Faced With Perry's "Niggerhead" Controversy, Conservatives Slam…Herman Cain

[one...two...tree 2,762]

As Texas Gov. Rick Perry deals with the fallout from the revelation that his family leases a hunting camp called "Niggerhead," Herman Cain is facing his own backlash—for suggesting that the Perrys' conduct was "insensitive."

According to the Washington Post, Perry's family leases a piece of land referred to by local residents as "Niggerhead"; the word is carved into a rock at the entrance of the property. The rock was painted over sometime after the Perry family began renting the property in the 1980s, although the offending word is still "faintly visible." Locals interviewed by the Post provided comic rationalizations for why the name isn't offensive. Haskell County Judge David Davis told the paper, "It's just a name…Like those are vertical blinds. It's just what it was called." Perry, for his part, told the Post that the term was an "offensive name that has no place in the modern world."

Herman Cain, appearing on ABC's This Week, offered Perry the most mild of rebukes considering he's old enough to recall what life was like when segregation was the law of the land. "I think that it shows a lack of sensitivity for a long time of not taking that word off of that rock and renaming the place," he said.

Wrong answer, Herman.

You might have anticipated that Perry would face a firestorm for being associated with the property, but it's Cain whose remarks are drawing the most criticism from the right. At RedState, Erick Erickson concluded, "It also seems to be a slander Herman Cain is picking up and running with as a way to get into second place." Glenn Reynolds remarked that until now, Cain's "big appeal is that he's not just another black race-card-playing politician." Over at the Daily Caller, Matt Lewis called Cain's remarks "a cheap shot, and, perhaps a signal that Cain is willing to play the race card against a fellow Republican when it benefits him."

The key phrase here is "fellow Republican." Because, you see, no one thought Cain was "playing the race card" when he said in the same program that black people are "brainwashed" into voting for Democrats and suggested that black people who vote Republican are "thinking for themselves." Cain wasn't rebuked by conservatives when he previously suggested President Barack Obama was not "a strong black man," implied liberals were out to commit genocide against blacks through support for abortion rights, and said he wouldn't appoint a Muslim to his cabinet.

None of that, in the eyes of the conservatives who cheered him for those remarks, constituted "playing the race card." But when a man who is old enough to recall living under American apartheid gets a little emotional over a piece of land called "Niggerhead," that's where the right draws the line. Not just because Cain is attacking a fellow Republican, but because he stepped out of the proper role of a black conservative, which is to reassure Republicans that their political problems with race are the inventions of a liberal conspiracy. Cain just ran head first into the brick wall of conservative anti-anti-racism, the attitude on the right that accusations of racism directed at white people are of far greater consequence than any lingering vestiges of institutional racism nonwhites might face.

There's also more than a little irony in Perry facing a racial controversy, especially considering the fact that it's his relatively moderate record on immigration that has given him the most trouble in the GOP presidential primary. Given Cain's remarks about Obama and black voters, Michele Bachmann's support for a return to the pre-1965 immigration system (which involved racial quotas), and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's ad that mostly consists of former Mexican President Vicente Fox praising Perry in heavily accented English, Perry's campaign has been largely devoid of race-baiting when compared with his opponents.

Yet conservatives might rally around Perry's embattled campaign because a man with the living memory of what life was like for black people in the segregated South had the chutzpah to suggest that there was something "insensitive" about a place called "Niggerhead." Meanwhile, Cain, whose stock was rising prior to the controversy, may have harmed his own presidential ambitions with the mere suggestion that a white Republican had been "insensitive" on an issue of race. How's that for postracial?

http://motherjones.c...ead-controversy

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Perry and Romney are politicians just like Obama. Electing one of them will only change which part of the economy, country, government, and our lives are fvcked up, meesed with and controlled.

Herman Cain is NOT a politician and that scares the bejeezus out of ALL the politicians. But I wll not hold my nose and vote for either Perry or Romney, I will vote for the Libertarian if it is a choice between them and Obama

But here is how it is and everyone that knows anything knows it...

If the economy does not turn around Obama will lose to whoever the Republicans nominate. It could be Bachman, Palin, Ron Paul, Cain, Perry...whoever. A box turtle even.

