Quote :

"Republican Rep. Geoff Davis apologizing to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Monday after referring to him as "that boy." Addressing a Republican gathering Saturday night, the Kentucky lawmaker said, "That boy's finger does not need to be on the button." Davis was talking about political and national security issues at an annual GOP dinner."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iFinqKXluueouVJL6qWC9lLqrp8wD901TJ380

The Obama campaign of course declared to be "outraged" and Davis appologized.

I find it hard to believe that Davis was actually trying to be racist. I figure he was either referring to Obama being unexperienced or just being condesending in the usual good ol' boy way, where everyone you don't like is called a "boy".

But is there really anything in this campaign you can't say that's racist?

Bill Clinton called Obama's position on Iraq a fair tale and he was called racist.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keli-goff/how-the-clintonobama-fai_b_81410.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPNdIrnwyfE

So maybe we need some guidelines or written instructions on what you can and can't say about Obama.

4/16/2008 7:23:01 AM

Quote :

"So maybe we need some guidelines or written instructions on what you can and can't say about Obama."

Can't say:

1) Anything negative
2) Anything realistic

Can say:

1) I for one welcome our new african american Obama supreme overlord

4/16/2008 7:49:36 AM

silly and stupid.

OMFG I AM SO OFFENDED THAT THE WORD BOY WAS USED

4/16/2008 8:13:58 AM

ridiculous.

Good post 1337. You also cant discuss Obamas own offensive words.. you forgot that one.

4/16/2008 8:16:39 AM

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boy

Quote :

"boy Pronunciation: \'bo?i\ Function: noun Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English Date: 13th century 1 often offensive : a male servant 2 a: a male child from birth to adulthood b: son c: an immature male <separate the men from the boys> <boy genius> d: sweetheart, beau 3 a: one native to a given place <local boy> b: fellow, person <the boys at the office> c—used interjectionally to express intensity of feeling <boy, what a game>"

Yes, clearly nothing could be taken from a southern representative from Kentucky calling a Black person "boy."

4/16/2008 8:26:50 AM

I AM OUTRAGED BY PEOPLE BEING OUTRAGED ABOUT SOMETHING THAT ISN'T WORTH BEING OUTRAGED ABOUT?

4/16/2008 8:28:25 AM

If you're doing it right, you can't say anything with his dick in your mouth.

I'm sorry, that was uncalled for.



Truthfully, I don't think Rep. Davis was being intentionally racist or disrespectful. I think the appropriate response from the Obama camp would have been to graciously accept his apology. Not for any altruistic reason, but because of Obama's claim to be a uniter. I think it is going to get harder and harder for them to resist hitting back though, and his image will rapidly tarnish once they fall into that trap.

4/16/2008 8:37:48 AM

i just want what many Amuricans want

4/16/2008 8:47:00 AM

Funny how you bold one definition of the word.

But then ignore the other: fellow, person

4/16/2008 9:00:27 AM

you're my boy blue

4/16/2008 9:02:25 AM

^^ so when I call you a pussy does that mean you're a cat or a vagina?

[Edited on April 16, 2008 at 9:07 AM. Reason : listen here booyyyyyyyy. I hate the south.]

4/16/2008 9:07:18 AM

There is a lot of history behind that word in this country, particularly for African Americans. Davis knew exactly what he was doing when he used that phrase.

It was a stupid thing to say and she should most definitely apologize because there may come a day in this country when white men are on the receiving end of that latent racism.

Intentional or not, someone of Davis' age and cultural knowledge knows what it means to call another man a boy. It's demeaning.

What's worse is the implication that they don't care because they have enough white voters to keep re-electing this man.

I don't know why anyone needs to resort to this type of attack when its so easy to attack Obama on his terrible economic and proposed foreign policy plans. That time will come. As soon as Hillary bows out, the dismantling will begin.

4/16/2008 9:14:40 AM

Quote :

"so when I call you a pussy does that mean you're a cat or a vagina?"

I dunno. I would assume by your sexual orientation that it would be the cat. Am i right?

4/16/2008 9:21:40 AM

*sigh*

Let's see if we can narrow down the ground rules a bit.

Davis refers to Obama as a "boy" = racist

How about this one....

Bill Clinton refers to Obama & Edwards et al as "boys" = racist?
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/11/12/bill-clinton-boys-getting-tough-on-hillary/

[Edited on April 16, 2008 at 9:31 AM. Reason : ``]

4/16/2008 9:26:12 AM

Davis is 49

Obama is 46


How is "boy" appropriate?

4/16/2008 9:26:14 AM

age would have made it acceptable, but in light of that id be a little more interested in hearing the audio itself.

4/16/2008 9:30:59 AM

My opinion stands on this issue.

Does it offend me? Not really
Would it offend me if I was in Obama shoes? Yeah, highly likely. If not for the fact that he's only 3 years older than me, than the fact that calling any black person 'boy' carries connotation whether you like it or not. Hell, if he was white he might be offended as if calling him out on being nubile.

