"Barry"?? the new clinton supporter meme? I don't get it.

[Lerkfish]

is there some backstory to them suddenly calling Obama "Barry" that I'm unaware of?

[scheming daemons]

1. Cynical attempt to smear his relationship with Mr. Manilow, no doubt.....

....or Mr. Bonds.

....or Mr. White.

....or.... and this one's good.... Mr. Goldwater.

[Cha]

98. Brwawawa... I got a name

for her that starts with a B, too.

[mnhtnbb]

2. He went by Barry when he was at the Punahou School in Hawaii. See link for photo/story

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17003563/

[democrattotheend]

29. But he goes by Barack now. So why call him Barry?

My Aunt Ann went by Annie growing up but I don't think she'd like being called that now.

[Name removed]

34. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tesha]

35. It's probably a Rushism. A lot of the material here seems to come from Rush these days. (NT)

[PoliticalAmazon]

144. So should we start calling Hillary "Hillary CLIT-ON"? That was a limbaughism, too. n/t

[grace0418]

65. Because it's condescending and disrespectful. People who do that think it makes them sound

superior by making the other person sound small and insignificant and young. It's extremely childish, the kind of thing a teenage boy does to his younger brother to put him in his place.

[Audio_Al]

79. I don't know about that. You are making judgments. We have a lot of people in our family

who go by "pet" names. I have a brother-in-law named Barry. Frankly, I don't even remember his given name, whatever it is.

It may not be anything more than common rather than formal usage. Has Barack Obama corrected people when they call him Barry?

David is sometimes Davey, Michael is sometimes Mikey, my wife Ellen is sometimes Ellie (although she didn't use that because in college, her roommate was Elinor (Ellie).

I'm Allen, but used to be Alvin (changed it legally in 1973) -- but you can call me Al. Thanks.

[grace0418]

136. But it's not a family situation, or even friends. It's strangers deciding to call a grown man

by a childhood nickname that he no longer uses. And every time I've seen it in reference to Barack Obama, its context is very derisive and belittling, as if to say "Who does this pipsqueak think he is, with his fancy ethnic name? What, does little Barry think he's some kind of big shot?"

That's a far cry from someone's friends and family fondly referring to them in a common rather than formal usage.

Look at it this way. What if your name was Michael and you were up for a promotion at work. And what if the other candidate for a promotion and all his friends made a point of smugly referring to you as Mikey whenever possible, especially in front of the boss. They know your name is Michael, you've always referred to yourself as Michael. Sure, maybe you went by the name Mikey when you were a kid, but not since then. So why would they insist on calling you Mikey, with a certain tone and emphasis, if not (to borrow another DUer's apt description) to subtly emasculate you?

I've never seen anyone refer to Barack as "Barry" to his face, so I can't answer whether or not he has or would correct them. I think he's probably too diplomatic to take the bait anyway, but I don't know.

[jefferson_dem]

131. Dog whistle originally only used by overt freeper-types. Now used by covert freeper-types.

n/t

[tblue37]

147. For the same reason Republican a**holes call the Democratic Party

the Democrat Party. It's juvenile BS.

[Frustratedlady]

3. That was what they called Barack as a young boy.

He went back to Barack as a young man, I believe.

[rox63]

4. It was the name he went by in High School

Most high school kids want to fit in with their peers, and perhaps he felt self-conscious about his name as teen. But as an adult, he goes by him given name, which is Barack.

[NatBurner]

5. subtle emasculation

reduce from grown man to "boy"

it's got that "kunta/toby" feel to it

[Lerkfish]

9. ahhhh..well, I wondered why it suddenly started happening: emasculation fits their tiny minds

as a reason.

pathetic people. can't wait till their Goddess of Peace is out of the race.

[TwilightGardener]

19. Yep. You got it.

[joeybee12]

22. Hey welcome, and nice BS post. I call him Barry because I think

it shows how he tries to be all things to all people, even going so far as to changing his name when it suits his purpose...but hey, if you wanna throw racism in there, be my guest...no reasoning or rational argument is gonna change your already narrow view.

