This is one of those items so astounding that many others have already noted it. Still, I can't let it pass. From Byron York, right-winger extraordinaire (guess I should put him on the RWS™ list) and frequent talk-show talking head, we hear the following:
"On his 100th day in office, Barack Obama enjoys high job approval ratings, no matter what poll you consult. But if a new survey by the New York Times is accurate, the president and some of his policies are significantly less popular with white Americans than with black Americans, and his sky-high ratings among African-Americans make some of his positions appear a bit more popular overall than they actually are."
So, uh, I guess "overall" popularity means you take African-Americans out of the count. Then, I suppose, you could go even further: think how little popularity the president would have if you eliminated everyone who agrees with him. Yeah. Now we're talking.
One rarely gets such a clear view. The problem, as Byron York sees it -- and by extension, all those angry thirty-percenters and their teabags -- is that Obama is popular with people who aren't Byron York. Worse: there are so damn many of them! Heck, he thinks, if we just count guys like me -- the only ones that matter -- Obama isn't popular at all. Why can't we do it that way?
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The impression I get from that comment is that he's saying blacks are only agreeing because of race. He assumes that the reverse is not a factor in the split at all, and he presumes to judge the validity of reasoning for their decision (i.e. I disagree with both ideas).
ReplyDeleteOff topic alert...
ReplyDeleteSid, have you even considered making your book an audio book? Vis, read it yourself and make it a downloadable MP3 file? Audio books have a very real following now. Just take a look at audible.com. I know for sure I'd purchase it.
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Michael
Michael: I have thought about it. I actually did some readings from the book, one of which still accessible on Surgeonsblog, if pretty amateurish. There was a website on which I posted a couple of readings as well, but I got expunged for inactivity.
ReplyDeleteFact is, I don't know how to go about making an MP3 file, or any other way to do it, and then get it out there.
Big Surprise, he's popular with people who think he's gonna give them something... Too bad it's Swine Flu. Just curious about your car Sid, how many clutches have you been through??
ReplyDeleteHow fast have you wound it up to??
I'm on my first, I baby mine, haven't done a smoky burnout since I bought her, have had her up to 130 a few times in my younger days...with the 6 speeds she's only turnin 3500 RPM...
Frank
Frank, I'd say the popularity is with those who think he's giving them their country back...
ReplyDeleteFirst and only clutch; like you, no drop-clutch starts. My episodes of revving it up are mostly limited to on- and off-ramps of I-5. Very throaty and torquey above 3500 RPM, thrilling at 4500, in third. Can't say I've been into triple digits. At 80 in 6th, it's about 2500.
So is it a Camarro, or a 'vette?
I hope all of you who made fun of the way GW Bush speaks were listening to the presser tonight. Are you proud of the Gifted One?
ReplyDeleteUh..uh..uh..er.."a overarching".."gonna".."went ta".."ta".."gonna".."we're comin'"...
The genius president sounds a lot like Jim in Huck Finn.
BB, you're such a tool. It's a total blast reading your stuff. Don't ever stop.
ReplyDeleteOriginal clutch at almost 200 thousand miles is impressive no matter how easy you are on it...Its a Camaro, not an IROC thank you. Been gettin on her a little harder lately, since My President says he'll honor her warantee...too bad it ran out in 1995..
ReplyDeleteFrank
Beer Bottle:
ReplyDeleteThe character's name is Nigger Jim, but you knew that, Old Bean.
There's a good scene in Huckleberry Finn where Huck finds a way to free Nigger Jim from prison, but tells him to wait a day in order to satisfy Huck's idealized notion of a jailbreak. It's ironic that this scene reflects badly on what you might call liberal elitists, the point being that Huck's motivation in freeing Jim is ultimately selfish.
So you've gotten your jollies by calling Obama a nigger. Generally, self-actualized people don't care if you call them that or any other name. Doing so says far more about you: that you have a probably justified low sense of self worth, do to a shortcoming in ability and/or drive. That you regard your race as a country club membership means you have little else.
--Sam Spade
Well, spade, of course you may think of him like that, but I find it offensive. But that's just you, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely liberal of you to insert race where it didn't exist. Jim is the adult male in the story. i guess I could have said that BO sounds like Aunt Polly, but you would have objected to that.
And you think you know what my race is? That's a laugh. I think you have already guessed wrong.
But you do enjoy the word secretly, don't you? You probably insist you're not racist, since, after all, you voted for the Gifted One.
I listened listened to the book reading to which you linked above. I'd found it as good as any of the stories from Surgeon's Blog. I found the audio format surprisingly enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteDon't decide not to post mp3's because of technical obstacles. The process is analogous to taking digital pictures then posting jpeg images.
--Sam Spade
I'm with Timmyson. I think the clear implication here is that African- Americans only like Obama because he's black -- not because they like his policies... and therefore we can discount what they have to say.
ReplyDeleteSo what I want to know is, when they were polling W's approval ratings, does this author think they should have discounted the opinions of over-privileged ex- frat boys who succeeded largely due to nepotism and friends in high places?
Sheesh. How messed-up can you get.
Beer Bottle:
ReplyDelete"Well, spade, of course you may think of him like that, but I find it offensive."
You cheeky monkey, you! You very nearly had me convinced. However, if you study carefully you'll see that I didn't say Obama is like anything, Old Bean. That was someone else.
"How lovely liberal of you to insert race where it didn't exist. Jim is the adult male in the story."
You wanted Aunt Polly. You longed for Tom Sawyer. Huck Finn would be a dream. Sadly, only Nigger Jim had that magical characteristic: adulthood. What choice did you have?
"i guess I could have said that BO sounds like Aunt Polly, but you would have objected to that."
I would have objected to Aunt Polly most strenuously. The calumny!
"And you think you know what my race is? That's a laugh. I think you have already guessed wrong."
I guess you're an alcoholic 55 year old white divorcee with a gut who lives with a dog in a dingy one-bedroom apartment and whose lovelife involves dressing up his unit like a Japanese schoolgirl and punishing it.
"But you do enjoy the word secretly, don't you?"
I'm indifferent to it. You, on the other hand, hold "the word" in such awe that you cannot write it, as if a puppy will die. Who's got the issue here?
--Sam Spade
BB... I was amazed first at what you said. Even before I read further down and saw the other posts, I immediately saw you were saying in so uncertain terms that our President sounded like an ignorant slave. I was further amazed, stunned, at when being called out on your blatant bigotry that you fained offense. You might as well have said, "I don't dislike black people, some of my best friends are colored."
ReplyDeleteMike
Sounds ignorant? Yes. Slave? I think I misunderestimated you people. Clearly, race is your default mode. Huck Finn/Tom Sawyer is (for me) the "local color" (okay, race police--can I use the word 'color' here???) novel. If you read it out loud, it's retty obvious. If you just read the words, it can be tough to tell what's said. And yes, that's BO's way of er...um...talkin'. After eight years of hearing the GW Bush is an idiot because he says "nucular", I'd like to hear how you guys feel about your genius president, the the Gifted One, talkin' like an Okie, gonna give hisself a speech.
ReplyDeleteSince you don't know me, what I look like, what my family looks like, or where I'm from, I let this one go. But you need to find a new default mode.