Nader accuses Obama of "talking white"

[dkf]

Ugh...

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader accused Sen. Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic Party nominee, of downplaying poverty issues, trying to "talk white" and appealing to "white guilt" during his run for the White House.

Nader, a thorn in the Democratic Party's side since the 2000 presidential election, has taken various shots at Obama in recent days while ramping up his latest independent run for president.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jun/25/nader-critical-of-obama-for-trying-to-talk-white/

[BlooInBloo]

1. (shrug) Par.

[jakem]

13. who?

[1Hippiechick]

54. And Ralph is talking......"senile"....Hey! Where did you get the smilie fist bump? I just asked

about that on another thread.

[FlaGranny]

100. When you reply to

a thread - just above the subject line, click on "smilies lookup table." Take your pick. :hi:

[loveable liberal]

2. Nader continues to try and make his point, but...

only the MSM listens which is the sole reason it is being reported.

[peacebird]

3. Nader's running again? *yawn....*

[chascarrillo]

4. Holy crap.

[blogslut]

5. Oh geeze

Ralph has officially lost his soul.

[alphafemale]

6. LOL! Oh- -rea-ally? Just watch. this jerkwad will say nothing against McCain ever.

And ALL his commercials, which will run in in key swing states, will be paid for by Repugs.

Anyone who promotes support for this self important creep doesn't deserve to post on DU.

[virtualobserver]

8. he had lost his last shred of credibility with me with that if he used the "white guilt" nonsense

what an idiot.

[KingFlorez]

7. He's a loser

Not only is he trying to serve as a spoiler again, now he's showed he's a racist. For someone who is possibly responsible for the 2000 election disaster, he has no room to talk about anybody.

[greguganus]

39. I guess the racists have their candiidate now. n/t

[zanne]

9. He's the Christopher Hutchinson of the left. nt

[BrklynLib at work]

10. But,of course....

:silly:

[nevergiveup]

11. McCain should select

Nader for his running mate. They are both creepy delusional old men whose time has come and gone.

[skooooo]

12. Even worse than that...

Obama's cool! Even Rove said that (in so many words).

:scared:

[Alter Ego]

14. Hello, Ralph. Nice to see you've crawled out from under your rock.

Now fuck off.

[democrattotheend]

15. Where the hell does a white man get off saying shit like that?

I've been pleasantly surprised that we have not heard a lot of that kind of thing from black leaders. But a white person saying it seems totally out of line to me.

[skooooo]

18. Ralph Nader is ...

...the arbiter of black culture, didn't you know?? I believe all black people take their cue from Ralph, so this will cost Obama a lot of votes.

:rofl:

[genna]

78. I think AA leaders are hanging back. They'll get on Obama's head after he is in office.

I don't know if any white person could say this without being placed in a meat grinder.

As for Nader, I am willing to give him more slack than I would give Geraldine Ferraro, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and many others. Nader was fighting environmental racism before it was even a recognizable issue.

It is the reason why I didn't get made with Father Phleger making his comments from the pulpit of Trinity. Phleger has been serving in a black congregation for over 20 years.

If there is a white person who can ask a black person whether their commitment to the black community/social justice is geniune, I would have to say it would be a white person who has been serving in the vineyard alongside AAs making life a little better for us.


If Nader questions says Obama is an inadequate black man or he attacks him because he has chosen 'the man' over his people...I'll probably feel the anger. But now, I give him a pass.

Bill Cosby has irritated many AAs by asking lower income AA to pull themselves up socially, morally, and economically because there is no way some of their behaviors would have ever been tolerated two generations ago. It pisses some AAs off. I give him a pass for the way he has chosen to air out those internal grievances to the public at large.


There are many things AA leaders can change, but the progress of racial understanding is not always one of them.

[CreekDog]

16. "talk white"

asked to clarify he said, "of course"

Nader's still an ass and possibly a racist one too. :eyes:

[DarienComp]

17. Ah. So you're a racist too, huh, Ralph.

So many people have revealed themselves this year.

[skooooo]

19. Race gets attention..

...I don't know if I'd pass that judgement on so fast.

:shrug:

[DarienComp]

22. When you're a white guy and you accuse a black guy of "talking white", that's racist to me.

It assumes that, because Obama is black, he has to talk a certain way, and be concerned about certain issues at the expense of others. If Obama doesn't do that, well, then it automatically means that he doesn't want to "appear like (insert another famous black leader here)".

[skooooo]

23. Ok..

..except I think Nader is a little smarter than to *really* think this way. I think he's just saying it to get attention. But, you could be right too. Either way it's very tasteless, unnecessary, and offensive.

[DarienComp]

26. You may be right...

But... if you're not racist, but you appeal to some people's racist sensibilities to get attention, that strikes me as being just as morally bankrupt, if not more so.

