Is Jackson Browne supporting John Edwards because he's

[cali]

a WASP? Is Barbara Streisand supporting Clinton because she's a woman?

We don't ask such questions because they're stupid, but it's OK to ask if Oprah Winfrey supports Obama because he's black?

No. It. Is. Not.

[babylonsister]

1. Amen, cali! Recommend! nt

[cali]

4. I feel like weeping over the results of that other poll.

Not only because a substantial number of people are voting "yes", but because by voting at all, they're accepting the legitimacy of the question. And it's such an offensive question.

[babylonsister]

8. I knew there were bigots on this board, but that confirmed it.

Yes, very sad imo, but I'm not so surprised.

[msongs]

30. people who disagree with you = bigots. hmmmm nt

[babylonsister]

34. No, it has nothing to do with disagreeing with me.

Nice try.

[DemKR]

2. I'll answer that!

I think that Barbara Streisand actually cares about winning the election, so she wants a candidate who isn't going on a "Please don't hurt me" defense like 90% of our candidates do.

"She will prioritize issues of global climate change, universal health care and rebuilding a strong economy. After eight long years, the public will once again have faith in their government."-Barbara Streisand

[pearl]

3. I hear ya

You know I don't usually comment on the unbelievable rush to inject racial motives into this
primary by my fellow du'ers. This approach by some of my dem brothers and sisters is discomforting.
I have many reasons why Hillary Clinton is not my first choice and none have to do with race or gender.

[Teaser]

5. yes and yes

.

[Divine Discontent]

6. it's a nonsensical point

I cannot understand why any non-bigot would care that Oprah backs Obama. Jesse Jackson all but came out and supported John Edwards a few weeks back by saying he was the only candidate paying attention to the African-American community, does that make him an 'uncle tom'? I agree, an endorsement is just that, an endorsement. Good for Barack, getting Oprah is a big deal to me!

[AspenRose]

10. Yep

Danny Glover is endorsing John Edwards too.

[Divine Discontent]

41. awesome! ty n/t

[Pirate Smile]

7. I was hoping people would have calmed down some since yesterday's tantrums but

that doesn't seem to be the case.

This stuff isn't just on DU. People are spamming all the news websites and blogs with this crap as well.

Tossing the race stuff around really seems to be going even lower. I must have missed Oprah's past endorsements of Sharpton and Jackson.

Nice Post, Cali.

[UTUSN]

9. Well, Cali, at last ONE thing we disagree about

Xpost from those Oprah threads:

A comparable example is Hispanic sell-out Ruben NAVARRETTE. He went to Harvard under Affirmative Action, and claims AA stigmatizes its beneficiaries, that the "Liberal White males" who devise Dem social programs are a later version of slave masters, hooking the downtrodden into a political plantation.

O.K., so what are his options: To praise everything Shrub, who, he claims, has elevated more minority members to the highest levels than did any Dem ---you know, Condo, POWELL, the Cubans, Alberto GONZALEZ, Miguel ESTRADA (attempted), et al.

What he overlooks is that for a half dozen or so high profile jobs, the Shrubbites would delete MILLIONS of benefits for MILLIONS of downtrodden.

NAVARRETTE claims that minorities should stop pledging allegiance to one party and be a "cafeteria" type, picking and choosing from whatever party for whoever offers the best deal. He ignores the question, "Why should a party IGNORE its pledged members in favor of fly-by-night types who might or might not vote the party's line?"

-----------I'm getting to the o.p.'s point, believe me:


So with Alberto GONZALEZ, NAVARRETTE wanted to dispense with the vetting process and the Senate "advise & consent" hearings, demanding that GONZO be confirmed JUST BECAUSE he is a Hispanic. NAVARRETTE claimed that he would be watching GONZO like a hawk and that if he fucked up NAVARRETTE would be all over him. HAH!1 After GONZO's multiple fuck-ups NAVARRETTE has been finding the real culprits out on the golf course with O.J.

Years before, in Texas, there was this crackpot teacher, Victor MORALES, running for Dem nominations for governor/senator during the nadir of the Dem party after Shrub. He was an eccentric, driving a beat up pickup truck, campaigning only on weekends when school was out. O.K., sounds charming, correct? He actually won the nomination one time, and of course lost BIG in the election. But he continued running in later years. When the Dem party started to revive somewhat, there were other candidates, especially the Black former mayor of Dallas, who actually had a shot at winning. NAVARRETE went on a tirade, DEMANDING that the Dem party give it to Victor MORALES "because they OWE it to him." MORALES refused to endorse the Dem nominee, then actually endorsed the Rethug!1 How 'bout THAT for cafeterianism.

