Country Singer Toby Keith: Obama Acts White To Win

[CatWoman]

I don't know where to start on this one

Last week, I reported for the Huffington Post that country singer Toby Keith had performed a pro-lynching anthem on the Colbert Report, and would be playing the same song soon on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and a slew of nationally televised talk shows.

The lyrics of Keith's song, "Beer For My Horses," which I transcribed, could hardly be less explicit -- "Hang 'em high, for all the people to see." In my piece, I also noted the racially tinged nature of the song's video and the forthcoming movie that Keith's song inspired.

Now, Keith has trained his sights on Barack Obama, attacking him in racially tinged language that startled even the notoriously reactionary radio jock Glenn Beck. During Keith's appearance on the July 30 broadcast of Beck's show, he remarked, "I think the black people would say he don't talk, act or carry himself as a black person."

"What does that even mean?" the audibly shocked Beck replied.

"Well, I don't know what that means," Keith drawled, "but I think that that's what they would say. Even though the black society would pull for him I still think that they think in the back of their mind that the only reason he is in is because he talks, acts and carries himself as a Caucasian."

How will Keith's fans explain away his latest paroxysm of bigotry without rejecting the essential thrust of his argument?

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/342063

[Parche]

1. Gawd I Despise That Fukwad

He is so ignorant..........and his so called country music sux....

:grr: :grr: :grr: :hi:

:hug:

OH MEOW

[CatWoman]

7. as someone on the Huff Post noted

us black folk are sure glad to have Toby Keith speaking for us :)

:hi:

[Cosmocat]

43. it is B A D when GLENN Fin Beck ...

is treading on glass with that someone is saying ...

[johnnie]

2. That dude needs a boot up his ass

FUTK

[AspenRose]

33. It's the American way!

:patriot:

Wonder if he thinks Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice "act white," too. Dumbass.

[dionysus]

3. yeeeehaw!! *tobacco spit*

what a maroon...

[TwilightGardener]

4. Guess he needs to shut up and sing.

[lildreamer316]

72. Zing!!

Good One!

[YOY]

5. Whassamatta Toby? Record not selling?

Gotta use the old Anne Coulter sell...

[graywarrior]

6. Racist.

[NanceGreggs]

8. "I don't know what that means."

You make a statement, and when asked what the statement means, your response is: "I don't know what it means"?

If you don't know what it means, why did you say it in the first place?

Jesus, this idiot's intellectual capacity is even more questionable than his 'talent'.

[blondeatlast]

9. Who knows better about being lily-white than Toby Keith? What a sick, ugly, stupid, wretched

piece of garbage--this comment should doom his career (but I know it won't).

The only reason Toby Keith is in the music business is because he knows how to act "country." Whatever the hell that means; I doubt he's ever seen a dirty pickup truck in his life.

YUCK.

[RaleighNCDUer]

27. "I doubt he's ever seen a dirty pickup truck in his life."

I don't know about that - I expect he's seen the set dressers spray mud on pickups for his videos plenty of times.

[blondeatlast]

46. LOL! Yeah, spiffy new "American" Hecho en Mexico trucks

with a dollop of mud placed "just so.."

[truthisfreedom]

10. Rethugs: "Toby who?"

Oops.

[still_one]

11. I look at mccain who voted against honoring Martin Luther King

and I look at this red neck and realize that racism is still alive and well in the U.S.

The past 8 years we got exactly what we deserved. What will be interesting is if people are going to continue to vote against their own interest

[whistle]

12. Please stop posting this shit, why give these ass-wads the exposure

...this keeps showing up here and was aired months ago

[ladjf]

13. Too racist to discuss.

[zulchzulu]

14. I saw Toby drunk in a bar in Nashville once and had a chance to pop his ass

Damn... I wonder if Toby and McCain can do a little songbird tune sometime.

:puke:

[tallahasseedem]

16. That's funny...

My husband was on a business trip to Nashville a while ago and ran into him drunk in a bar as well...except Toby Keith tried to pick a fight with him by mocking his Notre Dame shirt. My husband, who is a very big guy and had no idea who the hell he was, put him in his place fairly quickly and Keith ended up buying him a beer. Needless to say, my husband was not impressed.

[zulchzulu]

52. Similar situation...

I was at a music conference in Nashville and everyone headed to a studio party and Toby was there working on a severe buzz and stalking women like a rooster on crack. I was standing next to him when he started yakking at some guy about how cute his wife was. I wanted to kick him in the gonads... but he had a couple goons near him. Even some fans nearby looked embarrassed.

