McCain's Dog Whistle Racism

by: Daniel De Groot

Tue Oct 07, 2008 at 23:59


John McCain: (2nd debate transcript)

But you know, one of the real catalysts, really the match that lit this fire was Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I'll bet you, you may never even have heard of them before this crisis.

But you know, they're the ones that, with the encouragement of Sen. Obama and his cronies and his friends in Washington, that went out and made all these risky loans, gave them to people that could never afford to pay back.

First off, the kid McCain was talking to was black, so I found the "I'll bet you never heard of them" bit condescending, but remember the basis of this argument is this (h/t kovie):

Daniel De Groot :: McCain's Dog Whistle Racism
Then go here to read about the National Review making this case in an explicitly racist form.

This is the evolution of a racism dogwhistle.  It starts with conservative extremists in the sewers who say it openly, migrates to one of the "respectable" figures who tones it down a bit, and within a week, comes out of the candidate's mouth with no overt racial tones except for all the ground work already being laid.

Plausibly deniable, but those who have ears to hear it will happily eat it up.

I don't think it's working for him, but it's good to see the technique done clumsy so we'll get better at detecting it when they get it "right."

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McCain's Dog Whistle Racism | 5 comments
I was talking with an acquaintance last week (4.00 / 2)
He is a moderate Republican in his 70s. He caucused for McCain in January and is strongly leaning toward McCain, although he has very serious concerns because of Palin, who he thinks would be terrible (he is Jewish and pro-choice).

He used to work in real estate, and he was trying to convince me that the problems in the banking sector and with these subprime loans are all because of the Democrats in Congress who pushed through ACORN (I don't know the official name of the bill) decades ago. They forced people to make bad mortgage loans to (black) people who lived in bad neighborhoods he didn't even want to visit. I said come on, are you trying to tell me that's the reason for all this predatory lending? That's where it started, he said.

Unfortunately, I suspect a lot of people will respond to this idea that we'd be fine if we hadn't let so many black people buy houses.

Fortunately, I don't think this racist narrative will be enough to tip the election to McCain.

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Aside from the obvious and desperate racism (0.00 / 0)
this meme just doesn't make any sense. Hundreds of billions of dollars in worthless CMO's and CDS's due to banks being forced to lend to unqualified minorities? I mean, come on. One has to be both stupid and a racist to believe such idiocy (although the two tend to go together).

The Community Reinvestment Act (not ACORN, which is a group) did not force banks to do this. It merely encouraged them to lend to qualified minority home purchasers. These banks might have exploited the CRA to float all these bad loans, but that's hardly the CRA or these home owners' fault. No credible economist would support this lie.

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton

[ Parent ]
And in actual fact (4.00 / 1)
CRA loans have a lower rate of default than  is usual.

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[ Parent ]
I actually found this CSPAN video (0.00 / 0)
to be more telling, since it's more detailed, and well-rebutted by Anna Greenberg:



"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton

out of touch (0.00 / 0)
McCain wasn't being condescending. He just doesn't understand that not every American can ask his wife to buy a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th house for him.
McCain's Dog Whistle Racism | 5 comments
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