So the point is, NAVARRETTE was/is GONZO's supporter JUST BECAUSE of his ethnicity. Senator whassiname, Shirley TEMPLE sound-alike from Utah,---Orrin HATCH--- demanded that ESTRADA be confirmed JUST BECAUSE of his Hispanic ethnicity. Ha-rummmph!1 That is a RACIST argument.

So I think the o.p.'s question is eminently fair.

[cali]

12. Sorry, unless it's clearly stated that someone is supporting

a candidate based on their race- in other words the supporter has come out and said it, it's a totally inappropriate question- and it's racist. Your examples have nothing to do with Winfrey's endorsement of Obama.

[UTUSN]

17. Yes, they do. Orrin HATCH's main argument for ESTRADA was that

Dems should vote to confirm him BECAUSE he is a minority and that Dems were being hypocrites for opposing him since Dems claim to champion minorities.

Look, my parallel position is that if Dem minority office holder or candidate screws up or is a criminal or is a hypocrite---that person should be acknowledged as such by the Dem party on a blind-Justice basis.

Since Oprah is injecting herself in an extraordinary way, it's fair to ask her that question. I suspect that if OBAMA were not running, she would be supporting CLINTON. So, given that there are supposedly some policy differences between the two, what makes the difference in her choice now? It would also be fair to ask whether she supported CLINTON just because of her gender.


The real answer to HATCH is: We Dems are opposing ESTRADA because he's a WINGNUT!1 His ethnicity DON'T MATTER!1 The rumors about his sexual practices DON'T MATTER (well, they do since his wingnuttiness opposes Gay issues)!1"

[Snotcicles]

11. Some will do anything to avoid there weak stand on issues.

My concern is the money.
Just think of what kind of a race it would be if they all had equal excess.
It would be one hell of a race for the people.

[madmom]

13. my reason for not liking the Oprah/Obama event is because it's all

about the Oprah celeb, not the Obama administration. Do people really know why she is supporting him,are they just supporting him because she said so, like reading her books.Why all the hype,where is the 24/7 coverage of Barbra Streisand, or Sean Penn or Jackson Brown? I didn't even know they were supporting any one publicly until I read it here this morning.But I couldn't miss Oprah it's every where you turn, also this is Oprah's first endorsement, the others have been in politics quite awhile.

[cali]

15. that has absolutely nothing to do with my post

which is about racism. That question in and of itself is racist.

[madmom]

18. No it's not..you insinuate that if you question the Oprah/Obama thing you

are racist, I'm showing not necessarily so!

[cali]

22. No. All I'm saying is that specific question is racist, . n/t

[madmom]

27. see post #23

[sendero]

20. Yeah..

... the Republicans nor especially the Dems would use cult of personality to sell a candidate. :sarcasm:

Clinton being the WORST offender, leeching off of Bill.

[madmom]

23. Jackson Brown , Bill Clinton, Barbra Streisand have been politically active for

years. This is Oprah's first, right or wrong, it makes people wonder if it's because he's black.

[sendero]

43. Who cares?

I don't care WHAT her reasons are, she has the right.

[madmom]

44. I didn't say she didn't have the right, I'm just saying why people question her

timing, and why it's not always about race as some people want to believe.

[maddiejoan]

14. I think it's because

--they both have very pretty hair.

[undeterred]

16. Earth to cali: many are supporting Clinton because she is a woman

In fact, many prominent women are supporting Clinton because she is a woman and will explicitly say so.

[cali]

21. Really? That doesn't seem to be the case from what I've seen.

It appears that some women are supporting her, because they feel that she is better able to understand the issues that are important to them. Or because they agree with her on issues AND she's woman. I've yet to hear of anyone who supports her just because she is a woman. And even if that's the case, do you see any of her celebrity endorsers saying that? No. Do you see anyone asking if her female celeb endorsers are doing so because of their shared gender? No.

[lumberjack_jeff]

24. If you're not seeing, it's because you're not looking.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/12/07/gennifer-flowers-considering-voting-for-hillary-clinton/

The one-time other woman in Hillary Clinton's life says she's considering casting her vote for the former first lady.

"I can't help but want to support my own gender, and she's as experienced as any of the others — except maybe Joe Biden," Gennifer Flowers said in a recent telephone interview from her home in Las Vegas.

Flowers said she is still undecided, supports abortion rights and has long wanted to see a woman in the White House.

"I would love to see a woman president, I just didn't think it would be her," Flowers said.