[RaleighNCDUer]

27. Bull fucking shit.

When I was a kid, I was Ralphie. Now, I'm an adult and nobody calls me Ralphie.

It is a deliberate attempt to demean him by calling him a kid name.

People grow up.

(Except certain people here, apparantly.)

[Catherine Vincent]

48. "Barry" is a kiddie name?

Barry White would disapprove.

[RaleighNCDUer]

93. If it's a name he stopped using 25 years ago, yes.

Nothing wrong with Barry as an adult name, if chosen to BE an adult name. But if 'Barry' is not your given name, and you do not use it as your given name and have not used it since you were a kid, then it is a kid's name.

That said, Barry White is the man. ;)

[goclark]

102. And it's HC favorite ~ Barry Goldwater

If she calls him Barry, he should say, " I forgot, that is the name you liked when you were a Goldwater Girl in college.

By the way...

I wonder why she doesn't go by her RODHAM name this season?
Is she trying to throw her family name under the bus?

[ronnykmarshall]

123. That's the fact!

I think if anyone would have called Mr. White a kid .......

I heard people say ...... too much of good thing ain't for ya, baby ......

[BigDDem]

72. Hi Ralphie

Have a great day! :)

[NatBurner]

31. i just call em like i see em

u can call him barry all u want, but you're not on tv representing a candidate- see the diff?

racial or not, however, it's a common practice imo

u take someone's given name, and put a negative spin on it-

slick willie
tricky dick
barack (((!!!HUSSEIN!!!)))) obama

*this* particular spokesperson went oldschool tho- i give her points for upping her 'cism game

but thanks for clarifying the scope of my view for me

[MidwestTransplant]

33. Are you blind with hate? He was called that when was a kid. Are you sure his mom didn't call him

that or his teacher asked him to go by that so he would seem more "similar" to other students? Give me a break. You are embarrassing.

[Mz Pip]

37. He was in

high school. How far back do you want to go? Maybe you'll learn that he peed in his diapers as a baby and find a way to use that as a slight against him.

It is what it is. You are being petty and inane.

[hisownpetard]

49. Dumbest post of the month (except for the others you've posted).

Really.

[TwilightGardener]

52. "Changing his name when it suits his purpose"? He was a KID when

he decided to be called Barack. Now I know why Hillbots were so obsessed with his kindergarten essay.

[RaleighNCDUer]

101. Oh, I GET it now.

Changing his name back to Barak was a calculated effort to distance himself from the infamous 'I want to be president' essay!

Always scheming, that one!

:rofl:

[TwilightGardener]

115. Yes--he was clearly planning to throw people off the trail of his

presidential-ambition essay by changing his name. He KNEW that damning essay would come back to haunt him, even in high school! :rofl:

[Radical Activist]

62. Kind of how the right wingers who project thier own faults onto Democrats

in order to distract people from them. Hillary is a shameless panderer who constantly shifts her positions so why not accuse Obama of the same? I thought that's what it was.

[calmblueocean]

76. you've gotta be kidding

Hillary's gone by more names than most criminals. She adds or drops the Rodham and Clinton in her name like she's trying on shoes. Whatever gets the most voters. That's changing your name to suit a purpose.

[dbmk]

94. Yeah, because changing from Barry to Barack is a killer political move!

And its not exactly like he is changing it back and forth.

[faithfulcitizen]

117. lol

[grace0418]

139. Changing his name to suit his purpose? Good grief.

You call him that as an insult. Whether or not you believe it to be racist, it's insulting nonetheless. And belittling and disrespectful.

Plenty of people with ethnic names take more Americanized nicknames (or are given them) to make their lives easier when they are younger. But as the times change and people get more exposed to different cultures, people start to want to go back to their original names. I am married to an Asian-American and have lots of friends from different cultures. Plenty of them have dropped an American nickname from their youth in favor of their birth name. It was no secret, evil "purpose", just a desire to be who they are. It's not like Barack pulled that name out of a hat. It is his birth name and he has a right to use it. And since that's the name he uses, it's disrespectful to call him anything else.

