Fareed Zakaria: The ‘birther’ issue is coded racism

[spanone]

Fareed Zakaria on Donald Trump and coded racism


2. Then there is the ‘birther’ issue. I regard this as coded racism, frankly. I don’t think there’s any other word for it.

For goodness' sake, George Stephanopoulos displayed Obama's Certificate of Live Birth on network TV and this rumor still doesn't die. Put it this way: If the President was a white man named John Smith with the other background issues being the same - foreign student father, mother in Hawaii, etc. - would there be any of these dark insinuations? Trump should be ashamed of himself. But then, I suppose, he wouldn't be Donald Trump.

I don’t think that the 'birther' issue the real appeal of Trump, anyway. It has just helped Trump get free media and rise up in the polls. His real appeal is the fantasy that he can somehow get us out of the mess we’re in.

The reality, however, is that only we can get us out of the mess we’re in.

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/22/fareed-zakaria-on-the-donald-trump-fantasy/?hpt=C1

[L. Coyote]

1. It certainly is pathetic desperation!

Lies are not issues!

[freshwest]

10. +1000

[Keith Bee]

2. Well, DUHHHHHHH!

I can't rec this. But I won't unrec it either. It's kinda like saying that water is wet.

[spanone]

3. it is good that it is being said by such people on cnn

personally i think it's blatant racism....no coding i can detect

[Keith Bee]

9. Yep

Pretty much

[shamocrat]

4. AC360 Birther Investigation Special On Monday

Don't miss it
http://americanintelligencereport.blogspot.com/2011/04/ac360-birther-investigation.html

[fried eggs]

7. I'm cringing at the thought of this issue

receiving so much prime time attention.

[shamocrat]

15. He's going to put a stop to the myth ONCE AND FOR ALL

Isn't that what we need?

[OnTheOtherHand]

17. that isn't likely at all

Bill O'Reilly more than once has criticized birtherism, and that hasn't killed it. Do you really think that having Anderson Cooper take it on will make the difference? If anything, the birthers will probably be cheering about how the Liberal Media is running scared.

Not to be too downbeat -- presumably someone will turn it on and learn something.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[McCamy Taylor]

5. Birther issue is code for "I'm a moron."

The pictures of Obama as a monkey are racist.

"Birthers" are the ones who think Hillary killed Vince Foster.

[crickets]

6. Of course it is.

Why else would anyone continue to bring it up?

[RufusTFirefly]

8. What? Coded racism??

I'm sure there are more obvious observations, but right now I'm drawing a blank.

[Cobalt-60]

12. They can't deny Obama the presidency based on color

Wailing about that uppity n*gger in the White House won't get him out and they know it.
But if they just believe hard enough that he's a foreigner then it will become so and then
they can get his black *ss out.
At least that's my interpretation of their motivation.
Birther = Racist = Imbecile

[The Magistrate]

13. That Is Pretty Much the Mental Process, Sir

"Dammit, this used to be a white man's country!"

[pinto]

11. Kick

:kick:

[Maraya1969]

14. Jimmy Carter said that many people in the US do not believe a black man

is qualified to be president of the United States, (paraphrasing). So since they have no real scandal why not try and de-legitimize him by his ancestry which includes the color of his skin.

And it is just surreptitious enough that people can say that they are not doing it because of racism. But as the OP said it would never happen with a white man.

[malaise]

16. 100% correct

Rec

[KharmaTrain]

19. Another Tactic...De-Legitimazation...

We saw some on this side of the sandbox do the same with booooosh regarding his discharge papers and his accounting for going AWOL in 1972. It's an attempt to discredit the legitimacy of the person and thus the government. In boooosh's case he never did answer those questions...but the corporate media looked the other way...and in the case of Dan Rather, the right wing slime machine was able to set up and then take down a long time adversary.

There's a lot of racism in the rushpublican party...and that adds to the numbers of people who believe the birfer shit. But it's not the only reason. We saw them go after the Clenis which was another attempt to delegitimize a Democratic President and how they tried to portray Al Gore as not "macho" and Kerry as lying about his military record. It's personal to the nth degree and it resonates with those who don't want to accept a President and the fact he was elected by a significant margin. Delegitimizing takes away the sting of losing and then rallies the base in distracting and obstructing...and Democrats are at fault for constantly letting ths happen and governing from weaknessn not strength.

[Jim Lane]

20. To be fair, there was some McCain birtherism.

I agree that racism is a huge component in the questioning of Obama's eligibility. There were, however, some questions raised about McCain's eligibility, because he was born in Panama. (He was born to two U.S. citizen parents, and thereby acquired citizenship at birth, but even the tint of foreign-ness was enough to upset some people.)

For that matter, there were even questions raised about Barry Goldwater in 1964. He was born in Arizona before it became a state. Even most liberal Democrats thought that someone born in a U.S. territory was a natural-born citizen. A few tried to attack Goldwater on the point, however.

The nutjobs ye have always with ye.