[skooooo]

27. Yep...

You have a good point. Maybe he is a racist. Do you know anything else about him that would point to that? (Rhetorical, I can look things up myself, just wondering.)

On edit - Racism is so confusing...

[DarienComp]

29. Honestly, no. I wouldn't have expected him to say something like that.

I guess you're right; it's more likely that he was just trying to stir shit up.

[skooooo]

33. I dunno if I'm right...

LOL I'm confused as hell over this!

:rofl:

[DarienComp]

37. Yeah it is rather confusing...

We should just agree that Nader's an idiot who should be ignored. :-)

[skooooo]

40. amen...except the small detail that..

Ralph Nader is the arbiter of black culture.

:rofl:

(joke)

[XemaSab]

31. I think it's more so...

Most racists are just ignorant fools... people who play on race to get ahead are creeps. In my book, being a creep is worse than being a fool.

[Shakespeare]

70. He's also a sexist and a homophobe. This doesn't surprise me at all.

Sad, but not surprising.

[genna]

79. I read what he had to say about 'gonad politics'. Tell me what he has said about women.

[janetblond]

77. Very few people above 50 are "above" racism ...

Just the way they were brought up.
UNFORTUNATELY.

[BlueStater]

89. What a bunch of crap

I honestly hope you don't believe that.

[old mark]

98. very few people UNDER 50

as well.
I recently read that 30% of Americans admit to some racial bias, indicationg to me that the remaining 70% lied.
Everyone has some racial bias,no matter what race you may be. It is a question of overcoming it.

mark

[goldcanyonaz]

20. I read here that Nadar was not going to run if Obama was the nominee

I guess those claims were false, I always knew he would run because he has such a huge ego

[Max_powers94]

21. WOW!!!! just WOW

[dionysus]

24. i think old ralphie isn't going to disrupt this election as much as he thinks...

[Peacetrain]

25. Oh for the love of Mike.. please please.. just go away Ralph

Talking white.. I mean how racist can you get.. 1/2 his family is white.. in fact the family he spent all of his time growing up with is white.. but that is neither here nor there.. Ralph is just nuts..anyone who would take neo con money to sink the party that is out to protect the environment is nuts and it is all about HIM..not us..I used to love this guy..but he is so wrapped up in the mythology of RALPH he just cannot help himself I guess

[comtec]

28. what a sad , pathetic man

oh well. the dog has to do his bit to get paid.
god have mercy on his soul, because I sure as hell won't.

[Zero Division]

30. Well, that ought to alienate most of Nader's usual base.

Aside from the criticism on poverty, it sounds like he's trying to appeal to Bob Barr's base. Accusing Obama of "talking white" or appealing to "white guilt" are the sort of things one would expect from Pat Buchanan, not an icon of the left.

[DarienComp]

32. Remember when he referred to choice and gay rights as "gonad politics"?

That sure a lot like Buchanan too.

[Zero Division]

43. I do recall something along those lines.

If I recall correctly, he was trying to make the point that reforming the larger system of politics is more important than "mere social issues" (paraphrasing my impression of his thoughts) like choice and gay rights. He was really presenting a false dilemma that reveals how little regard he has for fundamental civil liberties.

[crankychatter]

34. WTF? Nader is about to join Republicans in the "over the hill" gaffe department. NT

[Danger Mouse]

35. Ralph Nader is officially a scumbag. When's the last time he criticized McCain?

The treacherous piece of shit will gladly take Republican $$$ to try and ruin it for the Dems.
Ralph Nader used to be a good man, but at some point he completely lost his moral center and became this...thing.

[skooooo]

36. Don't worry...

Barr will take more votes from McCain and have more of a real effect on the race, imo.

[Danger Mouse]

42. I'm not worried. At this point, people would have to have single digit IQ's to vote for this turd.

[genna]

81. At the very least Bob Barr will score in Georgia

[catgirl]

38. He's aspiring to be on the same level as Bush

[ErinBerin84]

41. uh, that's quite a shitty thing to say

[no_hypocrisy]

44. I didn't get the memo. Is "standard English" now called "talking white"?

[WhiteTara]

45. Nadar is a talks "trash" n/t

[dogday]

46. I thought Nader was better than that.... Well maybe not... eom

[janetblond]

76. You thought Nader was "above" racist innuendo?

Not!
Look at what the Clintons did in March & April.
The desire for POWER brings out the WORST in people.

[WeDidIt]

47. Nader is a piece of shit Rightwingnut, and I can prove it!

Nader knows he's just a spoiler, but he runs anyway.

He has no regard whatsoever for the causes he allegedly espouses.

there can be only one conclusion, the man is a rightwingnut. Everything he does benefits the right wing.

