Half-black President with a funny name... Hispanic woman on the Supreme Court.....

[scheming daemons]

...Our government is actually starting to look like it is "BY THE PEOPLE".... finally.



And everywhere, racists and bigots shed another tear for losing more of "THEIR" America.....

[BlooInBloo]

1. Yep. That train is leaving. Get on board, or wait hatefully to die an old bigot.

[Chipper Chat]

2. "If Strom Thurmond became president in 1949

we wouldn't have all these problems today....."
:evilgrin:

[MADem]

5. I actually felt sorry for Trent Lott over that debacle.

Yes, he's an asshole, but he didn't mean that. He was just trying to jolly along an old man, a former Dixiecrat like himself. And that comment was used to de-ball him....and believe it or not, he was the best Republican friend Democrats had at the time.

He was one of the few Republicans who actually did work across the aisle. He also was in the habit of telling the White House to FUCK OFF when they wanted bullshit legislation rammed through. And when he brought jobs to his state, they were jobs for people of all colors--which is why a surprising number of black voters pulled the lever for that racist reprobate. He brought the jobs--they didn't want him in THEIR houses, either.

But he didn't work well with Bush--or more meaningfully, Cheney. He didn't do what the White House told him to do. THAT's why he was removed. In any other circumstance (like, say, if he'd been a COMPLIANT leader) the GOP would have lined up behind him after that idiotic Strom comment and said "Nothing to see here."

Instead, they were ordered by Cheney to play the Faux Poutrage card, and Trent was sent on his way, to be replaced by a compliant yes man who ceded his leader duties to Dick "Fuck You" Cheney.

John and Teresa Heinz-Kerry sent a planeload of goods to Lott after Katrina, when his house was blown away. They regard him as a friend. It's sometimes more complex than it looks on the surface. He wasn't "all bad."

[Chipper Chat]

9. Yup. The repukes cut him loose.

If Vitter, Ensign, and Craig were moderates and bipartisan like Trent there is no way they would be around today. If you're in the circle you can stay in the circle. If not: one gaffe and you're out.

[newtothegame]

3. I hope at some point over the next few years, after electing an African-American as President...

posts regarding race on DU will drop below the 50% level. I hope.

PS It definitely does not look like the people. We still need:

Single mother
HIV patients
Former prisoners
etc.
etc.
etc.

PS Why is it that no one talks about how these groups are under-represented, or not represented at all, but it's a HUGE deal to make sure all races are represented? I think single mothers (or single fathers for that matter) could have a lot to say about the way this country is ran, and how to improve everyone's future. Same with prisoners.

Not trying to rile anybody up, just asking for thoughts.

ed for sp

[BlooInBloo]

4. No happy moment would be complete without people like you.

[newtothegame]

6. I'm sorry you're so unhappy...

But the fact is we obsess about race on DU at least as much or more than the idiot freepers, yet we could care less that there are still significant groups under-represented. I'm merely pointing out that having various "life experiences" representing us should be at least as important as having different skin colors.

[MADem]

10. A lot of people live with HIV and don't feel the need to announce it to everyone.

How do you "know" there aren't HIV positive people in government? Not everyone is comfortable "advertising" their medical conditions or being a disease "spokesperson."

And there's at least one single mother in Congress (a former welfare recipient, too): http://woolsey.house.gov/meetlynn.asp

That's just off the top of my head. There could well be more.

Alcee Hastings avoided jail, but he was convicted.

The reason race is a topic is because the nation needs to have that "national conversation." We're probably never going to have it, but instead, we'll end up working it out over a long haul of text messages and twitters.

[newtothegame]

11. Agreed MADem, but why is that conversation so much more important than others? n/t

For instance, why after the election was it more important to celebrate the fact that the President looked a little bit different than previous Presidents, rather than actively fighting the fact that millions of Americans had just been branded second class citizens through Prop 8 in the same election? Hell, even our administrator Skinner took time to "congratulate" me and other African-Americans on DU for what, having the same skin color as the President? Not a peep from him on Prop 8 until days later when he got called out for it.

[MADem]

12. Because it IS important. It's hugely important.

Take a look at our prisons, and tell me, are they full of "Prop 8 second class citizens"....or BLACK MEN? Take a look at the unemployment rolls--are they disproportionately populated by "Prop 8 second class citizens"....or BLACK MEN?

There's something woefully amiss in our society when it comes to race. STILL. Skip Gates proved that just the other week.

And while you focus on Prop 8 haters on the west coast, you ignore progress on the East Coast (and elsewhere). Equality has been law of the land in MA for some time (and nobody notices, which is as it should be). And we're not the only state. See, there are STATES where a gay man (or woman) can go and be treated like everyone else--at least, as far as the laws of the state go.

Is there a state in the USA where a black man can go and EXPECT, without any question, without any debate, without any worry, without any concern, to be treated like your Average White Man? The answer is NO. There isn't. STILL. It is now harder for the racist to get away with the shit they used to pull back in the day, but the black man is always looking over his shoulder. ALWAYS. It's a fact of life, still. And the black woman has to deal with the same shit and then some.

What you are, in essence, saying, is that the gay equality fight deserves "more" attention that the fight for racial equality, which has been going on--in the public square, mind you--since well before 1865, when "slaves" became "citizens."

The fight for racial equality also affects every single aspect of American life, from buying a car or a house, to getting a job, a university placement, or a prison sentence. Are people denied credit for being gay? "Quota'd" at colleges and universities? More likely to be sentenced to jail time? Less likely to become employed? More likely to be arrested for driving while black, "loitering," or things of that nature? Followed around the department store?

If that's your perspective, that it's the "turn" for gay equality, well, you're certainly entitled to it. I think, however, as relative newcomers to the organized efforts of the Equality fight (compared to blacks, who have been in the game for well over a hundred years, or women--who have been asking for an ERA for only, what--eighty six years?) there are some who might say you have done far better than some without paying half as many dues--and you continue on a positive trajectory. Equality IS the law of the land in many states....and like I said, I don't know a state in the union where a black man can drive a hundred thousand dollar car through a tony neighborhood without having that 'idea' in the back of his head that a cop could pull him over for driving a "too nice" car, and suspecting that he stole it.

It would be nice if America could walk and chew gum at the same time, but they do tend to focus on some issues, like those surrounding matters of equality, in sequential order.

While it's nice that Skinner issues congratulatory messages, that are certainly appreciated, I'm sure, it's wrong, in my opinion, to look to him for leadership in that way, and expect his "message from on high" to be the arbiter of what issues matter and which ones don't. He's a guy who owns a website we use. He's not the Pope. We didn't elect him to anything. I'm pretty sure I don't march in lockstep with every view he has, or he with me. What I do, though, is read his rules for his website, that he owns, and do my best to follow them if I want to play in his playground.

[timeforpeace]

7. Houston, we have Utopia!

[thereismore]

8. "I want MY America back!!!"

:sarcasm:

[Kievan Rus]

13. THAT is why the wingnuts hate Obama so much