[stillcool]

155. He didn't change his name..

his name is Barack. I guess you don't know any Michaels that were Mickey or Mike growing up, or any Robert's that were Bobby or Rob, or Robbie growing up, or any Bill's that were Billy, or Willy etc. It's about one's own personal identity. He probably would be way better off if he had stuck to his nickname. Some people in this country don't like names they aren't familiar with. They would much rather have a Barry than a Barack.

[bhikkhu]

151. Only so coming from a woman, really.

Not to be sexist myself, but to use a boyish name for a grown man is, as you say, a subtle emasculation, particularly when coming from a woman. It puts the man in a position of being a boy dependent upon his mother's nurture, as we all were at one time.

The male variety of this would be if I were to tell an outspoken woman to shut up and go back to the kitchen. There framing the man in the traditional position of patriarchal power and the woman as traditionally silent and subservient.

They are both equally obnoxious sexism, and I would feel free to "alert" on both.

[jaxx]

6. That's how the wingers refer to him.

They do it as a put down........it's either Barry or Hussein.

So if the Clintonites are calling him Barry....it ain't to be nice.

[burythehatchet]

14. the winger's on this board do as well. I almost called one of the douchebags on it and

the decided it wasn't worth the effort. The wingers on this board love the attention.

[endarkenment]

7. BO Barry Osama Hussein name calling infantile diaper wetting idiocy

unfortunately it seems to be effective.

[Poll_Blind]

8. They want to call him n*gg**, but they can't. They want to call him "boy" because that's the next..

...best, but they can't because everyone would still catch on to their meaning. So instead they call him by "Barry" which is a name he used when he was a little kid- which is as close as they dare.

  How effed up is that?

PB

[BlooInBloo]

11. That about sums it up. (The term for that is "dogwhistling", btw.)

EDIT: Clarified subject.

[Poll_Blind]

40. Thanks for the word, I'm Googling more about it. n/t

PB

[Poll_Blind]

41. Ah, thanks again. Added a hyphen and found the Wiki page:

Right Here

Never knew there was a word for that- damn! Learn something every day!

PB

[NatBurner]

58. wow

thx for the link

[Irishonly]

66. Thanks

I never knew it had a name. I called it double speak or coded speech. You learn something new every day.

I don't know why people call the senator Barry but I don't think there are good motives behind it or good.

[BlooInBloo]

149. :)

[wndycty]

12. Not all but there sure is a small contingent of Hillary supporters on DU and in the real world. . .

. . .who definitely are letting their racist flag fly.

[Poll_Blind]

20. Yep....I'm not joking: Just about every Hillary supporter I've seen who cracked up on here...

...resorted to basically racial slurs/"black conspiracy"/whathaveyou.

NOT ALL OF THEM

  But it actually freaks me out how many have gone under like that. Herman Munster was one example, other people may remember more names.

PB

[Audio_Al]

92. Poll_Blind, Herman Munster was a disruptor and was tombstoned.

Just call me Al.

[Poll_Blind]

112. Yes, I know that. He'd also been a member here for more than a few years. My...

...point (and this might have missed you) was that I wasn't referring to trolls (i.e. Freepers), I'm referring to some long-time members here who have just lost it in a volley of racial conspiracy theories.

  They basically do the Geraldine Ferarro, and then go a little farther for good measure.

  And that usually gets them the ax.

PB

[dbmk]

105. I don't think it is racist

But is certainly an infantile attempt to paint him with some sort of dishonesty or twofacedness. When taking your given name back to acknowledge who you are, especially given the age he did it at, is the exact opposite.

If he had kept the name Barry and it was then revealed that his real name was Barack, they would have been even worse.

[Lerkfish]

13. pretty effed up, alright. Who knew they'd start acting like republicans?

:shrug:

[Beacool]

17. Oh, please!!!

It's not always about race. Obama is an inexperienced candidate who's running with a razor thin resume and plenty of people don't trust that he's ready to be president. His race is inconsequential.

[Lerkfish]

21. so inconsequential that you side brings it up constantly?

riiiiiiight.

