U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis to Obama: That boy's finger does not need to be on the button
By John Amato Sunday Apr 13, 2008 8:00pm
U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, a Hebron Republican, compared Obama and his message for change similar to a "snake oil salesman" [at a Northern Kentucky Lincoln Day dinner].He said in his remarks at the GOP dinner that he also recently participated in a "highly classified, national security simulation" with Obama.
"I'm going to tell you something: That boy's finger does not need to be on the button," Davis said. "He could not make a decision in that simulation that related to a nuclear threat to this country."
UPDATE: Davis apologizes
That makes it all A-OK, I guess. I expect Obama to receive a ton of these apology letters as the days go by from the good old Republican Party.
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There you go again.
As opposed to Mr. BOMB, BOMB, BOMB, BOMB, BOMB, IRAN!
Forty years after the Civil Rights movement and rich white people are still saying "that boy." That phrase is incredibly insulting, and regardless of the other sentiments involved, Geoff Davis should apologize for that alone.
What a load of garbage - for years and years and years it's been the nuclear threat to America. Sure, yeah.
Cat @ 3:
Absolutely!! Couldn't agree more.
I don't think we should have such a stupid looking cracker with his finger on the button either. Ooops, poor choice of words, sorry.
I won't even bother with the obvious racial element to that pathetic hillbilly's idiotic comment. Dennis@1 will accuse me of "using the race card " because of course, only us black folks use the race card.
Oh no he DIDN'T!!
Obama is accumulating a large stockpile of public gaffes that the RNC will use against him in the general election. Political attack ads will feature Rev Wright's videos combined with Obama's dismissive remarks labeling small town whites a bunch of gun toting religious nuts. McCain will destroy Obama in November.
Oh, I'm sure he didn't really mean it. What do you think, Chris (Mathews)?
Poor persecuted redneck just having a laugh at someone else's expense.
And yet when Obama speaks the truth, THAT gets all the attention.
Good grief.
Congressmans Davis Campaign Poster:
"Congress Geoff Davis Serving Kentucky", ha. He's not qualified serving Kentucky Fried Chicken.
But, but, but Obama said poor and working class people vote Republican because their party appeals to them through religious chauvinism, racial prejudice, xenophobia and fear while the Democratic party has abandoned their economic interests. Oh, it just couldn't be true, could it?
Far be it for the Corporate Media to get exited about a run-of-the-mill racist remark from a Republican, when they can make a black man appear an elitist whose religion and patriotism are somehow in question.
Gawd, repugs are the ugliest.
I expect to hear a lot racism, a lot of lies and a lot of insane remarks directed towards Sen. Obama. This is the old tired
Annie Oakley -- he he
UPDATE: Davis apologizes
Yeah. Like macaca was 'a poor choice of words.' Just apologise after you get your hate on. Then it's A-OK. I often slip and call black men 'boy' It's a common mistake.
:roll: (eyes)
QuakerDave @ 12:
He speaks the truth and they critisize him. What would they do if he was as deceiving as they are.
An Average Joe @ 10:
Chris couldn't make it to comment himself, but he told me he thinks Davis is mantastique, and that his Old Spice smells like the sea, very briney and-erm-manly!
Couldn't have been THAT highly classified, if he was talking about it at this dinner.
The use of the term "boy" has left me embittered!
When speaking in public you would think that these guys would be very careful in what they say, but it always seems that a persons inner self just can't stay trapped in. It comes out. When you're a good person the truth tends to come out (i.e. when you notice how bitter people have become because their lives have become miserable). When you hang around a bunch of guys that still tell Earl Butts black jokes this kind of thing comes out (i.e. Maccaca). Did I just date myself?
I'm pretty tired of the cult of victimization fostered by whiny white folks.
Boo fricken' hoo!
-GSD
miss_kitty @ 18:
mantastique. Ha! That killed me.
When did we go back to putting our fingers on "the button"? I mean, I know some of the 80's fashions are coming back, just didn't realize this was one of them.
WhenIsItEnough @ 19:
And if it was highly classified, perhaps Kentucky dipstick owes more than an apology?
Fuck the South !
dennis @ 1:
Yup. Another racist remark. A reich-wingers calling a black man, "boy". How typical for you fringe 28%-er extremists.
