Quandary

What a quandary! With Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama now pretty much battling it out for the Democratic nomination (I don't mean to belittle Edwards although it looks pretty certain he will not make it), it will be virtually impossible to say anything about either one of them without being considered either a sexist or a racist. Similarly, it will be virtually impossible for either of them to say anything about the other without being cricized for the same reason. You may have noticed this has already started. Bill Clinton (of all people) is being criticized for comments he has made about Obama (his misinterpreted suggestion that Obama's campaign is a "fairy tale"), and Hillary is getting flak for her remark about Martin Luther King (who had to have Lyndon Johnson actually fulfill his promise), and so on. Erica Jong (of all people) has basically said that anyone who criticizes Hillary is a sexist. Chris Matthews is being accused of sexism. And so it goes. Perhaps Clinton and Obama should declare a truce and say nothing at all about each other?

Obviously this is not going to prevent wholesale roviation. Karl Rove, the master himself, has already begun. See the piece by R.J. Eskow on Smirking Chimp today for a useful guide to Rove's comments. There is no doubt that this kind of stuff, subtle and not at all subtle, is going to increase as the nominating procedure continues. I seriously doubt that the winner, whoever it may be, is going to escape being tarred as either a racist or a sexist. Clearly there are things that can be said about both candidates that are legitimate, but it is going to take some professional refereeing to sort it out and I doubt the public will have much patience for this. In the case of the Brafia we know from experience there is nothing they won't do or say to win for their candidate. They have already demonstrated they have no shame whatsoever.

Did you know that the Portuguese in the 15th century ushered in the European "Great Age of Discovery?" At the request of the Portuguese King on June 18, 1452, the Pope issued a famous Papal Bull that authorized the King "...to attack, conquer and subdue Saracens, pagans, and other unbelievers who were inimical to Christ; to capture their goods and territories; to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery, and to transfer their lands and properties to the King of Portugal and his successors." (C.R.Boxer, 1969. The Portuguese Seaborne Empire 1415 - 1825.

Nothing very subtle about that. The Portuguese set about doing it on both coasts of Africa, India, and later in Brazil. It became a worldwide bloodbath that allowed the Dutch, Germans, French, English, and even the Belgians to forcefully and most unpleasantly establish their colonies throughout the world, a situation that still haunts us to the present day.

LKBIQ:
"If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all."
My dear departed Mother.