"I voted for Barack because he was black. (Obama’s) message didn’t mean (bleep) to me."

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Barack Obama's politics meant nothing to Samuel L. Jackson because the "Pulp Fiction" star only voted for the president for one reason and one reason only ... because he's black.

In an interview with Ebony magazine, Jackson explained, "I voted for Barack because he was black. ’Cuz that’s why other folks vote for other people — because they look like them ... That’s American politics, pure and simple. (Obama’s) message didn’t mean (bleep) to me."

Jackson then went on to drop the N-word several times when discussing Obama, telling the mag, "When it comes down to it, they wouldn’t have elected a (bleep). Because, what’s a (bleep)? A (bleep) is scary. Obama ain’t scary at all. (bleep) don’t have beers at the White House. (bleep) don’t let some white dude, while you in the middle of a speech, call him a liar. A (bleep) would have stopped the meeting right there and said, ‘Who the (bleep) said that?’ I hope Obama gets scary in the next four years, ’cuz he ain’t gotta worry about getting re-elected."

http://www.tmz.com/2012/02/11/barack-obama-samuel-l-jackson/

[Schema Thing]

1. I drink a bit too.

[Honeycombe8]

7. LOL.

[earthside]

2. Jackson is overrated as an actor.

His political musing are way overrated.

[Honeycombe8]

53. I think he's an excellent actor. I've loved him everything I've seen him in.

Well, he wasn't so great in that movie about a violin, but he was good. I just didn't think he suited the character's type.

Did you see Jackie Brown? Excellent.

[snagglepuss]

3. .

[hlthe2b]

4. Snakes on the Brain....

not a pretty sight (nor outcome)

[FrodosPet]

11. What is wrong with what he said?

In this wide world of bullshit and posturing, it is refreshing to hear some honesty for once.



Samuel L. Jackson rules!

[Beacool]

18. Holder once said that we are a nation of cowards.

I think that he got it wrong, we are a nation of hypocrites. Honesty is not appreciated, people rather be PC and shove race issues under the rug.

[FarLeftFist]

5. Like millions of people didn't vote for Bush because he was a Christian Conservative.

To each their own.

[Lucy]

6. Bleeeh

[Quantess]

8. Wow, was he sober, I wonder?

[sufrommich]

9. He should stick to ridding planes of snakes. nt

[zbdent]

10. Probably the reason why blacks don't vote in black Republicans is

that, when they go to the Republican primaries to vote, the people at the door don't believe that the "black man" is REALLY there to vote legitimately ... and turned away ...

[Zalatix]

33. It's because they don't drink the laissez-faire kool-aid

Otherwise there would have at least been some spoken support for Herman Cain.

[hfojvt]

12. that's pretty bleeping stupid

but I think it is true of a number of black people. I had a number of blacks come into headquarters and tell me they were Republicans supporting Obama. But, otoh, during GOTV I had one black guy tell me he wasn't sure who he would vote for, and another tell me he and his mom were not gonna vote because SCOTUS 2000 proved that the vote doesn't count.

But, earth to Jackson, white candidates do not "look like me" except in some sense that we "all look alike" because of our white epidermis. In all but three of the elections I have voted in, other than local elections, all of the candidates have been white. In all three of the exceptions, President 1988 when I voted for your brother Jesse, primary 2008 when I caucused for Obama, and general 2008 when I voted for Obama, I have voted for the person who didn't "look like me". I also voted for a black guy for city council mostly because he was black and I think our council is too white considering the demographics of my neighborhood.

In other elections, I have never looked at gender or national origin or religion or place of birth. I have never voted for a man just because he was a man (although I did once vote against a woman because she seemed to base her whole campaign on her gender). I have never voted for a German-American just because he/she was a German-American or an Irish-American (because I am sorta both, German-American and Irish-American and English-American). I have never voted for anybody just because they were from my home state (like some candidates around here tout the fact that they are 5th generation Kansans.) (I did not support Edwards and Colbert just because they were born in South Carolina) I have never voted for a Presbyterian just because we were both Presbyterians or a Methodist just because we were both Methodists.

Perhaps there are many other people who do, and I can see how a connection like that might tip a person who was undecided, but I think that issues should matter. At least they do to me.

[Beacool]

16. If every woman had voted for Hillary and every white male for McCain,

Obama would still be in the senate. I have yet to vote for anyone due to their gender or ethnicity. I don't get the type of mentality of people who think that what matters in a candidate is that they "look like them".