If the economy DOES turn around, Obama will be re-elected, it is that simple.

Y'all can have deep philosophical discussions and debates but it won't matter. There is not enough intellect in the American electorate for it to matter. If people feel the way they do now at this time next year, Obama is gone. Retired.

The Repubs are going to claw and gouge each others eyes out before it is over because they know whoever gets that nomination has a really good chance to win because Obama is flying the plane right into the ground under power and nothing he has proposed has any possibility of reversing it before the election. Some external force would have to be applied, the administration as it is, is unable

Cain & Unable.

I hope Cain does well, he at least understands we need fundamental change and not more political BS

[Danno 1,228]

Frigging Cain fell right into their trap of dividing republicans.

When oh when will those on the right take a lesson from the Left, the one thing they know how to do is protect each other from such stuff.

For instance, the President belonged to a clearly racist church, it was preached from the pulpit, it was found in their Mission statement and in their "Black Value System" yet fellow Democrats circled the wagon and almost no one condemned him for it.

http://www.trinitychicago.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=114

Here you have a hit-piece story out on perry of an old rock which had the offensive writing not only painted over but the rock it self knocked down..... and herman cain speaks before knowing the facts.

I am still waiting to see a photo of that rock, we have wall to wall coverage of a story about this Rock and I have not seen even one pic of it.

Cain should have replied back quoting another person in time who dealt with the slanderer of his day when he asked Sen McCarthy , "sir have you no decency?"

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I am still waiting to see a photo of that rock, we have wall to wall coverage of a story about this Rock and I have not seen even one pic of it.

[Danno 1,228]

For a huge breaking story about an offensive rock....... your pic may be as close as we get to seeing what all of the hub is about.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Frigging Cain fell right into their trap of dividing republicans.

When oh when will those on the right take a lesson from the Left, the one thing they know how to do is protect each other from such stuff.

For instance, the President belonged to a clearly racist church, it was preached from the pulpit, it was found in their Mission statement and in their "Black Value System" yet fellow Democrats circled the wagon and almost no one condemned him for it.

http://www.trinitychicago.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=114

Here you have a hit-piece story out on perry of an old rock which had the offensive writing not only painted over but the rock it self knocked down..... and herman cain speaks before knowing the facts.

I am still waiting to see a photo of that rock, we have wall to wall coverage of a story about this Rock and I have not seen even one pic of it.

Cain should have replied back quoting another person in time who dealt with the slanderer of his day when he asked Sen McCarthy , "sir have you no decency?"

Oh Bullsh*t. When did Hillary and Obama protect each other? Heck they even had Kennedy run in a primary against an INCUMBENT Democrat President.

Do you even remember the debates with Reagan and Bush 41? OMG I was nearly floored when Reagan chose Bush as his VP. I would have guessed they would eat each other's children by then!

Primaries are all about skewering the people in YOUR party so YOU can get the job. If you do not like them, then the Repubs shold do away with them. They are a purely party function, not a government function. Then just have a convention and let delegates choose and let the state parties elect delegates, not the public.

If this is the opening of it, prepare for more.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I find the topic title offensive.

ETA: I find further references in the OP article offensive as well.

Edited October 4, 2011 by Crusty Old Perv

[Danno 1,228]

I find the topic title offensive.

ETA: I find further references in the OP article offensive as well.

What other words do you find so offensive?

[Danno 1,228]

Oh Bullsh*t. When did Hillary and Obama protect each other? Heck they even had Kennedy run in a primary against an INCUMBENT Democrat President.

Do you even remember the debates with Reagan and Bush 41? OMG I was nearly floored when Reagan chose Bush as his VP. I would have guessed they would eat each other's children by then!

Primaries are all about skewering the people in YOUR party so YOU can get the job. If you do not like them, then the Repubs shold do away with them. They are a purely party function, not a government function. Then just have a convention and let delegates choose and let the state parties elect delegates, not the public.

If this is the opening of it, prepare for more.

What embaraSSING SCANDLE did Bush or reagan conceal for each other?

Errrr, that was my point after all.