The distinction I make is probably still even not expansive as some.

Nappy headed hoes is racist.

If I say:  "_____ is a nappy headed hoe," then you can be absolutely sure I'm talking about a black person and that I made a racist comment.   That is why Imus had to go.

If I say:  "_____ was lynched, he was led through the crowd blindfolded and hanged" then there is no absolute certainty that I am talking about a black person.  I could be talking about Saddam Hussein.

If I say: "_____ has a history of drug use that might come up during the general election," then there is no absolute certainty that I am talking about a black person.

I think people would have some problems here, and I respect that.

Obviously one can add more context to all the situations, and if we knew that it was Bill O'Reilly talking about Michelle Obama being lynched by the media, then we can conclude, based on his past history of using hate speech code words to his listeners, that he's making a racist statement there, then fine.

But, really the point is, white people have to be extremely careful about what they say about black people cause the willingness of folks to cast it, whatever it is, as racist, and the stickiness of that charge, makes any point one has to make fit snugly into the law of diminishing returns.

The risk far outweighs any benefit, and that applies to compliments as well.

Just best to keep your mouth shut altogether.

But I thought it was ironic that people like Hilzoy and John Cole accused me of lunacy when I reacted to what was a plainly sexist, they probably made fun of Lanny Davis - others sure did, and I seriously doubt they will have a word to say about Attaturk's calling Gail Collins -GAIL COLLINS!!! - a racist for what were, at worst, possibly misconstruable remarks.

I don't hold Obama's followers against him. As some people's first political "crush", it's hard not to be swept up in a powerful feeling of thinking you can change the world overnight. Even if they don't stay in it for the long haul, I'm glad to see so many becoming engaged. (I still think they're not looking beyond taking down HRC, though.)

That is supposition on your part based on your desire to explain the AA defections from Hillary to Obama.

She sent me this e-mail:

That [article is] seriously nasty, particularly given the fact that everybody is happy to constantly leap on Hilary Clinton's failure to be the right kind of woman. She's "shrill," she's "fat," she's too emotional or she isn't emotional enough--the gender-baiting cr*p is actually happening, but it's harming her and she can't reliably use it to build sympathy. (although that one time when she cried and everybody jeered, she managed to turn that around, apparently?) Meanwhile, nobody's race baiting Obama, much to the disappointment of his campaign managers, who must now frantically build these aircastles to convince the world somebody is! It's not like there's no racism anymore, but most people are ashamed to be racists. Almost everybody is proud to be sexist.

I suppose men can be just as prone to periodic moodiness.

I don't know.

A white guy can be "Show-offy" and "Cocky."  Bill was both those things.

Can a man be periodically depressed?  I suppose he could be.

I don't think that Obama's name or skin color have anything to do with his popularity, per se.

He is an attractive, intelligent, articulate, charismatic individual ... he would be this regardless of race, sex or name.

HOWEVER, the racial tensions that seem to still exist in this country could not have been mobilized to turn the AA demographic against Hillary without the existence of an AA as her opponent.

So, I don't believe Hillary would have had any trouble becoming the Dem nominee were it not for the AA dynamic in this race (no pun or offense intended.)

OTOH, to be fair, Michael Jones, the Caucasian (and like Obama in every other way), could have had a chance were he able to marginalize the overwhelmingly pro-Hillary female demographic to the extent that Obama has succeeded in doing this with the AA demographic in opposition to Hillary.