[Danger Mouse]

56. He also took Rethuglican money in 2004. He's completely without shame or honor.

[DefenseLawyer]

61. He's not a right wing nut, he's a shyster.

He toiled for years for the common good, and he did good work. Then he figured out that running for president was great for his ego and, wouldn't you know it, an extremely profitable gig. It's all about the benjamins for Ralph. He is a pathetic character, worthy only of scorn.

[BklynChick]

48. he is pathetic.

[DFW]

49. Ralph Nader has become Ralph Nowhere

What a shame when grabbing headlines became such an obsession for someone
who used to be a hero to so many.

[L0oniX]

50. I accuse Nader of talking clown...

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

51. I voted for the guy in 2000.

And I must say that I've regretted it every since. :( I will never forget how I nearly got myself killed running across the street in Dupont Circle to catch up with Nader and speak to him. He totally blew me off when I was trying to ask him questions about energy policy and expressed an interest in helping him build a grassroots party organization after The Greens kicked him out of their party. Now I know why they did it. He's not interested in correcting the ills that exist in this country. Nader is only interested in one thing: Ralph Nader, and he shamelessly took Repug money in 2004. I have never forgiven him for that. Enough about my Nader adventures.

[genna]

83. What did he do, just brush you off by continuing to walk as you asked questions?

[Teaser]

52. what the fuck do you know, Ralph?

.

[uponit7771]

53. If I see a video of Nader saying this then he would be going to same racial gutter Clinton went to

[blondeatlast]

55. It really kind of hurts to see someone I once deeply respected get so swallowed up by his own ego

that he tried to take the entire country down with him.

Give it up, asshole--and this once-supporter would say that right to your face. :mad:

[nxylas]

65. I agree

I've defended Nader in the past, and I believe that the 2-party death grip on Washington is deeply unhealthy for democracy, but any respect I had for him is long gone.

[fujiyama]

57. Tha'ts some nasty stuff

What will he end up with this time? %0.25? I think Barr will do better than him.

[AmyCamus]

58. Reminds me of Biden. Remember the 'articulate' crack?

[A-Schwarzenegger]

59. Oops.

Now that he's a/the leading popular VP candidate type choice around here,
we prefer to let that slip slip into the mist of forgetfulness, and
besides he meant it in a good way.

[genna]

84. I've said nice things about Webb who seems to have an unhealthy Confederate fascination. Biden's

comments are just as impolitic as any person over a certain age. These hard and fast racial stereotypes stick.

[anonymous171]

60. Fuck Nader

[chyjo]

62. I'm accusing Ralph Nader

of being able to afford a decent looking suit.

[liberalfella]

63. Nader is accused of talking garbage

You can't get more irrelevant than Nader.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

64. "I feel like a nigger." -Ralph Nader, complaining about treatment by Democrats.

No, seriously.

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/06/17/101452.php

[anonymous171]

67. w..t..f

:wtf: I always thought he was crazy, now I KNOW he's crazy.

[ErinBerin84]

68. WHOA! Surprised I haven't read that before.

They just reported Nader's comment on MSNBC. I kind of hope that this doesn't become the next big media story. It's good for people to see how lame Nader is, but pundits are not responsible enough to have discussions about race , they are incompetent.

[MilesColtrane]

69. Are we looking at a Ralph Nader/Michael Richards third party ticket?

[SemiCharmedQuark]

71. But Nader says he was using it like a Black Panther "as a word of defiance."

So it's ok!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

72. Uh huh.

He should go tell the Black Panthers that.

[Occam Bandage]

74. Dumb. Ass.

[sniffa]

82. O'rly?

:wtf:

[genna]

85. I don't know what is wrong with my outrage filter

I might have to turn in my card on outrage.

Speaking Wednesday night at a Washington fund-raiser to retire the debt from his 2004 presidential campaign, Nader complained that Democratic Party powerbrokers had kept him off the ballot in such Southern states as Georgia and Virginia - which reminded him of the oppressive Jim Crow laws that denied African-Americans equal rights.

"I felt like a ," remarked the 70-year-old white multimillionaire graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School.

<...>

"If Ed Koch had said what Ralph Nader said, we'd be marching," Sharpton noted. "This doesn't rise to the level of a march. It rises to the level of a wrist slap."

Yesterday, Nader told me he was using the word in the same spirit as the Black Panthers of the 1960s - "as a word of defiance."

But Sharpton retorted: "He's not a Black Panther."

Well, Nader is no racist. And I can certainly understand the context in which he used this term. But it was still an unwise choice of words.

But Al Sharpton, of all people, is hardly in a position to be casting blame. He and his followers have puked out more vicious anti-Semitic hatred than just about anyone this side of Tehran.

