Yesterday, Hillary Clinton delivered a speech tying together Donald Trump’s long history of racism, from his early days excluding African-American tenants from his family’s housing in New York to what Paul Ryan called “textbook racist” comments that a Mexican-American was unfit to judge whether Trump had committed fraud. Trump fired off a peripatetic series of replies. He oddly lambasted Clinton’s speech as “short,” raising the tantalizing question of what further evidence of his racism he believes she should have included. (His racialized hysteria against the “Central Park Five”? His assertions that black people are inherently lazy?) He lambasted Clinton’s use of the racism charge, “the last refuge of the discredited politician,” a cheap trick to which only a scoundrel would resort. Then finally, that evening, forgetting his conviction that only a discredited politician would charge his opponent with racism, Trump appeared on CNN, where he called Clinton a “bigot.”
—Jonathan Chait
Trump: Only Desperate Liars Call Their Opponent Racist. Also Hillary Is Racist.
There are things in each candidate’s background that could be construed as ‘racist’ by the contemporary PC mob. Acts and speech that were not considered racist made in the past should be judged by the standards of the day.
I don’t want to punch on just one candidate, but it appears that this post needs some balance. If you would like some examples that involve Ms. Clinton’s past remarks, google “Clinton Racism”.
Seriously?! First, this isn’t the fair and balanced blog. Second, that’s a quote from Jonathan Chait, so why don’t you go over there and discuss it? Third, I posted it because I thought it was funny. Fourth, you really think there’s an equivalence between Clinton and Trump? Really?! Doing a search on that phrase brings up great academic sources like DownTrend and Breitbart!
Oh yeah, she is racist so much so that here is the one piece of conduct that they could find in 68 years: she said superpredators once in defense of a bill she had literally nothing to do with.
This is why we know you are a troll-this is an astoundingly stupid comment that is incredibly easy to refute.
You got him all wrong! He just wants to have a rational conversation!
Frank….while you may not like the messenger, the downtrend article I saw has hyperlinks to back up their assertions.
Would it also be fair of me to dismiss an important and documented article of the NYT because I they may be biased?
I think your first sentence is the reason you have too few readers and commenters.
First, for a personal blog, FC is enormously successful. Second, given I know how the web actually works, I could greatly increase my traffic. But since that’s what I am involved with all day at my real job, I’m not interested. The truth is that I could increase traffic by getting more partisan and attacking Trump more. You think there’s a bunch of demand for articles about how Clinton is just as racist as Trump? You’re wrong!
But this has nothing to do with my feeling about Clinton. If you were actually interested participate around here, you would know more of what I think about Clinton, and much more important, racism. Literally everyone is racist. Everyone. So the fact that you can find instances of Hillary Clinton being so means nothing. Who among Clinton and Trump is running an explicitly xenophobic campaign? I don’t like false equivalence. And that’s all that you’re giving me.
But I have good news! I’ve decided that you a troll who adds nothing to this discussion and wastes my time. Thus, I’m asking you to go away. Find another blog where you can whine that the guy who runs Frankly Curious is a big meanie who isn’t open to your amazing rational arguments. Be sure to point out that this is probably why I have so few readers. Speculate about my work status. And make sure that everyone knows that you, unlike all those idiots at Frankly Curious, understand what’s really going on and how Hillary Clinton is a racist just like Trump and that any objective person would always mention that any time they talk about Trump’s racism.
So again, I’m asking you in the nicest possible way, to go away. Don’t make one last comment. Consider this like you were in my house. Just turn and leave. Don’t say anything more. I understand completely: I’m a big meanie and you are totally misunderstood. It’s all been said. Please leave. Please do so now. Go away. I know you will want to have one last say. Don’t do it! Just leave. There’s a whole internet out there where you are welcome! You don’t need to be here. Go to a website that is smart enough to write nothing but articles like, “Trump Is a Racist, but So Is Clinton, Let’s Not Forget That!” That’s were you belong. Not at some lame website like Frankly Curious.
Now go along and have a good life. I know you want to click “Reply.” Don’t do it. Just leave. I wish you all the best. Now leave.
Boy you don’t know how personal blogs work do you?
Unlike Frank, I am not nice.
The fact is that you came here to troll. You have no interest in a thoughtful discussion and you showed it with your first assholish comment. Frank lurrrrrrrrrrrrrves thoughtful discussions as long as they are respectful.
