The New Republic

"But pressed on what was funny about an image that plays on racist stereotypes about Africans, McKalip declined to say, instead offering to talk about why he opposes Obama's health-care proposals.

"I have a busy day," he said eventually, before ending the call."

Charming.

- rozenson

July 23, 2009 at 11:23am

We must remember that male conservatives are 'real men' and 'real men' are only conservative. Real men get to say whatever they like, and scoff at those who dare to point out their bigotry and malice. Speaking of entitlements.

- tomeg

July 23, 2009 at 11:42am

Too bad Pajamas TV doesn't pick this up. Conservative Republicans in Congress have gone on PJTV to oppose Barack Obama's health care plan.

- liberal reformer

July 23, 2009 at 11:49am

First of all, that is the coolest motherfucking hat I have seen this year, and I live in the whacko-abundant Bay Area, so that's saying a lot.  

Second, I think it's time that the public take a larger view of the ways conservatives in this country try to undermine their opponents.  The whacko right prefers to tap into *biography*, whereby personal stories unrelated to policy--and generally untrue or just silly, as is the case with the witch doctor claim-- are employed to stir doubts about a politician.  Clinton and sex, Kerry and Jane Fonda, now Obama and the Occult.  "Fuck the effectiveness or ineffectiveness in solving public issues", the GOP brain trust would say, "let's go for their past."  When stories about Bush's past surfaced, however, they held little media currency.  Recall how quickly Bush's abandonment of National Guard duty was dismissed by the public, or that his DUI charges from his college days seemed not to color the public's perception of his fitness for office.  (Also, let the record show that for average Americans, a DUI charge on one's record typically takes him or her out of the running for even the most marginal public or private jobs.)  

The left is stronger when their pitch to the public relates to *policy*, for instance Iraq or Katrina.  I think the images that came from said travesties made these pitches easier work, but it lent to the a sensibility that successful criticism from the left was based on real-life actions that the world bore witness to in real-time.  

- dylanposer

July 23, 2009 at 12:01pm

Exactly tomeg - The Real Men get to say what they want, and if called on it, they will counter with the now-tired charge of "Political Correctness".  What really gets me about the Right is that it doesn't take much to get them riled up.  One great example:  The Rachel Rae/Dunkin' Donuss great keffiyeh contretemps.  Terrorist supporter.  Useful Idiot, cried the right.  Dunkin' Donuts pulled the ad.

She was wearing a freakin' silk paisley scarf.

- dubyadoubte

July 23, 2009 at 12:26pm

Ah that case.  I went digging and found that Michelle Malkin responded to the ad being pulled by praising DD's "sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists."

As opposed to, of course, those millions of Americans who are cheering on Islamic jihad.

- ironyroad

July 23, 2009 at 12:55pm

Frankly, if a neurosurgeon can be THAT stupid, I don't have any faith in the way we allow doctors to become board-certified.

I'm not even talking about the racist stuff, that's just icing.

- bcbaird

July 23, 2009 at 1:45pm

Love that “Bama Care” with the hammer and sickle! I’ve seen it on bumper stickers out here in the Rockies.

Last week, I was going home from the summer school class I’m teaching, and the tea party folks had mobbed the sidewalks of the main street in our generally peaceful college town. I was at a stop light and one of the doofi left the sidewalk--he was carrying a big sign with the Bama Care hammer and sickle--and this shithook started pounding on my window and screaming and spitting. At the moment, coincidentally, I’ve got the Stones’ Exile on Main Street cranked up and can’t hear him. So I roll down my window, and he’s shouting, “Honk your horn, honk your horn”, in support of the tea party, I guess, as many other drivers were doing. (By the way, this is a genteel town where honking one’s horn in almost any situation is considered extremely bad form.)

Anyway, I summoned all my wit and screamed back at him, “Fuck you! Get a job!” One problem, not just with the poverty of wit on my part, but with the reality: the guy screaming and shouting and spitting at me had to be at least 80 years old, as were, it seemed, many members of the tea party gang that day.

Still, if I had Doc McKalip in my face right now, I’d scream, “Fuck you! Doctors make too much money!” No more witty than my response last week, of course, but perhaps closer to reality, and the truth.

- cvillekid

July 23, 2009 at 2:38pm

Anyone who interrupts a listening of 'Exile on Main St.' deserves a solid punch in the mouth.

- WoodyBombay

July 23, 2009 at 9:25pm