[merh]

36. seriously - you should compare his public service and experience

to hillary's - that meme is pretty weak and isn't a good excuse for the continued mockery. she called herself hillrod the other night for the WWE, is it okay that we all start using that name for her, will it bother you and other supporters?

[DemVet]

86. Agreed. Well said.

Race is just the handy excuse of the moment.

[joeybee12]

24. What is effed up is your post. n/t

[backscatter712]

25. Yep, you lowered the dog whistle a few octaves right there. n/t

[ampad]

71. It is effed up

but they will slip up in the long run and call him that. You got people on this board calling Obama's black supporter stupid so it is just a matter of time. It's getting to the point that they realize the liar is not going to win so their desperation and hate for him will not become harder to hide.

[MethuenProgressive]

141. BO's MOTHER called him Barry - she was secretly calling him a racist code word?

How effed up are His followers?

[bhikkhu]

152. Not so much racist as sexist

or relying on traditional gender roles for its impact. Not to be sexist myself, but to use a boyish name for a grown man is, as was said, a subtle emasculation, particularly when coming from a woman. It puts the man in a position of being a boy dependent upon his mother's nurture, as we all were at one time.

The male variety of this would be if I were to tell an outspoken woman to shut up and go back to the kitchen. There framing the man in the traditional position of patriarchal power and the woman as traditionally silent and subservient.

They are both equally obnoxious sexism, and I would feel free to "alert" on both.

[CBGLuthier]

10. Mostly, it's just simple childish behavior by Clintonites

Hell, they would call him BOY if they thought they could get away with it.

And yes, I know he used it when young. That was so he wouldn't feel aliented by zenophobic racist americans.

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. Like most "skinny kids with funny names," Obama went by a more conventional name in HS

To wit, Barry. I know this feeling, since I was also very self-conscious of my first name in elementary school, so I started going by a more Anglicized version, which stuck. I even remember as a fourth grader being very worried when we had a substitute teacher, since the sub would read my FULL NAME off the attendance list, thereby revealing it in all it's non-normal monstrosity - a horror!

Of course, then I grew up, and gained more self-confidence than your average junior high schooler, and started to like the difference of my name, rather than being ashamed of it and feeling all weird about it. So, by the time I got to college, I was comfortable with it, and now I insist that people use it to refer to me professionally, though I still go by the nickname among friends, because I'm comfortable with that too.

This is a common experience, especially among immigrants and other people whose names vary from the norms of American society. So, what do the Clintonites do? they make it ugly, and imagine it is a character fault of some kind. Point being: They are a despicable and sickening lot. They are able to take something as innocent and commonplace as childhood insecurity about being different, and turn it into some evil Machiavellian calculation. It truly shows the complete cluelessness about race, identity, and nationality that permeates their ranks, or it displays a fundamental nastiness that Americans should be truly worried about. Anyone who uses 'Barry' as a negative is marked ASSHOLE in my book, with an asterisk for "possible racist ASSHOLE" to boot.

[ms liberty]

110. I wish I could rec this reply...you've nailed it, in a nutshell. Thanks. n/t

[Lerkfish]

16. thanks for the answers: I now see its a way to call him "BOY" while pretending not to be racist

geez, how low can these mfers sink?

[LTR]

18. Hillary went by "Goldwater Girl"

I'm cooler with Barry.

[lumberjack_jeff]

23. It's dimunitive and inappropriate.

A good argument could be made that it's not up to Randi Rhodes hate speech benchmark but that isn't relevant to this discussion. If Barack Obama wishes to be referred to in that way, that is his choice and we should honor that.

[MidwestTransplant]

26. That's what they call him on Free Republic. That or Barry Hussein or just Hussein Obama.

Look for those soon.

[Lerkfish]

28. legit question: why has clinton camp adopted SO MANY freerepublic memes and tactics?

and why do the rest of us accept that?

[Jed Dilligan]

43. That's where they came here from

Don't believe a single one of them is supporting Clinton. They are the Rush brigade of disruptors.

[lumberjack_jeff]

57. That's not fair, Jed. n/t

[Jed Dilligan]

60. If you're spreading freeper memes here, you're a freeper in my book.

I don't know whether you are or not, but I wasn't referring to Clinton supporters who do not spread freeper memes. So I'd say it's perfectly fair.

