And the pigs are flying. You good residents down there in Georgia—send some the Klan robes over to Rep. Lynn Westmoreland’s office. On Thursday, it was reported that he said this:
“Just from what little I’ve seen of her [Michelle] and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity,” Westmoreland said. Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.
Now with a couple of days under his belt to reconsider the wisdom of hurling out the plain and simply bigoted term, he regrets nothing—and if you can believe this, the native Southerner claims he didn’t know there was a racial connotation to the term.
“He stands by that characterization and thinks it accurately describes the Democratic nominee,” said Brian Robinson, Westmoreland’s spokesman. “He was unaware that the word had racial overtones and he had absolutely no intention of using a word that can be considered offensive.”
This man is a liar. Westmoreland knew exactly what he said; and it isn’t surprising coming from a man who opposed renewing the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The WaPo’s Jonathan Weisman is more polite, but agrees:
Having grown up in Atlanta, very near where Rep. Lynn Westmoreland grew up, I can say pretty unequivocally that there is no way a native Georgian could not have known the racial context of that word. Georgia in the 60s and 70s was a study in black and white (it’s much more diverse now), and racial subtexts were everywhere. I do not buy his defense.
Dog whistles no more as we head down the home stretch…
------
Registration is now required! We're still in the process of getting it all squared away, so for the moment don't forget to Login or Register using the links in the upper left menu before starting to write your comment.
Should’ve known it’d be Westmoreland who’d get “dog” and “train” mixed up.