Bush Cites Racism in Remarks On Iraq

[Stephanie]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A57791-2004Apr30?language=printer

Bush Cites Racism in Remarks On Iraq
President's Target Unclear
Saturday, May 1, 2004; Page A06

President Bush said yesterday that people who have skin that is "a different color than white" are capable of self-government.

<snip>

"There's a lot of people in the world who don't believe that people whose skin color may not be the same as ours can be free and self-govern," Bush said.

"I reject that. I reject that strongly. I believe that people who practice the Muslim faith can self-govern. I believe that people whose skins aren't necessarily -- are a different color than white can self-govern."

<snip>

White House press secretary Scott McClellan was peppered later with questions about what Bush meant. Bush never says who the people are who think that, and McClellan did not, either.

<more>

Way to go, Jr.

[Poiuyt]

1. Why does bush keep bringing up skin color?

I've never heard anyone else saying that "dark skinned" people can't govern. He seems to be obsessed with it.

[MSgt213]

2. Thank you, I have not heard a single person bring this up in print or on

tv. This is the same thing they did when they said you were unpatroitic if you question anything they did on the war on terror. Now if you question what the plan is for Iraq you a racist.

[jdj]

65. It's their new "shut them up with -isms" approach

If you say neo-con, you're really just prejudiced against conservative jews and therefore are guilty of anti-semitism

If you criticise Condi or the Iraq war, it's because you are guilty of racism, instead of having a legitimate complaint.

and of course there is the patriotism racket, and the accusation of "anti-americanism" (which I've heard defined as "anti-american, without all the trappings of syntax or grammar")

It's designed to put you on the defensive immediately or shock you so much you just shut up.

[SoCalDem]

3. HE's the ONLY one who keeps making the distinction

What a loon :(.. Where's the NAACP or LULAC on this nutcase..??

[Bluebear]

53. It's clear GOP thinks this is a White Christian nation

Anyone that doesn't fit in their white, Christian, heterosexual world is evidently living here because of their largesse/tolerance. Any dissent invites the kneejerk "Move to France, Saddam-lover." What have we allowed to happen here?

[Calico Jack Rackham]

6. Ahhh yes

Take up the White man's burden --
Send forth the best ye breed --
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness
On fluttered folk and wild --
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.

Dosen't Bushy know the Wogs are incapable of being self governing.

[Mikimouse]

12. You are surely not suggesting that * is aware of trivial

English Poets/writers, I hope. (Sorry Mr. Kipling)

[yardwork]

17. Kipling was being sarcastic, but the attitude he wrote about

is still pervasive in some circles, apparently. At least, it appears to be pervasive in Shrub's circle.

[Mikimouse]

22. You are absolutely right about it being a sarcastic piece...

I grew up with Kipling and love his works. I agree that many misunderstand his intent, and that the colonialist attitude pervades many societies (especially ours). On another note, you'll enjoy this little vignette from my grandmother (grand Brit that she was). When Kipling died, she was distraught; when the King died the next day, she was furious because, as she stated, "...now nobody will remember when Kipling died!"

[Calico Jack Rackham]

31. Are you sure

Kipling wrote this as a sarcastic piece? From my readings Kipling was a hard core imperialist and was the mouthpiece for Anglo-American imperialism. White Man's Burden was written in support of the US colonization of the Philippines.

[yardwork]

58. If you read the entire piece, it becomes obvious it is sarcastic.

Kipling was a lot more subversive than he is generally given credit for today. At the same time, he lived in an extremely imperialistic time and he wrote for publication.

Love the above story about the grande English dame Grandma!

[nodictators]

20. Holier-than-Thou Bush is Knocking Down a Straw Man

If he really believes what he says, then why doesn't he let the Iraqis govern themselves?

Answer: Because his plan for Iraq was and is:

Invasion -- Occupation -- Subjugation

[Politicub]

36. Because he's projecting

No one but him (at least that I know of) has voiced the meme that skin color equals the ability to be free. Well, maybe the segregationists.

I guess Rove could be trying to race bait using Iraq, but I believe it's something simpler. Bush is projecting what's in his heart each time he says it.

His administration's way of dealing with the Iraqis is clubbing them into submission. There's nothing free about that.

[TahitiNut]

39. "Don't Think About Pink Elephants!"

The son of a bitch is actually spreading racism.

