State NAACP President Sees ‘Code Word For Racism’

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: CQ-Roll Call

In a state that has a significant black population but only white representatives in Congress, next week’s runoff has racial undertones.

The second-place finisher in the primary in Arkansas’ 2nd district, state House Speaker Robbie Wills, has been promoting himself as a Democrat who’s electable beyond the party base — and more electable than state Senate Majority Leader Joyce Elliott.

Wills, who is white, won 28 percent of the vote on on May 18. Elliott, who is black, won just under 40 percent of the vote — a strong edge, but not enough to win the nomination without having to go through the June 8 runoff.

“To say that she’s not electable that’s a code word for racism,” Dale Charles, president of Arkansas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said in an interview. “She came out on top in a field of five in the primary ... Why all the sudden does the word electability come up?”

Read more: http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=news-000003676517&topic=Feature

[newtothegame]

1. Wow, desperation. nt

[jdlh8894]

2. To forgo a runoff

Don't they have to get 50% of the vote?

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. Yes

[jdlh8894]

4. So why is it racism?

She got a bigger % than her opponent,who was white,so it goes to a runoff.

[sandnsea]

7. Running on electability in the general

Scaring people into voting for the white guy because a black person can't win in Arkansas. Sound familiar? It should.

[Tempest]

10. Clinton used it against Obama

Electability is code for racism only for the people with their heads stuck in the sand.

It is a blatant term for racism.

[jdlh8894]

11. Who is scaring anybody?

The black(AA) got more votes than the white guy!Just did not get the required 50% that was needed to not have a runoff. Where is the racism?

[Tempest]

13. Explain what other reason the white candidate could possibly have

Elliot got almost half again as many votes but she's unelectable?

I can't wait to see your explanation for that.

[jdlh8894]

15. The NAACP

said that she is unelectable.Read please!

[No Elephants]

18. Her opponent said it. The NAACP said it was racist of him to say it.

[jdlh8894]

24. Read the OP Please!

[Tempest]

26. Take your own advice

The second-place finisher in the primary in Arkansas’ 2nd district, state House Speaker Robbie Wills, has been promoting himself as a Democrat who’s electable beyond the party base — and more electable than state Senate Majority Leader Joyce Elliott.


You really should quit digging before you have no way out of the hole.

[No Elephants]

35. Um, I did read it. And, I understood it, too. Now, it's your turn.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jdlh8894]

28. Where? Please quote!

[No Elephants]

36. Tempest already quoted. Please see Reply 26, Now, it's your turn.

A little over 1000 posts since December 30, 2003, but you're all over this thread, missing the cpoint all the way?

How peculiar.

[jdlh8894]

38. Very" peculiar" don't you think?

[No Elephants]

40. Please see Reply #36 (again). Got reading comprehension?

[jdlh8894]

42. A TON thank you.

I have still yet to see "unelectable" used!

[No Elephants]

45. It seems English is not your first language, If so, I apologize for mentioning your lack of

comprehension.

[sandnsea]

47. I read a cute quote yesterday

Something like... It's pointless to argue with the ignorant, they'll never know when you won.

[No Elephants]

49. Thanks, but I did not intend Reply 45 to be sarcastic.

I honestly thought I sensed a language barrier.

If I was mistaken about that, then, yes, it's obtusness.

In either case, I appreciate the quote.

[jdlh8894]

52. Beat on me all you want. I would just like to know

Where in the OP it says "unelectable"?

[havbrush]

19. Electable

It sounds like the white guy is the one who's unelectable. She got way more votes than he did. He's desperate so he's playing on fear.

[pinboy3niner]

21. Exactly

Welcome to DU, havbrush!

:hi:

[Freddie Stubbs]

8. I haven't seen enough evidence to conclude that it is racism

This is a big problem, as the next time the AR NAACP head speaks out about racism people will be less likely to listen.

[marshall]

9. That's the insidiousness of this type of racism

It is hard to pin down--the folks who perpetrate it can do a "Who me? Some of my best friends are black" wide-eyed response

You'd think though that this guy would see that it doesn't play well in this day and age. It can and has backfired.

[Freddie Stubbs]

33. Why isn't Bennet's supporters crying racism also?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=TMZ&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=%22romanoff%22+%22more+electable%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

It would appear that racial minorities are not the only candidates who's electability is compared.

[Tempest]

12. Show us one example of the word being used for a white candidate

There are many examples of it being used against black candidates. Obama (used by Clinton) and now Elliot are two recent examples.

