He Can Say That Because Obama's Black

The Tea-baggers are known for many things now. For one, they have a horrendous grasp of the English language which is allegedly their native tongue. Their knowledge of the Constitution is limited to approximately three lines that they memorized in grade school. And their ability to make racist statements while claiming there is no racism among any of their followers.

The later is not meant to suggest that ALL Tea-baggers are racists, but there is more than enough to go around. From the more blatant to the more nuanced and subtle, racism is still a plague that we must deal with no matter how many conservatives claim that it doesn’t exist or that it is actually the Liberals/Progressives that are the racists.

One way that conservatives, Tea-bagger or not, are able to explain away their racist context is to use terminology that is vague or that has lost much of its racist connotations over the years. That’s how people like Mike Parry get away with it and have conservatives rushing to their defense.

District 26 Senate candidate Mike Parry is under fire for some messages that he allegedly posted on Twitter and has since “scrubbed.” In one, the Republican contender allegedly referred to President Barack Obama as a “power hungry arrogant black man” and in another linked Democrats with pedophiles…..In another instance, Parry wrote, “read the exclusive on Mr O in Newsweek. He is a Power Hungry Arrogant Black Man.”

When asked about the posts, Parry said that he had not seen MPP's site nor heard about the allegations because he had been too busy.

When asked if he had written those statements, Parry admitted he had posted the statement about Obama.

“I know specifically about what you're talking about - the tweet that I had sent using my opinion and fact,” Parry said. “My opinion is that our president is arrogant and angry. The fact is that he is a black man. Now if the Democratic Party and the liberals want to take my opinion and the fact and mix it together and use it to bring a bad light about me and keep them away from discussing the real issues they can do that all they want. They're grasping for straws.”

Parry actually makes my point for me in one respect. Conservatives think that since Obama is black that they have carde blanche to use his race as part of their arguments against him. Couple that with the “angry” adjective and we are thrust headlong into that bygone generation where all black men of any educational status were “uppity” as well.

No one is saying that Parry isn’t able to disagree with Barack Obama, but he certainly lacks the ability to do so with any facts. And his opinion of Obama is obviously limited to what his skin color means to him and not his policy ideals.