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American presidential candidate Barack Obama is preparing himself for a Republican campaign based on racially motivated adverts and images. The slurs about Obama being the first black man to run for president have already found their way onto the television and campaign buttons across the US. Jokes about his name being Hussein, the fact that he once wore a turban and a building that's called the White House but run by a black guy are being pumped out already. Though the election is more than four months away, the campaigns of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are shaping...

"Barack Obama told a group of Florida donors Friday night that Republicans will try to make voters afraid of him, and suggested they would use his race to scare up votes for John McCain," Fox News reports. "We know what kind of campaign they're going to run. They're going to try to make you afraid," Obama said at the fundraiser. "They're going to try to make you afraid of me. He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And did I mention he's black? He's got a feisty wife." [Snip] This is a very clever bit of rhetoric....

Over half of the American Whites consider presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as a "risky" choice for the White House, whereas two-thirds believe McCain as a "safe" pick, a new survey has revealed. The survey by the Washington Post/ABC News also opens up apprehensions of the race factor being whipped up by white supremist groups as a way to stop the Illinois Senator and the first African American from entering the White House. The survey has shown that over half of Whites called 46-year-old Obama a "risky" choice for the top post, while two-thirds said McCain is a "safe"...

My advice to Senator Obama is to run as a Man and Leader, and the American people will evaluate you as such, not as a victim. This is a Presidential race, based solely on a capacity to lead the United States of America. It is not about skin tone...however, perhaps we should come to expect these immature statements. It also seems rather humorous that the Presidential candidate who was supposed to be such a "uniter" and transcend race is the one talking about it the most. If Senator Obama was confident in his abilities and character, he would not need...

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (CNN) – Barack Obama told supporters that Republicans will “try to make you afraid of me” in remarks he made Friday at a Florida fundraiser. "The choice is clear. Most of all we can choose between hope and fear. It is going to be very difficult for Republicans to run on their stewardship of the economy or their outstanding foreign policy. “We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run,” said the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. “They’re going to try to make you afraid. They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. ‘He’s young and...

The 2008 Presidential race finally got underway yesterday as Barack Obama used his race to try and innoculate himself against criticism: Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama said on Friday he expects Repub>icans to highlight the fact that he is black as part of an effort to make voters afraid of him. ."It is going to be very difficult for Republicans to run on their stewardship of the economy or their outstanding foreign policy," Obama told a fundraiser in Jacksonville, Florida. "We know what kind of campaign they're going to run. They're going to try to make you afraid. "They're going...

Barack Obama told a group of Florida donors Friday night that Republicans will try to make voters afraid of him, and suggested they would use his race to scare up votes for John McCain. Apparently girding for a nasty general election fight, the Illinois senator has in recent days predicted that independent GOP groups are waiting in the wings to attack him, and said his presumptive GOP rival is already “fear-mongering” when it comes to foreign policy. But his comments Friday night in Jacksonville, Fla., seemed to reflect elevated concerns that his campaign to be the first black president would...

Barack Obama told supporters in Jacksonville that Republicans would launch racist attacks against him in the upcoming election. Without noting a single supporting piece of evidence, Obama cast any opposition to him as bigotry, and in doing so, recalled just a touch of Joe McCarthy’s tactics: Update (AP): All I’d add to what Ed said is that Team Obama’s been playing the race card for a long time now. What makes this different is that the candidate himself, for once, has deigned to dirty his hands instead of letting his jerkiest lackeys, like Jesse Jackson Jr., do it for him....

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama said on Friday he expects Republicans to highlight the fact that he is black as part of an effort to make voters afraid of him. "It is going to be very difficult for Republicans to run on their stewardship of the economy or their outstanding foreign policy," Obama told a fundraiser in Jacksonville, Florida. "We know what kind of campaign they're going to run. They're going to try to make you afraid. "They're going to try to make you afraid of me. He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And did I...

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama said on Friday he expects Republicans to highlight the fact that he is black as part of an effort to make voters afraid of him. In March he gave a widely praised speech on the subject after receiving criticism over racially charged comments by his longtime pastor. Obama, who faces Republican John McCain in the November election, would be the first black U.S. president.

