Racist Email Aimed At Obama Raises Hackles In Tennessee

(CNN) -- The chairman of Tennessee's Democratic Party wants a Republican legislative aide fired for sending out a "reprehensible" e-mail depicting President Obama as two cartoonish white eyes peering from a black background.

Obama's image is in the last square of a collage containing portraits of the previous 43 U.S. presidents. The e-mail, which was sent to other GOP staff members, was posted on the Internet Monday.

Sherri Goforth, an administrative assistant to state Sen. Diane Black, R-Gallatin, has admitted she sent the e-mail May 28 with the title "Historical Keepsake Photo." She said, without elaborating, that she mistakenly sent it "to the wrong list of people."

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/79ac74978abb.jpg[/atsimg]

...

"I don't think a reprimand is enough. I think this lady needs to go. I don't think she should be a part of the people who represent the state of Tennessee,"
...

"I am appalled. It's despicable. It's disgusting. It should not have happened, but it does happen," Shaw said. "It is the president of our country that we're talking about."

article here

So it's ok to attack Palin's innocent daughter but it's not ok to joke about a full grown man, leader of the free world. ...well, free for now at least.

My,my how times have changed.

"I am appalled. It's despicable. It's disgusting. It should not have happened, but it does happen," Shaw said. "It is the president of our country that we're talking about."

Kinda reminds me of this collage from several months ago discussed here

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4ea6be3a9dd5.jpg[/atsimg]

Whether you think it's funny or not, on thing is certain, we've been constantly reminded just how true this is.

A congressional aide should lose her job for bad judgement and poor emailing skills.

BUT, I don't think you can call something racist unless it has hate or repression, or negative connotations associated with it. An accurate portrayal of an individual cannot be construed as racist. That picture wasn't very accurate since Obama is lightskinned and only half-black, but it isn't racist either. It didn't have any hate-message associated with it, and it didn't call for his head like a lot of Republicans are openly doing.

So, Fire her? Yes, she is a dummy!
Racist? No, just a non-violent cartoonish picture.

reply to post by Alxandro


Nobody can take a joke anymore in this world. I thought it was funny when Wanda Sykes made jokes about Limbaugh, I thought David Lettermans joke was funny, and I think this email is funny. It is a joke, everybody who gets all worked up has lost their minds.

reply to post by Alxandro


wow.

you really don't get it, do you??

First thing I thought of was how when there is a joke about a conservative dieing or being raped everyone is told to calm down and take a joke.

Now it's your turn. It's just a joke suck it up and move on.

Political correctness is just another way of destroying free speech.

Lets get the law out of free speech - and lets get peoples political views out of it.

The only person who should be allowed to have an opinion is the person to whom it was directed - if they want to do something and feel attacked, then so be it.

I doubt Obama is losing any sleep over this - so forget it and move along.

I thought we were past the "race" thing? So what is the big deal?

This can be interpreted in many ways, one of which the person could have thought Obama is a CIA agent, highly unlikely, but still. Another way this could be interpreted is that he is absent for actually doing any work, which is the truth, all I've seen him do is spend money and campaign, again highly unlikely.

I don't see what the big deal is, if you ever want to get past the race thing then you have to start looking at these things as funny, by acting outraged and everything is only perpetuating the problem.

Just another example of the obvious double standard.

[edit on 17-6-2009 by Hastobemoretolife]

The difference between this and the Palin fiasco is one was told by a comedian, during a comedic television show shown late at night, the other was sent by a legislative aid to politicians.

Am i saying only comedians can make jokes? of course not. In my opinion there is no such thing as an inappropriate joke, there is only an inappropriate place for a joke to be told, and this is one of them.

Is a racist joke inappropriate? No because jokes are meant to cross lines and make comments on the real world, sometimes something must be said that is considered racist to make this comment. Is it inappropriate to tell a racist joke at a daycare? Yes.

On top of that, it doesn't make any sense. I mean, why would Obama have his picture taken in the dark? Perhaps if it was full of black boxes labeled as the white Presidents and then a final box labeled Obama with the eyes, it would actually make sense. It could be titled "Portraits of President's taken in the dark." Then it might be pretty funny, if it were on a comedic website, or a private email sent my ordinary citizens.

reply to post by Alxandro

So it's ok to attack Palin's innocent daughter but it's not ok to joke about a full grown man, leader of the free world. ...well, free for now at least.

You got it. I wish those thin-skinned Democrats would just lighten up. It's only a joke. They're not really offended by it, they just want to make an issue out of it. Sound familiar?

It was a joke people. Lighten up.

