Ronald Reagan, racist? Ocasio-Cortez didn’t say that — but the controversy reveals a lot (trunc)

Yahoo News ^ | March 13th, 2019 | Andrew Romano

[Mariner]

Over the weekend, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., the Democratic Socialist and Fox News boogeywoman, sparked yet another conservative conniption when she took the stage at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas and said the words “Reagan” and “racist” in the same paragraph.

“One perfect example – a perfect example – of how special interests and the powerful have pitted white working-class Americans against brown and black working Americans in order to just screw over all working-class Americans is Reaganism in the '80s," Ocasio-Cortez said during an interview at the conference.

She brought up one of Reagan’s favorite anecdotes from his 1976 presidential primary campaign (he lost to Gerald Ford that year) about a Chicago woman who was accused of fraudulently collecting public benefits under a variety of names. The newspapers called her the “welfare queen.”

"So you think about this image, 'welfare queens,'” Ocasio-Cortez continued, “and what [Reagan] was really trying to talk about… He's painting this really resentful vision of essentially black women who were doing nothing, [who] were sucks on our country, right? … That's not explicit racism, but it’s still rooted in racist caricature. It gives people a logical — a ‘logical’ — reason to say, 'Oh, yeah, no. Toss out the whole safety net.'"

...

(For connoisseurs of historical irony, NPR has reported that the original “welfare queen,” who went by the name Linda Taylor as well as many others, may not even have been African-American.)

[Mariner]

The essence of this article is that left and right speak two different languages on race, so the author "clarifies" for AOC what she really meant.

And that, for the left, anything policy or action that has a disparate impact is racist, whether the motive is racist or not.

THAT'S how they want to steer the discussion. And it's quite dangerous.

Every conservative should refuse to go down that road as nothing can possibly be racist without a racist motive.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Racism is quite a simple construct to understand. If you believe (x) of person (y) is inherent because of the race of person (y), you’re a racist.

[Moonman62]

Commie Cortez is a scripted puppet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h5iv6sECGU

[rjsimmon]

Yep. She did say that. She made an implicit claim that Reagan himself enacted laws that made welfare queens. And since ALL welfare recipients were black women (in AOC’s mind), then Reagan was racist.

What she failed to do was produce any facts to that accusation. Her argument failed when she failed to indicate that Reagan was citing a case reported in the New York Times and Washington Post, both liberal publications.

[rdl6989]

and Fox News boogeywoman

Yahoo isn’t biased or anything.

[realcleanguy]

The is a paid puppet, an actress, who is being manipulated by someone

[Mariner]

“The is a paid puppet, an actress, who is being manipulated by someone”

To no greater extent than every other member of Congress.

This idea being promulgated in fringe-land is ludicrous, on its’ face.

To suggest AOC is not solely and completely responsible for her actions, words and ideas borders on a delusion.

[miss marmelstein]

What does this moron know about Reagan or something called “Reaganism” (a brand new AOC idiocy). She was born around 1990. Ask her when the Civil War started or when WWII ended.

[Moonman62]

Did you watch the video?

[Moonman62]

Have you seen the video I posted in #3?

[Mariner]

“Racism is quite a simple construct to understand”

The common, dumbed down version of the word is equal to bigot.

The simple minded cannot fathom a concept that everyone is racist, and that one can be racist without malice. So they awarded the word with a different, implied meaning.

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/bigotry

[SoCal Pubbie]

I don't think I would call someone who attributes the greater natural abilities of a black professional athlete compared to his white counterpart to racial factors is a racist, even though that belief would fit your definition. There have been TV programs discussing genetic factors to explain the over representation of blacks in professional sports. Even if the phenomenon turns out to be entirely cultural, I think such a belief would be prejudiced, not racist. All humans are prejudiced in one way or another and to varying degrees.

I use a different definition of racist. If you believe one race is inherently superior to another, or have greater worth in a general way, you're racist. Very few people in the this country today actually believe this, in my humble opinion.

[ETL]

“In other parts of the video, which surfaced late Monday, she talked about her life in Washington, DC, as a new member of Congress, calling it “super weird.”

“Here in DC it’s like, so weird. It’s like everybody is like, a spy. Like, it’s so bizarre,” she said.

“It’s like — you could go out to get a coffee and the person that’s, like, sitting at a table in the corner of the restaurant is like, you know, like,” she said, as she made typing motions.

“Then they go and, like, they text all of their friends that they saw so-and-so at this cafe and it’s like, triangulation,” she continued. “And it’s super weird.”

https://nypost.com/2019/02/19/ocasio-cortez-compares-trumps-border-wall-to-berlin-wall/

[guyman]

Why has this air head not been arrested by AG Barr for stealing campaign funds and converting them to her personal use? $1 million? I see no reason for further delay. She will need a trial and a women’s prison.

[Mariner]

Again, she is all of those things, but to no greater extent than every other person in the US Congress.

You’ve been taken by a sinister tone and music, and the use of sensational words.

If you flip that u tube a full 180 degrees, you would have a fringe leftist, backwater u tube commentator talking about a House member from Texas, who is completely under the control of the Chamber of Commerce and “the oil companies”.

They even had multiple “auditions” to find him.

Friggin’ hilarious.

[Cubs Fan]

Just for the record white working class people abandoned the democrat party during Obama.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

I use a different definition of racist. If you believe one race is inherently superior to another, or have greater worth in a general way, you're racist. Very few people in the this country today actually believe this, in my humble opinion.

I can live with that. And I agree with you. I have come across some actual racists in this day and age, but few and far between.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Of course the term “racist” covers much more than just race today. Technically, you can’t be racist towards a Mexican or even a Muslim, but you can be prejudiced. You can also be prejudiced against a group and decide to accept a member of it based on contact and experience. But today you’d be racist anyway, not just flawed or biased.

It’s ironic in a way when whites get all the blame for things that have existed for centuries, like slavery and prejudice. Is there nothing whitey can’t do better than everyone else?

[Moonman62]

The Justice Democrats are real.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_Democrats

[Mariner]

So are oil companies and the CoC.

That doesn’t mean “Mr. Reagan” has stumbled upon some secret, grand conspiracy to subvert truth, justice and the American way.

That’s been known for decades, over a century.

Of course you can probably contribute to “Mr. Reagan” in some fashion to keep him on the air and he’ll keep you titillated over commonly known truths.

Hell, he probably has a newsletter or web site you can subscribe to for all that information not available to anyone else.

LOL