If someone voted for John McCain because he was the white candidate, what would you call that?

bapticus hereticus: That people voted or not voted for Obama because of his race is not sufficient reason for calling one a racist. More information is needed. And let’s also acknowledge that the playing field in this country is not level when one considers majority and minority status, thus similar behaviors may in fact be driven by different motivations. Furthermore, one may engage in a racist behavior and not be a racist. Unless it can be demonstrated that a pattern of behavior and attitudes is operative, we need to be a bit more judicious in claiming that one’s state of being is that of racist. It does not follow that if one is voting for one that one must be voting against the other, although that may be the case.

Two qualified candidates with competing, yet legitimate programs, one white, one black. US history has only produced white presidents, and never a black president. If the deciding vote is for the black candidate given such may likely provide greater balance in our shared governance ideal, one is not racist for acting on said belief, and it does not follow that one is saying one is voting against the white because one hates whites.

The same candidates, but given the system will not follow the black person, thus the white person votes white, not because one opposes black people, but rather one fears that nothing will be accomplished with a black leader at this time. Whereas the effect may be the same as if one were actually a racist, the motivation is plausibly supportable on short-term pragmatic grounds, even if in the long-run said decision is revealed to be ignorant and anti-utilitarian.

You can pretend people don’t vote for or against a candidate because of color, but they do anyway.

So ‘not accepting the question’ is kinda like sticking one’s head in the sand, isn’t it?

bapticus hereticus: I don’t accept the question, either in its positive or negative form.

‘It’s time for a black president’

‘We don’t need another white guy for president’

and similar, are all racist comments.

To vote for someone because of his color is racist.

Do you agree?

bapticus hereticus: yet it seems many adults do not given their denial. hooray for the children.

A balanced discussion of factors “of varying degree of intensity” would be welcome, rather than the tunnel-visioned “how much are Republicans, conservatives, tea-partiers, Joe Wilson, and/or people who opposethe Obama agenda motivated by racism” – palooza.

Actually, it would be fun to quantify. Add up the tea party and town hall attendance estimates around the country, cut it by half just to be safe (denominator); then add up the number of racial signs and statements or incidents
attributable to Obama opponents (numerator). Multiply the numerator times 100 for the anger factor. Find the fraction. Wholly artificial, and just as unhelpful.

the essence of Clinton 1: black or white, people would oppose health care reform, thus the issue is not driven by race as a main effect.

the essence of Clinton 2: race can, however, intensify the opposition to health care. whereas race may not be a main effect, it can be a moderating issue, nonetheless. and this is the essence of “BDid” and Carter, alike, and vetted scholarship.

Fox, i live in SC. Carter is not without a point, nor is “BDid” lacking one, either.

In the South you have 3 groups the old Bourbon Dems, now reliably Country Club Republicans; the Blacks, reliably Democrats; and the White Populists.
The WP’s resent the wealth and power of the CC GOPPERS but still hold antipathy toward the blacks.
They are the “trump Card” in the game of politics of the South.

Joe Wilson knows that in his guts as does Mark Sanford close Furman friends Chip Campsen and his sister.
I know these people. I know South of Broad in Charleston, some of them great folks not like Wilson at all, but I know them.
And Stephen Colbert comes from the same place as well.
Read Jumpn Jim Crow. To the degree you don’t read JJC, is the degree to which you are ignorant on the matter; both of you.

Even so, BDid, countin on you to make sure Stewart Newman is honored at Baylor in couple weeks for one of the greatest and purest Baptist statements of the 20th Century when he said: WA Criswell does not speak for me.
Get that in the Baylor conference historical record.