Sure, a sign like that isn't racist - but a sign that says "Obamanomics - Monkey See, Monkey Spend" - like what was at a Denver tea party - that is clearly racist.

I totally get the rationing health care thing.

What it really means is that if you are a Catholic entity that does not do abortions and dispense baby-killing drugs you won't be getting any healthcare money.

Way to go, to all those "Catholics" who voted for Obama.

My response to Berwick:

http://gerardnadal.com/2010/07/16/culture-of-death-rationing-abundance/

EGV,

Except for in YOUR mind, what do monkeys have to do with black people? I have often heard children, myself included, referred to as monkeys, usually when they were mischievous. "Monkey see monkey do" is an expression as old as the hills.
When black people make any kind of reference to crackers, is it racist? Is it racist to say something is spic and span?
Get real EGV.

Speaking of racism, what do you think of AG Eric Holder dropping charges against New Black Panther members who intimidated voters, referring to some white voters as crackers?

The George Steinbrenner one was funny.

Nice touch in the Berwick cartoon to put smoking Obama and Karl Marx portraits on the wall. Very appropriate.

I liked the Steinbrenner one too, Liz.

I'm kind of disappointed in the Maine vacation cartoon that they didn't find a way to work in the environment-friendly First Family's use of a second plane to fly in the First Dog for his vacation.

FedUp 10:28am

An excellent point. Our MSM apparently has much in common with the First Family lapdog.

EGV,

Speaking of racism, what do you think of Bill Clinton speaking of Senator Byrd's "brush" with the KKK while delivering the late senator's eulogy? Odd he said nothing about Byrd's filibustering civil and voting rights legislation.
Well, what can one expect from the same Bill Clinton who said Obama would have been serving the Clintons their coffee a year prior to his(Obama's) presidential nomination?

"Sure, a sign like that isn't racist - but a sign that says "Obamanomics - Monkey See, Monkey Spend" - like what was at a Denver tea party - that is clearly racist."

No. It's a rewording of the old "Monkey see, monkey do." It refers to ANYBODY who simply reacts without thinking to whatever they see. In Obama's case, he sees it, he spends it.

I think a lot of the problems the Left has with the TEA Party is that most TEA Party folks live in a post-racial world. They really do just judge people by the content of their character. They see Obama as a MAN, not as a BLACK man. So they make the same comments about him that they'd make about a white or Hispanic or Asian person doing or saying the same thing. His race doesn't enter into it. But the Left sees everything through a race lens.

"I'm kind of disappointed in the Maine vacation cartoon that they didn't find a way to work in the environment-friendly First Family's use of a second plane to fly in the First Dog for his vacation."

Posted by: Fed Up at July 18, 2010 10:28 AM

NO WAY!!!

Hi Janet, Bo and an aide flew in separately. I thought "blue dogs" were fiscal conservatives :)

First clearing up the story about Obama's dog flying in a second jet. The President always has an abundance of others flying with him. The big jet he normally flys on was to big for the air port they flew into, so they had to take 2 smaller jets. His dog did not have his very own private jet, he was in the company of the Presidents staff.

Second, Obama is not just black, he is white. Something he and his own family don't seem to identify with. My niece is mixed black and white and she identifies herself as black. Bi-racials especially it "seems" between black and white have the hardest in this identity.

Third, Ex-GOP Voter...I agree with Mary, in your own mind you see it that way so it is that way. I don't see saying, "Monkey see, Monkey do" or in this case "Monkey See, Monkey Spend" can be a racist remark at all. A Monkey's behavior is to mimmick, that's what they do. I have never in my life ever thought of a person's skin color whenever I have heard that, I thought of behavior...period. When I was a kid we would play follow the leader and without fail someone would act like a monkey!

Forth, I work in the Pro-life mission world, for the most part I know an attack from the devil when I "feel" it. I get these attacks on a regular basis. Mel Gibson brought us "The Passion of Christ" a film so powerful the devil wants to destroy him for it. That film changed peoples lives. I know people who watch that movie without fail every Easter season. A man confessed to murder. People came back to Christ. Remember the stories of conversions? Mel Gibson NEEDS our prayers. He is a sinner like anyone of us. It is rumored he is moving away from Hollywood to his homeland, Australia with Robin, his former wife and some of their kids. I pray he does, it may save his life.

Mary!!! Excellent post! That is exactly what I thought....we just caught you x-GOP exposing yourself as the true racist!