[lumberjack_jeff]

64. Whether you said what you meant is something I don't know.

But I can read. What you said is that Hillary supporters are FR infiltrators. I've been here long enough that I don't deserve that kind of treatment.

[Jed Dilligan]

67. I don't care how long someone has been here.

There are probably trolls who have been here since day one.

If they are spreading memes from FR here, they are freepers in my book, and I write them off completely.

[lumberjack_jeff]

73. Right. Us freepers have been lying in wait here since 2003

... because with our powers of precognition we knew that we were going to be called to support Hillary Clinton, our secret lord and master.

All is going according to plan.

More likely scenario: Freepers tend to not like the Clintons, from what I've seen. But that's one person's observation. It could be that the Obama supporters have picked up on travelgate, Vince Foster, cattle futures, chinagate, Monica Lewinski, Paula Jones and white house vandalism independently. It's possible.

[Jed Dilligan]

77. Are you really going to keep fighting to defend your right

to spread freeper memes without being called a freeper?

[lumberjack_jeff]

96. First, I've never been to fr except to follow a link from here.

Second, I am going to continue fighting for my right to support the candidate of my choosing. Vigorously.

Granted, I won't call Obama a murderer. I won't call him a lying bitch, nor will I call his supporters white trash.

That's not vigorous, that's just stupid and low class.

Calling people names is so... new politics.

I told you that as a fellow democrat, I was offended by your broad brush attacks on me. Given the choice between listening and attacking, you chose the latter. Sadly, half of democrats seem to be following your lead.

It is hard to avoid the conclusion that a significant proportion of Obama supporters don't really want to win the GE, they simply want to purge the party of dissidents.

Here's a simple question that illustrates the previous point: Are you in agreement with many of your fellow Obama supporters that McCain should ask Hillary to be his VP?

[Jed Dilligan]

103. I was attacking the use of "Barry" and other RW memes,

not your support of Clinton.

If you aren't throwing those memes around, you should not be taking my remarks personally.

[Catherine Vincent]

51. What say you about "Billary"?

That's a freerepublic/right wing name.

[Jed Dilligan]

80. I don't use it.

[lumberjack_jeff]

54. Really? The Clinton camp? Really?

what a kidder.

Freerepublic created itself with Vince Foster. They eventually decided it was childish. They were apparently right because the children have definitely taken to it.

[maximusveritas]

I think it first started at Wonkette

They only refer to him as Barry over there. And then other right-wing blogs picked it up as well. It's just a way of showing him disrespect, similar to when we call President Bush Dubya or *.

[DemVet]

87. Do you whine that much when Hillary is called names here?

[Lerkfish]

30. please recc'd this thread, to make sure they don't get away with this crap.

thanks.

[MagickMuffin]

46. Since everyone has addressed this issue, I'll do as you suggested and

:kick: & RRRRRRR

Just wanted to add that most of the people here using that name for Barack are using it as a way to disrespect our Democratic candidate. The ones using it have no moral compass.

[Catherine Vincent]

53. "...disrespect our Democratic candidate."

Don't forget about the disrespectful names for Hillary from the Obama people.

[lumberjack_jeff]

63. Would you agree with me

That Hellary, Shillary, Billary, Queen Hillary, the monster, the bitch, that lying bitch, that fucking whore would only be used by people lacking the moral compass to which you refer?

I'll set aside for the moment the list of names used to describe her supporters.

I find that 95% of that which is posted on gd/p is posted for the purpose of disrespecting one of our candidates.

[QC]

32. I think it was his prep school nickname. n/t

[billyoc]

38. I don't get it either, but I still go by Billy at age 45. And what about Harry Truman?

Should we call him Harold? :shrug:

[whistler162]

81. Actually from wikipedia it might have been ......

Harrison.

[grace0418]

148. I think it's best to call someone the name they use and prefer.

I personally think it's rude when anyone just assumes you prefer a shortened form (or conversely, the formal version) of your name to the actual name you just told them. I have a friend Michael who grits his teeth whenever anyone just assumes he likes being called Mike. He is not Mike, has never been Mike and has never introduced himself as Mike. But it's amazing how many people call him Mike within seconds of being introduced. To me that's not much different than being introduced to someone named Tom and addressing them seconds later as Tim.