What a waste... the guy makes a living on writing jingoistic crap and now his latest vigilante flagellum...

:puke:

[KingFlorez]

15. He needs to be quiet and figure out how to put out decent music

That clanky, loud racket he records is a poor excuse for country music.

[mtnester]

17. DING DING DING...for those of you looking for an example of a racist bigot

THIS IS A GOOD ONE...no ambiguity, no spin, just pure bigot out there for everyone to see


what an asshole

side note - Glenn Beck acting all shocked-like is a JOKE...they probably practiced this before hand.

[mtnester]

18. dupe...bad DU posting error

dupe...sorry

[nxylas]

19. You mean he doesn't talk like a character from Hollywood Shuffle?

"My name's Barack Obama and I'm a black actor"....

[AspenRose]

44. I love that movie

"Black Acting School!"

[zbdent]

20. "People just don't understand ... I'm not for Republicans ..."

I read an article in the Akron Beacon Journal that he felt he was misunderstood ... :puke:

[Ichingcarpenter]

23. He gave money to the Republican Party and none to Democrats

In 2004 and 2006

[zbdent]

24. and didn't he do one of those songs that the Repukes like to use

to shout down anybody who questions the war?

[bullwinkle428]

26. "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue" - I got into a discussion with

one of his fans here at DU just last week, I believe, where the claim was made that TK wrote that song specifically regarding Afghanistan. I told him that the country stations were playing the shit out of the song once the conquest of Iraq was underway, and all of the knuckle-draggers were using it as a rallying cry to show their support. Good old Toby must have contracted lockjaw or something, as he never stood up to announce his alleged "ambivalence" (so he says today) about Iraq...

[Thrill]

21. What an Idiot. I guess when you have black blood in you. You're suppose to act a certain way

It amazes me how people have no problem, showing how stupid they are. Its sad

[polichick]

22. It's depressing that America grows so many throwbacks like this.

[Whisp]

25. ugh. 'Toby' means pig's ass - iirc from the old farm days.

[NashVegas]

28. How About "Toby Keith Acts Butch To Sell Records to Country Fans"?

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. Toby Keith is a drunk and a fool

My sister sat behind him at a Big 12 tourney several years ago and still talks about how he was so drunk he spilled his beer into some lady's purse and ruined her cell phone and camera. Security had to take him out.

[Midlodemocrat]

30. He's a shit bag. I despise that guy.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

31. How many black people does this douche bag actually know? n/t

[Cheap_Trick]

32. Toby Keith acts like white trash to....

oh, he's not acting. Never mind.

[Occam Bandage]

34. Here would be the lyrics to his song:

Well a man come on the 6 o'clock news
said somebody's been shot
somebody's been abused
somebody blew up a building
somebody stole a car
somebody got away
somebody didn't get to far yeah
they didn't get to far

Grand pappy told my pappy back in my day, son
A man had to answer for the wicked that he'd done
Take all the rope in Texas
Find a tall oak tree, round up all of them bad boys
Hang them high in the street
For all the people to see

That
Justice is the one thing you should always find
You got to saddle up your boys
You got to draw a hard line
When the gun smoke settles we'll sing a victory tune
And we'll all meet back at the local saloon
And we'll raise up our glasses against evil forces singing
whiskey for my man, beer for my horses

We got too many gangsters doing dirty deeds
too much corruption and crime in the streets
It's time the long arm of the law put a few more in the ground
Send 'em all to their maker and he'll settle 'em down
You can bet he'll set 'em down

Cause
Justice is the one thing you should always find
You got to saddle up your boys
You got to draw a hard line
When the gun smoke settles we'll sing a victory tune
And we'll all meet back at the local saloon
And we'll raise up our glasses against evil forces singing
whiskey for my man, beer for my horses
whiskey for my men, beer for my horses

He knew
Justice is the one thing you should always find
You got to saddle up your boys,
You got to draw a hard line
When the gun smoke settles we'll sing a victory tune
And we'll all meet back at the local saloon
And we'll raise up our glasses against evil forces
Singin' whiskey for my man, beer for my horses
Singing whiskey for my man, beer for my horses

[YOY]

36. Ughh...

n/t

[WeDidIt]

35. FUTK

[Egnever]

49. Those girls have had it right for a long time

I wish Obama would let em play at the convention.

