Mickey Kaus is a Liberal who will actually try to find out the facts. Kudos to him for that.
But he does occasionally descend into Left wing incoherence. A prime example is a short post entitled Ride My See-Saw. (Click on this link, and scroll down to the post at the 1:21 PM mark.)
Mr. Kaus is taken with the concept of “vertical ticket splitters”, people who don’t automatically cast all of their votes for one party. He attributes their motivation for doing this to guilt. People might vote for Obama in this election, but then carefully cast their remaining votes for Republicans because they feel guilty about…
Well, I’m not really sure why anyone feels guilt. Mr. Kaus seems to think that the bad feelings all flow from racism.
“M suggested that voters (especially white, swing voters) who don’t vote for Obama may feel guilty about it and compensate by voting for Democrats in downballot races (Senate and Congress). But the converse of this theory is equally interesting–voters who do pick Obama, may compensate or hedge for what they feel is a bold, guilt-expiating risk by picking Republicans downballot.”
(snip)
“…more people will be vertical ticket splitters because of the presence of Obama, who is not only an African American candidate–whom you might feel guilty about not picking–but a relatively unknown candidate whom you might want to hedge against, especially if you voted for him to avoid feeling guilty about not picking him (and then felt guilty about that).”
(An attempt was made to keep the original emphasis intact. The above is how Mr. Kaus wants you to see his work.)
This seems extremely odd to me. If someone is a racist, then by definition they genuinely believe that a person’s race disqualifies them in some way. Makes the minority candidate unable to do a decent job simply because of their heritage, so to speak.
Seen in this light, it becomes obvious that racists are not going to be effected in any way by guilty feelings. Why would anyone, racist or otherwise, feel guilty about voting for what they see as the more capable choice? If anything, racists would feel pride in voting for their prejudices because they would think that they are acting for the greater good. So why go on and on about how racists would feel guilt?
The constant harping on racism from the Left during this election appears to me to have two root causes.
It seems to me that one cause is pure projection from Liberals. They are going to vote for Obama not because they genuinely believe him to be the best qualified for the job, but due to some bizarre self loathing. White guilt, if you will. Since guilt is the most powerful motivator when they make their political choices, it seems obvious to them that everyone else must also have simmering pools of white hot shame bubbling just beneath the surface. If people just listened to the voice in their heads that said they must make up for being a piece of crap, then everyone would make the same choice. The correct choice!
The other is a cynical attempt to manipulate swing voters, a propaganda effort to make the Bradley Effect work for the Democrats. If swing voters can be convinced that they will be perceived as racists by voting for anyone other than Obama, maybe a significant percentage will vote for the candidate that they would otherwise feel is too inexperienced to handle the job. Pretty much force people to vote for the least qualified candidate.
I must confess, dear reader, that it makes me feel distinctly uncomfortable to climb up on my analyst’s couch and try to plumb the mental depths of complete strangers. Not only am I obviously unqualified, it also strikes me as the height of arrogance to even try. But I feel justified since the Left in general, and Mr. Kaus specifically, are not constrained to keep to their area of expertise.
To close, I would have to say that the only people who should be feeling guilty are the Liberals who scream “Racism!” at the drop of a hat. Have they no shame?
(Hat tip to Glenn.)
I have had this discussion with colleagues on a recurring basis. Many of them are the typical combo of pro affirmative action, pro race based quotas, and suggest that I don’t want other races to do well since I am white and don’t support affirmative action. But in my mind, the line of thinking that leads one to say “The minorities couldn’t possibly succeed if we don’t help them!” is the sort of polite parlor racism that used to be practiced by the progressives in centuries past. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…for many liberals and college kids who seem to latch on to liberal talking points, it is far more important to *appear* to not be a racist than to actually not be one.
I told a group of colleagues who were making a poor go of teaming up on me, that they(liberals) use racism, bigot, facist, you name it as a crutch for dismissing arguments that they cannot dismiss with a rational rebuttal. They use it as club to beat down anyone in our hyper PC society, since they are so afraid of being labeled a racist or bigot that they will back down from their initial points or arguments. It has been very liberating for me to just take to saying “I don’t give a damn if you think I’m a racist…it doesn’t bother me in the least”..
Its sad how the media illuminati attempt to make us feel like a racist for not voting for Obama. Actually the more they push that issue, the more it shows that the liberals are playing the race card not the conservatives. Hang on to your seats its either going to be a landslide or a super close election that is going to make a lot of people upset. Hopefully the people in Flordia have perfected their voting techniques.
Mickey Kaus may well be a man of many talents but being a liberal is not among them.
He appears to call himself liberal (or a Democrat) mostly to annoy his detractors; his positions are so far to the right, he isn’t even a DINO, he’s a Republican.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Kaus
> If someone is a racist, then by definition they genuinely believe that a person’s race disqualifies them in some way.
Wrong. It’s just as racist to assume that a person’s race QUALIFIES them in some way. This is where a large percentage of Obama support comes from — people who are voting for him solely because “it’s about time” or “he’s the first black candidate, how can you not vote?” Etc., Etc., ad nauseum. About the only thing being black should expressly qualify you for it a test for sickle-cell anemia.
> suggest that I don’t want other races to do well since I am white and don’t support affirmative action. But in my mind, the line of thinking that leads one to say “The minorities couldn’t possibly succeed if we don’t help them!”
Chris, if I may give you a point of view which is quite fun to challenge the libtards with over this:
1) The Chinese and Japanese have been treated little, if any, better than the blacks, in the past — the “coolies” — the railroad workers were treated almost like slaves, paid crap, and mistreated horribly. A chinese man acting amorous with a white woman 80 years ago was just as likely to get lynched as a black man. The Japanese were the ONLY Americans who were put in detention camps in WWII, with property confiscated and very few rights. So, while they were not slaves — they certainly were not substantially better off in treatment by the majority whites.
2) Those of “oriental descent” (the Orient is a region, not an epithet. I refuse to use “Asian” since there are a whole host of individuals not a part of the group I’m referring to) have manage to not only equal the accomplishments of whites, but even to exceed them. Oriental-Americans regularly equal and exceed on academic tests, year after year.
3) If Orientals can overcome the stigma of their earlier oppressions, why are blacks deemed incapable of doing the same? Are blacks inferior to both whites and orientals? Are they stupider, lazier, less talented? What? What possible argument can you make that BLACKS WILL FAIL where orientals did not, which does not devolve into “Blacks are inherently inferior”?
4) The fact of the matter is, blacks are WORSE off — by far — than they were 60 years ago in everything BUT basic opportunity. Illiteracy is far higher, unemployment is far higher, educational accomplishments are far lower, crime and incarceration is far higher, AIDS is rampant in the black community, as is illegitimacy and drug abuse. College-educated black women are particularly hard-hit, since the pool of eligible males for them — College-educated males with no substantial criminal record — is becoming a vanishing breed.
To paraphrase a quote regarding another subject, if an outside group had imposed these kinds of results on ANY US citizens, it would be considered an Act of War. Other than civil rights, is there ANY positive measure for blacks resulting from the policies of the last 45 years?
How many more black people are going to be sacrificed on the altar of Democrat Victimhood?