Where is the back lash

[BobCatFan]

Where is the backlash? Senator Biden makes a racist remark and no one complains. Oh, I forgot, he is on left side of political spectrum and it is ok for them to be racists.

http://video.nationaljournal.com/Monday/BidenIndian.mov

[SonomaCat]

What application did you use to view that file?

And do you happen to have a written version of the racist remark for those of us who can't watch the clip?

[maroon]

Sort of like Conrad Burns calling Arabs "ragheads."

[SonomaCat]

Huh. Biden said that a lot of Indian-Americans in Delaware work at 7 Elevens and Dunkin' Donuts when he was talking to an Indian-American guy.

Where's he hiding that white hood, eh?

[PapaG]

Huh. Biden said that a lot of Indian-Americans in Delaware work at 7 Elevens and Dunkin' Donuts when he was talking to an Indian-American guy.

Where's he hiding that white hood, eh?

No, he said you can't enter a 7/11 or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a "slight Indian accent".

At the very least, don't apologize for this goofy, bigoted comment just because Biden is from your side of the aisle. Trent Lott was clobbered for a lot less than this stereotype. And let's not bring up Hillary saying Ghandi would be running a gas station in St. Louis these days.

[SonomaCat]

If only I had a side of the aisle ...

I don't know ... if we compare a Lott reference to wishing that the pro-segregationist Dixiecrats had taken control of the country (albeit I do think he was just being nice to an old man, but it came out sounding really bad) to Biden making a reference to Indian accents and Dunkin' Donuts ... I'm not sure that Lott comes out as the lesser of the two evils.

I don't think Biden's comment was particularly smart (particularly for a politician), but let's call this for what it is ... a fishing expedition to try to turn something quite benign into something much bigger in retaliation for past instances exactly like the Lott incident.

If a Republican had said the exact same thing, I wouldn't think it was a big deal, either.

Unless, of course, Biden is basing his comment only on stereotypes developed from watching episodes of The Simpsons as opposed to a real observation that Indian-Americans do actually own most of those businesses in Delaware.

[PapaG]

If only I had a side of the aisle ...

I don't know ... if we compare a Lott reference to wishing that the pro-segregationist Dixiecrats had taken control of the country (albeit I do think he was just being nice to an old man, but it came out sounding really bad) to Biden making a reference to Indian accents and Dunkin' Donuts ... I'm not sure that Lott comes out as the lesser of the two evils.

I don't think Biden's comment was particularly smart (particularly for a politician), but let's call this for what it is ... a fishing expedition to try to turn something quite benign into something much bigger in retaliation for past instances exactly like the Lott incident.

If a Republican had said the exact same thing, I wouldn't think it was a big deal, either.

Unless, of course, Biden is basing his comment only on stereotypes developed from watching episodes of The Simpsons as opposed to a real observation that Indian-Americans do actually own most of those businesses in Delaware.

I really was just having some fun. I thought your defensiveness was a product of today's political climate so I probed.

[DriftCat]

If only I had a side of the aisle ...

I don't know ... if we compare a Lott reference to wishing that the pro-segregationist Dixiecrats had taken control of the country (albeit I do think he was just being nice to an old man, but it came out sounding really bad) to Biden making a reference to Indian accents and Dunkin' Donuts ... I'm not sure that Lott comes out as the lesser of the two evils.

I don't think Biden's comment was particularly smart (particularly for a politician), but let's call this for what it is ... a fishing expedition to try to turn something quite benign into something much bigger in retaliation for past instances exactly like the Lott incident.

If a Republican had said the exact same thing, I wouldn't think it was a big deal, either.
Unless, of course, Biden is basing his comment only on stereotypes developed from watching episodes of The Simpsons as opposed to a real observation that Indian-Americans do actually own most of those businesses in Delaware.

You might not.....but the media would be all over it. You can count on that. Of course it would be Bush's fault that this was said in the first place.

[SonomaCat]

If only I had a side of the aisle ...

I don't know ... if we compare a Lott reference to wishing that the pro-segregationist Dixiecrats had taken control of the country (albeit I do think he was just being nice to an old man, but it came out sounding really bad) to Biden making a reference to Indian accents and Dunkin' Donuts ... I'm not sure that Lott comes out as the lesser of the two evils.