[Honeycombe8]

27. Okay. Here are about 7 to start with. But I didn't have time to really research it to find more.

For a start:

A lot of the handwringing over Rand Paul's electability in November is overdone.

http://spectator.org/blog/2010/05/20/rand-paul-electability-and-civ


Second, electability has been an issue with both Hillary Clinton and Rudy Guliania, as shown in the following quote: (http://nymag.com/news/features/41285/)

....Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani were pretty close to unelectable. Hillary’s case was the more obvious of the two. *** ... polls of Iowa and New Hampshire voters. Headlined “Polls Find Voters Weighing Issues vs. Electability,” the article reaffirmed the conventional wisdom that electability will heavily influence primary and caucus voters. But the shock came when these voters considered who is the most electable: 47 percent of Iowa Democrats and 68 percent of New Hampshire Democrats named Clinton, and a plurality of Republicans in both states gave the nod to Giuliani. *** Which just goes to show how squishy and even bankrupt “electability” is as a political concept.

Third, check this out:

Adlai Stevenson and his allies, including Eleanor Roosevelt, tried to no avail to use electability against John Kennedy in 1960, claiming that his Catholicism would keep him from winning the general election.

Fourth, check this same quote out further:
In 1984, Gary Hart based much of his unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic nomination on the contention that Walter Mondale, the eventual Democratic nominee, couldn’t beat Ronald Reagan in November.

Fifth, check this same quote out further:

Four years later, Bob Dole argued that George Bush wasn’t electable, and ...

Sixth, check this same quote out even further:

...four years after that, Bob Kerrey said the same about Bill Clinton. (Kerrey was much more colorful than Dole, predicting that Clinton was “going to be opened up like a soft peanut” by Bush.)


To recap, here's the short list of non-black candidates the term "electable" has been used on:
Rand Paul
Hillary Clinton
Rudy Guliani
John Kennedy
Walter Mondale
George Bush
Bill Clinton

[RZM]

34. Don't forget Howard Dean . . . :)

who, last time I checked, was not only white but had also governed one of the whitest states in the union to boot. I seem to remember 'electability' being quite an important theme in the 2004 primaries.

[Freddie Stubbs]

31. Here:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=GdE&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=kucinich+unelectable&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

[No Elephants]

51. It's been used for whites, but that does't mean it's never racist code.

[totodeinhere]

64. But with a serious charge like this, I would rather give him the benefit of the doubt unless we have

more to go on than this.

[No Elephants]

20. She got 40% of the primary vote to his 28%, yet he claims to be more electible. What does he mean

by that in that context?

Seems clear enough to me. Seemed just as clear when Obama and Hillary were competing for the nomination.

"Code" means code. With code, you don't get tons of "evidence."

Please see also Repkly ##s 7 and 10.

[Honeycombe8]

29. Maybe what we have to do is scramble the letters of "electable" and

we'll catch the secret message. Let's see

E L E C T A B L E

Cable Leet?

Or maybe we have to assign numbers for each letter in the word?


Not meaning to make nonsense of something that is serious in nature (racism), but seriously, this claim is nonsense and does disservice to REAL racism. Wherever you want to find something negative, if you look hard enough, you will surely find whatever you want to find. That doesn't make it real.

I see absolutely no racism in the age-old claim that one's candidate is not as electable as you are! That's the name of the game.

[No Elephants]

39. In reality, you have absolutely no clue whether or not this is "REAL racism."

Did you ever visit the "No Quarter" website during the Presidential primary?

I remember Clinton supporters pooh poohing claims that they were not using racial code, too. But when the "code" did not seem to be getting through "loud and clear: enough, Hillary finally said it flat out: she was the candidate of "hard-working white people."

[Freddie Stubbs]

32. Perhaps he beleives that he is more likely to get independent and Republican voters

[No Elephants]

37. Because of his ideas, or because they've never elected an African American?

[Freddie Stubbs]

43. He is cliaming that she is too liberal:

http://www.talkbusiness.net/assets/files/RWillsRunoffPiece.pdf

[No Elephants]

48. I know. It's in the OP article. Would you seriously expect him to cite her race or skin color?

Please see also, Reply #39.

Again, "code" means "code," not that you come right out and say exactly what you mean. "Uppity" is code.

I am not saying I can know for certain what is/was in this man's heart. But I am astounded by posters claiming this definitely is not racism. And in a state that has never elected an African American Rep!

[jdlh8894]

53. I'm tired. So here is your "code" you need to send-

...---...

[Freddie Stubbs]

56. So, when people said that Kucinich was unelectable, it was code about his race?

:shrug:

[YankmeCrankme]

67. No

Kucinich was unelectable because he was only polling like 5% of the voters while the other candidates were getting 30% or more. So, yes, if someone doesn't get the votes they are fundamentally unelectable.

Not the case here where she was getting a sizable portion of the voters and considerably more than her competitor. To him to call her unelectable and he should be the candidate might indeed be "code" to those that are racist.

[sandnsea]

41. In a state that voted Kerry over Obama

Gosh, I wonder what caused that.

Yes, he is absolutely saying he could get more Ind & Reps. The question is WHY.

