Awk! Cracker wanna Perata?
Posted on 08/05/2006 9:11:58 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Among certain radio talk show hosts, bloggers and their followers, being called a cracker was a high compliment yesterday.
They seized upon a comment made Thursday by state Senate leader Don Perata, D-Oakland, who talked about “all these crackers down in . . . San Diego, taking on the governor” over immigration issues.
Perata, who made the comment during a news conference, was referring to a forum in La Mesa with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week where some accused him of being soft on illegal immigration. Schwarzenegger later said he was surprised at the “intensity of the prejudice” of some opponents.
“Cracker” is generally considered a pejorative term for a poor, uneducated Southern white person. Yesterday, some in San Diego County proudly adopted the title.
Barry Jantz, a La Mesa councilman, described himself as a “La Mesa cracker” in a posting yesterday on the political blog FlashReport.org.
“Most of us are simply graham crackers on the question of illegal immigration compared to Arnold's milque-toast and Perata's soggy saltines,” Jantz wrote. Assemblyman Jay La Suer, R-La Mesa, weighed in with a news release denouncing Perata's comment as irresponsible and divisive and demanded a public apology.
Perata's press secretary, Alicia Trost, said more than 300 messages expressing displeasure were left at the Senate leader's office yesterday morning, and he issued an apology by the afternoon.
“(Thursday) I used a term that was, as I immediately noted, intemperate and was also unfortunate and inappropriate,” he said. “I apologize for the use of that term and reiterate my belief that the vast majority on both sides of the immigration issue are people of good will.”
Perata's initial “crackers” comment, made in response to a question about legislation to give illegal immigrants driver's licenses, was conversation fodder yesterday for radio talk show hosts Rick Roberts and Roger Hedgecock.
Roberts was introduced on his KFMB show as “San Diego's No. 1 cracker on the radio.” Hedgecock, who called Perata a “wacko leftist Democrat,” said the cracker comment was demeaning, stupid and racist.
“Don Perata, much of who you actually are has been revealed here,” the KOGO host said.
La Mesa Mayor Art Madrid, who attended Schwarzenegger's town-hall-style meeting there, said Perata's comment was counterproductive to the immigration debate.
“I learned a long time ago that calling names doesn't serve a purpose,” he said. “I have a thesaurus and I use that when I want to describe people in a positive fashion.”
Although Perata's comment was a hot topic in some parts of town and was the most e-mailed item yesterday on SignOnSanDiego.com, The San Diego Union-Tribune's Web site, others had little interest. About a dozen people interviewed in downtown La Mesa and at Grossmont Center said they weren't aware of the controversy.
You would have thought the racist, bigot NAACP would have weighted in on this "revival" of their own terminology.
John & Ken in L.A. had a great time with it. They've started a campaign to have people mail crackers to Perata. Saltines if you're Anglo, graham if you're a 'person of color,' and maybe rice crackers if you're Asian.
Yes, the author of the article somehow left out the most demeaning racial connotations of the "cracker" name.
Prejudice?? Since when is expecting that immigration laws be enforced considered 'prejudice'? Go pound sand, you moron.
Hey, I'm Scot-Irish and German (about as cracker as you can get), and I don't give a rat's backside if someone calls me that. It means they have lost the debate.
Awk! Cracker wanna Perata?
Free Dominion trashed in Ottawa Citizen op-ed
Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4 Next
True enough but not my point. Saying someone's a "cracker" is the same as calling them a racist. Instead the writer translated it as: "'Cracker' is generally considered a pejorative term for a poor, uneducated Southern white person." I was pointing out that the article is slanted to dilute the word's true meaning. Whether you or anyone else resents the name is another matter, and I agree with your reaction.
Stone cold truth.
Crackers and cheese whiz. IS that the punch line in a Foxworthy joke?
As far as I am concerned cracker is just a racist pejorative for white people in general.
If a Republican senator (much lest the president of the state senate) has referred to illegals as "beaners" (to use another racist food pejorative) there would be absolute Hell to pay.
I am neither white nor mexican btw.
No - that is just a matter of common knowledge here in AlerBammer.
Soggy saltines, LOL. That's precious.
I'm crisp, buttery, and taste great with pimento cheese spread.
Perata and Schwarzenegger (and many other government people in Sacramento) are simply out of touch with Southern California.
Living in ivory towers and spending our taxpayer dollars, they don't see or feel the effects of excessive illegal immigration.
Ken and John were promoting the Max out of the Crackers for Perata today as I was on the Freeway....
Some one out in San Bernadino send 48 boxes of crackers....to Perata.
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