Dr. Weasel-Puss, or, How I Learned To Hate Back-Pedalers and Appreciate Honesty

"He was wowed by Obama’s oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama — a “light-skinned” African American “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,” as he later put it privately."

Oh, you stupid, stupid man.

First off, the fact he said this was absolutely mind boggling. The fact that, like the spineless jellyfish that he is, he retreated from his remarks is even worse, because it shows that he feels guilty about them. It shows that the remarks were of a racist nature because he all but physically kissed Obamas rear end when they were made public.

Now, before all of you out there start scratching your heads asking, "Uhh...does this mean Travis is a racist?", listen to me, and listen carefully.

INSTEAD of back-pedaling and letting the whole country know that they were words tinged with racism, he should have addressed a very real concern with too many youngsters in the black community: lack of verbal skills. "Ebonics", I believe, is the technical term for it. It basically means that you don't have to finish any of your words fully and it is a lazy way of speaking because one doesn't have to have a full grasp on the English language. Far too many talented young black men aren't able to get past a job interview because this form of speaking is accepted in the black community, but isn't in the business world. This isn't racist at all! When on a conference call, an individual must be able to articulate clearly what they are saying. It is simply a fact.

Instead of using this media backlash and bringing this point up (which would mean I would actually be writing a positive piece about Harry Reid, scary, I know), he crawled away on his stomach and apologized.

"Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele was on the receiving end of a fresh round of criticism from prominent party members Thursday after an interview was released in which he referred to abortion as an "individual choice,"' (LA Times).

Immediately afterwards, Steele clamored to take those words back. He did the exact same thing when he criticized Rush Limbaugh.

Perhaps Steele misspoke. It's a possibility. However, IF Steele is in fact pro-choice, then he should have the testicular fortitude to stand by his beliefs. I have no problem standing by my pro-life beliefs because I believe that I am right in my beliefs and am not guilty in the least bit for feeling the way I do, and I know many pro-choice people who are the same way (they are wrong, of course, but that's a whole other story). So why wouldn't Steele, who unfortunately is the RNC Chairman, either pay closer attention to what he says or stand firm? If he is pro-choice, fine. As long as he came out and said "Look, I'm pro-choice, there are Republicans out there that are pro-choice. Obviously I won't let my own personal views affect my job and what the Republican party stands for," I would be perfectly happy. Instead, this comment and the Rush comment gets back-pedaled for two or three miles and makes him and the Republican voters look like idiots!

"I’m blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little Laundromat in a black community not far from where he lived. I saw it all growing up."

How great of you, Rob, to equate the color of ones skin to the amount of money they have in their pockets. Not to mention the wonderful touch about shining shoes (I'm of course being sarcastic). He, like all of the others, apologized immediately for his (STUPID) comments.

What, do you ask, SHOULD he have said (besides nothing at all)? He should have said that he didn't equate being black with money at all, but with the unfair struggle that the African-American community has had to fight. He should have said "I don't apologize for a thing I said, and I stand by it. I perhaps went a degree too far to use the word 'black', but I still mean what I had said. I didn't mean it to be racist, only to point out the struggle that too many black men and woman have to endure every day, and that Obama didn't have nearly the struggle." THAT would have been the best way out of that corner.

So, what's my point with this post, besides pointing out how frickin' stupid these three people are? The point is that back-pedaling automatically implies guilt. If somebody says that a comment that you have made is racist, and you apologize profusely for that comment, it means that you agree with that individual and am ashamed to be found out. That goes the same with questions of life, hell, with questions of ANYTHING. If an individual has to constantly be saying that he is sorry for what he/she has said, to me, it shows that that individual has the guts of an 11 year old kid (not much). I don't want that in a politician. I want a person that will stand up for what he or she believes in, even if it pisses off a lot of people. Even if it pisses ME off. I want a politician that won't back down from a stupid remark, but rather turns that remark to reflect a real problem and uses the opportunity to shine light on that problem without sounding cheesy. What happened to politicians like that? I don't want a snively little apologist. I want a person with some webos! Some guts!

Eh...I guess I can always just wish that Kissinger had been born in America...