I have been to tea parties. There are many tea partiers who are black and hispanic. The tea party is about a return to the Constitution and fiscal responsibility. Skin color has nothing to do with that. Only the left can't seem to see anything but the color of people's skin. The right has already embrace MLK's dream...we judge on the content of character not on skin pigmentation.

Wow - touched a nerve there - just the mere thought that the tea party might have some racism caused, in a few posts:

- Me to be called a racist (my friends from India will get a kick out of that one)
- Eric Holder to be a supporter or racists
- Bill Clinton to be questioned for not bringing up Byrd's racism AT THE GUYS FUNERAL!

Pretty slick - again - must have touched a nerve. The "monkey see" sign came with a drawing - look it up yourself. Though I will say, nice cover-ups - Howard Cosell really could have used you folks in his corner.

I've read all I need to from the study from Parker at the U of Washington - nice to go beyond signs and people's gut feelings and look at the actual data.

Ha! you so didn't touch a nerve X-GOP...at least not my nerve. Just calling you out on your hypocrisy!

Ohhh, cool! you have friends from India? My friends from Haiti, Nepal, Niger, China and Guatemala will be sooooo impressed!

I mean really? Like having a couple friends from India is just PROOF you are NOT a racist. HUH?

Sydney - quite frankly, you don't know me so hurling charges of racism is not only reckless, but pretty immature. So let's get it to an actual level beyond "I've been to a rally" - do you dispute the numbers from the Washington study that was done and widely circulated?

Sydney - quite frankly, you don't know me so hurling charges of racism is not only reckless, but pretty immature. So let's get it to an actual level beyond "I've been to a rally" - do you dispute the numbers from the Washington study that was done and widely circulated?

Oh I'm sorry X-GOP. You're the one hurling insults. You called us racist because of one sign you heard about that actually wasn't racist but if anything proved your bigotry. When we call you on it you huff how immature we (or I) am. Well fine.

I'll answer your question. This study by the University of Washington proves nothing. Number one, they only had 1000 respondents. No one asked ME if I'm racist and I am a member of the Tea Party. Out of 1000 only 300 some qualified. Out that 300 only 100 were pro-tea party. So really out of 100 people you're gonna get REAL, SCIENTIFIC data on the Tea Party? What a joke!

The way the questions were posed showed the researcher's biases. They asked loaded questions and other pollsters admit that the way this study was conducted was flawed and did not give true, raw date on the TP. It was manipulated to produce the result the researchers wanted.

So no, I don't trust this study. I've actually been there with these so-called "racists". Why don't you do your own research x-GOP? Actually go a tea party and quietly observe. You will find no racists there because the tea party movement isn't about race. Its really only the liberals who try to make EVERYTHING about race.

"The "monkey see" sign came with a drawing - look it up yourself"

So only liberals are allowed to characterize a sitting president as a monkey? I just tried to post a comment with links depicting President Bush as a monkey, but it got held for moderation. So I'll retry without active links, you can copy & paste for yourself.

George Bush's physical appearance compared to a monkey: jasonjeffrey.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/george-bush-monkey-5.jpg

George Bush portrayed as a constitution-shredding monkey: doctorbulldog.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/george_w_bush_ds_300.jpg

Dems portray George Bush as a gun-toting monkey: doctorbulldog.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/monkey-bush-withagun.jpg

Presidential policy depicted with monkeys: doctorbulldog.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/bush_cheney_rumsfeld_chimps1.jpg

Either it didn't make Jill's top five or she just didn't happen to see it, but I think you all would like this cartoon-- http://cartoonbox.slate.com/hottopic/?image=8&topicid=429

The other thing I heard about this study is that they didn't actually prove that those who responded with "racist" answers were really tea partiers. For all any of us know they could have been liberal plants. You know the liberals have done that... infiltrated tea parties and acted badly to try to cast us in a bad light...but they were found out!

Uh EGV,

Who made the charge of racism to begin with? Bingo. A drawing? Oh yes, like drawings depicting President Bush as a Nazi, burning him in effigy, and making a movie about his being assassinated. And this is nothing compared to the abuse and ridicule Lyndon Johnson endured. You should have seen some of those drawings. Obama is certainly not the first president to be portrayed in a less than flattering manner.

Please answer the question concerning Eric Holder.
OK let me make it simple. Two klansman stand in front of a voting station hurtling racial slurs at black voters and swing a nightstick. Your reaction please.

One more thing EGV, Indian and Pakistani people are caucasian. Put simply, they're white. Also, I spent my childhood in more diversity than you will ever see in a lifetime so I'm less than impressed with you having friends from India.