It’s less than a week into the general election campaign, but already Michelle Obama is a Republican target. Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger leveled the first blow, introducing Republican John McCain’s wife at a fundraiser this week as someone who is “proud of her country, not just once but always.” Obama wasn’t mentioned by name, but the audience got it. The dig signaled the start of what Democrats expect will be a concerted effort to cast Michelle Obama — and, by extension, Barack Obama — as an unpatriotic radical. It also pointed out the urgency to define Michelle Obama...

In its final days, Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential cam paign has come to echo George Wallace’s 1968 run. Like Clinton, Wallace as a candidate stalked the Northeast exploiting white anger. Like her, he bypassed the nation’s more educated and liberal parts to focus squarely on those who felt left behind, rallying animosity against elites.

Noteworthy, not because this is the first time he’s said something this vile but because it’s not. He floated it to our favorite liberal in February during an interview on Fox News radio (and, sad to say, wasn’t called on it) and thought so highly of his bon mot that he recycled it for his new book. Either no one’s taken him aside to explain how disgusting it is or someone has taken him aside but he thinks it’s so important and righteous that he’s going to keep deploying it anyway. I don’t know which is worse. Bear in mind,...

  Senator Obama is one of key leaders in a campaign to make Juneteeth Day a National Holiday in the United States. Juneteeth Day occurs on every June 19th, the anniversary of General Granger announcing the emancipation of slaves in the South West. The Holiday would be celebrated on the third Friday in June. Here's what the NYT wrote about it on 2004: "Most gatherings are decidedly upbeat, but the sobering reason for the holiday has also been part of Juneteenth's growth. Dr. Ronald Myers, the leader of a movement to make Juneteenth a national holiday, says June 19 should...

In an attempt to explain how race will impact Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama's run for the White House, Newsweek has created a "Racial Resentment Index" exclusively for white people without measuring such biases of non-whites.

BERLIN (Reuters Life!) - Veteran actor and director Clint Eastwood rejected criticism from fellow U.S. director Spike Lee that his films "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima" failed to recognize the role of African-American soldiers. In an interview with Germany's Focus magazine, Eastwood said it was nonsense to suggest he had "erased the role of black GIs from history". He said there were no Afro-Americans in those films because there were no Afro-American soldiers involved. "Does he know anything about American history?" Eastwood told Focus when asked about Lee's criticism. "The U.S. military was segregated til the...

A confluence of groups customarily inclined toward Hillary Clinton was voting in the West Virginia primary, with less-educated, lower-income Southern whites predominating. Nonetheless there was room for criticism of Clinton -- and bringing "needed change," Barack Obama's trademark, was again the most-desired candidate trait. The Race Factor Racially motivated voting appeared to be running higher than usual: Two in 10 whites said the race of the candidate was a factor in their vote, second only to Mississippi. And only a third of those voters said they'd support Obama as the nominee against John McCain, fewer than in other primaries where...

The Democrat Party resorted to handing out handbills linking Mayor Greg Davis, the Republican candidate for the House of Representatives (MS-01), to supporting a leader of the KKK. The DCCC was caught distributing handbills and flyers that accused Greg Davis of supporting a KKK leader. This action by the DCCC will escape press coverage on election day. It is a last minute surprise to motivate core Democrat supporters without press scrutiny. This ad could have been posted weeks ago but it wasn't because of the embarassment that would have resulted. A copy of the handbill can be seen at Yallpolitics.com.

They waited for hours, singing spirituals, praying and chanting for justice, but in a flash, the crowd gathered outside a Queens courthouse Friday erupted in anger and grief. Men cursed and shouted. Women wailed and covered their faces. "Oh, no! No!" they yelled, as word spread that three police officers had been cleared of all charges in the 50-bullet shooting that took Sean Bell's life on his wedding day in 2006. To some, the acquittal seemed like more proof that blacks can't get a fair shake in the criminal justice system. Moments after the verdict was announced, Trent Benefield, a...

This weekend, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright made his first comments since his public sermons made national headlines. He came out swinging, once again attacking the United States for racism. He also singled out Fox News for criticism. Speaking Saturday at a eulogy for former appellate Judge R. Eugene Pincham, a member of Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ, Wright blamed the Founding Fathers for the woes of blacks today, claiming they “planted slavery and white supremacy in the DNA of this republic.” Wright cited Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who recently said the country has a “congenital birth defect” owing...