[sandnsea]

37. Yep, Obama is 'articulate'

For those who didn't understand the offensiveness of the word.

[Median Democrat]

38. Sadly Ralph Nader Said The Same Thing - Racism Crosses Idealogical Lines

As a person of color, it annoys me to no end when Caucasian politicians or pundits suggest that I should speak like the caricatures portrayed in movies in order to be authentic. Shoot, if Bill Richardson were the nominee, I can only guess what Toby and Nader would be saying regarding how Bill should act.

[LittleClarkie]

39. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, is he.

Shut up and sing, Toby.

[dflprincess]

40. Given Keith's grammar

I'd have to say that he doesn't speak, act or carry himself as a literate person (and I'll bet he complains about people who can't speak English).

[David Zephyr]

41. Gag.

What a tool this creep is.

[mvd]

42. So I guess he's supporting McCain?

With that kind of ignorance, I'm sorry to say he's a member of my political party. He should go focus on why his music isn't as good as it once was.

[bridgit]

45. Who in America is allowed to express an opinion at all? Again I channel Michelle Bernard...

"I want to go back to the point you made about whether or not Obama is an Oreo, because if Barack Obama is an Oreo, then every member of this generation of African-Americans is an Oreo, because we stand on the shoulders of the people who fought for our rights, and all of us say that you cannot blame 'the man' or white racism for everything that ails the black community."

http://mediamatters.org/items/200807130002

[TheDonkey]

57. I'm not an oreo, thanks.

I could give a damn what sort of pretentious spew Bernard is coming up with the validate those who would denigrate a race of people by noting that we've somehow changed in the past 40 years or that we are becoming more white ie. better and acceptable.

[Catherine Vincent]

47. Toby Keith doesn't talk or act like a white person.

He's in a league of his own.

[jillan]

48. You better trash Willie Nelson than too.

The song Beer for My Horses is not about lynching.
The video to the song is an old fashioned Western. Is is not a racist song.

That song is a duet...performed with Willie Nelson!
You can be certain that Willie Nelson would not have agreed to do a duet with Toby Keith on a song about lynching.

You wanna bash Toby Keith for his insane "Boot in your ass" song, go for it.
For getting into a public fight with the Dixie Chicks - you bet.
Comments he made about Obama - TK's an asshole.

But on Beer for my Horses? Nope. People are reading more into that song than was really there.

[BlooInBloo]

55. Ok.

[Jakes Progress]

62. I had always liked Willie

and thought the was an upfront kind of guy. Then he ducked out on the Dixie Chicks just like all of the other Country "stars". Pocket book meant more than principle. Not much of an outlaw anymore. Just another country club golfer with long hair.

[Colobo]

50. Toby Keith is shit.

[Phx_Dem]

51. The Democrats should wear

F.U.T.K t-shirts like the one Natalie Maines wore after Fucktard photoshopped a picture of her with Saddam Hussein.

[my3boyz]

53. He @sshole newsflash he is half-white. Also, just because you are educated does not

mean you are acting white! People like that piss me off. Oprah always said people said she was acting white because she liked to read. Pathetic, ignorant people in this world.

[TheDonkey]

54. Dear God this creep is an ignorant bigotted dumb shit. I've never dared go near CMT

but I'll definitely be sure to voice my displeasure for this asshole as much as I can. Shame on Colbert for giving him a platform.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

56. He "don't"?

:eyes:

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

58. Jeff in Milwaukee: Toby Keith acts like a white trash moron to sell records

Because nobody but a backwoods country fuck would give that pissant the time of day.

[Jakes Progress]

59. I've been reading the threads looking for those

who wanted to defend tk in recent posts. Kinda slunk off with their tails tucked. He gives bad music a bad name. The Chicks had him pegged exactly.

[kdpeters]

60. If you want to start some place, you need to start at Blumenthal's article from last week

Then view the links and watch the videos for yourself. Don't rely on his characterization. Read the comments in reply as well. Ask yourself which is the more plausible explanation. Is it more plausible that Willie Nelson supports lynching or that there's been a misunderstanding on Mr. Blumenthal's part. Stephen Colbert: Lynching promoter or Mr. Blumenthal's mistaken assumption? Country music fans, millions of them glorifying the practice of lynching or one man's misinterpretation.

That's where you start and keep that in mind when you read this weeks column. He says the people taking issue with his article were freepers, trolls, and Keith fans. You read the comments. Is it more plausible that there doesn't exist a rational disagreement with his conclusion or did you read some good faith, logical responses that he's choosing to disregard?

