White Democrats are racist! Their hate has cost Obama at least 6 percent of his votes! He's going to lose! That was the gist of an Associated Press story about a new poll that suggests 1/3 of Democrats don't like blacks too much. The AP's reporter behind the story, Ron Fournier, has, in the past, been accused all over the Internet and on MSNBC of being more or less in the can for John McCain, and the story on this study, which some have described as a racism push poll, has added flames to that fire. Now, surely there are plenty of Democrats who won't vote for Obama because they don't like blacks (or Muslims, even if he's not one) — we've been over this not-very-complicated idea more than once — but with Barack Obama ahead in the polls and the Bradley Effect basically disproven in primaries, it's not so much a lost cause as a major obstacle to overcome. And he's clearly overcoming it, at least for now. As many racists as there are out there, Barack Obama wouldn't have gotten anywhere near where he is without an extremely large number of white people voting for him.
The implication is that we should pay more attention to the findings of this poll (there are white racists in the world! Stop the presses!) and less to all of the information out there that shows how Obama is pulling ahead despite his obvious obstacles. There's also a big difference between Democrats in Oklahoma and Tennessee and West Virginia not voting for Obama and Democrats in, say, Colorado or Virginia, where it will actually matter. Here is a bit of Fournier's analysis of the data, which came from an AP/Yahoo poll:
Given a choice of several positive and negative adjectives that might describe blacks, 20 percent of all whites said the word "violent" strongly applied. Among other words, 22 percent agreed with "boastful," 29 percent "complaining," 13 percent "lazy" and 11 percent "irresponsible." When asked about positive adjectives, whites were more likely to stay on the fence than give a strongly positive assessment.
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Lame. I wonder what the statistics are on people voting for Obama in spite of the prejudices they might have? I guess that's not important since it would make for a far more positive and less inflammatory article.
I think that the media is trying to discourage some people from voting for Obama. They keep saying that McCain is just a little ahead of Obama right now and I really don't think that's true. Where did they get their numbers from?
kimberly– I think they get their numbers from 1968.
Seriously, I live in Atlanta and virtually every single person I know (most of whom are white) is voting for Obama.
LOL…. Muslin? Okay….
Yeah, OK. *yawn* And these same white people have seen every Will Smith/Denzel Washington movie there is; they adore _______{insert random professional ballplayer here;} and they would step in front of a moving train for Oprah. Blackfolks who are well-known could not have made it based on having a Black following alone.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Some whites have a negative view of blacks?! No!
Also, in regards to the data analysis at the bottom of the article: it says that "When asked about positive adjectives, whites were more likely to stay on the fence than give a strongly positive assessment." But, assuming that the data is accurate, if only 11 to 29 percent agreed with the negative adjectives, doesn't that mean that whites were also more likely to stay on the fence than to give a strongly negative assessment? This seems like a very selective and misleading presentation of data that appears unreliable to begin with.
I know linen is out, but is muslin ok after Labor Day?
LOL @ Almond Joy!
I thought muslin was a type of greens that was used in salads?
muslin…that rough cheap fabric I used in fashion draping class…..smh i love signs like that they just make me chuckle….
Its about time our people run this country. Look what 200 years of whitey got us. Obama '08
It looks like originally it said: 'OBAMA HALF- BREE MUSLIN' then somebody really smart said "Bubba, now cantchu spell, boy? We raised you up better than that. Lemme go get my magic marker and help you out. That's all wrong. There you go, son. All better: OBAMA HALF-BREEd MUSLIN."
i thought muslin was a delicious breakfast meal…why do the rednecks hate breakfast???
props to the cat who couldnt spell.
I think even racists are voting for Obama this year. We're all fuckin poor and DC just stole the last of our money.
Did anyone else notice all those negative "black" adjectives described GW Bush? Is he secretly black? Am I racist for hating him?
The fact that race IS AN ISSUE in this election is healthy for America. Lest we fool ourselves that we have someone how conquered this ugly devil. We are an imperfect union.
Obama wont lose cuz of racism, he'll lose cuz he doesnt connect with people and he should have chosen Hillary, but didnt, his mistake… He'll lose because he also cant attack effectively, his intellectual attacks go right over hicks and ignants heads alike…
WAS THIS SIGN WRITTEN BY A RACIST FASHION DESIGNER (MUSLIN??????)