Oh. My. God.
Update: Did This Moron Swipe from Kos?

There is spin, and then there is spin: a CNBC/NYT reporter claims that Joe Biden's occasional bursts of old-school dumb-but-not-hateful racism are actually "refreshing" and "an asset."

Need I remind anyone that for months the left has been DaVinci Codebreaking every John McCain advertisement for so-called "coded racism." And they were not praising such "coded racism" as "refreshing" or charming in the least.

Rather the opposite.

But when Joe Biden is genuinely, pleasantly surprised that an African-American manages to wash himself on occasion, it's a good thing! It just shows, I guess, that he's "relatable" to all those Racist Older White voters. I guess the idea is that Joe Biden can make the case, "Hey, I'm as surprised as you all are to be running with a darkie. But I have to tell you -- he's one of the 'good ones,' like Cosby or Byron Allen. He's like the new, family-friendly Ice Cube, not the old, angry Ice Cube that your daughter would date to get back at you for not buying her that Mini Cooper she wanted."

Brilliant.

Allah thinks he's figured out the highly nuanced distinction: clumsy, retrograde soft-racism that sounds like Archie Bunker getting into it with Meathead is good because it's right out there out in the open, charming and disarming, whereas McCain's "racist" ads are coded.

McCain's "stealth racism" appeals to our lizard brains, while Joe Biden's open racism appeals to our higher selves.

So there's McCain's opportunity, I guess. Start dropping jokes he heard from old Friar Club roasts and/or Rat Pack Vegas shows.

"Hey, I'm glad that Obama is here on stage with me at this debate... now I don't have to worry about my hub-caps... "

(audience laughs)

"Hey, Obama, what are you doing out here at the podium? My hotel room's not clean yet."

(audience laughs, applauds)

"No, but seriously folks, a lot of people have a problem that Obama's half-black. Let's be positive about this. He's half-white, too."

(great burst of laughter; as applause dies down, one woman can be heard saying "That's true, it's funny because it's true")

Ahhh... can't wait.

(Joke credits: 1, from Amazon Women on the Moon, said of "Slappy" White during the roast/funeral service; 2, Don Rickles, speaking of his opening act Patti LaBelle; 3, Sarah Silverman. "It's funny because it's true" -- The Simpsons.)

Round-Up: Instapundit links a bunch of stuff.

Daily Kos Now Sets the Agenda for the NYT and MSNBC: DKos is right there with the "Biden's racial gaffes are actually a good thing" meme.

Here is my thinking.

Joe Biden is obviously someone who means well on race. He fought for civil rights. But occasionally, he says something politically incorrect.

I think a lot of white voters who may be suspicious, but still open to supporting, Obama can relate to this. They don't think of themselves as racists and one of the things they fear is being branded as a racist because they may say something that is not entirely politically correct.

The way that McCain plans to get these voters is to play up the meme of reverse racism. They claimed that Obama "played the race card from the bottom of the deck" when he made said that the republicans would portray him as different (which they have been), as not looking like "all those presidents on the dollar bills."

What the McCain people were intimating to (white) voters is that if Obama is elected president, white voters will live in a state of hyper-political-correctness in which anything you say will be interpreted as racist. The McCain campaign wants to stoke white resentment of political correctness in order to get him votes at the polls.

This is why the Biden pick is so brilliant. If Obama can pick as his VP someone who has made racially insensitive comments but clearly has a good heart on these issues, I think that sends a message to many white voters who can relate to Biden on that. I think many white voters want racial progress, they just don't want to be browbeaten about it or crucified if they say something mildly offensive.

Note the giveaway that it's really not about what you might say. It's how you vote "on the issues." The "racist remark" thing is just a proxy for denigrating a politician who disagrees with you "on the issues."

Thanks to JackStraw.

Hmm... The Daily Kos post went up at 5:07 Pacific Time.

This doofus made his claim on MSNBC at 5:53 Pacific Time.

It's quite possible he simply swiped the idea from the DKos, maybe reading his favorite blog in the green room.

I have to point out their remarks are very similar -- both make the case that Joe Biden's racial insensitivity reassures voters that a Barack Obama presidency will not be hyper-PC, so people don't have to worry about making the occasional racially insensitive remark and getting heat for it.

That's the main point of both morons.

I realize that great ideas are often independently discovered, as human minds are always reaching out for them, but what about droolcup-stupid ideas?

More: The Daily Kos post is listed on the front page under "Recent Diaries." I don't know when it got so listed, but it's not recent anymore, and yet it's still in a high position. So, assuming it's been listed there for a while, that would make it easier for this dope to have found it and swiped it.

posted by Ace at 01:25 PM

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