Aren’t these the same folks who blamed ethnic cleansing in the Balkans on ethnic diversity?  I recall Rush Limbaugh blaming “multi-culturalism” for the violence under the theory that if there was only one culture (his, of course) - there wouldn’t be anyone to be prejudiced against.

I think Rush sells himself and his fellow-travelers short: I’m sure they’d find someone to be prejudiced against.  After all, without someone different to hold up to the mob to hate, where would Rush be?

They’ve apparently already succeeded in expanding the definition of “playing the race card” to include any acknowledgement that race exists…

Since Obama is of mixed race, logically, it follows from wingnutopia that he hates white people AND black people.

The most alarming thing I saw in that Rasmussen poll is that 44% of African-Americans viewed Obama’s comments as racist…

What black people are they asking this question to?  Michael Steele and Alan Keyes clones?

The McCain campaign in fact ran an ad mocking the idea of Obama appearing on US currency.

I don’t worry about polls like this for one big reason- a dirty little secret of polling is that they only call land lines, and most younger people use cell phones. Every poll in the country should be prefaced with “this is what old people who are out of touch with the modern world believe.”

I’ve heard many times here that if a black person finds something racist, then it is (and I agree).  In this case we have almost half of the blacks asked replying that Obama’s comment was racist.  So it clearly is, unless the rules have changed when I wasn’t looking.

I’ve heard many times here that if a black person finds something racist, then it is (and I agree).  In this case we have almost half of the blacks asked replying that Obama’s comment was racist.

Did the pollsters know to tell the people being polled that Obama was responding to a McCain ad?  Or did they say that Obama made his remark out of thin air, which is something that is clearly false?

You can get people being polled to agree to almost anything as long as you leave out the right facts.  Did you know that John McCain has a black child?  She’s right here with her sister, Megan.  If you didn’t know that she was an orphan they’d adopted from Bangladesh, you’d be able to construct some kind of wild story about how she was a secret illegitimate black child and put that into a poll, wouldn’t you?

“Did the pollsters know to tell the people being polled that Obama was responding to a McCain ad?”

I dunno.

But here are the questions asked (I don’t know how to link):

1 Have you read, seen, or heard news reports about the television commercial including images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton?

2 Have you actually seen the commercial?

3 Is the McCain ad racist?

4 Barack Obama said his opponent will try to scare people because Obama does not look like the other Presidents on dollar bills. Is that a racist comment?

5 Are most Americans racist?

Doesn’t seem misleading to me.  Does Rassmussen have a bad reputation that I’m unaware of?

Barack Obama said his opponent will try to scare people because Obama does not look like the other Presidents on dollar bills. Is that a racist comment?

That’s the part you seem to be missing—one of McCain’s commercials DID SAY that Obama doesn’t look like the other presidents on dollar bills.  That commercial has been running since June.  Obama wasn’t saying that McCain WOULD say it.  He said that it HAD ALREADY BEEN SAID by the McCain campaign and was responding to what they said.

Do you see the difference between responding to what someone else said and saying something on your own?  If Rasmussen did not specify that Obama made his comments IN RESPONSE TO the ad from McCain, how is it not a dishonest question?  Again, it’s the same as saying that McCain has a black daughter without mentioning why or how.  You’re feeding people a small piece of information and making them form an opinion based on that one piece of information.  In other words, you’re lying to them.

But, hey, if the only way you can win the election is by lying, have at it.  I realize Republicans have no conscience so it’s not like it would bother you to win the election dishonestly.

Oh, and Grendel72 linked to the McCain commercial in question at 05:45 pm above, so please watch it if you’re still confused about which commercial I’m referring to.  It is not the Britney/Paris commercial—it is a DIFFERENT one.

There has been more than one anti-Obama commercial produced by the McCain campaign, believe it or not.

“one of McCain’s commercials DID SAY that Obama doesn’t look like the other presidents on dollar bills.”

No it didn’t.  Like Grendel, I see that as mocking the idea of Obama on currency (as a jab at his “celebrity status”, and an attempt to spin the seeming inevitibility of his presidency into a negative), not that he doesn’t look like the other presidents.  Obama’s expanation of his remarks do not mention that ad, only the Britney/Paris one.

“But, hey, if the only way you can win the election is by lying, have at it.”

I’m not American.  If I were, I’d vote for Obama.  Would have voted for him in the primaries, too.

It just seems strange that when 68% of blacks polled see the McCain ad as racist (I don’t) and 44% see the Obama comment as racist (again, I don’t), the 44% must have been misled.  Maybe they just recognize racism better than you or I do.

Like Grendel, I see that as mocking the idea of Obama on currency (as a jab at his “celebrity status”, and an attempt to spin the seeming inevitibility of his presidency into a negative), not that he doesn’t look like the other presidents.

Sigh.  Let me break it down for you since you still don’t seem to be getting:

McCain’s campaign mocked the idea of Obama on our currency

Obama picked up on it and referenced it in his stump speech, and has probably been referencing it since the McCain commercial came out back in June

When the McCain campaign got caught blowing their racist dogwhistle, they pointed the finger to try and claim that Obama did it first, nyah-nyah.

I’m pointing out that the Obama campaign didn’t do it first even though the media lapdogs seem to have forgotten all about that McCain commercial.  So claiming that Obama was spontaneously playing the race card with no prompting by the McCain campaign is—what is that called?  Oh, yeah, A LIE.  And yet that’s how the media has been portraying it and how the pollsters asked the question.

If half the people you ask the question of say “no” because their opinion is based on a lie that they’ve been told, is that “no” still a valid answer?  May as well ask people if Al Gore said he invented the internet—you’ll get about the same number who say that he did even though that lie has been debunked over and over again.

“I’m pointing out that the Obama campaign didn’t do it first even though the media lapdogs seem to have forgotten all about that McCain commercial.”

Obama had been using the “dollar bill” line well before the ads came out.  I heard him use it the primaries.  So they kinda did do it first.  Which is probably why Obama’s explanation is different than yours.

“So claiming that Obama was spontaneously playing the race card with no prompting by the McCain campaign is—what is that called?  Oh, yeah, A LIE.”

Then it’s a lie that Obama is telling.  He is not claiming that his comment was in response to the ad.  And he says that he does not think the ads are racist, just cynical.