Posted by: sasha | Oct 31, 2006 11:15:19 AM

(yawn)

(scroll)

Yeah, I always find racist overtones funny, sasha!

Luke, just because YOU didn't realize he was black, doesn't mean the people it was intended for--Tennesseeans--don't know.

Maybe you need to have lived in the South for a while to understand the dog whistle being employed here to conservative white males in the state; a white woman being flirtatious with a black man is standard Rovian code.

And this ad is nothing compared to Corker's own radio ad, which features jungle drums every time they talk about Ford.

Posted by: Luke | Oct 31, 2006 12:03:49 PM

You ever spend real time in TN or the south?

Is that the best the D's can do? A weak spoof? Proof positive that the Democrats are out of ideas.

Sasha -- this was created by a volunteer. A kid. Not the party, or a candidate.

Maybe Rob can tell you about the difference between a professional and a volunteer. Go down the hall and ask him.

Meanwhile -- yup, another Troll Fund Donation!

Luke, I'll take care of that.

Posted by: Luke | Oct 31, 2006 12:37:55 PM

Just so you know, if you put a website URL up, the comments use that as the hyperlink, not your email addy. A useful work-around when posting.

As to the issue of the race-bating in the ad by Corker, as Shane correctly notes, the ad by Corker does play to racist fears which are all still too prevalent in TN and the south. Nor is whipping up "black man having sex with white woman" allusions in any way a legitimate policy issue or subject, so your claim that it is, is wildly off the mark.

I'm tickled that the Repubs are showing their desperation.

So I've got this mental image from "O Brother where art thou", of a bunch of Klan square dancers arguing about the merits of supporting Ford, while sipping corn likker on their rest break...........

<hr/>

A more likely outcome is further alienation of those "moderate" soccer moms and dads in the Knoxville burbs.

<hr/>

Karl, you da man.....

Posted by: je | Oct 31, 2006 3:07:03 PM

Kerry was talking about Bush not doing his homework, being smart, not the troops. Stop playing stupid.

http://www.johnkerry.com/video/flash/103106_pressc_landing.html

Below is a transcript of Kerry’s remarks, as delivered: SENATOR KERRY: Let me make it crystal clear, as crystal clear as I know how: I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and of his broken policy. If anyone owes our troops in the fields an apology, it is the President and his failed team and a Republican majority in the Congress that has been willing to stamp -- rubber-stamp policies that have done injury to our troops and to their families. My statement yesterday -- and the White House knows this full well -- was a botched joke about the president and the president's people, not about the troops. The White House's attempt to distort my true statement is a remarkable testament to their abject failure in making America safe. It's a stunning statement about their willingness to reduce anything in America to raw politics. It's their willingness to distort, their willingness to mislead Americans, their willingness to exploit the troops, as they have so many times at backdrops, at so many speeches at which they have not told the American people the truth. I'm not going to stand for it. What our troops deserve is a winning strategy. And what they deserve is leadership that is up to the sacrifice that they're making. Sadly, this is the best that this administration can do in a month when we have lost 100 young men and women who have given their lives for a failed policy. Over half the names on the Vietnam wall were put there after our leaders knew that our policy was wrong. And it was wrong that leaders were quiet then, and I'm not going to be quiet now. This is a textbook Republican campaign strategy: Try to change the topic; try to make someone else the issue; try to make something else said the issue, not the policy, not their responsibility. Well, everybody knows it's not working this time, and I'm not going to stand around and let it work. If anyone thinks that a veteran, someone like me, who's been fighting my entire career to provide for veterans, to fight for their benefits, to help honor what their service is, if anybody thinks that a veteran would somehow criticize more than 140,000 troops serving in Iraq and not the president and his people who put them there, they're crazy. It's just wrong. This is a classic GOP textbook Republican campaign tactic. I'm sick and tired of a bunch of despicable Republicans who will not debate real policy, who won't take responsibility for their own mistakes, standing up and trying to make other people the butt of those mistakes. I'm sick and tired of a whole bunch of Republican attacks, most of which come from people who never wore the uniform and never had the courage to stand up and go to war themselves. Enough is enough. We're not going to stand for this. This policy is broken. And this president and his administration didn't do their homework. They didn't study what would happen in Iraq. They didn't study and listen to the people who were the experts and would have told them. And they know that's what I was talking about yesterday. I'm not going to be lectured by a White House or by the likes of Rush Limbaugh who's taking a day off from mimicking and attacking Michael J. Fox, who's now going to try to attack me and lie about me and distort me. No way. It disgusts me that a bunch of these Republican hacks who've never worn the uniform of our country are willing to lie about those who did. It's over. This administration has given us a Katrina foreign policy: mistake upon mistake upon mistake; unwilling to give our troops the armor that they need; unwilling to have enough troops in place; unwilling to give them the Humvees that they deserve to protect them; unwilling to have a coalition that is adequate to be able to defend our interests. Our own intelligence agency has told us they're creating more terrorists, not less. They're making us less safe, not more. I think Americans are sick and tired of this game. These Republicans are afraid to stand up and debate a real veteran on this topic. And they're afraid to debate -- you know, they want to debate straw men because they're afraid to debate real men. Well, we're going to have a real debate in this country about this policy. The bottom line is: These Republicans want to distort this policy. And, this time, it won't work because we are going to stay in their face with the truth. And no Democrat is going to be bullied by these people, by these kinds of attacks that have no place in American politics. It's time to set our policy correct. They have a stand-still-and-lose policy in Iraq and they have a cut-and-run policy in Afghanistan. And the fact is, our troops, who have served heroically, who deserve better, deserve leadership that is up to their sacrifice, period. QUESTION: Senator, John McCain said that you owe an apology to the many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered this country's call because they are patriots. To those people who didn't get your joke, who may have misinterpreted you as saying the undereducated are cannon fodder, what do you say? KERRY: I never said that, and John McCain knows I've never said that and John McCain knows I wouldn't say that. And John McCain ought to ask for an apology from Donald Rumsfeld for making the mistakes he's made. John McCain ought to ask for an apology from this administration for not sending in enough troops. He ought to ask for an apology for putting our troops on the line with a policy that doesn't have an adequate coalition, that doesn't have adequate diplomacy, where we don't have a strategy to win. And what we need is to debate the real issues, not these phony, sideline issues that are part of the politics. Americans are tired -- sick and tired of this kind of politics. They know my true feelings. They know I fought to provide additional money for veterans. They know I fought to provide money for combat for veterans. They know I've fought to put money for V.A. They know I've honored those veterans. They know that this is the finest military -- and I've said it 100,000 times -- that we've ever had. They know precisely what I was saying. And they're trying to turn this because they have a bankrupt policy and they can't defend it to the nation and they can't defend it to the world. KERRY: And I'm not going to stand for this anymore; period. That's the apology that people ought to get. QUESTION: Do you need to go to joke school? KERRY: Sure. QUESTION: Senator, do you regret saying the remark? And what were you trying to say? KERRY: Very simple: that those who didn't study it properly, those who made the decisions, they got us into Iraq. Very simple. The fact is they know that. The administration knows that. And they're simply trying to distort this. They're trying to play a game. And, again, I'm not going to stand for it. This is the kind of thing that makes Americans sick. People know -- I mean, there ought to be some level of honor and trust in this process. I have fought a lifetime on behalf of veterans. We have the finest young men and women serving us in the United States military that we've ever had, and I'm proud of that. But this administration has let them down, and that was clearly a remark directed at this administration. They understand it. They want to distort it. It's a classic Republican playbook. They want to change the topic. We're not going to let them change the topic. The topic is their failed policy in Iraq. The topic is that they don't have a strategy, they don't have a way to be able to win. You got Dick Cheney saying everything's just terrific in Iraq only a week ago. John McCain ought to ask for an apology from Dick Cheney for misleading America. He ought to ask for an apology from the president for lying about the nuclear program in Africa. He ought to ask for an apology for once again a week ago referring to Al Qaida as being the central problem in Iraq, when Al Qaida is not the central problem. Enough is enough. I'm not going to stand for these people trying to shift the topic and make it politics. America deserves a real discussion about real policy. And that's what this election is going to be about next Tuesday. One more question, then I got to run. QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) KERRY: Let me tell you something: I'm not going to give them one ounce of daylight to spread one of their lies and to play this game ever, ever again. That is a lesson I learned deep and hard. And I'll tell you: I will stand up anywhere across this country and take these guys on. This is dishonoring not just the troops themselves by pointing the finger at the troops, it's abusing the troops. They're using the troops. They're trying to make the troops into the target here. I didn't do that, and they know that. KERRY: And for them to suggest that somebody who served their country, as I did, and has a record like I have in the United States Congress of standing up and fighting for the troops would ever, ever insult the troops is an insult in and of itself. And they owe us an apology for even daring to use the White House to stand up and make this an issue again. Shame on them. Shame on them. And may the American people take that shame to the polls with them next Tuesday. Thank you all. QUESTION: What do you say to the men and women fighting in Iraq if they hear this in passing, that may be confused on the issue, sir? KERRY: They will hear what I just said. I honor their service, and I always have.