Left&Left @ 7:
I never said that, Left and Left. Not even remotely close. Shameful on your part to make that accusation.
abob @ 9:
Believe it or not, most people aren't as stupid and ridiculous as you.
I bet you love the smell of spent rounds.
miss_kitty @ 16:
Well, ya gotta give him credit for apologizing- sincerely or not- quickly. IIRC, Allen tried for weeks to pass off "macaca" as some kind of nonsense word, rather than the racist, French slur it is.
Dr. Hussein Matt @ 26:
A 12 inch Cheney and a bucket of (golf) balls and you call me boy?
It boils down to this:
The establishment just can't put up with an uppity black man who tells the truth.
abob @ 9:
Um, ya, ok whatever. I'd rather see Obama's finger on the nuke button than GeeDoubleYa's. That idiot can't even eat pretzels without choking, and he's been close to that button for how many years? Yikes.
So a little redneck white trash congresscritter hates Obama. Isn't he special?
Given that we have had 2 terms of an administration that sedulously avoided military responsibility -- So?
If Davis calls Obama "boy" in public I wonder what he calls him in private?
Snowball @ 14:
Damn, what an excellent point.
While trying to Swift Boat the Democratic front-runner on National Defense, you manage to inadvertently expose yourself as a racist. Hmm... something tells me Rep. Davis rode the short-bus to Cracker Mountain Bible College. I'm also thinking that that "highly classified, national security simulation" was - oh, I don't know -A GAME OF STRATEGO! Oh, and Rep. Davis, I'd recommend going by Geoffrey - at least till this thing blows over.
Andy K Jong Il @ 29:
I'm sure the apology was planned along with the comment in the first place. The point was to deliver the smear. I'm sure ther ewill be plenty of nobody Repubs doing the same thing for some time to come.
One good and bad thing about republicans is that they are predictable. It's good because you can plan ahead. It's bad because it's so much more irritating.
Snowball @ 31:
Ya know I hear one of Keith's regs say Sen. Obama will get into trouble because he is uppity or has his chin up. WTF does that mean? I want a proud President.
chimpy has been uppity and stupid for almost eight years and I never heard one word of this about him.
It would be swell if somebody could go to Kentucky and put up a billboard exactly like the one up top here that says, "Congressman Geoff Davis...Serving Kentucky".
Only change it to read....EMBARRASSING KENTUCKY.
He went on to say that Sen. Clinton was at the same "simulation" and that, in contrast, she was very aggressive. "Man oh man, you should have seen that little gal. It must have been that time of the mo-" he was heard to say as his chief of staff dragged him from the podium.
I suppose it does sound racist to call him boy. I called him pouty boy, but after I realized it would be taken the wrong way I started saying pouty little man. I think a lot of people AT FIRST don't realized this, but I do believe the republicans play on it.
What's disturbing is that Representative Davis, apparently quite comfortably, made such a statement to a group of Republicans and wasn't run out on a rail by them. Racists, all.
He looks like an encyclopedia salesman.
when is enough going to be enough?
He's right.
NOBODY's finger needs to be on that button. The concept of launching a nuclear attack is just too bizarre to be real. Are we not doing enough damage with overpopulation, climate change, pollution, ecosystem destruction and loss of genetic diversity?
anneyhussein @ 44:
Oh yes. Criticize a black man and you are a racist. What a racist comment.
abob @ 9:
Assuming McInsane is drool free and able to stand up on his own come november.
thats one big assumption and wishful thinking for the GOP considering their fantasy candidate is 72 and barely able to tell what decade he is in.
I hope you are no refering to Nixons actions in regards to RFK.
Geoff Davis needs to go out in front Annie Oakley's duck blind so Hillary, err, I mean Annie can shoot him.
Why would there be a discussion about this. The guy is a bigot clear and simple.
I hope this is not being used to infer that anyone who disagreed with Obamas' insulting remarks is racist/bigoted.
anneyhussein @ 44:
Take it as far as you can. The trick, and everyone's assignment for the next two days, is to see if you can tie this to John McCain. There has to be a connection there somewhere. C'mon everyone, this could be huge.
Just don't be detracted by the more obvious case of racism toward Barack Obama today; the AP Chairman who referred to Barack as 'Obama bin Laden' when asking him a question today at a luncheon in Washington, D.C. Not mentioning that gaffe in the same accusation of race might be misconstrued as cherry-picking.