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., seated with Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton, waits to speak about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and his legacy on the 40th anniversary of the assassination at the Mason Temple Church of God and Christ in Memphis, Tenn., Friday, April 4, 2008. Members of the Memphis Tennessee "Beloved Community" carry signs as they march to the former Lorraine Motel, now part of the National Civil Rights Museum, where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, April 4, 2008. April 4 marks the 40th anniversary of the...

20th century is the problem of the color line." Race, predominantly relations between blacks and whites in America, has been the most pervasive and divisive theme in the history of our country.

Manhattan grand jury has subpoenaed the university records of the controversial black Columbia Teachers College professor who found a noose hanging from her office door - signaling that the investigation is broadening to examine possible links between the teacher, her closest friends and the racially charged incident, The Post has learned. According to sources, the subpoenas obtained recently by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force and prosecutors demanded the college hand over a laundry list of records pertaining to embattled professor Madonna Constantine, whose colleague found a 4-foot hangman's noose on her office doorknob last October. The incident happened at...

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama in a speech Tuesday addressed the controversy surrounding his former minister, using it as an opportunity to challenge Americans to take a closer look at race relations. Speaking to supporters at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center, the Democratic presidential candidate said he rejected racially charged comments made by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, but he tried to explain the root of those remarks. Wright formerly preached at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where the senator from Illinois worships. Some of Wright's old sermons came under fire after an ABC News report last week,...

"A More Perfect Union" Remarks of Senator Barack Obama Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 10:17:53 ET “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.” Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America’s improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787. The document they produced was...

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright thinks that, given their treatment by white America, black Americans have no reason to sing "God Bless America." "The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America," he told his congregation. "God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human." I'm not a believer in guilt by association, or the campaign vaudeville of rival politicians insisting this or that candidate dissociate himself from remarks by some fellow he had a 30-second grip'n'greet with a decade...

Star Jones Reynolds has never been one to mince words. It's no wonder that when Bill O'Reilly's most recent controversial (see also: racist) comments about Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama, were discovered by Media Matters, the TruTV legal analyst was infuriated! O'Reilly, the curmudgeon host of Fox News Channel's 'The O'Reilly Factor,' was talking to a caller that was angry that Obama had said on C-Span that "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country." The 58-year-old television commentator, who privately settled a sexual harassment lawsuit against him in 2004, responded...

A message posted January 20, 2008 on the Islamist forum Al-Hesbah (hosted by NOC4Hosts Inc. in Florida, USA), by a member calling himself Al-Jawfi, suggests stirring up racial tension between African-Americans and whites in the U.S. by spreading inflammatory materials on the Internet. In the discussion thread, other members proposed posting racist materials against African-Americans (such as insulting jokes and pictures) on sites frequented by African-Americans, in order to arouse anger and bitterness in their community. Another suggestion was to post, on white supremacist sites, materials that present African-Americans as a threat to American society. The following are excerpts from...

'Race ... will have to be resolved,' civil rights leader says of election By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Wednesday, February 20, 2008 Black people who say Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama "is not black enough" likely are talking about his race-neutral campaign and not skin color, veteran civil rights leader Ron Daniels said Tuesday.

It would be insane to waste time and energy worrying that somewhere, doubtless in a high-tech subterranean lair, Republican masterminds are cackling over their diabolical plot: The use of reverse psychology to lure unsuspecting Democrats into nominating Barack Obama, an innocent lamb who will be chewed up by the attack machine in the fall. Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Or maybe Republicans are using double super secret backward reverse psychology to exploit the Democratic Party's congenital paranoia: Let's say nice things about Obama so Democrats think we really want to run against him, and that will make them play into our hands by nominating...

Make no mistake about it: If Hillary Clinton is elected president, her husband will be her rogue co-president, causing constant chaos, crises and conflicts for her new administration. And sometimes, that will be exactly what Hillary wants. Chaos is Bill Clinton’s signature style and he’s not about to suddenly change. No way. Nor does Hillary necessarily want him to be a new Bill. In many ways, his divisive role in her campaign has been carefully crafted by Hillary and her team. It might come in useful in the White House, too. Throughout Hillary’s campaign, Bill has given us an unfortunate...