Posted by: Luke | Oct 31, 2006 3:13:21 PM

Get real. It isn't an issue that we are living tin the 60s, but the real fact that there are sizable portions of the electorate in TN and the south which still have that mindset. Yes, the south has come a long way in the 30+ years since the Civil Rights Act, but still has a ways to go and that ads like Corkers racist ad do nothing but play to those lingering prejudices and attitudes. You can pretend all you like but it is real and that is what the ad played to.

You can try and dismiss it as being imagined all you like, but you are only fooling yourself instead of actually looking at the reality of the lingering prejudices and attitudes which the Corker ad plays to which really do exist (albeit slowly dying off).

Correction and clarification to my comment upthread:

Kerry was talking about Bush not doing his homework, being smart, not the troops.

Should read:

Kerry was talking about Bush not doing his homework, not being smart, he was not talking about the troops not being smart.

Posted by: je | Oct 31, 2006 4:31:55 PM

Sorry but you are willfully misreading what was said. Anyone who thinks that Kerry was saying what you falsely claim, that he was insulting troops is crazy. It was a direct slam on Bush being an idiot hence getting the troops stuck in Iraq because Bush is a bonehead. To read it any other way is to willfully, and intentionally read into it the exact opposite of what was said and meant. Stop being an idiot.

Folks,

A few corrections are in order. First, the Corker campaign didn't make the ad--a group loosely affiliated with the RNC did.

Second, for those who say that there still is not a social stigma attached to interracial relationships, I point you to these figures: in 1997, 33% of Americans "disapproved" of intermarriage and 13% endorsed laws against racial intermarriage (all figures are from the General Social Survey, publicly available at sda.berkeley.edu). The differences between Northern and Southern respondents is about 15 points on both measures.

Those who created the ad purposely chose an attractive young white woman, and filmed her in such a way that the top of her dress was not visible. They could have chosen a black woman, but chose not to.

As Barack Obama put it, the ad was already offensive. Making is racial just put "mustard on the hot dog."

For those who want a blast from the past, here is the infamous 1988 "Willie Horton" ad: http://www.pbs.org/30secondcandidate/timeline/years/1988.html

and the 1990 "Hands" ad (the latter from the Helms/Gantt race): http://www.pbs.org/30secondcandidate/timeline/years/1990.html