The discussion revolves around the implications of potential vice presidential candidates for Barack Obama and John McCain, particularly focusing on Colin Powell. It explores the political and social ramifications of such a choice, including public perception and media narratives. The conversation also touches on the controversy surrounding a campaign button that questions the legitimacy of Obama’s presidency, reflecting on the role of political organizations in shaping public discourse.
Participants express differing views on the implications of Powell as a VP choice and the origins of the controversial button idea. There is no consensus on whether the GOP or Democrats are more responsible for the spread of the narrative surrounding the button.
The discussion includes references to specific events and media coverage that may not be universally recognized, leading to potential misunderstandings about the context and implications of the statements made.
Gokul43201 said:If Obama picks Powell, don't you think the question, "If Obama wins, can we really call it the White House?" (popularized at the Texas state GOP convention) will gain mainstream traction?
Gokul43201 said:If Obama picks Powell, don't you think the question, "If Obama wins, can we really call it the White House?" (popularized at the Texas state GOP convention) will gain mainstream traction?
The Texas Republican Party is distancing itself from a vendor who sold campaign buttons at last weekend's state convention that asked, "If Obama is president ... will we still call it The White House?"
The state GOP party said Wednesday that it will donate the $1,500 rent it collected from the vendor, Republicanmarket.com, to Midwestern flood victims.
State GOP spokesman Hans Klingler said the party does not vet the merchandise being sold, but officials plan to discuss doing so in the future. The button sales at the convention in Houston were first reported in the Dallas Morning News.
"This vendor need not apply to another Texas GOP state convention," Klingler said. "We will neither tolerate nor profit from bigotry."
Barack Obama, who clinched the Democratic nomination this month, is the first black presidential nominee of a major party.
The state GOP will bar the vendor from booth space at future events and "encourage him to clean up his act," Klingler said.
State GOP officials said they also have alerted the Republican National Convention so that the vendor, Jonathan Alcox, will not be allowed to sell merchandise at the convention in St. Paul, Minn., in September.
I didn't say they were popularized by the Texas GOP. I think the pin maker was actually just trying to make a joke, but it was one with the potential to be heavily misused (as it has been, on a number of blogs, at least). I think the GOP enabled the spread of this idea by being careless or even reckless with their organization.chemisttree said:Popularized? Not by the GOP convention but by the Dallas Morning News.
Gokul43201 said:I think the GOP enabled the spread of this idea by being careless or even reckless with their organization.
As well as one called Republican Market. The websites are neither supported by nor endorsed by the parties. Also, the number of buttons he made is not important. I said before that I didn't think he was being racist, just trying to be funny. But what's happened is that the story has now had many hundreds of thousands of views. And racists are wielding it as some kind of new mantra in blogs and other websites.chemisttree said:Enabled? C'mon! I believe that the vendor (Jonathan Alcox who also runs http://www.democratmall.com/store/cat/21.Buttons" ) made something like 12 of them.
If he sold them during Dem Convention, and they didn't shut him down, the Dems would have been the enablers. As we know now, the Reps didn't shut down his booth during their Convention; they only banned him from future Conventions after the story hit the presses. If they had been more careful, they could have easily avoided the mess.Democrats enabled the spread of this idea, not the GOP.