It's like the phrase "in a coon's age."

I agree with you. In an of themselves and completely context dependent, the terms are completely innocent.

However, you can bet that that, had a white person said either phrase in conjunction with a discussion about President Obama, the Left would go ballistic.

They would claim that "taking a cotton to" is a reference to slaves in the old south picking cotton and "a coon's age" is just plain racist.

Of course, you and I know better, but this IS the Hysterical Left we are talking.

I remember a DC politician who had to resign about a decade ago because he used the word "niggardly" which (believe it or not) is not racist either (it comes from an entirely separate root word). But perception is reality, sometimes, I guess.

If I recall correctly, I thought it was a NY State or City politician or city. The details don't matter, but I do recall the incident. It is a prime example of the exact type of PC run amok that I am referring to.

I remember one discussion I got into over at HP where I was called a racist because I used the phrase "call a spade a spade".

On the issue of Political Correctness run amok, the Left is much MUCH more at fault than the Right is.

Anyway, I don't agree with you on calling Obama racist (surprised? I thought not). I don't think his words were racist at all,

I was going to give you an analogous example of, "Would President Obama had called the cop stupid if it had been a white Harvard Professor that was arrested by a black cop?"

And, if I were to answer myself honestly, I would probably say that, "Yea, Obama probably would have."

So, I now see your point that it might not have been racism on the President's part. But to salvage SOMETHING of my dignity :D I would have to say that it was definitely racism on the part of Professor Gates.

but I do agree with your last sentence, which is kind of where I started from: calling any cop stupid is… well… stupid for any president. It demeans the office. But then, like I said, that's where I started from, so we can agree on that at least, I would hope.

Yes, we can. :D hehehehehehehe

Michale.....

Really? I've never heard "cotton on to" being referred to as racist. I'll have to look it up. I grew up, for a time, in the South, and this phrase never (at least to my knowledge) had any sort of racial overtones, it had "hick, backwoods, corny" overtones. In that it was a regional saying meaning "understanding an issue" which sounded funny to those outside the region, that's all. But I will check around to see if it is seen as racist today, language certainly changes over time.

It's like the phrase "in a coon's age." Again, as I heard it used growing up, it referenced the lifespan of a raccoon, and nothing more. Now, the word "coon" itself was (and is) a vile and ugly racist word when applied to a human being, almost as vile as what is politely referred to today as "the N-word." But "I haven't seen you in a coon's age" was never used (again, to the best of my knowledge) with any sort of racist intent.

I remember a DC politician who had to resign about a decade ago because he used the word "niggardly" which (believe it or not) is not racist either (it comes from an entirely separate root word). But perception is reality, sometimes, I guess.

Anyway, I don't agree with you on calling Obama racist (surprised? I thought not). I don't think his words were racist at all, but I do agree with your last sentence, which is kind of where I started from: calling any cop stupid is... well... stupid for any president. It demeans the office. But then, like I said, that's where I started from, so we can agree on that at least, I would hope.

-CW

Gives me a chance to ask a question that has always bothered me.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cia-interrogate9-2009aug09,0,34626.story

Why is it that, whenever the Obama Administration gets into trouble, they always bring up Bush??

Whatever happened to moving forward and such??

Michale.....

Michale....

And what would a LOGICAL and RATIONAL person deduce from this information??

Employ Occam's Razor and make a conclusion from that data.

Michale.....

And what would a LOGICAL and RATIONAL person deduce from this information??

You know how much I hate to say, "I TOLD YA SO"... :D

Well, consider it said...

Obama is beginning to appear a bit naive on the whole "bipartisanship" issue. Everyone else knows by now that the Republican Party has staked its future electoral chances on destroying Obama's agenda, but the only one who hasn't seemed to cotton on to this is Obama himself. Of course, it could all still be an act for the cameras, but who knows at this point?

Ya know.... If a Republican had said, "hasn't seemed to cotton on to this..." the Hysterical Left would have gone ballistic, screaming RACISM!!!!

I'm just sayin'.....

Obama's White House is more transparent than Bush's — but that's not saying a lot. It's nowhere near as transparent as Obama promised it would be from the campaign trail, that's for sure.

Once again, consider I.T.Y.S. said... :)

Obama, in his most recent primetime press conference, says a cop "acted stupidly," which — even if said cop did indeed act stupidly — is a bad thing for a president to say to the nation, on quite a few levels.

This displayed a level of racism by an American President unseen as far back as I can remember.

Obama assumed that any cop that would arrest a black college professor HAD to be racist..

Even ignoring the racism, simply the fact that an American President would single out an American and call him "stupid" is beyond the pale.

Michale