Is There a Manual of Which I am Not in Possession? (UDATED)

I had to come up for air to comment about this: prepare to roll your eyes and smack your forehead (in my case, fivehead) after reading this op-ed about you-know-who.

"Elitist" is another word for "arrogant," which is another word for "uppity," that old calumny applied to blacks who stood up for themselves.

Perhaps I've been taken off of the Code Word mailing list for cause.

Unwillingly, I feel a bit of admiration toward the author, David K. Shipler, for his ability to twist the definition of the word 'elitist' into a racial epithet. That takes skill.

Okay, I'll say it. Robert Johnson was :::cough::: :::hack::: correct.

(Thanks to Cuffy Meigs posting at Ace)

SOMETHING I MISSED: Cuffy finds another Shipler op-ed using a word that doesn't need to be in the Code Word manual.

TWIST AGAIN: Neptunus Lex reminds me that Dick Cavett criticized General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker for using high-falutin', specialized language when the latter two addressed a couple of senate committees last week--implying that the two were elitist. Does that mean that Dick Cavett is a racist? Or is that only a white-on-black crime?

What an ugly game this has become.

Comments

[Tully]

Darn it, I seem to be a few editions behind as well.

That takes skill.

"Skill" is another word for "expertise," which is another word for "knowledge," which is another word for "intellect."* And Shipler is white. See what happens when they don't send you the updates? ;-)

(I can play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon too!)

[Phelps]

Actually, doesn't this mean that every lib that has ever called you elitist for not being left was a racist?

Oh, that's right, only people on the right can be racist.

[rockhauler]

So what' his name is trying to make the case that Obama is just another ordinary guy?

Is he also making the case that Harvard U is just another University who'll take anybody who can pay the tuition?

Do we then assume that graduates of that ordinary university are no better educated than graduates of any other institution?

[S. Weasel]

Can I smack *his* forehead instead?

If there's glee in Obama showing himself to be elitist, I thinks it's because that's the exact same thing that deep sixed their last guy. Two insufferable snobs in a row? w00t!

I didn't get an "uppity negro" vibe off it at all. The opposite: thank god he's not really something new, just another snooty liberal after all.

[brotherbrown]

If Bob Johnson is right, then it should be said for the record that the only reason he got an FCC licence for a local DC channel back in the seventies is because he was black.

Furthermore, we may never have been "blessed" with BET had Johnson been a white man. I can't see John Malone backing a white man on a venture called Black Entertainment Television.

Johnson should be ashamed of himself, and so should anyone who agrees.

[baldilocks]

If Bob Johnson is right, then it should be said for the record that the only reason he got an FCC license for a local DC channel back in the seventies is because he was black.

And?

Johnson should be ashamed of himself, and so should anyone who agrees.

Why?

[doubleplusundead]

What an ugly game this has become.

Yeah, but it is a hell of a lot of fun to watch. Popcorn anyone?

[brotherbrown]

And...he sounds like an idiot who forgot how he got where he is.

He should be ashamed because he sounds bitter that Obama might become president instead of the person he chose. If he thinks Mrs. Clinton is the best choice, tell us why she should be president. It's really embarrassing.

[Tully]

Yeah, but it is a hell of a lot of fun to watch. Popcorn anyone?

I bought several bushels. I hope that's enough to get me through to the conventions. Got some peanuts too. It isn't really a circus without peanuts.

[AH·C]

Boy, Shipley is deep -- an inch deep and logically as twisted as a pretzel. I guess that's on an order of magnitude deeper than the typical nutroot

[DarkStar]

Bob Johnson was trying to start an airline and start flying out of National. He didn't get it and he said it was because of racism.

Johnson said BET was selling at a discount and was not valued properly. He said it was racism and took BET private again, screwing stock holders. He later sold to VIACOM.

Johnson is saying who uses race too fast?

[baldilocks]

Just because Johnson is a hypocrite doesn't make him wrong in this instance. Hence the hacking.

[brotherbrown]

Actually, the point Ferraro and Johnson miss is this: a white man with Obama's resume, charisma, fundraising prowess and lead in the primaries would have had all his opponents concede the race by now.

So if you must play the "if he was a white man" game, at least get the game right.

[DarkStar]

Someone without political skills would not have gotten this far. Jesse Jackson, Sr. didn't. Al Sharpton didn't. Douglas Wilder didn't. Shirley Chisolm didn't.