skippy the bush kangaroo

Thursday, January 10, 2008

aw, shucks!

question: why is a golf channel anchor suspended without pay for joking that other golfers might "lynch" tiger woods, but mario cuomo's son andrew gets a pass for saying barack obama a presidential candidate "shucks and jives"?

pam's house blend tells us about the former ny gov's use of racial language:

oh no he didn't. (tpm):

during an appearance yesterday on talk radio - at almost the same time as obama co-chair jesse jackson jr. questioned hillary's tears - new york attorney general andrew cuomo used some words with a very troublesome racial history, apparently in reference to barack obama.

"it's not a tv crazed race. frankly you can't buy your way into it," cuomo said, according to albany times union reporter rick karlin. he then added, "you can't shuck and jive at a press conference. all those moves you can make with the press don't work when you're in someone's living room."
you see folks, this is what i'm talking about. this whole "post-racial" nonsense is a simple fantasy or delusion uttered by people who think race isn't a problem anymore. i'd like that to be the case as much as anyone else, but the fact of the matter is for democrats, the alleged party of tolerance, this kind of bush-league nonsense exposes the real problem -- that the lack of engagement on how race and political races bring out the worst in people, and plays to the base fears of voters.

as predicted, clinton supporter andrew cuomo unleashes "shuck and jive" then issues a statement that his comments were "taken out of context," since he later complimented obama. [be prepared to see that statement trotted out frequently in the future when it comes to incidents like this.]

"it was never about obama in the first place," cuomo told me of the use of the phrase, which he said he was using "as a synonym for 'bob and weave'.'"
my god. i know the smarter-than-thou political set thinks we're all rubes out here, but come on, this is incredible. this is what "shuck and jive" means, and it doesn't have anything to do with boxing, rope-a-dope, or anything benign:

"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."
pam nails it. there's no way "shuck and jive," when applied to a person of color, does not bring up demeaning images of slavery, of the "lazy negro", and of generally disrespectful perjoratives.

but what as the political press said about cuomo's remark? zero.

three blogs show up on the google search. no major news organs bother to point out the obvious racial code words used by cuomo.

[ed. note: at the time of the writing of this piece, the major press reaction was "zero." now, it's only "infinitessimal," which is better, but not by much.]

cuomo's dismissal of concerns over his language as taking him "out of context are as believable as those who call hanging nooses in their offices "just a joke."

contrast that to what happened to golf channel anchor kelly tiglhman after a slip of the tongue:

the golf channel's kelly tilghman will serve a two-week suspension after saying during a recent broadcast that one way younger players could best tiger woods would be to "lynch him in a back alley."

she later apologized for the comment, but critics called for the network to remove her as one of the lead announcers for its pga tour coverage.
here's the clip:



how can kelly get suspended and cuomo get a pass?

[ed. note: our original piece attributed the "shuck and jive" remark to mario cuomo as opposed to his son andrew. we regret the error, and suppose we really should start reading this crap before writing about it.]

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posted by skippy at 2:06 PM |

8 Comments:

What it is is the Clinton's unleashing their true selves. And they are having surrogates go out and think they can scare white voters by painting Obama as a stereotype.
What is going to be the question is how people of all colors will take this racist crap by the Clintons.
And are their black establishment supporters going to lay down and say nothing while the Clintons do this sort of thing.
It is not America. It is about inside politics and who has a backbone and who doesn't.
It's about power. The Clintons are so afraid to lose their power they are willing to go somewhere that could split the party apart. And the african americans who willingly allow the Clintons to go all 1950s south without taking a stand will lose the respect and support in their states and districts.
And how many will be willing to go out say these racist remarks publicly for the Clintons.
The Clintons are flexing their control over the party and many are willing to demean themselves to please the Clintons.
But, the public will not take kindly to it.
Watch for a mighty push back once the people realize the surrogates are doing what is being told to them to do by the Clintons.
commented by Anonymous Anonymous, 3:31 PM PST  
You need to change your opening paragraph; the shuck & jive comment was made by Mario Cuomo's son Andrew, not by Mario himself.
commented by Blogger truth, 3:31 PM PST  
Wow. I'm speechless. The hatred is so juicy and sweet, I could spread it on my morning toast.

Anonymous: HILLARY DID NOT KILL VINCE FOSTER. Just saying that because I'm sure it's coming at some point.

As for the Clintons and their 'racist shit': http://dir.salon.com/story/books/int/2002/02/20/clinton/index.html

Now, on the subject at hand: Where was his brain when his mouth said that? Who knows; maybe working on his golf swing. But there is no candidate so pure that you can't find a complete a-hole following them. That said, Andrew should be put into the dog house for that garbage.
commented by Blogger Blogtopus, 4:12 PM PST  
Duh, cuz he's a privileged white male and she's not?
commented by Blogger isabelita, 8:14 PM PST  
Actually a correction notes that Cuomo was speaking of the process in IA and NH, not Obama.

He was referring to how you can't 'bob & weave' in the more intimate citizen encounters like with the press.
commented by Blogger The Sailor, 9:34 AM PST  
This PC-crazed nonsense alienates way too many people. She goofed and even Tiger Woods forgave the incident noting they were friends. Insensitive remarks happen. Cuomo would be an ass to pull a race card intentionally as Clinton has far too many blacks supporting her and were they to change support, she would lose. Move on, nothing to see here.
commented by Anonymous sean on li, 12:42 PM PST  
Oh, what dreck lies in the submerged and rotting swamps of the mind, that surface at the stupidest possible moments. That's all I have to say.
commented by Blogger SB Gypsy, 1:34 PM PST  
well lynching (killin) is a lot more offensive than shucking and jivin.

thats probably why.
commented by Anonymous Fade, 2:15 PM PST  

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