-----------
Here's the facts socks, and be fair about this, please - if you are a politician, shouldn't you KNOW and GAUGE good judgment on things like this? I mean, have some personal civility? I don't know, like I said, it's not some huge deal and after he apologized its not like Obama camp persisted on any issue whatsoever. If it gets spin or traction, it sure isn't from Geoff Davis or Barack Obama - it's the fucking media and blogosphere.

So don't mis attribute something having legs when in truth, it would be stupid for him not to respond at the insult, and then after the apology let it rest.

4/16/2008 9:32:33 AM

Whether or not Davis' subjectively believed that he was making a racist statement, most reasonable people could understand how calling an old black guy a "boy" could be racist.

The truth is, no one should tolerate this when used in reference to anyone else. The next time someone calls you a "white boy" call them out on it and if need be remove some of their teeth with a lead pipe.

[Edited on April 16, 2008 at 9:35 AM. Reason : lkjhg]

4/16/2008 9:34:15 AM

Kainen,

Then why didn't his campaign respond when Bill Clinton referred to Obama and the other male democratic candidates as boys (link above)?

Personally, I just get the feeling the race card gets dropped a lot by the Obama campaign when it's in trouble (note: not Obama himself, he lets his underlings do it for him). Maybe it's just my perception though. I have not gone back and tried to match up how closely the Obama campaign's feigned outrage over this or that remark tracks his various political stumbles, but it would be interesting to see.

4/16/2008 9:38:18 AM

and i'd be interested to see how often the clinton campaign plays the gender card. not through underlings, but through the candidate herself. it happens all the damn time.

[Edited on April 16, 2008 at 9:40 AM. Reason : .]

4/16/2008 9:39:58 AM

Quote :

"Then why didn't his campaign respond when Bill Clinton referred to Obama and the other male democratic candidates as boys (link above)?"

Clearly that's an an entirely different context. Some feel Bill was just pointing out that it's not fair that Hillary get's pilled on, and some feel he was painting gender disparanices and making a point that the 'guys club' are teaming up on a woman. Doesn't matter. In any case, given context, why would Obama central and co. care about this?

Look, the differences between this and Geoff specifically singling Obama out and trying to denegrate him (we can even ignore the racial undertones) with no respect (for fucks sake he's a senator! show some respect) saying 'that boy better not, etc etc' are big. Big enough to warrant a response

4/16/2008 9:48:50 AM

oh the stupidity abounds

4/16/2008 9:50:15 AM

Kainen,

He would care because calling him a boy was disrespectful? Or so you said just a minute ago...

But you're right, the context does matter. There would be no way the Obama campaign could effectively argue that Clinton was being racist in those remarks, even though it is clear that they were disrespectful. But complaining about Clinton being disrespectful wouldn't kick up near as much dust as calling someone racist.

Davis' remarks on the other hand leave the faint hope for accusing him of racism. He probably was not trying to be racist, but his remarks left open enough wiggle room for Obama campaign to cause a stink and try and get the press of this whole "bitter" stink. So they went for it.

*shrug* At least that's my theory. But it's hard to reconcile the two without bringing the political motivation into it.

4/16/2008 10:06:17 AM

The difference between Bill Clinton's "boy" statement and Davis' is obvious. Clinton referred to a group of people, not an individual.

I freely admit that there's been some over-reacting to attacks on Obama (for the life of me, I don't see what's racist about the "fairy tale" comment), but Davis' "boy" statement isn't one IMO. Many people on the blogs I read saw that coming months ago. The GOP supposedly have been discussing what they're going to do if Obama wins the nom to not further push their reputation of the "party of intolerance".

4/16/2008 10:06:41 AM

Quote :

""That boy's finger does not need to be on the button.""

I wonder what was said before and after this quote.

You know...context.

4/16/2008 10:14:45 AM

http://polwatchers.typepad.com/pol_watchers/files/geoff_davis_on_obama.mp3

it's not clear that he's being overtly racist. it certainly is clear that he's trying to imply inexperience or naivete.

[Edited on April 16, 2008 at 10:35 AM. Reason : either way it was a bonehead move]

4/16/2008 10:27:57 AM

Geoff Davis = Jeff Davis?

4/16/2008 11:48:31 AM

http://youtube.com/watch?v=MX6rC1krGp0

4/16/2008 12:07:35 PM

Quote :

"Personally, I just get the feeling the race card gets dropped a lot by the Obama campaign when it's in trouble"

4/16/2008 12:46:37 PM

how is Obama dropping the race card on this one? He didn't make any deal out of it. His campaign pretty much ignored it.

Besides, I find it extremely interesting that a bunch of well reasoned people become completely obtuse to the world as soon as politics are thrown into the mix. We all know that boy has a disparaging conotation. I guarantee you that y'all don't use it to refer to black people, but now everyone is running around claiming it doesn't have the conotation.

4/16/2008 12:53:07 PM

in another thread on tww people said no matter what the situation if u call a black person a monkey its racist

4/16/2008 5:13:00 PM

America: Where calling the kettle black is offensive.

4/16/2008 5:19:53 PM

did the obama campaign actually say this was racist? i thought he was just pissed that davis was being condescending.

