(UPDATE: I just want to note that the the talking heads on the left as well as the right are trying to minimize the amount of racism being tossed out there; as if it's only a handful of people doing this. James Carville was on CNN just this AM trying to downplay the bigotry. I think not. Take a look at my long list -- a sampling -- of what has transpired not just in the South but all over the country. It's not just teabaggers, it's DC insiders and pols spewing racist garbage on the air as fact. )
Carter's observations may seem obvious to many of us here at Pandagon. We've seen this racist, code-laden garbage surface during the 2008 campaign only to revive with a bigoted bang right after the inauguration. But it's significant that the former President, a man of the South (as is Joe "You Lie!" Wilson) during a time when there was enormous social race-based upheaval calls it out so bluntly. He knows most of this crap is simply dancing around calling the current President of the United States a n*gger -- and you know Wilson knows it too.
Honestly, I'm surprised these fringe birthers, teabaggers and junior-league Klan member wannabes haven't thrown down that card yet. It's on the tips of their forked tongues. (Huff Post):
More of what Pres. Carter said, via the WaPo:Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
"I think it's based on racism. There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president."
The Georgia Democrat said the outburst was a part of a disturbing trend directed at the president that has included demonstrators equating Obama to Nazi leaders.
"Those kind of things are not just casual outcomes of a sincere debate on whether we should have a national program on health care," he said. "It's deeper than that."
"I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African American," Carter told NBC in an interview. "I live in the South, and I've seen the South come a long way, and I've seen the rest of the country that shared the South's attitude toward minority groups at that time, particularly African Americans"Continued Carter: "And that racism inclination still exists... It's an abominable circumstance, and it grieves me and concerns me very deeply."
Related:
- Teabagging racist-email-sending Dr.: 'I'm not a bigot, I did a counseling day for black Boy Scouts'
- McCain/Palin mob: 30 cars owners find tires slashed after NC Obama rally; voters heckled
- Black bear cub shot, covered by Obama sign and left on Western Carolina University campus
- McCain campaign worker confesses: made up claim that she was mutilated by black man
- NC: Greensboro reporter attacked by McCain/Palin supporter at rally
- California: Sacramento GOP web site calls for the torture of Barack Obama
- Mike Signorile listens to The Hate Out There
- Here we go again: another Palin groupie shouts 'kill him' at PA rally
- Own it, bigot
- Missouri: More of the McCain/Palin/GOP Base
- Frank Rich on the fires stoked by McCain/Palin
- The GOP ticket draws, and apparently embraces, the bigot eruption crowd
- More fun in post-racial America
- John McCain forced to denounce racist, homophobic member of Virginia leadership team
- Kentucky, I know you can do better than this
- FL: middle school teacher uses 'nigger' to describe Barack Obama
- Palin praised racist writer who called for RFK's assassination
- Values at the Values Voter Summit - Obama as a Muslim Aunt Jemima
- Westmoreland stands by 'uppity' remark about Obama
- White supremacists: Obama's boosting our movement
- John McLaughlin: Obama fits the 'Oreo' stereotype
- Georgia: publication features Obama in crosshairs on cover for article on white supremacist threat
- Bigot eruption: GOP House member refers to Obama as 'boy'
- South Carolina: black reporter attacked by white family (on camera!)