Obama depicted as head of Slave Ship in controversial GOP ad..

[HipChick]

Portraying our first African-American president as the captain of a slave ship in a political ad probably isn't the world's best idea. Mark Oxner, a Republican running for Congress in the Orlando area, did just that. It's not so much offensive, really, as it is laughably terrible. Get it? Obama is enslaving our children with debt.

Redistricting will probably result in a new congressional district covering parts of Orlando. It will likely lean Democrat, and our old pal Alan Grayson will be running. So is this Oxner fellow. It appears this race could very well be a hilariously horrible one to watch


[img][/img]

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/01/florida_republican_candidates_1.php

[gratuitous]

1. What will his excuse be???

1. Brazen it out and stand by every stupid frame of the ad.

2. Lighten up, it's just a joke.

3. Sometimes you have to employ hyperbole to get your point across.

4. I'm not racist.

5. Why do you hate the troops?

Pick your favorite!

[JustAnotherGen]

2. I'm going to pick

But I'm nooooooooooooot a racist!

[msanthrope]

6. You forgot "6) Some of my best friends are slave ship captains!"

[FailureToCommunicate]

15. And slave ship captains can be redeemed!

Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)

[DCKit]

8. They'll pull it, make a non-apology apology and hope it never dies off on YouTube. nt

They're predictable that way.

[liberalmike27]

28. When I saw the children rowing

I thought it was a commercial for Newt.

[Robb]

3. He's got a face just begging for a Hitler mustache to be drawn on.

[Submariner]

4. Someone had a similar thought

[LonePirate]

5. Looks to me like Oxner is throwing his hat in the ring for the 2016 Repub Presidential nomination

The racist base of the Republican party will love him for this.

[bemildred]

7. Dang, these people don't need drugs to be stupid. nt

[aaaaaa5a]

9. Nobody hates the GOP as much as I do, but aren't we being a little too sensitive?

Was it a bad commercial because of my political beliefs (and facts!).....YES!

But was it racist, or playing the tune of some type of racist dog whistle...... NO!



Sometimes I think conservatives are so void of diverse thinking and history, that they legitimately come up with ideas or concepts without race in mind. They are then honestly shocked when other people view them and take a different point of view.

Honestly, I have heard legitimate conservative people many times say..... "I'm sorry, I just didn't know."


My 10 thousand dollar bet is that when they made this commercial, they weren't thinking about the "middle passage." In fact if they were educated in the Texas' school system, they may not know the middle passage ever existed. LOL!

[bemildred]

10. What the heck is wrong with being "sensitive" about race? nt

[aaaaaa5a]

11. There is nothing wrong with being sensitive about discrimination be it race, gender, orientation etc

but race was not the focus of the spot. Nor was it really implied. In fact the slavery scene below deck was more Roman in design than it was Atlantic Slave trade.


Trust me there is nothing wrong with being concerned about race and calling out issues like "welfare queen, food stamps, something for nothing" and other code words used to scare people. I just don't think this is the commercial we need to plant our flag on.

[Enrique]

12. yeah, I didnt see a slave ship

i didnt have the guts to be the first person to say it. This looks more like Ben Hur than Amistad.

[Cleita]

21. Cough! Roman galleys were often manned by slaves. n/t

[vaberella]

27. Amen. n/t

[vaberella]

26. Dare I say how limited your world history is if you think Ben Hur was any different than Amistad?

Most people seem to like to forget that the Romans had not only White slaves but hundreds to thousands of BLACK slaves. Romans were intimately connected to Africa. Most of their bloody military was Black people, this goes for the Greeks just not to the same extent as the Romans. But Black history in relation to Roman domination seems to either be conveniently forgotten or ignored. So to imply that Ben Hur was different to Amistad--- it's laughable at best and sad at worst.

[bemildred]

19. What do you think will happen that is bad if we dump on this stupid ad?

Why are you defending this crap? Why do you care? Are you worried somebody somewhere might be unfair to Republicans? Are we breaking some rule? Do we need to be nice about marginal racism? Seriously, I don't get it. I want every politician on this planet to be paranoid that somebody might think he is a racist. This is not academia, this is politics, and it's dirty as your local aeration pond.

[Cleita]

20. Ah c'mon. If you can't see the race baiting here,

you are effing blind.

[ProSense]

13. Right

" Nobody hates the GOP as much as I do, but aren't we being a little too sensitive"

...because Grayson was attacked for his Webster ad, and Democrats are being "sensitive" about a racist, sexist ad?

Do you think a Democrat could get away with the kind of despicable idiocy in that ad?

[aaaaaa5a]

18. I'm only talking about this specific video within this thread. Not anything else.

I am very well versed in the GOP's use of race to win political elections. Again, I am only talking about the video posted here. I am not defending Grayson or the GOP with regards to their history on this issue.

[Capitalocracy]

24. I respectfully disagree.

I think it is a racist dog whistle. Racists do tend to have this weird fear of being enslaved or subjugated in some unknown way by the races they hate, and this ad speaks to that. Yes, it's not a historically accurate representation of a slave ship to the U.S. (slaves were chained, not manning oars, as those ships didn't use oars) but historical or factual accuracy has never been a big priority for the GOP anyway.

I see where you're coming from, but I definitely think this will speak to racists, and I'm about 99% sure it was designed to do so. It's the kind of language that not only speaks to a racist audience, but promotes a slide into more overt racism in a more borderline audience who don't want to identify themselves as racist but who are susceptible to racist thinking or hidden racist talking points.

[GETPLANING]

14. It's not racism when they do it

or corporate welfare
or bank bailouts
or stimulating energy companies
or paying for lots of stuff
or suppression of questions or dissent
ignoring the Constitution

and on and on

[gkhouston]

16. I would say, "They shouldn't have gone there," except that's where they've always been. n/t

[paulkienitz]

17. my favorite bit: conflating "the 99%" with the bankers

as if they were on the same side.

[Dont call me Shirley]

22. Uh, Oxner, Bush I & II/Cheney/Reagan/Graham already have turned us into debt slaves.

We can stereotype you as a Know Nothing, racist, hypocrit who has no tact.

[Dookiestix]

23. It's not so much racist, really...

...it's just sad.

[SwampG8r]

25. welcome to my world

everyone here who has ever questioned my tone
this is my reality every damn day!

[bayareaboy]

29. Terrible you say ... ...

looks to me like something that came off cutting room floor of South Park Productions after a three day binge of smoking battery acid.

And I mean that with all due respect!

[RoccoR5955]

30. LIES!

The video is nothing but lies. Post it in the comments people. The Office of Management and Budget states that each and every time a RepubliCON gets into office, the debt goes down, when a RepubliCON gets in, it goes down. Remind people that this started with Reagan, and Bush Jr. helped.