I don't really know what to do with this either. I found the song repulsive: a pro-execution, pro-authoritarian justice anthem longing for the good old days of wild west vigilantism. That's bad enough, but the "pro-lynching" characterization is a whole other level to the accusation and it is pure falsehood. I hate having to defend the song and the man who sings it, but he's being wrongly accused in a big big way and it really seems to an anti-southern bigotry to the whole thing. Actually, the song is a duet with Willie Nelson, but Toby Keith is the only rock stuck in his crack. So it ain't about the song. It's bullshit. I'm really disappointed in Max Blumenthal.

[Yes We Did]

61. Um.... Perhaps someone should inform Toby that Obama is half white.

And what he really meant is that Obama is highly educated, as opposed to all those... well, I can't bring myself to type the rest.

He's disgusting.

[27inCali]

63. TOBY KEITH ACTS RETARDED

to better identify with his mouth breathing country music fanbase.

oh, I'm sorry, meant *is* retarded.

oops.

[SOS]

64. "he don't talk as a black person."

Laughable.

Up next - Jethro Bodine critiques the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

[boomerbust]

65. Glenn Beck

Introduced Toby with this exciting proclomation. "And Toby has even performed with Ted Nugent". Now isn't that a resume booster!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

66. Toby Keith's 15 minutes of fame is long over.

[old mark]

67. Another Republican innalectshool...

they just keep coming.


mark

[greenbriar]

68. and who were the ones to defend this prick saying he was dem?

FUTK

[AzDar]

69. AzDar sez : ' Toby Keith Acts Human to Sell Records '......

He is, after all, a fucking SHEEP.

"I shoooulda beeeeen a cowboooooooyy "......


Swear to gawd, that's the livestock singing.

[Arnold Judas Rimmer]

70. Arnold Judas Rimmer: Toby Keith acts like a redneck piece of shit sheepfucker to sell records

Shut the fuck up Toby, before someone puts a boot up your ass and feeds wine to your horse.

[renie408]

71. Toby Keith pretends to be a singer to sell records. n/t

[NoodleyAppendage]

73. Toby Keith = Poster Child of Freudian "Reaction Formation". Keith wants to love on a guy.

Reaction Formation = Converting unconscious wishes or impulses that are perceived to be dangerous into their opposites; behavior that is completely the opposite of what one really wants or feels; taking the opposite belief because the true belief causes anxiety. This defence can work effectively for coping in the short term, but will eventually break down.

Keith, just like most Repukes we know, uses this defense mechanism heavily. The uber masculine bullsh*t by Keith hides either feelings of personal sexual inadequacy or latent desires to be buggered.

J

[qwlauren35]

74. Oh dear... more dirty laundry.

It's very, very true.

This isn't a "nappy headed ho's" statement. It's an ugly truth that is being discredited because of who said it.

Why pretend???? The man is Harvard Law trained. He's "articulate", instead of a preacher.

He could not win if he couldn't move comfortably in circles that are predominantly white. Heck, there are many, many things that we can't do if we don't figure out how to move about comfortably in predominantly white circles! I'm not saying that a black person can't be
"successful"... but s/he's not going to become CEO of a Fortune 500 company by "keepin' it real".

So yes, when a black person is able to move comfortably in predominantly white settings, s/he's "acting white". It's a very real label. Many of us can shrug it off, but I think it stings when it comes from people who used to be your friends.

And I have no doubt that even though I used qualifiers, and didn't try to suggest that everyone in our community feels this way, someone's going to get mad at me for agreeing with a "racist bigot".

[oasis]

75. I agree with the Dixie Chicks "FUTK".

:puke:

[greguganus]

76. He's a freaking country singer. Who cares what he says?

Most of his fans are either too young to vote or too drunk.

[yellowcanine]

77. How does a white guy get away with talking about a black man "acting white"?

And knowing what black people think? Patronize much, Toby?

[OmahaBlueDog]

78. Y'know, it's a funny thing about "Beer for my Horses"

The original version is a duet with Willie Nelson, who's supported liberal causes over the years and is a great friend to the American family farmer. So would we all like to trash Willie now?

BTW, the song was written as a response to 9-11; it's hardly an anti-Obama piece.

Shoud Toby Keith have said it? Probably not, but how different is what he said than what Rev. Jackson said on CNN?