"You know, if I had a son he would look like Treyvon,"said the president and I guess that's true to some extent. He'd have dark skin, of course, but I took it to mean that his son would be an ordinary looking, ordinary acting 17 year old and not a shooting gallery target.
Newt Gingrich took it differently because he saw the comment, which was clearly an attempt to show compassion and to suggest that he couldn't avoid putting himself in the place of the grieving father of Treyvon Martin, as an opportunity to launch another Fox-faux outrage. Hasn't the entire Republican reaction to the election of Barack Obama been a collection of phony, trumped up, fabricated and exasperatingly stupid outrages?
" Is the president suggesting that if it had been a white who had been shot that would be ok because it didn't look like him?"said Newt to Sean Hannity on Fox News. Certainly Fox is the Cape Canaveral; the launch pad of most such desperate grasping at rhetorical straws -- the place where the unscrupulously ambitious launch calumny after slander after blatant lie, not because this president is beyond criticism, but because they, the Republican insiders, are themselves accessories before, during and after the fact of the collapse of our economy, the corruption and outrageous economic policies and the unjustified war that precipitated it and only wild claims can distract the public from remembering. Only wild, unsubstantiated and preferably ridiculous statements can rally the bigotry against honesty and decency.
So is the president suggesting that it was only a tragedy because a black kid was killed? Only a Republican could twist words and facts to make it seem so and only a man of the "I will never apologise for America" persuasion could reflect on the Republican support for segregation, opposition to civil rights for minorities, females and non-Christians and not see the killing as part of a continuum; part of a mentality they've been promoting for at least a century.
The gambit is an old and tired and disreputable one, as much so as is Gingrich himself and the others Fox News gives the megaphone to. "Is George Washington suggesting that he should be king?" In fact he suggested the opposite, but the question suggests that there is indeed a question. Is Newt Gingrich a dishonest, morally unscrupulous, hypocritical liar blinded by an unholy ambition and hunger for power? Does a newt shit in the swamp?
" Is the president suggesting that if it had been a white who had been shot that would be ok because it didn't look like him?"
ReplyDeleteWell of course not, Newt. It is you who is suggesting that fevered, anti-Obama meaning.
Newt Gingrich will never be president, and he knows it. His never-ending appeals to bigotry and anti-everything Obama is his only way to deal with the fact that his campaign is never going to get him the presidency nor Callista the First Ladyship.
Newt has devolved into nothing more than an annoying gnat. We keep having to swat the pest away, but fortunately the life-span of a gnat is anywhere from 10 days to 4 months, depending on the kind of gnat.
Gnewt's campaign is almost over.
There is much to be thankful for.
As a parent - and not a spineless toady crawling out from under my rock to spit my venomous filth across the airwaves - I completely "get" the president's intent. As the mother of four sons, I have on occasions seen or heard of some tragedy or near miss and caught my breath for a moment thinking, "That could have been my son." I think it is clear to everyone with more than two brain cells and no right wingnut axe to grind that the president was thinking, "If I had a son, he would look like this; a kid in a hoodie, maybe baggy pants." And yes, he would also have brown skin and why should the president NOT be shook to think it could have been his own child gunned down mostly for the color of his skin. In America, in the 21st century - this should shake us all to our very core.
ReplyDeleteNewt is an idiot. Captain, you say is with much more style and thoughtfulness. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteForgive me, I, possessing a mixture of political views and philosophical proclivities can say it straight out, Newtie is an ass, a bigot, and a disgrace to what once was a honorable republican party.
ReplyDeleteI had the occasion to enjoy lunch with my lovely wife and a black friend today. A man whom I (we) can talk with more openly than I (we) can with most of our white friends. Naturally the conversation found its way to the Trayvon Martin tragedy. James knows I blog so he and I discussed my recent blog post(s)in which I intentionally choose to not refer to Trayvon as a black youth, however I did head the article with his picture. I asked James if he understood why I choose to post as I did. He smiled and said yes he understood and that in his mind it was the right choice. It seems we both understand the bigger picture.
I have a son. He wears hoodies. In the dark he looks like Treyvon. He resembles him in the daytime to a degree also. Same faceshape and eye shape. Same body type.
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't deserve to be stalked and shot by a paranoid nutbag either.
My sons wear hoodies too. I had no idea it had a "bad" stigma attached it to! And why would I? It's an article of clothing, for Pete's sake! I have hoodies! Am I going to get gunned down next time I wear mine running from my car to the store when it's raining?
ReplyDeleteHas the world gone completely bat ass crazy?
Do we have to keep our children locked up now and never send them to the store? WTF?!
The only comment I can make at this point is an attempt to reassure everyone that in the most perfect society, there are going to be incidents like this. We have over 300 million people and if there were 300 such incidents in a year, it would be a one in a million occurrence.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have anything like that number and your kids are much safer in America than in much of the world.
We need to deal with the racist vigilantes and crooked cops and prosecutors, but we need to keep things in perspective. Once upon a time, it wouldn't have made the papers and that time wasn't so long ago because I remember it.