[CJCRANE]

56. He does it

because he doesn't know what he's talking about and just ends up speaking in generalities. He doesn't seem to understand that not all Americans are white and not all non-white people are Muslims (or vice versa).

[Tellurian]

63. Because he's a BLOODY racist! nt

[wtmusic]

4. What skin color is "ours?"

I'll have to remember that. "People with other skin colors are capable of self-government". :eyes:

[alarcojon]

23. Very revealing, isn't it?

Bush thinks of the U.S. as a white Christian nation. Minorities are an afterthought, unless we can be used to his advantage (Powell, Rice). And this is just an attempt to use race to his advantage. The comments are (no surprise) intellectually dishonest, because they implicitly suggest that the left somehow endorses the view that brown skinned people can't self-govern.

[progressivebydesign]

45. One day, I'd like to see Powell or Rice smack him on the back of the head.

.. when he spouts this ignorant rant. If they could just lean over a bit and whack him with a notepad or pen... just something to stop him from talking. He's not someone who should be trying to think on his feet...

[Tommy]

49. yeah

darkys can do just as good a job as he did.

[Name removed]

67. Deleted message

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

[yardwork]

5. I think that Chimpy is trying to imply that being anti-war = racism.

He seems to be saying that anyone who opposes invading and occupying another country is a racist.

You'd have to be a freeper to get this logic, I guess.

Meanwhile, the racism inherent in Shrub's own language is quite apparent. "People whose skins aren't necessarily......" Necessarily what, George? Please do tell us.

And what's all this talk about skins?

[Cocoa]

27. and pro-choice is pro-terrorist

according to Karen Hughes.

Bush is quite the "uniter", isn't he?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. Oh, I know the people of the Muslim faith can self-govern

They did it for about 13 centuries, until the Ottoman Empire was disbanded by the Europeans after WWII. And it was because of the Islamic Empire of the Middle Ages that the ancient learning of the Greeks wasn't lost. The Moors who ruled Spain before 1492 were tolerant of Jews and Christians-a most enlightened state for the times.

This little speech not only shows racism, but ignorance of Islam and history.

[Whoa_Nelly]

8. Bush is a bigoted idiot

And has little ability to speak extemporaneously.

Personally, (and you can call me a bigot if you wish), I have a problem with Chimps who think they are capable of self-government.

[liarliartieonfire]

10. "White Like Me"- White Supremacy and the Bush 4th Reich??

When I look at the ideology of those who supports Bush, those who surround him, : Rove, Asscroft, Coulter, Rush, and those from the past, I see where he comes off as sounding racist. He really IS racist. White, Right, and Supreme.
Good old boys existed within his grandfather, industrialist and nazi supporter, financier to the Hitler regime, Prescott Bush.

White supremacy is in their bloodline.

Why would george be any different.

[frankieT]

26. good point

:yourock:

[Spazito]

9. bush's racism is so ingrained he doesn't even see it...

that is what is most disturbing to me. I have little doubt that he believed he was showing how he wasn't racist by using the expressions he did. As has been pointed out, his inherent racism is emphasized by this: "that people whose skin color may not be the same as ours can be free and self-govern", the key word being OURS.

[Just Me]

29. I believe the technical term is "projecting",...

,...he is "projecting" his own inner issues (or Rove is doing it for him).

However, my guess is that the implication he/Rove were trying to make is that, if you oppose the Busholinis' policies in the Middle East then you must be a biggot.

That would be my guess.

[Stephanie]

43. I don't think Rove had anything to do with it

If you look at the transcript - available at www.whitehouse.gov - it looks like Bush veered off script here. He mouthed some lines about freedom and human dignity. Then he thought is was going so well he'd just ad-lib a bit. That's when his true feelings were revealed. Rove, though no genius, is smarter than this.

[trapper914]

61. Rove's behind it

* has used this several times in the past two weeks, including during the "press briefing" a few weeks back. It's a talking point..."if you're skeptical, you're racist." He's trying to guilt his opponents into giving him a pass.

[Lisa]

62. Bush's view of "ours" evidently doesn't include me ...

... or the millions of other Americans and Canadians who aren't white. So right, Spazito, about how revealing it is! He clearly has quite a sheltered, "revisionist history" view about what his own country (never mind Canada) is like ... for somebody who's visited so many places and met so many people (if only during his campaigning and fund-raising) he is stunningly blinkered.