[Freddie Stubbs]

44. Or it could be the issues:

http://www.talkbusiness.net/assets/files/RWillsRunoffPiece.pdf

[sandnsea]

46. Right. Arkansans loved the more liberal Kerry

because of the "issues".

What-Ever.

[Freddie Stubbs]

54. Arkansas voters chose Bush over Kerry

[sandnsea]

57. Not the point, but you knew that n/t

[Freddie Stubbs]

58. It is precisely the point

A candidate with views like Kerry is unelectable there.

[sandnsea]

59. So why did the more centrist Obama get even less votes? n/t

[Freddie Stubbs]

60. Obama is more liberal than Kerry

He actually voted with the Democratic Caucus more often than Kerry in the last Congress:

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/senate/party-voters/

[sandnsea]

63. What!!

You know better than that. Not to mention the swift boat lies against Kerry which makes him the same as satan in the eyes of a southerner.

And yet people voted for him -- and then decided against Obama. And you want to pretend it isn't racism.

Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, and I think a couple other states did that too.

If you don't admit the attitudes we're faced with, there isn't any way to make progress against them.

[No Elephants]

50. Are the issues the reason he includes her technicolor photo in every ad?

Kerry had very similar positions.

[Freddie Stubbs]

55. And Kerry lost that Congressional district. He wasn't electable there either

[Socal31]

5. Ummmm......

No.

[jdlh8894]

6. Please explain.

[Jazzgirl]

14. Ummmmm......

Yes. "Unelectable" is a code word for racksim. The same thing was done to Barack Obama.

[jdlh8894]

16. By WHOM?

[snooper2]

17. here ya go...

This seach took me 7 seconds, you can find hundreds if you use the googles


Obama "unelectable"? Tell me another one.

The hand-wringing about whether Barack Obama is "electable" has reached the point of absurdity. The claim that Hillary Clinton's 9-point win over Obama in Pennsylvania "proves" that Obama can't carry the Rustbelt in a general election is completely baseless. But that hasn't kept the Clinton camp, the Rightwingosphere, and a bunch of TV talking heads just parroting the currently fashionable line of patter from pretending to believe it.

They haven't convinced the superdelegates (since Tuesday Obama has picked up three new endorsements to Clinton's one), and at least one major Clinton fundraiser is about to jump to Obama, but they've managed to spread an atmosphere of gloom. If you're looking for something to worry about, I suggest global warming. A McCain Presidency is indeed a horrible prospect, but then so is an asteroid strike. Neither is likely.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-kleiman/obama-unelectable-tell-me_b_98709.html

[jdlh8894]

22. Don't see "unelectable" w/racism used at all.

Maybe I can't comprehend? Remember, I'm just someone who wants the truth.

[Tempest]

25. Your inability to comprehend is not in question, it's a fact

After all, it was you who posted the NAACP said Elliot was unelectable while telling me to read the article. And you were dead wrong.

As far as you wanting the truth, it's staring you in the face and you refuse to see it.

[Kweli4Real]

61. To the "I see no racism ... this ain't 'real' racism" crowd ...

Is it so difficult to understand that one word used in conjunction with an African-American has a total different meaning than that same word when used with a white person. Just like there are words used to describe females that have a different meaning when used to describe men.

I think if you put half as much effort in thinking about such connotions as you do defending/excusing this instance of coded race-based messaging, you will see the point.

[Honeycombe8]

30. See my post above listing 7 white candidates claimed to be "unelectable"....

including Hillary Clinton.

This is a common claim and common issue in politics. Who a candidate appeals to, who has broader appeal (for any number of reasons), who would win more easily against that other party's candidate, etc., etc.

It sounds desperate to start claiming that ordinary political terms are racist when used in connection with an Af. American.

[Kweli4Real]

62. Next ...

You'll be defending the use of the phrase "State's Rights" as a non-coded ordinary political phrase.:puke:

I can understand why African-Americans are so reticent to discuss racism, even (or rather, especially) on "progressive"/left-leaning sites. How often would you accept being told you can't identify racism (something you've dealt with for all of your life); but someone who has never experienced it can instantly discern what is and what isn't racism?

[activa8tr]

65. I am beginning to believe that there are Free Republic posters here by mistake.

They seem to overlook so much and fail to see things in context.

Maybe they are just from Arkansas, I don't know. Some Arkansas Democrats can sometimes look as stubborn as Republicans in other states.

[Fastcars]

66. Need More Info....

It could be a veiled racist ploy or it could be a simple statement of fact. It may even be a combination of the two.

This situation illustrates perfectly why this is such an incredibly tough subject. I don't know enough about this particular race to know if the black/AA candidate stands a realistic chance in a general election. So I can't possibly have an informed opinion on the validity of the racism charge.

Seems one of the biggest dilemmas facing us today is being able to differentiate veiled racism from legitimate points. Overt racism is becoming a, thankfully, more rare occurence. The use of veiled racism, on the other hand, has become the weapon of choice of the racists among us.