The thought of having to dignify the legacy of the Confederacy’s only president by driving my car over his highway rather than his decrepit corpse is enough to make me want to vomit...If there is to be a Jefferson Davis Highway it should begin at the African Civil War Memorial and end at his grave, where onlookers can pull over and spit.

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama may be competing in the South Carolina Democratic Primary Saturday, but they're also vying for the top prize in another contest: The Oppression Sweepstakes. That's how Michael Jelani Cobb, an African-American historian, describes the surge of venom that recently erupted between the Clinton and Obama camps. The sweepstakes kicks in when two excluded groups find themselves competing for the same prize. He says that took place in the 19th century when the abolitionist, Frederick Douglass and his ally, women's rights' activist, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, argued over what group should first be...

CHILDREN as young as three are being taught anti-racism lessons as part of the first State Government-funded program designed to stamp out bigotry from a young age. The program will be rolled out at a preschool in western NSW and youngsters will be given regular lessons in tolerance and multiculturalism.

Let's debunk the biggest myths of the anti-immigration movement that has swept this country and may still have an impact on the 2008 presidential race: that it is not anti-Hispanic, that it doesn't oppose legal immigration and that it's against only "illegal" immigration. Most U.S. Republican presidential hopefuls -- with the exception of Sen. John McCain -- and cable television anti-immigration crusaders on CNN and Fox News are deceiving the public with their claim that they are only against "illegal" immigration. • Myth No. 1: "We are only against illegal immigration. Undocumented immigrants should get in line for visas." That's...

Just issued by her campaign: “Over this past week, there has been a lot of discussion and back and forth - much of which I know does not reflect what is in our hearts. “And at this moment, I believe we must seek common ground. “Our party and our nation is bigger than this. Our party has been on the front line of every civil rights movement, women's rights movement, workers' rights movement, and other movements for justice in America. “We differ on a lot of things. And it is critical to have the right kind of discussion on where...

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested Sunday that Barack Obama's campaign had injected racial tension into the presidential contest, saying her comments about Martin Luther King's role in the civil rights movement had been "distorted" by Obama's supporters. "This is an unfortunate story line the Obama campaign has pushed very successfully," the former first lady said in a spirited appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I don't think this campaign is about gender, and I sure hope it's not about race." Clinton taped the show before campaign appearances in South Carolina, whose Jan. 26 primary will be the first to include...

Clinton accuses Obama camp of pushing race issue By Klaus Marre | Posted: 1/13/08 12:18 PM [ET] January 13, 2008 Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) accused the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), her main rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, of deliberately distorting remarks she made about Martin Luther King Jr. Clinton said there “is not one shred of truth” to assertions that her campaign is making race an issue. The former first lady argued that remarks she had made, meant to say that it takes more than words to bring about change, were unfairly mischaracterized. “This is an...

Hillary Clinton in Barack Obama race row By Philip Sherwell in Las Vegas, Nevada Last Updated: 9:11pm GMT 12/01/2008 Bill Clinton is scrambling to head off a potential backlash among black voters against his wife Hillary's White House campaign, after the couple were both accused of making racially demeaning comments. Mr Clinton telephoned the nationally syndicated radio talk show of the Rev Al Sharpton, the outspoken black preacher, to deny that he had dismissed Senator Barack Obama's bid to become the first black president as "the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen". Donna Brazile, a leading black Democrat strategist and...

CNN played a Hillary Clinton political appearance this morning. She talked about the mortgage crisis and portrayed the evils of "your neighbor's house" being foreclosed on. She described "weeds growing" on their lawn, but then Hillary began describing "your neighborhood" changing and "you see people in your neighborhood that you didn't see there before". What could Hillary possibly have meant, other than poor minority folks moving into "your neighborhood" because of falling housing prices? Her statement was of the type that is routinely considered race baiting, raising the fear that blacks will move into your neighborhood for the first time....

KINGSTON — Charges that five boys raped a girl at Kingston High School Friday are sparking racial tensions in the city. "This girl is just like Tawana Brawley, only she is white," said the pastor of two of the boys, both black, who are charged with criminal sex acts against the 15-year-old girl. At least one of the other three boys is black. Kingston police have charged the boys with sexually assaulting the girl in a boys restroom at the school about 3:30 p.m. Friday, after classes had ended. Two are charged with rape in addition to criminal sexual acts...

