McCain's latest dog whistle: "the usual rules don't apply" to Obama

[EffieBlack]

"{I}t's as if somehow the usual rules don't apply, and where other candidates have to explain themselves and their records, Senator Obama seems to think he's above all that. Whatever the question, whatever the issue, there's always a back story with Senator Obama. All people want to know is: What has this man ever actually accomplished in government?

Translation: "You know, my friends, Barack Obama is unqualified, mysterious, dangerous and uppity and the only reason he's doing better than me is affirmative action."

[WinkyDink]

1. Medical records, Sen. McCain?

[Schulzz]

2. Says the campaign with a VP,

who isn't taking questions and whose supporters aren't allowed to be questioned by the media :crazy:

[EffieBlack]

5. Why should she? She's getting wall-to-wall unfiltered coverage of whatever she wants to talk about

complete with screaming, adoring crowds as a backdrop.

Nah - there's no double standard . . .

[Curtland1015]

3. Really what he is doing is BEGGING Obama to get down in the mud with him.

Obama not wanting to mud sling back would really hurt McCain. McCain needs to make Obama look as nasty and desperate as he is.

[dkf]

4. I think you've got it backwards.

The dogwhistle is not that Obama is being advantaged by affirmative action, its that we forget that he is black because even racists are beginning to see him as an individual instead of a stereotype.

They want to turn him back into "scary black man".

[EffieBlack]

7. Exactly

And scary black men getting ahead of white men because of affirmative action is among the worst nightmares for these people.

It's all part of the same dog whistle narrative.

[dkf]

9. Actually, I think its not connected to affirmative action.

Its more visceral and less connected to unfairness than to fear.

[EffieBlack]

14. They're completely connected

And "he thinks the rules don't apply to him" is as plain as day accusation that he's seeking an unfair advantage - the very gravaman of the anti-affirmative action argument. They aren't terrified of black men in general. They are terrified of black men who manage to get into positions of power over them - THAT'S what makes black people scary. And, in their view, affirmative action (or "reverse discrimination") is the vehicle for making it happen. McCain knows and understands the potency of these interwoven terrors - he probably feels them himself - and that is exactly why he's using this language.

[meow2u3]

6. McFailin keeps blowing the dog whistle thinking the cats can't hear the high pitch

STP to McFailin: we've deciphered your racist code language. We know exactly what you're saying and it isn't pretty. Cease and desist or else you'll get a face full of claws from the Democratic
"cats."

[ErinBerin84]

8. totally with Josh Marshall at being taken aback by the level of projection he is displaying

Calling out OBAMA for supposedly being touchy, pissy, and evasive whenever he is asked a question, when that's completely MCCAIN'S MO....what a bastard...ps McCain, you're the Affirmative action candidate in the equation.

[Barack_America]

13. Yeah, tough words from the Admiral's son...

And the beneficiary of a rich and powerful wife.

Yet Obama is the one who has had opportunity handed to him?

Lol.

[nyhuskyfan]

10. Well

For most people the usual rules would mean that their daddies couldn't get the into service academies despite poor academic records and relentlessly immature behavior, and they wouldn't get to keep flying planes after they crash them over and over.

[rucky]

11. What are the usual rules?

for somebody born multiracial and raised by a single mother?

That Obama just doesn't know his place!

[Barack_America]

12. I think that one was just a regular whistle.

It was so transparent that I can't imagine anyone not hearing it.

Shame on him. Especially given the privilege McCain was given from Day 1 as an Admiral's son.

[Crowman1979]

15. Why is that maverick wanting rules to apply to someone?

I thought Mavericks were all about breaking the rules? What a poser!