Posted on 01/26/2008 5:32:42 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
Count Craig Crawford as a dissenting voice in the media storm decrying the racialization of the Dem primary race. The Congressional Quartely columnist and MSNBC political analyst offered his unconventional wisdom on a special Saturday edition of Morning Joe today.
CRAIG CRAWFORD: I never understood exactly what Bill Clinton said that was supposed to interject race, actually. I know he was arguing at arm's length with Obama about the war and some other issues. It wasn't clear to me -- I mean the most direct reference to race I saw in this campaign was interjected by the media after New Hampshire trying to say that for some reason Obama lost New Hampshire because of racism. I never followed that one either.
View video here.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...
Unconventional take from Craig Crawford on who’s responsible for injecting race into Dem primaries. Ping to Today show list.
I think he’s right. As soon as Hillary won New Hampshire, all the pundits and pollsters were scrambling to figure out how they coulf have missed the outcome by such a wide margin (Polls showed Obama 13 Points ahead and Hillary won by 3). Right away they started floating the theory that people were not telling the pollsters the truth because they didn’t want to say they wouldn’t vote for the black guy. This theory continued to gain legs and they equated it to an election in California back in the 80’s when Tom Bradley a Black LA Mayor was ahead in the polls by a wide margin for Governor on election day, but he lost to a white man by 1%. At that time, the pollsters adopted “The Bradley Theory” that whites didn’t want to appear racist, so they lied to pollsters. This “Bradley Theory” was repeated by every cable pundit and pollster over and over to provide cover for the big difference between thepols and the NH Dem. outcome. The media continued to exploit the racial vote in NV which showed heavily black for Obama and heavily white for Clinton, Thus, Crawford has it right. It wasn’t the Clinton or Obama campaigns that exploited the racial card, it was the media which wants to control events.
Yesterday they, through the efforts of Clyburn, where trying to pin it on Huckabee for bringing up the Confederate flag.
That must not have gotten the traction they felt they needed.
At any rate, this effort to paint the Clintons as blameless was to be expected.
I never understood how the “fairy tale” comment was racial at all.
Can anyone explain that, if there is an explanation?
However, Bill Clinton personally, purposefully, undeniably injected race into the race when he said that South Caronians were going to vote along racial lines, divisively painting Obama as the “black candidate.”
As an example Clinton is now stating he never supported the Iraq war.
Example (from 2004):
Geesh! Do a google search for goodnes sakes.
Craig Crawford is a Clinton suck butt. He is also a smarmy, oleaginous, unctuous, smirking sneering elitist “Clymer”
Deja Vu from that racist, Rush. /s “the media has been very desirous of a black quarterback to do well”.
The whole dem party is race based. The GOP is based on “what you do” rather than what race you are. Craig is hitting a valid point but missing the whole anvil surface. Keep on trying, Craig, it’s just one more cow away.
I cant believe everyone is missing the boat on this.
It’s huge, it’s right there out in the open, and everyone is missing it.
This has nothing to do with the Clintons and the Primary, and everything to do with the GOP and the General.
The media is calibrating how the GOP can handle Obama in the general. They’re setting the ground rules now, and establishing the ‘racist resistance to positive change’ theme that is going to drive all reporting of a General with Obama in it.
Pay attention. Nothing Bill has said is remotely racist. ‘Fairy Tale’ clearly means: ‘Pie-in-sky idealism that is completely unworkable if Obama wins the Presidency. Dont fall for it’. This the press converts into a racist statement, and it has resonance and legs.
If they can do that to Bill ‘I feel your pain’ Clinton and his wife, who are in point of fact more popular with African Americans than Obama, imagine the hay they can and will make out of any and all criticism of Obama by the GOP.
If Obama does secure the DEM nomination, I have no idea how the GOP gets around this. Any and all criticism, even at the policy level (Which ‘Fairy Tale’ kinda was, metaphorically), will be immediately analyzed by the press from a racial perspective.
That’s the calibration going on right now.
“Deja Vu from that racist, Rush. /s “the media has been very desirous of a black quarterback to do well”.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
That deserves a Donovan Obama (or Barack McNabb) ping!
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