Stupid reason to vote for anyone, if you ask me.

[stevenleser]

13. Is it possible he was being sarcastic?

I think it sounds that way to me.

[Morning Dew]

40. Yes, I think so too. I bet TMZ left something out.

Jackson knows the Pukes have no shot at 2012.

"...I hope Obama gets scary in the next four years, 'cuz he ain't gotta worry about getting re-elected."

[VenusRising]

14. It's his vote by right.

The why doesn't matter.

[Beacool]

15. Samuel Jackson voted for Obama because he is black?

I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked!!!

So did 9 out of 10 in the primaries and 9.5 out of 10 in the GE.

[cherokeeprogressive]

17. While that may be true, you KNOW

that race had nothing to do with how people of color voted.

At least not in the minds of most DUers...

[Beacool]

19. It's the hypocrisy of the left.

Let's pretend that we are all color and gender blind and everyone votes strictly on policy. No one wants to dig under the surface. What they would find is just too ugly.

[PragmaticLiberal]

20. Thats a helluva thing to say....

but I'm not surprised you feel that way.




By the same token is it accurate to say that most middle-aged WHITE women voted for Hillary because they "identified" with her?

[cherokeeprogressive]

21. Couldn't say, but I suppose it's plausible. n/t

[PragmaticLiberal]

22. I'll be the first to admit that SOME African-Americans did vote for Obama because of his race

I don't think anyone would deny that.

But I fundamentally reject Beacool's statement that 9.5 AAs voted for Obama because he was black.



There's much more I'd like to say but I'd probably be banned from DU.

[Beacool]

24. In the primaries race had nothing to do with Obama receiving the votes of 9 out of 10 AA?

Come on, are you serious?

I fully understand the vote in the GE.

BTW, I never said that it was something bad. But, why the reluctance of most to admit it? At least Jackson was being honest.

[Arkana]

26. You realize that racial politics played AT BEST a tiny part in Obama's winning the primaries, right?

Or are you perhaps ignoring all those women who voted for Hillary because she was female?

[Beacool]

27. Did 9 out of 10 women vote for Hillary in the primaries?

I think not.

[jenmito]

30. Weren't you mad at Oprah for supposedly putting her race before her gender in endorsing Obama?

Yet YOU didn't take into account the fact that she lived in Chicago and had more in common with him than his race?

I think so.

[Beacool]

32. Oprah never bothered to endorse anyone before the 2008 election.

She supposedly was friends with both of them. In 2005 she even asked Hillary to be the person to present her with the International Emmy Founders Award. Here's the video. Notice how Oprah tells Hillary that she should run for president. Two years later when her two friends are in the run for the Democratic nomination she dumps one over the other???? I don't know what you call that, I would call it backstabbing. If she valued both friendships, she should have stayed neutral and not endorse either one.

[jenmito]

36. Isn't it possible that she truly thought Obama would be the better president? Why can't you

understand that that could've been the case? And, BTW, she STILL thinks he's a great president.

[Beacool]

37. Are you serious?

Why can't you admit that if he had not been biracial she would not have endorsed him. She probably would have avoided endorsing anyone, as she had done in all her professional years up to that point.

[jenmito]

39. Are YOU serious? If you THINK about it, you'd realize that if it WAS because he's Black,

she would've ALSO endorsed Jesse Jackson when HE ran and Al Sharpton when HE ran. Why didn't she endorse THEM? Last time I checked, THEY were the same race as Oprah, too. Even MORE so.

So you're wrong.

[Beacool]

44. No, I'm not.

But let's just close the curtains and move on. Nothing to see here. That's why there can never be an honest discussion about race. Someone always ends up being called the "r" word (I'm not referring to you). Let's continue to pretend that everyone's motives are altruistic and everyone is color and gender blind. That way there are no hurt feelings.

Ciao.......

[jenmito]

46. You can't explain why Oprah didn't endorse the OTHER Black candidates like Sharpton and

Jackson so you want to end the discussion?! Well, that just shows who's right and who's wrong here. And everyone who reads this exchange will see the same thing.

[Beacool]

47. Ahhhh, still at it?

Neither Jackson nor Sharpton were viable candidates in a GE when they ran for president. As one of my coworkers put it back in 2008 (AA and an attorney): Unlike Jackson and Sharpton, whites don't perceive Obama as an angry black man. He is like Oprah, non threatening to them.