I don't think Biden's comment was particularly smart (particularly for a politician), but let's call this for what it is ... a fishing expedition to try to turn something quite benign into something much bigger in retaliation for past instances exactly like the Lott incident.

If a Republican had said the exact same thing, I wouldn't think it was a big deal, either.

Unless, of course, Biden is basing his comment only on stereotypes developed from watching episodes of The Simpsons as opposed to a real observation that Indian-Americans do actually own most of those businesses in Delaware.

I really was just having some fun. I thought your defensiveness was a product of today's political climate so I probed.

Yeah, I am quite familiar with that approach to posting as well.

[SonomaCat]

If only I had a side of the aisle ...

I don't know ... if we compare a Lott reference to wishing that the pro-segregationist Dixiecrats had taken control of the country (albeit I do think he was just being nice to an old man, but it came out sounding really bad) to Biden making a reference to Indian accents and Dunkin' Donuts ... I'm not sure that Lott comes out as the lesser of the two evils.

I don't think Biden's comment was particularly smart (particularly for a politician), but let's call this for what it is ... a fishing expedition to try to turn something quite benign into something much bigger in retaliation for past instances exactly like the Lott incident.

If a Republican had said the exact same thing, I wouldn't think it was a big deal, either.
Unless, of course, Biden is basing his comment only on stereotypes developed from watching episodes of The Simpsons as opposed to a real observation that Indian-Americans do actually own most of those businesses in Delaware.

You might not.....but the media would be all over it. You can count on that. Of course it would be Bush's fault that this was said in the first place.

I agree with your satire ... the Republican and conservative media machines have manufactured a victim complex talking point quite well and do pull the "liberal media" card at the drop of a hat.

In all seriousness, I don't think the major media players would treat this exact circumstance any differently based on party affiliation. Although I do think that Republicans have to be more vigilant about not appearing to be racist as their party does, quite unfortunately, include most of the people who are, in fact, outspoken racists. That's not necessarily the fault of the party, but it just happens to be that most white supremecist groups consider themselves to be conservatives. With that (small, but loud) element in the Republican Party, everybody in the party has to be more careful as they already have that taint from the onset.

On the other side, the left certainly includes the (small, but loud) radicals on such issues as condoning domestic terrorism for animal rights, or even some overtly anti-American people who are looking for an American Che revolution. Again, these are very, very small parts of the make-up of the party, but it puts a taint on the party and makes any comment even vaguely on-topic by a Democrat that much more subject to scrutiny in the public eye.

So I guess Republicans just need to be diligent to police their own and to expunge racist ideas from their own party (which, for the most part, they do), and I hope that one day that taint will vanish completely.

[ChiOCat]

Really, who cares. Unless he said the only thing they CAN do is work in a 7/11, then where is the insult? There is some truth to what he did say, many of the people that immigrate here take the lower jobs. Why is that bad? They are starting where most of our ancestors did when they arrived.

Then again, when I went back to recruit at MSU, I found that a much larger majority of the Chem E students were from India and surrounding areas.

I'm so sick of the overly sensitive PC crowd.

Not that any of you are among them, I'm just grumpy and venting.

[SonomaCat]

Really, who cares. Unless he said the only thing they CAN do is work in a 7/11, then where is the insult? There is some truth to what he did say, many of the people that immigrate here take the lower jobs. Why is that bad? They are starting where most of our ancestors did when they arrived.

Then again, when I went back to recruit at MSU, I found that a much larger majority of the Chem E students were from India and surrounding areas.

I'm so sick of the overly sensitive PC crowd.

Not that any of you are among them, I'm just grumpy and venting.

I agree 100% ... especially since it is my understanding that many Indians actually OWN those businesses, so it can't even be taken as a suggestion that they aren't also very successful.

Had he said that it was the only thing they do, then yes, it would be bad.

I work in an office that is about 70% Indian, so similar to your Chem E experience, I can attest that there are a lot of Indians in the U.S. that know a whole lot about software development as well.

[ChiOCat]

I agree 100% ... especially since it is my understanding that many Indians actually OWN those businesses, so it can't even be taken as a suggestion that they aren't also very successful.

Like Apu