I am fairly liberal (at least I've been accused of it a thousand times), and I never vote republican, so you could call me a democrat. But this is just a joke. If this aide is to be fired, that is up to her employers, and Senator Diane Black, the person who this email will hurt the most.

The actions of this aide are only reinforcing the stereotype that most republicans are racist. I know for a fact that this is not true, but it is a stereotype, and when emails like this get out it doesn't really help conservatives fight those rumours. The democrats do not need to step in and demand she gets fired, because then they're only reinforcing the false stereotype that all liberals are whiners.

Leave it up to Diane Black to decide this aide's fate, because in the long run it is her name being dragged through the mud. The aide obviously made a joke in bad taste, and she made it on behalf of her party. Let her party decide what to do with it.

Remember when Wanda Sykes joked about Limbaugh, and Obama laughed at it? Remember how all of the conservatives were up in arms over it whining about this and that?

Remember when conservatives where whining about Letterman's tasteless joke about Palin's daughter? Don't sink to their level, please. If liberals are going to whine about this harmless little email, then they don't have a leg to stand on when they are accused of the same thing.

I swear, this country has no sense of humor left.

reply to post by coincidence_theorist


So only certain people are supposed to make jokes . . . and only at a certain time agaiinst certain people?

ROTFLMAO !!! some people need to learn to take a joke.

Seriously, this has what it comes to! Unbelievable! Again, if no one can handle a little obnoxious behavior, I feel really sorry for 'those' fragile people when things really start to get bad!

Honestly, the media has nothing better to do than talk about Obamessiah and his fly swatting skills. It's all sickening.

Someone made a joke about Obama and now the Democrats are calling for her their job.

This after a week of them telling the Republicans to learn to take a joke.

Its amazing how they only think jokes are funny when its not about their party.

Guy who sent emails with a picture of a watermellon patch in front of the white house - fired

Don Imus- fired

This lady- they want her fired

Palin- made out to be the bad guy for standing up to her daughter

Letterman- keeps job

Jesse Jackson- keeps job

Reverand Wright- keeps job and makes money from the exposure

Al Sharpton- Keeps job.


The hypocricy is runnning rampant.

So can someone who laughed explain what's funny about it?

I'm not offended by it personally, but I don't think it's funny either. So can someone explain it to me? I mean the only frame of reference I can see for the 'joke' is that Obama is 'black'. What's funny about that?

And since someone decided to kick this dead horse again, the joke about Palin's daughter, well, the frame of reference is obvious to me... Underage girl (by social standards in the US) from a notably conservative, 'family values' oriented family gets pregnant out of wedlock.

Which is ironic. But I don't find it particularly funny either, but it is in context that makes sense to me. Simply put, Obama is black by birth. Sarah Palin's daughter chose to have unprotected sex.

I'm more inclined to accept humor at the expense of someone's foolish choice rather than their natural characteristics. It's what we choose to do versus how we are born. Is that thin-skinned?

Though, again, I don't find either really funny, but that's a matter of taste of really not defensible no matter what perspective you take.

What is everyone else defending?

reply to post by TravelerintheDark


A joke is a joke.

Doesn't matter if you see the humor in it or if you see why it might be funny.

I don't see how the joke about the chicken crossing the road is supposed to be funny, yet to some it is and they see why it is.

I don't see why some people thinks that Larry the Cable guy is funny. Yet he makes more money by saying "Git R Done" then Jeff Foxworthy will ever make saying " you might be a redneck if?"

Humor is in the eye of the beholder.

reply to post by jd140


Absolutely agree with you. Even said much the same in my post. But that wasn't my point. Rather I was honestly asking for the context of the Obama joke that makes it funny.

I think the reason Larry the Cable Guy makes more money that Jeff Foxworthy is because they are telling the same joke in regards to context, but 'Git r done' is less derisive than 'You might be a redneck if...' Which is to say, they are both making fun of the same people for the same reason, but one has a more mocking tone. But people laugh at either because in some sense they find the jokes ironic because they happen to be true on some level. That's humor.

The chicken crossing the road is supposed to be funny because it's unexpected or ironic though I don't know anyone who ever laughed at it.

It's also important to me to note that both actively proclaim themselves rednecks. How successful would they be if they dressed in suits and ties?
It would be a different context.

reply to post by TravelerintheDark


So Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, etc. can make fun of black people, but this aide cannot?

double post


[edit on 6/17/2009 by soldiermom]

Aren't double standards great?!? We have the dems telling everyone that Wanda Sykes was "just" making a joke and Letterman was "just" making a joke and to quit being crybabies about it. "Grow a thicker skin!", they said. Now that the shoe's on the other foot, they have the audacity to be all red in the face about it?

Hypocrisy run amok.