As opposed to sitting silent and motionless in a Florida classroom for seven minutes!
Davis is a racist from whom racist remarks flow easy as water pouring from a pitcher. But his constituents love him for it, I guarantee. Here's hoping they represent a part of a new and permanent minority in this country -- by which I mean white, racist dirtbags.
all these 'slip ups' a la AP chief(not the first time for the AP), Ashcroft, Clinton and assorted McCain supporters are causing blow-back in that, for the first time that I can remember, are causing more ill feelings towards the attacker not attackee (I know its not a word...or is it?). These will be seen as manufactured
No one should have their finger on "the button". Push the button and we're all doomed. It's amazing that there are some that think if they're the button-pusher then they're exempt from the consequences. Dream on.
Senator Obama is a senator, this guy is just a representative. If anyone should be calling anyone boy it's Obama to Davis.
hope @ 54:
Errrr unless we're talking about a M.A.D. situation we could live.
This means his popularity will never be less than 28%.
Did Davis reveal classified information? He is the tip of iceberg. I am so sick of all this crap. Time for somebody to stand up and say the current administration and the Repubs in congress are violating the constitution, numerous laws, and all decency. If this is what is in store for us and Obama if he wins the nomination, I wouldn't blame him for walking away. This country is sinking deeper in the mire and nobody is doing anything about it. Is that what Clinton wants? I am really asking, for I fear she and many of her supporters would say yes, at all costs.
CD @ 56:
O.k., enlighten me. I have ultra-lame days, I admit, but I don't know whay you're referring to.
hope @ 59:
That would be "what". I also have days I can't type too.
If anyone should know about a snake oil salesman it's a Republican preacher or politician.
abob @ 9:
the light has yet to be shone on mccain until it is all bets are off
...because having a drunken, coked up frat boy who has failed miserably at everything he's ever done and mismanaged two wars is much better to have with his finger on the button.
I can just imagine what Davis' 'decision in that simulation' was!
"Civil unrest in Ghana? Antartic ice sheet melting? American economy collapsing? No problem, I pushed the button. Now where's the booze and hookers?"
Thumper, sorry dude, you're talking like a racist. The issue isn't "criticizing" a black man. The issue is calling him a "boy". If that's OK in your book, you're a racist, flat out, plain as the trunk on an elephant's face.
And ferrofluid, I agree that Obama is getting hit with flak over non-issues and I also agree that the melonheads on the Right will continue hitting him with flak for issues long dead and buried. (Obama's speech following the Reverend Wright flame-up was brilliant and impressive, as well as effective. Only Fox nuts and other narrow right wingers claim not to be impressed by it.) But Obama is eloquent, gracious, and dynamic. He will galvanize the Left and the Center and so anesthetize the nitwit Right wing that most of them will stay home, disgruntled that they don't have another fool like Bush/Cheney to vote for, and not persuaded that the "boy" Obama will create any major "problems' for the Right. On that last count, they will be proven wrong.
All that having been said, the only way McCain is going to beat anybody in November is if you Republicans resort to the same ugly manipulative tactics you used in 2000 and 2004 to cage votes, disenfranchise people who don't look like you, and rig the voting machines. McCain is a man who served his country well and would have left a much more significant mark on American history if he'd kept out of the fray and maintained his honesty and integrity instead of selling his soul to the Christian Taliban and the Neo-Conservative corporate fascist claque that has effectively destroyed this country's economy and reputation in the world.
enough @ 58:
What on earth has the subject of this thread have anything to do with the Hillary Clinton? Do you imagine that the Republicans will stop this putrid behavior when and if Senator Obama wins the nomination?
Southern white Republican. Racist pig. I'm not surprised.
hope @ 60:
M.A.D. = mutually assured destruction
What a racist this idiot is. Pig is a better word, you're right Ruthless. Millions would say that it would feel so good to get this guy forced out of his job.
hope @ 61:
Mutually Assured Destruction, I ween! It was the theory of preventing nuclear war that made growing up in the 50's and 60's so much fun -- realizing that if WWIII were declared we would, as Tom Lehrer put it, "all go together when we go/ every hottentot and every eskimo."
Without a M.A.D. situation, most Americans would survive, but only after serving up unparalleled carnage and misery on the population of whatever region of the world our "button pusher" decided to destroy.