[stillcool]

156. Did he choose to use "Harold"?

when he grew into adulthood? If Harold was the name he identified himself with, would you refuse to call him by his given name? You don't know anyone who grew out of their nickname?

[snooper2]

39. just call Hillary

Hildo

[Jed Dilligan]

42. Infantilizing a minority member--ancient racist tactic.

[invictus]

59. That's exactly what it is. n/t

[TahitiNut]

100. You're absolutely correct. It's a typical racist dog-whistle.

The habitual and demeaning treatment of blacks as "boys" and Junior Humans characterized the patronizing attitudes of the Antebellum South.

It's appalling.

[grace0418]

154. Even without the racism, it's definitely intended to be demeaning and dismissive.

I cannot believe some people on here are actually okay with it.

[MethuenProgressive]

44. This "outrage"? From the "Hiltler", "Hillaroid", "Shillary" mob?

Didn't BO tell about going by "Barry" in his books? He didn't start the "Barack" bit until Harvard.
Again, his followers cry: If it's not hero worship, it's "racism".
:eyes:

[Bucky]

75. !

It's about as offensive as us calling Reagan "Ronny" or the first Bush "Poppy". It's a kid's name.

[DemVet]

88. Tell that to all the adults in this world that are named Barry.

Barry is NOT a kid's name.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

107. Are all those guys using it as a shortened version of "Barack"?

Apparently, the answer is no:

http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Barry

[Bucky]

118. When Obama was a kid, he was called Barry

Shit, when Robert Kennedy was running for president, he was called Bobby.

Really, people on DU need to quit looking for excuses to feel offended.

[MethuenProgressive]

138. Barry White. Barry Bonds. Barry Manilow. Barry Goldwater.

Oooo... racist!

:eyes:

[Jamastiene]

129. You forgot "BITCH."

They call her that more than ANYTHING here. Yet, somehow they are incensed that anyone would call him by the name he went by for years. :eyes:

[MethuenProgressive]

143. I left out "whore" too. And the DUbama's cry about "Barry"? The name his own mother called him?

[Lerkfish]

153. what's interesting is that the ONLY people in this thread using those words are

clinton supporters.

now why do you think that is?

[Eurobabe]

45. Who knows and who cares? Any asswipe

who calls him Barry meets my ignore list. :hi:

[RichardRay]

47. Attempt to infantilize him...

Infantilize

1. keep in or reduce to an infantile state.

2. to treat or regard as infantile or immature.

Not dissimilar to the old practice of calling black men 'boy'.

As with most such behavior, it tends to rebound on the perpetrator...

[hfojvt]

50. I think it should click with Indiana voters

Barry, Indiana, Barry, Indiana, Barry, Indiana, let me say it once again ...

Gold medal class of ought five.







Ooooh, I am in so much trouble. Trouble with a capital T. :hide:

[intheflow]

68. And that rhymes with P

Which stands for....




















politics! :P

[hfojvt]

97. Oh no!!

It's the mod squad. They are on to me :scared:

The levee has been breached. 182114! 182114!

[ClassWarrior]

55. I guess his real name just isn't 'Murkin enough for the Archie Bunker crowd.

NGU.

[nichomachus]

56. They use it because it sounds way cooler than "boy"

All they have left in their bucket is mud -- and they're running out of that.

[nichomachus]

84. It's one more instance of the Hillary camp channeling Bush

Calling someone by a name -- especially a diminutive name -- not of their choosing is a way of putting them down and belittling them. People do it all the time -- "Take it easy, Sparky" is a very common one, implying that you are an adult in charge and the other person is a little boy.

George Bush does this all the time with his famous nicknames. Some people think it's cute. It's not. It's pathological.

Giving someone a name is a very serious business -- which is why new parents spend a lot of time on it. Playmates and siblings may assign a nickname, but beyond grade-school years, calling someone something they don't want to be called is a sign that you want control over them and you want to belittle them. This is what Bush does.