[madmom]

26. I heard Jennifer Flowers (remember her) say she was leaning toward Hillary because she was a woman

[undeterred]

39. People may not say it explicitly- but her base is women

The consistent lead that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has maintained over Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and others in the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination is due largely to one factor: her support from women.

In the most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, Clinton led Obama by a 2 to 1 margin among female voters. Her 15-point lead in the poll is entirely attributable to that margin. Clinton drew support from 51 percent of the women surveyed, compared with 24 percent who said they supported Obama and 11 percent who said they backed former senator John Edwards of North Carolina.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/11/AR2007061102216.html

Clinton Team Turns Iowa Focus to Women
Senator Enlists Big Names -- and Mom

DES MOINES -- Seeking to steady her campaign in Iowa, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will bring a wave of prominent women to blanket the state and target female voters in the final weeks before its first-in-the-nation caucuses.

As afternoon talk icon Oprah Winfrey begins a swing through early-primary states to promote Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), Clinton is countering with a move she has long resisted: having her mother join her on the campaign trail.

Dorothy Rodham's appearances at a series of rallies around the state this weekend are just the start of the effort to move women, a group the campaign has long viewed as its core constituency, into Clinton's column. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and former secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright will come to Iowa to vouch for her "strength and experience," which her advisers view as her main asset, and even more surrogates will be arriving in the next two weeks.

Nearly a dozen women -- including elected officials such as Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), activists such as Ellen R. Malcolm of Emily's List, and Betsy Ebeling, Clinton's best friend from childhood -- are scheduled to appear on her behalf. Last week, Townsend, the former Maryland lieutenant governor, and her sister Kerry Kennedy introduced Clinton at a major appearance in northern Iowa. Ruth Harkin, the wife of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), has remained virtually attached to Clinton's side for much of the race.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/07/AR2007120702583.html?nav=rss_email/components

[davsand]

19. Well, I think Jackson Brown sucks, so it is ok to bash him.

(Actually I really like Jackson Brown, but I'm making a point here...)



What I find so especially disturbing is the attitude that somehow bashing Oprah makes the racism ok. There is this mindset for some of these folks that they just really hate Oprah and that is why they are so pissed off at her endorsement of Obama. If it wasn't so sad, I might be able to laugh at it.

I have got to just walk away.



Laura

[Blackhatjack]

25. Simple Answer: Browne supports Edwards because He is the Best Candidate. n/t

[shadowknows69]

28. Harry Belafonte is endorsing Edwards

Not that you'd know that from the MSM but I'd say that blows holes in that theory.

[zalinda]

29. Here's the problem, in a nut shell

Oprah has NEVER endorsed ANY candidate before. She has NEVER inserted herself in politics BEFORE. It seems suspect that she now steps into the political fray to support Obama. You certainly can't blame people for wondering (either privately or out loud) if she is doing this because he is black. It certainly wouldn't be the first time this has happened in politics, or the last time.

BTW, Browne, and Streisand, both are not new to the political scene, they have been around this block before.

zalinda

[shadowknows69]

32. valid points

Oprah has been pretty apolitical until recently, but then again our country wasn't in this bad of shape since she's been in the public eye. I don't begrudge a celebrity for using their influence for charity or awareness. I think her intentions are as honorable (or not) as any celebrity that speaks out. Maybe he's promised her a cabinet position. We could do worse.

[babylonsister]

35. Has our country ever been in such a mess before? Maybe she's

as disgusted as we are, and felt the need to do something. She knows she's powerful and thinks she can do some good. I applaud her for that. If she can convince a few people to get off their duffs and vote, for anyone, more power to her.

[Algorem]

31. isn't Edwards going to be 'running on empty' moneywise,com-

pared to others?

[Inspired]

36. That is a talking point only because they can't fight him on issues.

He has enough money.

[Blackhatjack]

37. NO. See post above. n/t

[Algorem]

38. Glad of that.

[creeksneakers2]

33. What about Oprah and Obama both coming from Chicago?

Were they friends before the race started? I wondered if that had something to do with it.

I never suspected race because neither one of them make race their most important issue.

Oprah probably just thinks Obama would make a great president. I've watched her over the years and she has a great deal of integrity.

[Quixote1818]

40. Is Andrew Young supporting Hillary Clinton becasue she is Black?

You see Black people ALWAYS just support other black people! :eyes:

[Disturbed]

42. Didn't he have a song about Lawyers in Love?

John & Elizabeth are lawyers. Was that song about them? Jus' kiddin'. I know that song was
way before John was even a Senator. HA