A few years back, a relative was visiting from out of town and showed us a snapshot. It was his son posing with a new acquaintance. Big smiles all around. The acquaintance was a priest. And he was black. Why carry around this otherwise unremarkable photo and make a show of it? Because the son is a five-alarm racist, and so is his dad -- the guy proudly displaying the snapshot. The subtext here -- about one micron below the surface -- was: "See? A black friend!"

Obama gets beefed-up protection By Joseph Curl January 7, 2008 MANCHESTER, N.H. — Secret Service presence has increased for Sen. Barack Obama since his dramatic win in Iowa, amid fears over the safety of the man seeking to become America's first black president. The Illinois senator's security now rivals that of President Bush, with a dozen Secret Service agents wearing dark suits and earpieces leading bomb-sniffing dogs through event venues, sweeping all equipment brought by journalists and flanking the candidate as he plunges into crowds of supporters. "For many black supporters, there is a lot of anxiety that he will...

The three main minorities in the United States -- blacks, Hispanics and Asians -- have little trust for each other and hold prejudiced views about Americans of different ethnic origins to their own, a poll showed Wednesday. "This extraordinary poll reveals some unflattering realities that exist in America today," said Sandy Close, head of new America Media (NAM) which sponsored the poll together with ethnic media groups. Forty-four percent of Hispanics and 47 percent of Asians are "afraid of African-Americans because they are responsible for most of the crime," the survey of 1,105 adults drawn from the three ethnic groups...

A black firefighter admitted he placed a knotted rope and threatening note with a drawing of a noose in an East Baltimore fire station last month.The firefighter has since been suspended for other performance-related issues, but will also likely face additional punishment for his act, officials said. City officials said the man admitted to the hoax and will not face criminal charges.Officials identified the man as Donald Maynard, a firefighter-paramedic apprentice who is black. The incident sparked outrage and led to a federal investigation into charges of racism. It was also the latest in a series of other incidents over...

Denver diversity-training video said to 'hammer the white guy' By Daniel Chacon Originally published 07:11 p.m., November 23, 2007 Updated 07:17 p.m., November 23, 2007 The city of Denver is showing its employees a diversity training video that portrays a white man as a narrow-minded buffoon — triggering allegations of "institutional racism" against Anglos. "Right now, their diversity program is racially motivated against white males," said Dennis Supple, a heating, ventilating and air-conditioning mechanic who has worked for the city 1 1/2 years. The video, titled "Laughing Matters — Think About It," is meant to show employees how humor at...

<p>NEW YORK (AP) -- Twenty years after her allegations of a racially charged rape became a national flash point, Tawana Brawley's mother and stepfather want to reopen the case, a newspaper reported Sunday.</p> <p>Glenda Brawley and Ralph King want to press New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to re-examine the November 1987 incident, which a state grand jury ultimately concluded was a hoax, the Daily News reported.</p>

ESCONDIDO, United States (AFP) - Over his objections, his son joined the army and died in Iraq in 2003. Now Fernando Suarez is spearheading a crusade to stop the recruitment of young, financially vulnerable Hispanics into the US military. "We have to stop military recruiters from harassing these boys at school, and if any of them want to sign up, they should do so out of their own free will, not because of economic and psychological pressures or even lies," Suarez told AFP. Hailing from Tijuana, Mexico, 65 kilometers (40 miles) south of here, Suarez got together with school teachers,...

Congress: Nearly five decades after statehood, the U.S. House passes a bill classifying American citizens by race and establishing apartheid in Hawaii. Is the U.S. about to have its own separatist movement? We have observed that if there was ever a place that came close to Martin Luther King's dream of people being judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin, it is Hawaii. "One of the greatest examples of a multiethnic society living in relative peace" is how the state's longtime U.S. senator, Democrat Daniel Inouye, once described it. Last Wednesday, the House...

They were part of a distinctive window display designed to attract shoppers through the doors of chic high street chain All Saints. But instead, the eight headless black dummies, which are suspended from silver chains, have caused a storm of protest from race campaigners. Equality groups claim the mannequins resemble the Ku Klux Klan lynchings which terrorised America's Deep South. And they were so incensed that they complained to police - who launched a probe and sent officers round to the shop to investigate. The hanging mannequins are used at the all the chain's 40 stores around Britain but have...