House GOP lawmaker wants Daschle nomination pulled

By GottaLaff

There's trouble in River City, with a capital T, which rhymes with D, which stands for Daschle:

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland is circulating a letter among his Republican colleagues that calls on President Obama to pull Tom Daschle's nomination to be secretary of Health and Human Services, "effective immediately."

"Leadership follows from example," the Georgia Republican wrote in the letter obtained by The Hill. "When do one or two 'innocent' tax mistakes become an example to the nation that our tax laws are to be willingly discarded?"

Furthermore, the lawmaker stated "his confirmation would seriously undermine your call to change the way business is done in Washington. ... Are we in danger of sending a message that tax avoidance is only acceptable if you are a member of Congress or the Cabinet?"

Though House members do not vote on Cabinet nominees, Westmoreland said that it's important for the president to know that they disapprove of the "appearance of impropriety surrounding former Sen. Tom Daschle [and] we urge you to withdraw his nomination, effective immediately."

It is unclear how many Republicans have signed the letter and when it will be sent to the White House.

Anonymous Bushie calls Obama "uppity"

By GottaLaff

If you'll excuse me, I have to go find a fork to stick in my eye. Politico refers to “one of the smartest Bushies” as using the term “uppity” to describe Obama:

The tactics that got them to mid-September in a tie are not going to get them to 50 percent plus one in November. They need … an eye toward driving out the range of contrast that makes McCain different from Obama (action-oriented rhetoric v. grand prose; accessible v. uppity; humble servant of country v. arrogant).”

This isn’t the first time a Republican insider has used the racial epithet to refer to Obama. Last month, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) told reporters that Obama and wife, Michelle, were part of “an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity.”

If you want some back story, I posted about Westmoreland here and here.

By the way, did you know that Gramm-pa was "accessible"? Neither did I.

Republican says he didn't know "uppity" was a slur

By GottaLaff

Just overheard on my local Progressive radio station KTLK that Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, who used the racially-tinged term "uppity" to describe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama , says he didn't know it was a racial slur.

The report went on to say it was because, see, he was brought up in the '50s and '60s, see.

Raise your hand if you were brought up in the '50s and '60s. Now of those raising your hands, how many of you knew that referring to an "African American as "uppity" is racist?

Here's another question: Who out there lives in the 21st century and reads? Apparently Westmoreland doesn't.

One more: If you represent an entire state, and you're a member of Congress, how could you be such an ignorant ass? And that's being generous by assuming it was simply ignorance.

Georgia Republican calls Obama "uppity"

By GottaLaff

Republicans racist? Why would anyone get that idea? Why, the very idea! To even suggest that would be downright uppity:

Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland used the racially-tinged term "uppity" to describe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Thursday.

Westmoreland was discussing vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's speech with reporters outside the House chamber and was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama.

"Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they're a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they're uppity," Westmoreland said.

Those wacky reporters. They must have misunderstood. Nobody would be so blatantly racist as to actually refer to the Obamas as "uppity". Not intentionally, anyway, right?

Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.”

Oh. Hm. Wow. He said it. Right out loud. Twice.

Other Democrats have charged that the Republican campaign to paint the Illinois senator as an “elitist” is racially charged, and accused them of using code words for “uppity” without using the word itself.

Until now.

In August, Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) told reporters, “When I hear the word ‘elitist’ linked with Barack Obama, to me, that is a code word for 'uppity.' I find it extremely offensive and John McCain should know better.”

Now that's ridiculous! John McCain? "Know better"? He doesn't even know better than to appoint an inexperienced, nasty little splat of a v.p. nominee without proper vetting.

Political consultant David Gergen, who has worked in both Republican and Democratic White Houses, said on ABC’s "This Week" that “As a native of the south, I can tell you, when you see this Charlton Heston ad, 'The One,' that's code for, 'He's uppity, he ought to stay in his place.' Everybody gets that who is from a Southern background.”

I got it, and I have an Encino background.

I bet the Obama team shot back, huh?

The Obama campaign, asked about the quote, did not note any racial context.

“Sounds like Rep. Westmoreland should be careful throwing stones from his candidate's eight glass houses,” said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor.

Damn. Wrong again. The good news is, the Republicans have been pretty well-behaved up until now:

Campaigning against the first black major-party nominee has already created some problems for Republicans.

Nobody has to tell me 12 times. I admit it. We should all admit it.The Republicans have a problem. Period:

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said that Obama's middle name – Hussein – is relevant to the public discourse surrounding his candidacy, saying in March that if Obama were elected, "Then the radical Islamists, the al Qaeda, the radical Islamists and their supporters, will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on Sept. 11 because they will declare victory in this War on Terror."

A big problem:

At an April 12 event in his district, Kentucky Rep. Geoff Davis (R) said of Obama: “I’m going to tell you something: That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button. He could not make a decision in that simulation that related to a nuclear threat to this country.”

This is the party of McCain/Palin. Racism you can believe in.

H/t: Clancy