I disagree with the contention that it's impossible to speak to or about someone outside the context of their gender or race. (Although, obviously, I do believe that there has to be a line of demarcation for what is acceptable.)

Certain words or phrases are loaded with racist or anti-feminist baggage. A threat to whup someone's butt is not. It's a kind of quasi-folksy patois that's in common usage in a thousand ways in this country, none of which (in my experience) have any particular or specific racial context. (If I am wrong and this is an historically racist remark, I welcome correction.)

There is no statement, and especially no colloquialism, that someone, somewhere, isn't able to twist into an insult. Mature people, and I certainly count Mr. Obama as one of those, are not concerned with crying "foul!" about a common expression.

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No doubt the McCain camapign will be held solely responsible for any misfortune which may befall Sen Obama. Their Rhetoric has been an outrage and an embarassment.It Seems Mr.McCain has forgotten the inscription below Our Lady Liberty. He has Ignored the Founding adage 'All Men are Created Equal', In Fact he apparently has decided the idea that 'We are All Creations of God' is a lie.He has Rejected the Goal of remaining a 'Beacon Of Hope' for Humanity in the quest of Divine Servitude.
He spews hate regarding Race, Religion, personal choice and Political Affiliations.
This is NOT American Values.
Seems Mr.McCain does not comprehend What this country was founded on, nor any Commandments set forth by God.
As an Norman Scotch -Irish, Italian- French Luthuanian American, I will Not dishonor my Ancestors Struggles and sacrifics by committing the same Discrimation against other group as they had suffered when they arrived at the Feet of Our Lady Liberty.
McCains tactics are not just a Rejection of Our American Values, they are essentially heretical.

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I forgot that Rev. Jeremiah Wright was holding a gun to my head when I, a white man, proposed to my black fiancee. How could I be so silly? I should be outraged and join the CCC today!

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Had Obama said that he was going to whup McCain's whatever, the right-wing wackjobs would have been all over this. It would have looked as if Obama were behaving like a thug (i.e. the angry violent black man). It's not PC to point out the difference in pereception.

I suspect that McCain was merely catering to his Joe and Jane Meth-head (oh, I meant Six-Pack) contingent, and they like that sort of bravado.

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I was working the Katrina shelter when a black acquaintance, a preacher, came up to me and said "You know John as much as you read, as much as you try, you're never going to be an inner-city black guy."

It was another poignant moment. I first started to become racially sensitive when as a kid I picked "Black Like Me." Later I read Dick Gregory's exceptional book, "Nigger" (even typing that word in this historical context gives me pause). I didn't have a black person in my high school until I was a senior and really only started to have more than very casual relationships with people of color when I moved to the south.

Maybe that's why I tried to learn not to pretend I know what's important to a black person and realize when I say something I might inadvertently offend. When I heard what the maverick had said I, a white person, went immediately to the "Oh my God" definition of that word "whip," especially in the context of Barack's race and the maverick's upbringing.

I believe any meaning I placed on the statement was not intended by the maverick, but that simply speaks to his stupidity rather than his intent. I'm not sure how much better that is.

I think the first step to understanding the depth of the problems we face as a nation is realizing the depths of our own ignorance, our paradigm, the framework by which we view the entire world. The maverick and the mayor have no sense of this invaluable understanding, an understanding Obama uses to drive his campaign just about every day.

I also am for a woman's right to choose for much the same reason. The vast majority of times out of a hundred, the woman is the one who cares for and raises the child. Oh, we're still needed a lot of the times to plant the seed, but after the work begins we sort of step out of the picture (not always, but mostly...still). So, I find the whole debate, when a bunch of men are involved, to be a little disingenuous.

All this to say the maverick should watch his, and the mayor should watch her, mouth. Closely. They utter some real derogatory stuff (and that perception is always based not on the person sending, but the person receiving) and I want to hope it's not intentional, but that just makes what they utter stupid. Maybe that's better, but I don't think so.

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CCC is nothing more than substituted letters for the KKK. The message is still the same.

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