Now, the argument from the Clinton camp will be that this is what he was called before. True, but unimportant. It's not what he wants to be called now. They are doing this to put him down. It's a Bush tactic, but apparently, the Hillary camp has adopted so many tactics of the Bush crowd.

[mopinko]

61. because they want to call him boy.

at least they are smart enough not to do that.

[NatBurner]

69. not again, at least

it didn't fly too well the first time

[Adelante]

70. It's to show disrespect, to diminish

In a junior high school kind of way. Pay no attention.

[Bucky]

74. Subliminal suggestion that they will "bury" him.

Not unlike how Krushchev buried the West in 1960.

[cbayer]

78. It's diminutive

Sort of like Hilly.

[LisaM]

82. I am a Hillary supporter, and I wish people would NOT do this.

I think we need to respect what people want to call themsevles (particularly when it's their full name). He's clearly chosen to move beyond a nickname that reflected an identity that he's moved past. I really wish Clinton supporters would stop with this. Then again, I wish people would stop with Billary, Shrillary, Hillbill, Shrillbot, and so on, but I guess that is a different issue.

Unfortunately, we are all getting kind of reactive these days.

[nichomachus]

95. I agree

I don't like Billary either -- didn't like it when Rush started using it in the '90s and still don't.

However, I think that it captures a political realty -- that you don't get one without the other. If you get Bill, Hillary comes with the package, and vice versa.

I think that's a legitimate concern of some people -- it is one of mine -- that if we elect Hillary, we get Bill rummaging around in the White House without a whole lot to do other than get into trouble. And, we've seen on the campaign trail that Hillary isn't very good at keeping him on a leash.

[LisaM]

108. I think that (if true) Bill would quickly be sent out as an at-large goodwill ambassador

to restore our relations with other countries, many of which remember him fondly.

But I could just as easily argue that if we elect Obama, we get Michelle - and she has proven to be green at best.

Either way, it's a lot better than getting a sleepwalker like Laura Bush. Despite Peggy Noonan's assertions tha the First Spouse she be in a semi-drugged state, I disagree vehemently with that.

However, I was just throwing those names out as examples. There are lots of others I could have chosen.

[nichomachus]

113. One problem

The ambassador thing works well -- IF the ambassador is careful to accurately represent the interests of the person who sent him. However, Bill seems to have his own ego and his own agenda. We've seen this on the campaign trail, where he doesn't seem to be coordinated with the campaign. I'm not sure Bill and Hillary are on the same page on a lot of issues, and he has way too much ego to swallow his agenda and push hers.

[LisaM]

137. We only hear about the gaffes Bill makes

He's out there on the stump day after day, and I think that he's done plenty of events where everything has gone just fine. But no one ever cares about that.

I know he left office with a close to 70% approval rating and plenty of people here claimed to miss him once Bush was in office.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

109. I agree with you.

I don't use terms like that. I think the discourse would pick up a lot if nobody used them.

[CakeGrrl]

83. It's easy...look at the tone of the post and the OP

I'd bet money that every post where he's called "Barry" is by a Clinton supporter who's trying to denigrate him.

[nichomachus]

90. Be careful

"Denigrate" has racial overtones. De + Niger (black) It means to put someone down by blackening them. I know you didn't mean it that way, but someone could pick up on that and interpret it the wrong way.

[CakeGrrl]

106. LEXICONGATE!!!

Oy.

:crazy:

[stillcool]

157. You forgot one G...

Maybe you're right, de+nigger = Black?

Niger:
1. a republic in NW Africa: formerly part of French West Africa. 9,388,359; 458,976 sq. mi. (1,188,748 sq. km). Capital: Niamey.
2. a river in W Africa, rising in S Guinea, flowing NE through Mali, and then SE through Nigeria into the Gulf of Guinea. 2600 mi. (4185 km) long.

[WinkyDink]

85. It WAS his chosen nickname. HE obviously never thought it was "emasculating". It is NOT, however,

his current choice of moniker.

So calling Obama "Barry" is simple disrespect, not "emasculation".