But you aren’t respectful. You are a rude wannabe troll who is so poor at trolling it was obvious to me from the second I read your first boring comment that made little sense. You further compounded it with other comments. Hence my immediate bashing of you because unlike Frank, I can spot your true intentions from a mile away and gave you the total lack of respect you deserve.
If you don’t want people to know you are a troll-make some effort but you won’t because you are also a lazy hack who can’t cut it as a blogger so you show up to leave your pathetic attempts at poop flinging all over the place.
And now it hasn’t worked and you are going to go be butt hurt at the next blog you try to stink up until they ban you. Maybe one day when you are lying alone on your deathbed and wondering why no one likes you or wants to be around you when you are dying you will go “man I did a great job trolling” because people like you never learn-you just continue to befoul everywhere you go.
I am off to hide the cheese since a loser like you shouldn’t get to have access to America’s surplus of cheese for the vast river of whine you want to spew our way but won’t be able to because you are BANNED.
Hey — no knocking lazy hacks! Some of us are depressed, you know. Although, in my defense, while I may be a lazy hack, I always meet my deadlines.
If I could live on nothing but cheese, I would. And bread products. Cheese and bread. And beer. Cheese and bread and beer. Basically, anything made with strange microorganisms. Fruit and vegetables and meat are just so boring.
You also are not a troll.
I am curious what runs their brains. Apparently this guy got banned from LGM four years ago. Four years! And it still burns his hide. (Her hide? No, it’s his, I’d guess.)
Now, around that time, I got banned from a Portland Timbers (soccer) website because I pointed out that their owner, Henry Paulson, was Hank Paulson’s son, and by all appearances just as much of a dick. So I got banned.
Did it sting? Sure. Do I think I was right? Yes. If you told me right now I was wrong, would I argue with you? No. This is not a Portland Timbers website, and frankly, I have no interest in ever going on any Portland Timbers website ever again. Besides, you might be right; I don’t know the guy.
(Do I think there’s a place on sports websites to discuss political issues, like if the owner is going to blackmail the city for a new stadium? Yes, I do. But I do it a lot more carefully and respectfully towards others these days.)
So what makes a troll keep trolling after four years? What’s in their heads? I don’t want to meet them, but I want to know. I understand brief flurries of Internet meanness (we all get crabby), but after a while, I do realize these are real people on the other end of the wire. How can people just be vicious like that? Trying to insult Frank’s job status? WTF? And you’ve described getting even WORSE on Twitter.
What’s going on? I don’t get it.
I troll people but unlike Jenbob, I can:
Get scolded by Frank on Facebook-which is just as scary as it sounds.
I like the image of me as Lord Vetinari, but the extent of my powers is the raising of an eyebrow.
I like that song, but I like the snowman’s better. Because the snowman, like me, is ultimately someone everybody will always take for granted, and tries to see the humor in it. Telling the world “I don’t care!” and rising to the top anyway is an appealing fantasy; I don’t think it’s within my realm of possibility.
I know I should join Facebook and Twitter, but I really don’t want to. As long as I have a few blogs that tolerate me, I’d rather get to know people there rather than a gazillion strangers. Knowing ten or so people online feels like the 18th century, where people made friends just by writing, and didn’t need to meet. Too many strangers feels like I’m communicating with the Hive Mind rather than people.
Also you need to use your real name on those sites (I think) and there are people from my past I never want to hear from ever again. Already some have bugged me on job application sites. Just leave me alone! I leave them alone. Return the favor!
Thank you Elizabeth. And JenBob’s last comment showed you completely correct. I deleted almost all of it. But gone was the “I just want to have a rational discussion” and suddenly it was a foul-mouthed rant about how terrible I was and how he is a computer old-timer with his very own BBS in the 80s and running SLIP in the 90s! But he clearly never wanted to have a real discussion. Other than “LGM done me wrong,” his comments seemed to be based on racism. (Which you called!) I couldn’t say that the Republican Party’s power was based on racism. And I couldn’t attack Trump’s obvious racism because Hillary Clinton said something bad one time.
He also told me I should get over myself. I see no reason to do that. But even if I did, I’m not limber and doubtless couldn’t accomplish it.
[Expletive deleted] off frank… [The rest of this foul-mouthed rant deleted. Note to commenter: nothing you write from now on will be read or published. But FYI, when you had your “successful BBS,” I was managing computers directly on the internet. None of this, of course, has anything to do with knowing how to publicize a website. Elizabeth was right about you from the start: you are 100% troll. I do hope you go back on the medication your psychiatrist has prescribed for you. -FM]
If I could live under a bridge and eat goats, I would. But again; meat is boring.