Oh boy.
I know I'm an Obama supporter, but jeebus.
How can so many tone deaf people hold elected office in this country?
Here's Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell's semi-mea culpa for his remarks to the Pittsburgh editorial board that some whites in his state are too racist to support Barack Obama:
From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
"I regret saying it because of the way it was interpreted," the governor said yesterday. "Remember -- I always tell the truth. Maybe I'm wrong, but I tell what my experience has taught me."
What the latest experience has taught him, Mr. Rendell said, is that a blunt answer on a touchy subject doesn't always work.
"What's so frustrating about this is that in this business, if you give an honest answer, you get skewered for it," Mr. Rendell said. "If you give the politically correct answer, the press says, 'Aw, that guy, he's just a shucker and jiver and never gives a straight answer.' I get in trouble for telling the truth."
In case you need a refresher on what was originally said:
"You've got conservative whites here ... who are not ready to vote for an African American candidate. I believe, looking at the returns in my election, that had Lynn Swann been the identical candidate that he was -- well-spoken, charismatic, good-looking but white instead of black -- that instead of winning by 22 points, I would have won by 17 or so. I think there was that factor there. And that exists, but on the other hand, that's counterbalanced by Obama's ability to bring new voters into the electoral pool."
This article even quotes some DKos posters who may or may not have posted in diaries like this one yesterday.
Not surprisingly, Rendell's gubernatorial opponent Lynn Swann was not amused:
Mr. Swann, Pennsylvania's 2006 Republican gubernatorial nominee, yesterday issued a withering criticism of the remarks, calling them "unnecessary, certainly insensitive."
"I think it's obvious that Ed Rendell is looking for a place to support Mrs. Clinton and took an opportunity to make a statement that would be negative toward her opponent," Mr. Swann said. "There's no need for Ed Rendell to make that comment whatsoever, and I think it's arrogant on his part to make the statement that he still would have won by 17 percent."
Now I just want to make it clear I still do not think Hillary Clinton or Ed Rendell are racists. Cynical about racism and not completely above exploiting it for political gain? Probably but that isn't that surprising to me.
But after the Andrew Cuomo flap over the "shuck and jive" comment it's just mystifying to me that a politician of as big a state as the one Rendell governs with as many African-American constituents as he has that he could be THAT tone deaf on this issue to use "shuck and jive" in his semi-apology for what he said about the people of his state being racist.
And just in case someone still doesn't know the history of "shuck and jive":
"To shuck and jive" originally referred to the intentionally misleading words and actions that African-Americans would employ in order to deceive racist Euro-Americans in power, both during the period of slavery and afterwards. The expression was documented as being in wide usage in the 1920s, but may have originated much earlier.
"Shucking and jiving" was a tactic of both survival and resistance. A slave, for instance, could say eagerly, "Oh, yes, Master," and have no real intention to obey. Or an African-American man could pretend to be working hard at a task he was ordered to do, but might put up this pretense only when under observation. Both would be instances of "doin' the old shuck 'n jive."
Today, the expression has expanded somewhat from earlier usage, and is now sometimes used to mean "talking pure baloney," "goofing off," or "goofing around." The original meaning of deceit often remains, however.
After all this nonsense can Ed Rendell just shut up now? At least until April?
I would imagine it's not just Obama supporters that want this.