And I quite agree that he probably thought he was being tolerant and progressive when he said those things. And yes, he was -- if it were, say, 1904 instead of 2004!

[grytpype]

11. Who the fuck is saying that?

"There's a lot of people in the world who don't believe that people whose skin color may not be the same as ours can be free and self-govern," Bush said.

What the ever-loving fuck? Who is saying that? It sounds like something a Republican would say.

I have never, never heard an anti-war person say that "brown people" or Muslims are incapable of democratic self-government. Never. Not once. So where is this coming from? Is that fucking moron trying to tar anti-war people as racists? Is that what he's been reduced to?

Jeebus, when is this going to end?

[Stephanie]

13. I wonder if he is referring to his buddies from Bob Jones University?

Or maybe that racist group he spoke to during the 2000 campaign - the one where he refused to release the transcript of his speech? What was that? CCC?

[LiberalFighter]

14. Which people devised the Hammurabi's Code of Laws?

[skjpm]

16. The Iroquois, for instance

Who gave us a model for our government

[Catt03]

30. And who were matriarcal

Just thought I'd throw that in B-)

[G_j]

40. yep

they appointed male 'chiefs' but the women could boot them out any time they thought they weren't acting properly. :-)

[Coventina]

18. Thank You!

Excellent point!

:thumbsup:

[saigon68]

33. That would be the people whose country is now called IRAQ

That's who.

[LiberalFighter]

38. That's right

And before America had a democracy and laws.

[unblock]

15. nazi propaganda rule #1 accuse others of whatever you yourself are guilty

the right is racist, but to immunize themselves against future charges of racism, they first accuse there opponents of racism. that way, any later accusation against the right just sounds like "yeah, well so are you".

it's sick, but it is effective. especially with a compliant media.

[yardwork]

19. Bingo! That sums up Rove's entire strategy.

[FreakinDJ]

25. Still does not explain why

There has been no official comment on the snipers shooting innocent women and children.

The women being shot could be easily defended saying the insurgents were dressing like women to conceal themselves. How ever the children have a smaller size and some thing they could not explain away in that fashion.

I think the administration has made its point in not addressing the subject They have simply taken the position the shooting of brown skinned Muslims is "No Harm, No Foul"

[saigon68]

35. Like the young marine said

"I feel good about all my kills"

Wait until he comes back and murders his girl friend

[G_j]

41. I stood today on a street corner

with Veterans for Peace, There was a marine in uniform who had returned from Iraq. He held a sign that read, "I killed Innocent Civilians For My Government"

[yardwork]

59. OMG. That poor man. I hope he gets some mental health care.

Except that's one of the things that's been cut from every state budget in the country because, you know, we don't have the money for "frills" like health care anymore.

[readmylips]

21. How white of him....

just repeating someone else's remark. A remark I enjoyed.

Bush is a dangerous man/boy, just like Jim Jones the christian koolaid killer. Small man bush interprets the Bible according to his own knowledge (wink!) and religious beliefs he acquired when jeezus told him he would be president. Jeezus meant president of baseball. Little bush thought, president of the USA.

No shit. Jeezus told Paris Hilton she would be super rich too. Many of us had the same revelation from Jeezus, but He forgot to get us well connected and born rich.

Worse, bush is more dangerous because he will twist his religious belief for money, power, steel and lie, to get elected. (Not re-elected, he never was elected). And he has the twisted christian racists supporting him.

[Judi Lynn]

24. Yes, it's mighty white of him, as readmylips said.

His problem is that he doesn't think any Iraqi people are fit to govern unless they are the ones who let his administration make all the decisions for them.

We can all see straight through that. Meanwhile, he shows by the way he lives, he doesn't want ANYONE to have the ability to "self-govern" beyond his grimey bunch of murderous money-grubbers.

[Cocoa]

28. Condi has been spewing this crap for a while

imagine how sold out a person has to become, to play the race card for these people.

[dawn]

32. Uh...

Surely, he knows that Islam is a religion, not a skin color.

[TroubleMan]

34. This is like when he asked the Pres. of Brazil if he has blacks, too.

nt

[bacchant]

37. Petulant-fuckstick-spawn of a diseased dynasty

How much you wanna bet ol' Jeb blames his daughter's substance abuse problem on a defect inherited from the brown (Columba's) side of the family.