4/16/2008 5:24:27 PM

i thought that the more offensive thing in the clip, is that davis used as an example of why he didn't want "obama's finger on the button" was that he was with him in a "highly classified" national security exercise.

if it's highly classified, there's no way actually provide the details. he could say anything about obama's performance in that sphere and there's no way he could defend himself against it.

4/16/2008 5:27:08 PM

I can't wait until a spineless little twit like Obama actually becomes president of the most hated country in the world. How is his staff going to force apologies from other world leaders? threaten to turn them into another Iraq?

if he can't handle the heat, not to mention the added heat of being black and this being a first...then he should probably step the fuck out.

4/16/2008 5:29:03 PM

we need obama more than clinton...muslims hate women and they wont respect her if shes the president one bit...obama is a muslim, he will make gas cheaper

4/16/2008 5:35:40 PM

^^spineless twit?

seriously. where do you get this from?

i mean i understand the stereotype that all democrats (if men) are weak and all female democrats are lesbians. but that's just talk radio bullshit. on what do you actually base this categorization?

[Edited on April 16, 2008 at 5:55 PM. Reason : .]

4/16/2008 5:53:47 PM

Quote :

"the Kentucky lawmaker"

Black or not, don't call someone boy unless they're your son.

4/16/2008 6:00:20 PM

4/16/2008 6:13:20 PM

Quote :

"i mean i understand the stereotype that all democrats (if men) are weak and all female democrats are lesbians. but that's just talk radio bullshit. on what do you actually base this categorization? "

on the very basis that he has to cry because someone called him a name. Thats spineless and that makes him a twit (among many other things about him). We need a strong character as President not this douche.

(oh noes...i might have to formally apologize because i called him a douche and a spineless twit)

4/16/2008 6:34:51 PM

I personally can't stand to be called 'boy' unless it is an older relative or something. If someone called me that, they would get called out on it. Put it into this context and it is just wrong. And also, the Obama response was not, "WE ARE OUTRAGED AT DAVIS' RACIST REMARKS!!!!1", it was this:

"It's hard to tell what is more outrageous - Representative Davis' condescending and personal attack, or his absurd and offensive claim that Barack Obama is not prepared to defend America."

which is why Socks`` chose to say this:

Quote :

"The Obama campaign of course declared to be "outraged" and Davis appologized."

instead of the real quote. Show me a link where the Obama camp declared to be outraged. If I missed it, please help me out.

Davis was wrong to say it, can the world please move on?

[Edited on April 16, 2008 at 6:58 PM. Reason : ``]

4/16/2008 6:55:13 PM

^ same here

the Obama camp is not the type to get outraged by/at/or on behalf the run of the mill low iq neanderthal

4/16/2008 7:08:17 PM

Quote :

" on the very basis that he has to cry because someone called him a name. Thats spineless and that makes him a twit (among many other things about him). We need a strong character as President not this douche."

has he? give me some proof.

4/16/2008 7:17:18 PM

Quote :

"Earlier, Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said, "It's hard to tell what is more outrageous — Representative Davis' condescending and personal attack, or his absurd and offensive claim that Barack Obama is not prepared to defend America." "

4/16/2008 7:22:32 PM

I'm not going to get into a debate about this boy with one of his supporters. I may as well debate the wall.

4/16/2008 7:41:23 PM

steviewonder, how does it make a difference in this context? They called the claim outrageous rather than claimed to be outraged. Is your point that there was no emotional reaction in the Obama campaign? I'm lost.

My point is that the Obama campaign made a stink about it, which they did. Nutsmakr said it was not a "big" responce (and I guess that's your point too), but what the hell does that mean? What is a big responce and a little responce? Anything they say will be reported nation wide. Seems pretty "big" to me. *shrug*

Either way, this seems like a funny time to be picking through the words of no-name congressmen looking for something to bitch about. Almost like they're trying to shift the media's attn away from something else.....hey wait a minute!!

[Edited on April 16, 2008 at 7:50 PM. Reason : ``]

4/16/2008 7:49:24 PM

^Outraged implies that they were screaming on the horn for Davis to resign or something. It was a simple response.

4/16/2008 8:11:49 PM

responce?

They did what any campaign would do in this situation. If someone would've called McCain a boy or Clinton a girl, there would've been a response from the respective campaign. I can't figure out what is so threadworthy about it. It was a derogatory statement no matter how you look at it, and the only time I had heard about it other than Davis making it and the Obama response was in this thread.

So basically if Obama does anything, it will illicit a negative response from you. You put the reaction in your own words rather than just quote it out, and it had a slightly different meaning than what you put in quotes.

4/16/2008 8:12:02 PM

Quote :

"on the very basis that he has to cry because someone called him a name. Thats spineless and that makes him a twit (among many other things about him). We need a strong character as President not this douche. (oh noes...i might have to formally apologize because i called him a douche and a spineless twit)"

This is because Democrats aren't assholes enough to resort to name-calling.

Also, Golovko doesn't like Black people, so I wouldn't take anything he says with any credibility.

4/16/2008 8:34:11 PM

set em up

4/16/2008 8:36:52 PM