Three things happened in the last week:
--Bush admitted to authorizing torture
--a sitting Rep. made a racist slur towards Obama
--Obama had a comment taken out of context and was slammed by elitists for being elite
Can you guess which one the liberal media has been showing us 24/7?
princess @ 51:
Princess is hearing voices again. I guess you stopped hearing voices from your make believe husband and child.
"BOY?!?!"
I just read this on the Sydney Morning Herald's website:
Senator Barack Obama's name has been mangled plenty of times during his campaign for the presidency, although never in the presence of 1,200 news executives and TV cameras.
It happened today at The Associated Press' Annual Luncheon, where the Democratic presidential candidate spoke and took questions. Dean Singleton, chairman of the AP's board of directors and head of Denver-based MediaNews Group, slipped when asking the senator if he could envision sending many more US troops to Afghanistan, where "Obama bin Laden is still at large".
Obama gave a quizzical look and said, "I think that was Osama bin Laden".
Singleton quickly replied, "If I did that, I'm so sorry".
"No, no, no," the senator said. He called it "part of the exercise that I've been going through over the last 15 months, which is why it's pretty impressive I'm still standing here".
The crowd laughed and gave him a sympathetic round of applause.
*******
It IS amazing and impressive that he's in the race and doing so amazingly well. What an accomplishment! Truly something.
abob @ 9:
No, idiots like you who play into the Goebbles playbook of "a lie told many times becomes truth" will destroy any candidate other than the one using said playbook: McCain.
Exactly what are Obama's gaffes?
I guess telling the truth now is considered a gaffe?
Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick, not even Orwell could have imagine that someone would out-do 1984 in real life.
dennis @ 51:
Let's see. Geoff Davis is a Republican. McCain is a Republican.
so we have what, 2 degrees?
That took a whole lot of 2 seconds, do I win something?
He looks like every gin-soaked seersucker wearing racist cracker I've ever met.
votingvet @ 71:
Thanks (and to Slaw too). Don't know how I missed that having grown up in the 70s. I understand self-preservation is paramount to human beings however, never quite understand people who can negate human suffering as long as it doesn't hit "home".
Yeah , that makes a lot of sense coming from a douchebag who has complete faith in a military deserting , AWOL moron chickenshit and a 5 deferrment asshole .........
He sounds jealous and insecure. Keep your chin up Senator it kills these tiny minds.
dennis@51 I assume by "detracted" you meant distracted. An inevitable correction of your post is required and not merely spelling or grammar. Calling Senator Obama "Obama bin Laden" is mean spirited and stupid but not racist. Calling him "boy" is.
Alice Hussein @ 49:
Cat @ 3:
You are right.
"that boy" and they say Sen. Obama is out of touch with the people, when this Ahole is living with a pre-60's mentality. We should Imus this guy.
votingvet @ 71:
I don't think I could have said it better.
Hell even Patton found the idea of nukes horrible.
I guess he's just a 'typical white person'.
BOY!!!!??????????
where is the outrage at the use of that word????
BOY?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
FUCK THAT RACIST...AND FUCK THE RACIST PRESS...AND FUCK THIS RACIST COUNTRY
Tyler Durden @ 77:
Good start. Gonna have to find a closer connection than that though for it to get any traction- remember, the MSM loves McCain's BBQ so they aren't going to go for something that nebulous
Surely since it's so obvious Geoff Davis is an out and out racist that he has a long history of racist remarks. And surely one of those many racist remarks had to have been made when McCain was in the vicinity. Vicinity for a dog whistle is defined as within 40 miles; that being the distance between Meridien, Missisippi- McCain's boyhood home- and Philadelphia, Mississippi.
Can't be that hard. Google can work wonders. Dr. Matt and his Think Progress buddies even have Nexis now I takle it. Let's get to work.
Davis is only three years older than Obama. "Boy" is so clearly a dog-whistle statement, it makes me cringe. In South Africa, the dog-whistles are so well known that you cannot get away with uttering them--calling someone Boy will get your ass handed to you five ways from Sunday. But here? Oh, that's just harmless fun.
Anyway, I would be much more worried about another GOP whackjob putting his finger on the button. NOBODY'S finger should ever be on that button. Ever. Hell, the button shouldn't even exist.
Is there a pool going on which reslug will be first to go all the way and use the "N" word? Or have I already missed that milestone?
jxn @ 89: