“She’s a bigot, a racist, and a liar,” is the more blunt assessment of Arnold Gerstheimer who lived in Alaska until two years ago and is now a businessman in Idaho.
“Juneau is a small town; everybody knows everyone else,” he adds. “These stories about what she calls blacks and Eskimos, well, anyone not white and good looking actually, were around long before she became a glint in John McCain’s rheumy eyes. Why do I know they’re true? Because everyone who isn’t aboriginal or Indian in Alaska talks that way.”
Alaskans Speak (In A Frightened Whisper): Palin Is “Racist, Sexist, Vindictive, And Mean”
September 5, 2008
by Charley James
“So Sambo beat the bitch!”
This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obama’s win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination.
According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrat’s primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would likely hear her, uttered the slur and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively.
“It was kind of disgusting,” Lucille, who is part Aboriginal, said in a phone interview after admitting that she is frightened of being discovered telling folks in the “lower 48” about life near the North Pole.
Then, almost with a sigh, she added, “But that’s just Alaska.”
Racial and ethnic slurs may be “just Alaska” and, clearly, they are common, everyday chatter for Palin.
Besides insulting Obama with a Step-N’-Fetch-It, “darkie musical” swipe, people who know her say she refers regularly to Alaska’s Aboriginal people as “Arctic Arabs” – how efficient, lumping two apparently undesirable groups into one ugly description – as well as the more colourful “mukluks” along with the totally unimaginative “f**king Eskimo’s,” according to a number of Alaskans and Wasillians interviewed for this article.
But being openly racist is only the tip of the Palin iceberg. According to Alaskans interviewed for this article, she is also vindictive and mean. We’re talking Rove mean and Nixon vindictive.
No wonder the vast sea of white, cheering faces at the Republican Convention went wild for Sarah: They adore the type, it’s in their genetic code. So much for McCain’s pledge of a “high road” campaign; Palin is incapable of being part of one.
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It's good to see this kind
It's good to see this kind of shit coming out about this woman, but will this story get traction in the MSM, especially now that they have been made to sit at heel when it comes to questioning hack. My fear is that, by the time the MSM gets up off their butts, the biggest mistake in US political history will have gained an air of legitimacy. The same thing happened just as we were being directed into the war in Iraq.
Actually, some in the media
Actually, some in the media are getting annoyed that McCain is casting them as irrelevant here, and as enemies elsewhere. The irony of St. John McCain, Patron Saint of the Media, running against the press is immense.
I am looking forward to the McLaughlin Report today.
The Sound of Black Alaska...
(...Okay, granted, referencing ‘The Great Black Alaskan Migration’ a while back may have been a tad bit of a facetious stretch!)
But what struck me the other day is that if you trust the U.S. Census Bureau there is close to 30,000 black people living up that way, including the Honorable Senator Bettye Davis, an HBCU graduate (Grambling) Obama supporter and an Alaskan resident since 1973.
(Granted, I know very little about her beyond that, although, at a glance her politics seem a hair suspect, but I don’t know, maybe EVERYONE rolls with the NRA up that way?)
So personally, I can't help but wonder as to why there doesn’t seem to be ANYONE of color speaking with an opinion of their interpretation of who Sarah Palin is, pro or con, based on how she’s affected their day to day lives as Alaskans.
I’m wondering if whether or not the ‘silence’ is a sign that:
A. They have no effective avenues to have their voices be heard.
B. Their voices are being suppressed.
C. They have no issue with her state politics and are unaffected by her impact on a national level.
D. Apathy
E. All of the above.
(NOTE: They do have NAACP in Alaska!)
It won't work because the
It won't work because the person won't be attributed. Next, the Republican/conservative attack against the media was done to circumvent this type of stuff.
LEFT WING MEDIA!!!!
It gets dismissed.
I agree, if statements like
I agree, if statements like this are not attributed, they are dismissed. But finding out if they are true and can be attributed is the RESPONSIBILITY of the media. If not the MSM, then more power to the National Enquirer. Lets see how easy it would be to truly dismiss the NE with the Edward's story still fresh on our minds.
The Native Tongues…
“...LEFT WING MEDIA!!!! It gets dismissed.”
(...But that’s okay! I prefer to do my own post-vetting, vetting anyway!)
I thought this was priceless:
“…There’s no record that Alaska Governor and Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin uttered anything more than the obligatory complimentary congratulations to the woman that beat her out for the Miss Alaska title in 1984.
The winner Maryline Blackburn, an African-American."
(Granted, this was 1984. My gut feeling tells me this was probably a very “Purple Rain’ influenced progressive-minded pick!)
From: Palin Has No Record on Diversity or Civil Rights
I thought these were pretty good takes also:
"Todd Palin No Posterboy" - a wake-up call from a short article
Palin-ed Out
(...And with that, curiosity sufficiently satisfied, I, too, am: “Palin-ed out!”)
"So personally, I can't help
"So personally, I can't help but wonder as to why there doesn’t seem to be ANYONE of color speaking with an opinion of their interpretation of who Sarah Palin is, pro or con, based on how she’s affected their day to day lives as Alaskans.
I’m wondering if whether or not the ‘silence’ is a sign that:
A. They have no effective avenues to have their voices be heard.
B. Their voices are being suppressed.
C. They have no issue with her state politics and are unaffected by her impact on a national level.
D. Apathy
E. All of the above."
I have been wondering the same thing. I'd have to say A and B. Forgive me for saying this but I think there are some states that Blacks simply should not live and Alaska is one of them. Although I'm not a Census expert but I'd guess 30,000 is a generous number. Apparently she is comfortable with making such comments in public with no compunction. But we must remember that the peolpe of Alaska voted her in office. So there must be something about her they like.
Fun 'Population Facts' about Wasilla and Alaska...
"Although I'm not a Census expert but I'd guess 30,000 is a generous number...."
(...I wouldn't be surprised to find your right! ...Ain't no tellin'!)
But based on the 'Government' numbers, Alaska is 9.1% below the national average of 12.8% for African-Americans and Wasilla, with about 32 black folk out of a population of 5,469 is 12.3% below the national average of 12.8%.
Which would mean black folk account for less than 1% of all greater Wasilla!
(...I don't know if it was fun, but I thought it was kinda funny!)
~
People QuickFacts
Total Population, 2006 estimate
USA = 299,398,484
Alaska = 670,053
Black persons, percent, 2006
USA = 12.8%
Alaska = 3.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native persons, percent, 2006
USA = 1.0%
Alaska = 15.4%
~
Geographic Area: Wasilla city, Alaska
~
Total population. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,469 100.0
RACE
One race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,144 94.1
White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,674 85.5
Black or African American . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 0.6
American Indian and Alaska Native . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 5.2
Asian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 1.3
Asian Indian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 -
Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 0.3
Filipino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 0.4
Japanese. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 0.1
Korean. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 0.3
Vietnamese. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 0.1
Other Asian 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 -
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. . . . . . . . . 7 0.1
Native Hawaiian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 -
Guamanian or Chamorro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 -
Samoan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 -
Other Pacific Islander 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 -
Some other race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 1.3
Two or more races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 5.9