[jenmito]

48. In other words...

Oprah did NOT endorse Obama because he's Black. She endorsed him because she thought he'd be the better president (compared to Hillary). Thanks for finally admitting it.

[Beacool]

51. Let's agree to disagree.

I still stand by my argument and you'll continue to stand by yours. My point remains that she had two friends in the race and she chose to endorse one of them over the other and it was the first time that she had openly endorsed anyone. Why choose 2008 and not a prior election?

It's an impasse.

[jenmito]

52. No. I'm right and you're wrong.

Another poster pointed out the flaw in your "logic."

[CJCRANE]

49. You're negating your own argument...

You say Oprah supported Obama because he's black but didn't support two other black candidates because they weren't viable...

See what you did there, you introduced another variable...

So not all black candidates are the same, and not all people who support a particular black candidate will support other black candidates...

Ergo the fact that they're all black isn't the deciding factor.

[jenmito]

50. Thank you for noticing...

and pointing out her flawed argument.

[Zalatix]

34. How DARE you say that!!!

Oh the heresy, the sheer heresy!

I for one am happy there's any entire demographic that refuses to drink the corporate state kool-aid, black or otherwise.

2 out of 3 Hispanics voted for Obama, and they also voted Democrat in 2010.

Guess which was the ONLY racial demographic that voted for the Tea Party in 2010, by large? And the only one that gave McCain over 33% support? Yup, you guessed it.

[Beacool]

35. In the GE, Democrats vote for Democrats.

That's not what I was referring. As for 2010, most minorities are Democrats. Therefore, it stands to reason that most Tea Partiers are white.

Both parties have changed. I don't think that either Democratic or Republican politicians of 40 years ago would recognize their party.

[Zalatix]

57. Nope, absolutely not. The two parties literally switched souls.

However the GOP has always been the Plutocrat's party, that much has never changed. Teddy Roosevelt was quite the outlier.

[Beacool]

43. LOL!!!

You made me laugh!!! Do you honestly think that all Hillary supporters are senior citizens??????

So crass and uninformed.



Besides, take it up with Samuel Jackson, he's the one who said it. Now he will probably be blasted for being honest.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

56. Those are very precise numbers. Where did you pull them from? nt

[JI7]

23. That's why Sharpton did so well, and lets not forget Herman Cain who i guess OBama did bring down

because he was afraid of losing black voters to him as the freepers claim.

[BlueIris]

25. Yikes.

I confess, I wonder if that is really what he said. It wouldn't be unusual for a celebrity to be misquoted in a major magazine.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

28. My guess is that Ebony would go out of their way to accurately quote Samuel L. Jackson

Some other magazine, perhaps. Ebony? I'm gonna put my money on "that's exactly what he said, that's why they printed it."

[Redstate Bluegirl]

29. So?

I'm sure there were other black people who voted for Obama for that reason. And Im DAMN sure there were plenty of whites who voted AGAINST him for that reason!

[GoCubsGo]

45. Yup. I know LOTS of them who voted against him for that reason.

Just as I know a number of women who voted for Hillary in the primary solely because she was a woman, even though some of them still won't admit that for whatever reason. I really don't see what the issue is here.

[madokie]

31. That fact played heavily on my decision too

course this old mostly white man has been hoping for a brother President for years. When Obama came along I knew he was exactly what we needed and I still believe that. Due to the way he handles the pukes bigotry shows the more moderate, which is most Americans, that he is indeed above the fray and is there to do one thing and that is to do good for Us the American people. Us citizens see things as they really are or most of us do anyway. All of that makes me inclined to put President Obama on a pedestal even though he doesn't want to be seen that way. At the end of his next term there will be a lot less racism and bigotry in our country and its because of the way he is handling the way he is being treated today. He's a good man doing us a good job IMHO

[steve2470]

38. Assuming he really said all that, at least he's honest nt

[CJCRANE]

42. (Bleep) good for (bleep), that's his (bleep) to make.

ETA: It's (bleep) to (bleep) in-depth (bleep) commentary. I (bleep) a lot from (bleep).

[Honeycombe8]

54. I'm disappointed in him for saying that. Maybe he's not into politics, so doesn't know.

I didn't vote for Obama because of his race(s). I'm a white female, so I sure didn't vote for him because he looked like me!

Let's not forget that Obama got the female vote! As far as I know, he stills that vote.

[Raine]

55. Voters have all kinds of reasons for why they vote for a candidate