[Guaranteed]

42. Then let them govern, asshole!

You're right- they clearly don't want us around! They think they've got a handle on it, so let's LEAVE!

[progressivebydesign]

44. The wierd thing is that the majority of Iraqis are not necessarily Muslim.

This makes no sense to me.. why did he say that?

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

46. What color are the Iraqis, as far as Bush is concerned?

Sounds like he's discriminating based on very fine shades of skin tone that the rest of us weren't aware of.

[ConcernedCanuk]

47. - - - - - "Boy King open mouth - change foot" - - - - -

.
.
.

[PfcHammer]

48. * = McClellan = Martin = sh*theads

also, i'm not getting articles with bush
and brown people references through nexis

[Stephanie]

51. What are you searching for?

If it's the Bush Sr. remark, he called his grandkids "the little brown ones."

[Emillereid]

50. The whole damn war was a racist undertaking...

which springs from a deep seated supremacist view of the west and 'white people' particularly. Our foreign policy is driven by the idea that we are the master race that has 'dominion' over the world and all its people and that the world's resources are ours for the taking and that the countries of the world and its people are just so many ' pieces' to push around in our grand 'chess' game! Never forget that the people in charge of the Bush administration wrote on page 72 of their seminal work "Rebuilding America's Defenses" that they believe it was politically viable to use weapons that would "target specific genotypes." You'd better believe they're not talking about blond haired, blue eyed wasps!

Something I wrote on this in another forum:

I for one believe that that a deep seated racism is at the heart of this war -- and our foreign policy in general. The way I see it a real equalitarian view of others would lead you to empathize and identify with the other so that you would grant him or her the same feelings, reactions, etc that you would feel in a situation. You confer upon the other 'grown up' status in the world. When we invaded Iraq we deluded ourselves that they would greet us with sweets and flowers -- this after we'd killed and maimed thousands upon thousands (I include the Iraqi soldiers) of their countrymen, destroyed their country and devastated their lives on the basis of what they knew was a lie. Now did we turn around and leave as true 'liberators' would have done. NO! We became a brutal occupation force that continued to rampage their country, putting thousands of their countrymen in jail, conducting middle of the night raids, further bombing and killings, etc. etc, .all in an effort to stop real forces of democracy and impose our own form of 'friendly' to America and Israel 'democracy' -- of course making sure to that anything and everything, nailed down or not, was up for sale. To top it off we had the unmitigated gall to think they should be grateful. A truly non-racist point of view would have recognized instantly how much we would hate to be invaded and occupied under these terms -- and we would not have gone to war. If we truly had the Iraqi people best interests at heart I'm sure we could have found a more peaceful and more just solution. As Tariq Ali says, did we really think the Iraqi people wouldn't resist like we would?

These people built Iraq in the first place and can 're-build' it. Of course they can govern themselves -- they have for 5000 years. It might not be the kind of government that we like -- but remember, democracy is messy and, at heart, it's first principle is --self determination!!!

Bush remarks about skin color reveal his shallow, unreflective, ethnocentric view of other people.

"WE ARE NOT WORTH MORE, THEY ARE NOT WORTH LESS" BRIAN WILLSON

[G_j]

52. I agree with you

Bush is still playing the "great white father". The same entity that so graciously committed genocide against the American Indians in order to 'help' them.

It is also interesting to note that Iraq is thought to be the cradle of civilization. I wonder what Bush's ancestors were doing when Iraqi ancestors were reading and writing.

[Bluebear]

55. GOP thinks this is a White Christian nation

Anyone that doesn't fit in their white, Christian, heterosexual world is evidently living here because of their largesse/tolerance. Any dissent invites the kneejerk "Move to France, Saddam-lover." What have we allowed to happen here?

[PfcHammer]

57. what happens when they're outnumbered.?

[Jacobin]

54. Then why don't we leave and let them do it?

Or why is it he is so interested in brown skin countries with oil, but could care about such countries with no oil?

Is he a Petro-Racist?

[Karenina]

60. Good one, Jacobin!

That too. Racism IS the undercurrent of this atrocity. The sooner the denial stops, the better we can come to grips with the reality.

http://www.unobserver.com/layout5.php?id=1636&blz=1

[The Stranger]

64. Bush is a complete and consummate racist. That is why he is speaking

in platitudes, but in so doing, he is actually giving himself away.

[Dr Fate]

66. Who thinks this?

What the hell is he talking about...