Kind of like saying someone is "likeable ENOUGH".

[NatBurner]

114. barrygate: it put's the "B" in subtle

it is what it is

[SoCalDem]

89. Barry was his nickname when he was a kid.. (It's like repubs calling us DemocRAT party)

Code-speak for demeaning him by calling him a name he does not use.

Like calling you lung-fish instead of lerkfish, even after you have asked people not to..

It's passive-aggressive antagonism...

and if and when people comment or complain..they get "hey, why so sensitive..what's your problem"..:puke:.. It's the same level as when freepers call her Hitlery, and then say "oops I did a typo":evilgrin:

Hillary's people have morphed into freepers, right before our very eyes...like some demonic magic show..:eyes:

[SaveOurDemocracy]

122. We, daily, see Obama supporters using Freeper terms

to refer to Senator Clinton ... perhaps it's REALLY Barry's people who have morphed into freepers.:eyes:

[DemVet]

91. I've used Barry on and off for the past few weeks.

I'll use it even more since I know it irritates the BarryBots. :toast:

[SemiCharmedQuark]

99. I'd expect nothing less from someone that thinks "Fatass" is also a clever dig.

[goclark]

104. I'll you it too ~ Hillary is a Barry Girl

Republican Barry Goldwater that is......

[DemVet]

111. I'm more moderate....

...and lean more towards the center than most of the "progressives" on this board so that dig doesn't bother me a bit.

[SaveOurDemocracy]

116. Although I've never referred to him as Barry, this is

incredibly laughable coming from the Hitlery, Billary, Shrillary, Hilly, Hillarious, Hillbilly... Crowd.





Do you guys even see how utterly ridiculous and whiny you are? I've never seen a bigger bunch of fucking hypocrites. I am SO impressed and amused by the disingenuous nature of this all this yammering; that I will consider referring to Senator Obama as 'Barry' as long as all the much more demeaning, and insulting, 'nicknames' used to refer to Senator Clinton are in fashion ot DU.







edit: spelling

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

119. Randi Rhodes got in trouble for using Hillary's HS nickname.

It doesn't seem fair.

[SaveOurDemocracy]

120. Are you inferring that "fucking whore" was Senator Clinton's

HS nickname?

[CBGLuthier]

121. No, they are implying

YOU are inferring.

[SaveOurDemocracy]

124. Well, thank you for that distinction. I'll remember that.

:hi:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

125. I'm not inferring that whatsoever.

:shrug:

[SaveOurDemocracy]

130. I believe that's what you were implying .

That leads me to infer that this may be a picture of a close family relative of yours:

[Jamastiene]

126. Sure beats BITCH, doesn't it?

I mean, really, between the two, do you really want to complain? Y'all call Hillary BITCH all day and all night here then you complain about Barry? Get a grip.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

128. Upthread, one of your own still thinks Obama is a muslim.

You sucka MCs ain't got no flow.

[Lerkfish]

132. really? you have a link to me calling hillary that?

I find that hard to believe since I've never used that term at all.

any other lies you got?

[MethuenProgressive]

140. "bitch" and "whore" and "dumb white fuck" all Okey Dokey! with the BO DU mob.

Bot don't y'all call Barack Barry - even though his MOTHER did.

[rucky]

127. He's a Jewish Muslim with a crazy-ass Minister.

[dchill]

133. It's not new at all.

It's a handy way for them to be derogatory with "plausible deniability" of racism.

Plausible to them

[Lerkfish]

134. and so transparently obvious to the rest of us.

[dchill]

135. To say that they think they're clever...

is to deliberately insult their ability to think.

They think they're clever.

;)

[barack the house]

142. He was once called Barry, mostly because the middle name got no traction.

[Forkboy]

145. It's their concept of clever.

[Azathoth]

146. They've been calling him that over at FR for a long time

It's their way of calling him "boy".

[Lilith Velkor]

150. I call him Barack because that's his name

The "Barry" thing strikes me as kinda dumb, but it's not sudden - they've been calling him that at Wonkette for months and months.

[quakerboy]

158. Its not new, its matronizing and old. nt