Al Sharpton strikes me as what I'd expect to hear AAs say to their friend when they step across the line, "Hey, bro, don't go there. You won't like me when I'm angry." You might get the silent treatment for a few weeks so you understand, "We're cool but we aren't that cool."

[zulchzulu]

66. Everyone knows black people talk in ebonics, right Ralph?

Another huge hole in the SS Nader....

[Rowdyboy]

73. What an arrogant insufferable asshole. What gives Nader the right to tell Obama

what issues he should push as the Democratic nominee?

"I mean, first of all, the number one thing that a black American politician aspiring to the presidency should be is to candidly describe the plight of the poor, especially in the inner cities and the rural areas, and have a very detailed platform about how the poor is going to be defended by the law, is going to be protected by the law, and is going to be liberated by the law," Nader said. "Haven't heard a thing."

Pathetically patronizing. What a bigot. Nader has really secured his place in history in the last 10 years.

[Kahuna]

92. He wants Obama to run as the "black" president. I'm surprised he

didn't mention slavery reparations and affirmative action. :eyes:

[Rowdyboy]

93. Exactly! After all, what other issues could a black candidate possibly care about?

I was very pleased to see the strongly dismissive attitude towards Nader by the media. Basically they dismissed him as a semi-senile, gnat with no significance to the process which is roughly the impression I have of him.

[ErinBerin84]

75. Andrea Mitchell is so annoying.

She was just asking Robert Gibbs about Nader's comment, and Gibbs said that they were delusional and inconsistent with Obama's record, and Andrea kept prodding "But if Charlie Black or Karl Rove had said something like that, wouldn't you be calling it racist?" Gibbs pretty much implied that Nader was too irrelevent for them to dignify it with much of a response, haha.

[genna]

87. Andrea Mitchell wants Barack Obama to pay all of HRC's campaign debt and sup at her feet.

She continues to drill the point home that in order to get access to her 17 million voters, he needs to do x, y, and z.

She has talked fervently about the problems he is having in the Jewish circles and how he needs to address that.

Her other issue is whether or not he is sensitive enough to this white voter.


After listening to her ad nauseam, I don't think she capable of giving Obama praise for anything and why would she be? :sarcasm: We all know he is not what she wanted in the first place.

[JoePhilly]

80. I thought Ground Hog's day was in February.

[zulchzulu]

86. The more we talk about Ralph The Reptile, the more he gets attention

Just watching HardBall, the point made by Bob Herbert fit perfectly: "He got his name on TV".

[a la izquierda]

88. oh, really nader. who gives a fuck all? n/t

[jazzjunkysue]

90. Obama Accuses Nader of Acting Smart.

[blondeatlast]

91. Blondeatlast accuses Nader of "talking Right (wing)." nt

[osaMABUSh]

94. Nader has a point: Obama is a bargainer

One reason whites love Obama is that he does not challenge them.

"He wants to show that he is not a threatening . . . another politically threatening African-American politician," Nader said. "He wants to appeal to white guilt. You appeal to white guilt not by coming on as black is beautiful, black is powerful. Basically he's coming on as someone who is not going to threaten the white power structure, whether it's corporate or whether it's simply oligarchic. And they love it. Whites just eat it up."

See Shelby Steele's book "Why We are Excited about Obama and Why He Can't Win."

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01112008/transcript2.html

"BILL MOYERS: Give me a simple definition of what you call a bargainer. And a simple definition of what you call a challenger.

SHELBY STEELE: A bargainer is a black who enters the American, the white American mainstream by saying to whites in effect, in some code form, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt. I'm not going to rub the shame of American history in your face if you will not hold my race against me. Whites then respond with enormous gratitude. And bargainers are usually extremely popular people. Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby, Sidney Poitier back in the Sixties and so forth. Because they give whites this benefit of the doubt. That you can be with these people and not feel that you're going to be charged with racism at any instant. And so they tend to be very successful, very popular."

[GoldieAZ49]

97. Exactly.

Nader just didn't use the same terms.

There is more detail to it, but I doubt DU could accept it or discuss it.

[Skidmore]

99. What level of discourse is needed based on the simple premise

that all people are created equal and should be treated as such. Period. I'm for setting the expectation that equality be practiced, which is something I believe Obama is doing. He is asking people to be mature and step up to their rhetoric. It's about walking the walk.

[GoldieAZ49]

101. the simple premise is walking the talk

as in say what you mean and mean what you say

actions speak louder than words

etc etc

[Plaid Adder]

95. I cannot believe I once voted for this asshole.

Never again,

The Plaid Adder

[Eurobabe]

96. Nader is a poopy head

and ANYONE defending him on this website needs to receive a pizza delivery. Post haste.