Obama is black. McCain wants the racist vote. What the hell do you thing about who is playing the race card? Just relax and enjoy it, Greg.

Greg, you took the words out of my mouth.

"...the time for game-playing is over"

Barack Obama: Now more than ever

It's truly sickening the dogwhistle politics that McCain's campign is putting out there.

What do you think Rove means when he says Obama is "arrogant" and "unprepared"?

The whole unspoken (though obvious) strategy is to paint Obama as an affirmative-action-beneficiary, uppity, know-it-all BLACK guy who THINKS HE'S BETTER THAN YOU.

McCain has recognized that he cannot win this one on the merits. The goal is to paint Obama as the "other", and McCain as the old white guy you can trust.

I hope that people don't fall for it.

Sounds like some classic Ferraro-reverse-racism-race-baiting to me!

By charging that Obama is playing the race card, the McCain campaign is itself playing the race card.

And this is the tactic that has been used over and over again. Thank you for pointing it out. We need to expose this every chance we get.

Obama's face doesn't look like any President on the dollar bill. Well, that is a fact. To interpret it as a racial code is beyond pale.

Actually, i am happy the race thing is out there now. It is going to get neutralize before end of August. The Republican Party cannot win the race on merit and the only tactics they've got is to take the low road.

"We want to have a serious debate. But so far, we've been hearing about Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. I do have to ask my opponent: is that the best you can come up with? Is that really what the election is about?"

-- Sen. Barack Obama, during a speech in Cedar Rapids, IA.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/07/31/quote_of_the_day.html

This McCain race card crap reminds me of a story I was told when I worked at a fast food restaurant. (The story was told by the person who witnessed the incident.)

A section of the restaurant was closed to the general public so that the floor could be mopped. All the proper precautions were taken - the area was roped off, warning signs were put up, etc.

After the floor was cleaned, a customer sneaked over to the section, lied down on the still wet floor, and started to scream that he had slipped and was going to sue the restaurant for the injuries he surely sustained.

McCain is like that customer. He was looking for the appropriate opportunity to play the victim and scream racism. Like the customer, all McCain accomplished was making a pathetic spectacle of himself in a reality created from fiction.

"He doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bill."

Of course he was referring to McCain with that comment.

You could argue that to some degree Obama opened himself up to this.

Honestly, I'm ashamed that you even wrote that Greg. If that's what you believe, than what's the point of a black person ever seeking political office. After all, they're just begging for race-based attacks, right?

Wow, I just watched Rick Davis, McCain's Campaign Mgr., walk all over his interviewer. What a jerk that guy is. If you haven't watched it yet, it's enough to make one donate some money to MoveOn.org or Obama and wish Republicans into enternal damnation. It's full of the Rovian lies and exaggerations about the stupid racist accusations and lots of use of the word celebrity.

Here's the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25951733#25951733

Really ... blond women black man? Reminds me of Ford. Why not Tiger or Oprah or Beyonce? They're stars of the same color. And that's EXACTLY the point. Black man, blond woman. That's what it's about.

This election will not be about issues. I will be about race, trust and experience in that order.

That is why McCain will win.

I watched the entire town hall live on CNN.com. It was fantastic. Obama is in his element. He hammered away on the Bush/McCain synergy in making all of his arguments. Beautiful!

I hope Drudge changes his lead headline (the Obamabill) soon so that the media can stop obsessing over this issue which has nothing to do with the current state of our country. Obama is out there talking about and defending his energy policy but as Marc Ambinder admitted, while the media should be covering that, they aren't...they're talking about the favorite topics - race cards and celebrities.

Can we focus on the issues for just one freaking day???

it's true if you dont vote for obama, you're a racist because on every issue and every qualification, obama beats mccain hands down. there is no reason why you shouldnt be voting for him, except, of course, if you are a racist.

By the time this election is over, the entire country is going to want to take a shower.

So let's analyze what Obama said:

"they're going to try to say, 'Well, you know, he's got a funny name"

check

"and he doesn't look like all the presidents on the dollar bills and the five dollar bills"

check check

"and, and they're going to send out nasty emails."

check

OK, I see a three-for-three here. Why exactly is there an uproar again?

minnesconsin - Yep - ol' Gabby Johnson will be hollering, "The sheriff's a (BONG)!" any day now

i agree with loopback & masha. i recently sent e-mails to msnbc & cnn saying as much. Underlying message of two allegedly "sl_tty" & young & white & blond women superimposed on young, attractive black man.

The McCain ad has us all talking about comparing the accomplishments of the two women to Obama's accomplishments. But the underlying suggestion is more sinister.

And of course, the msm is saying that there's nothing about race in McCain's ad. right.

Your first sentence here is perfectly phrased. this subject shouldn't be addressed even genearlly in the form of a question, "is McCain playing the race card?" - the answer is already a demonstrable 'yes'.

you should do some actual research before you make charges against Obama, especially charges which rely on the stereotype of the 'uppity black man'. the story was debunked, HERE ON TPM, before 9 AM! jeeez, people, can you even pretent to try at this stuff?

Sorry guys...

This was a huge mistake by Obama. This will fire up the base, don't get me wrong. But I think we are already fired up.

In his comments he directly accused Bush and McCain of saying his name sounds funny, he looks different, he is not patriotic. I am sorry, but that just is not true. Sure others have, mostly from the Hillary campaign, but the McCain campaign has never made any of those charges...it just cannot be supported with actual evidence.

...and for this reason, tomorrow the editorials are going to slice him to pieces. Some already are.

The base won't care...I don't care. Independents will care. They like Obama because he is both black and he is not angry about being black, he is not angry at white people...he is post-racial.

Well, his comments were hardly post-racial. Every thinking independent is going to assume he meant race in his comments...what else could he have meant? His ears?

McCain was having trouble staying on message before this week, but Obama has not had any message since he got back. He has only responded to McCain's ads.

If you are on defense you are losing in this game. You cannot win if you do not have the ball. If you are explaining, you are losing! He needs to stop reacting to every McCain ad with a guilt inducing old politics line...it pushed him into making a pretty direct and nasty "old politics" attack himself and it was Al Sharpton politics.

That will not win Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, NC, VA...the list goes on.

Stop reacting and go on the attack and move on...you have to dictate the flow and tone of the debate and right now McCain is doing that.

Obama will now have to spend the weekend addressing this disaster, just like the Landstuhl disaster.

This campaign is in serious need of some discipline. This week he was supposed to address the economy, which grew at 2% by the way, and nobody heard or read a single thing about the economy...see what I mean?

He is accusing McCain of talking about Britney and Paris...spending half his stump speech...talking about Britney and Paris. It is a trap...get out of it...NOW!