EGV, Clinton brought up the fact Byrd was a klansman at his funeral in an attempt to "explain" and "excuse" his actions. The same Bill Clinton who suggested Obama would have been serving him coffee the year before defeating HIllary for the Democrat nomination for president.
No one else did and Clinton didn't need to. Damn if only Byrd had been a Republican. It would sure have made things a lot easier.

Hi Sydney M,

Thank you for the kind words.

Ever notice its the liberals who make an issue of the racial makeup of the tea party movement? How many blacks, women, hispanics, gay people, etc.
Tea partiers don't know or care! Some commentator, I believe it was Keith Odorman, stated that black tea partiers should have been put in front of the camera! These bastions of tolerance should realize this is called tokenism. Can we say "tokenism" boys and girls?
Good. Now see if we can say "patronizing".

Sigh... the left also went crazy on how the billboard comparing three types of socialism and their most famous faces as racist. (I can't remember if it was Lenin or Marx, but the second was Obama and the third Hitler).

How precisely is it racist to compare Obama to two WHITE men? Sorry, but that one confuses me. Obviously they aren't all being lumped together as black men... since they aren't, so the sign, like it or not or think it's effective or not, clearly isn't racist.

Sydney - regarding the sample size information and views of the tea party, Parker did some follow-up interviews with polling and research sites - here's his answer directly:

Question: Some readers were puzzled that you reported data for those who either strongly approve or strongly disapprove of the tea party movement. Could you say what share of respondents fall into that category and how each differs from the remaining subset of white respondents who neither strongly approve nor disapprove?

Answer: I understand why some readers are curious about support for the tea party among whites who are not on either end of the distribution. Here's what I have: Based upon 354 valid cases for this item (30% say they never heard of the tea party or have no opinion), 19% (N = 66) strongly disapprove of the tea party; 17% (N = 59) somewhat disapprove of it; 32% (N = 112) somewhat approve of the tea party; and 33% (N = 117) strongly approve of it. (Of course, when those that have never heard of the tea party (30%; N= 157) are included, increasing the number of observations to 511, the cell sizes change: 13% strongly disapprove; 12% somewhat disapprove of it; 22% somewhat approve; and 23% strongly approve of it.)

More details on how these categories differ on a range of relevant issues will follow in the coming days. The results will be available on the WISER website at the University of Washington.

How precisely is it racist to compare Obama to two WHITE men?

Elisabeth, I heard an NAACP supporter talking about that today. He said it's racist to compare the president to the others on the billboard because his policies aren't similar to the others. It wasn't about skin color, it was the suggestion that he resembles them in other ways. I'm paraphrasing because I don't recall his exact words.

Was it racist in 2006 for the NAACP chairman to compare Republicans with the Nazis?

Personally, I don't think it is racist to compare Obama to Nazis - I think it is simply a lack of education or sense of history - the suggestion would be along the lines of a skinhead who simply doesn't get it.

It is free speech though, and good free speech - I think it is good for society to know the people who are slightly smarter than than a horse's behind.

Sydney and EGV,

You are right Sydney, this study proves nothing. It only provides evidence supporting a hypothesis. No study ever "proves" anything. It only provides or fails to provide supporting evidence. No responsible researcher will ever claim otherwise. Groups and individuals however will jump on studies that "prove" what they have believed all along.

EGV I would suggest that you not ever limit yourself to one study simply because it reinforces what you believe to be true. If you know anything about research, you will realize that this study does not give you all you need to know, it only reinforces what you want to believe. Be assured that another researcher will be prepared to discredit this study and will likely succeed, and yet another researcher will follow that one. As I pointed out to Sydney, no responsible researcher ever claims his/her study settles an issue or gives a final answer.

EGV,

Like Hitler and Lenin, Obama is a socialist. That's nothing racial. Like HItler, Obama is taking over industry, the financial system and health care. Hitler was a street thug who mesmerized the German people. Obama is a Chicago thug who mesmerized the American people.

Skinheads are nothing but anarchists and social rejects.

Mary - Thanks Mary for the opinions...again, I love free speech because it is good to figure out some stuff about people.

Oh, and Mary - I've got a deal for you. See, I believe Sarah Palin is a Communist spy - so, if you see any Jewish citizens being rounded up, you give me a call and I promise to join you to fight the nazis. If I see the Russians moving in, can I give you a call and you can come help me? It only seems fair.

EGV,

You're not making a lot of sense. But like you said, free speech is good to figure out some stuff about people.

Mary, it's interesting that EGV chose to ridicule instead of countering your claim with anything substantial to suggest that PBHO's policies are disconnected from his ties to marxist groups.