it sounded - a rare moment of candor from Jimmy which revealed his white guilt and probable racist underpinnings.
Pingback| 10.13.09 @ 7:03PM
Ed Driscoll » The Faith-Based Encyclopedia In Action links to this page. Here’s an excerpt: