Tucker Carlson echoed Kaus, VDARE contributor on Michelle Obama: "I think she's got a chip on her shoulder"
SUMMARY: Discussing recent comments by Michelle Obama, Tucker Carlson said: "I have thought from Day One that Michelle Obama, impressive as she is, clearly intelligent, very handsome, self-possessed -- I think that she's got a chip on her shoulder." Similarly, Slate.com blogger Mickey Kaus wrote of Michelle Obama: "For whatever reason, she sure seems to have a non-trivial chip on her shoulder and it's not a winning quality." Additionally, referring to a February 16 Newsweek profile, VDARE.com contributor Steve Sailer wrote that Michelle Obama "sounds like she's got a log-sized chip on her shoulder from lucking into Princeton due to affirmative action."
On the February 20 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, discussing recent comments by Michelle Obama, host Tucker Carlson said: "I have thought from Day One that Michelle Obama, impressive as she is, clearly intelligent, very handsome, self-possessed -- I think that she's got a chip on her shoulder." Carlson continued: "I think it's very obvious, and I think she's a distraction from her husband's campaign. And I think that this is going to be a significant problem going forward. And I thought her remark was telling." Later, Carlson stated: "I don't think it's a question of a strong personality. I know that I like strong personalities, particularly in women. I'm married to one. I like that. I just don't like the sense that she has a sense of aggrievement. And that's the feeling I get from her."
Additionally, in a February 18 post on the Slate.com blog Kausfiles, Mickey Kaus wrote of Michelle Obama: "For whatever reason, she sure seems to have a non-trivial chip on her shoulder and it's not a winning quality." Kaus' entry about Obama remained at the top of the Kausfiles homepage three days later. A February 19 USA Today article headlined "Michelle Obama's comments under fire" quoted Kaus' post.
In a February 19 blog post on VDARE.com, contributor Steve Sailer -- also a columnist and film critic for The American Conservative -- discussed a February 16 Newsweek profile of Michelle Obama, writing that she "sounds like she's got a log-sized chip on her shoulder from lucking into Princeton due to affirmative action." In a December 25, 2007, Washington Times op-ed, Sailer asserted that "Barack Obama, who, as he made sure to tell us in the opening words of his famous keynote address at the 2004 Democratic Convention, is half-Kenyan and half-white, has cornered the market on Ethnic Electricity." Additionally, Sailer wrote in a column posted on VDARE.com on January 2, 2007: "The brutal truth: Obama is a 'wigger'. He's a remarkably exotic variety of the faux African-American, but a wigger nonetheless." Sailer's column linked to a Wikipedia entry on the word "wigger," which, at the time, read: "Wigger (alternatively spelled wigga or whigger or whigga) is a slang term that refers to a white person who emulates mannerisms, slangs and fashions stereotypically associated with urban African Americans; especially in relation to hip hop culture."
Sailer has previously written that African-Americans "tend to possess poorer native judgment than members of better-educated groups."
From the February 20 edition of MSNBC's Tucker:
CARLSON: Michelle Obama ruffled more than a few feathers earlier this week when she told a gathering of supporters that the movement surrounding her husband's candidacy made her proud of her country for the very first time in her adult life. Reactions were split between indifference -- the feeling of a lot of Obama supporters -- and indignation, the publicly expressed feeling of people like John McCain's wife, Cindy. Today Mrs. Obama elaborated on her original remark. Here's part of what she said.
MICHELLE OBAMA [video clip]: I'm proud of this country and I'm proud of the fact that people are ready to roll up their sleeves and do something phenomenal. But let me tell you something, I know I wouldn't be here, standing here -- Barack and I, our stories wouldn't be possible if it weren't for fundamental belief and pride in this country and what it stands for.
CARLSON: Here again, associate editor of The Hill A.B. Stoddard and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host Bill Press. A.B., I know that we're not allowed -- look, the press is so deeply in the tank for Barack Obama that there's, like, hostility if you mention this. But I have thought from Day One that Michelle Obama, impressive as she is, clearly intelligent, very handsome, self-possessed -- I think that she's got a chip on her shoulder. I think it's very obvious, and I think she's a distraction from her husband's campaign. And I think that this is going to be a significant problem going forward. And I thought her remark was telling. I'm in the minority on this, but I did think it was telling.
STODDARD: Well, I disagree. I think that I would put it this way: There's always strong resistance to strong personalities in these potential first spouses. And Hillary Clinton experienced this herself in 1992. And I think that there have been some comments throughout the year -- 2007 -- from Michelle Obama that ruffled -- didn't sit well with people. Jokes that fell flat, et cetera.
CARLSON: Strong personalities.
STODDARD: I think that she has a strong personality.
CARLSON: Barbara Bush had a strong personality, and she's the most popular person ever.
STODDARD: Well, you know what? She's actually not the most popular person ever, Barbara Bush.
CARLSON: Well, not among people that know her, but she's popular with the public.
STODDARD: But anyway, I think that speaking her mind can get her into trouble. I think that what she said was unfortunate, because it can be read like she's never been proud until this moment.
CARLSON: What do you mean, "can be read"? That's what she said. That's what she said, point-blank. She said --
STODDARD: It is true, and she's trying to sort of backtrack and so is the spokes-team for the campaign. But I think that she needs to be aware that strong personalities in that spouse role always run up against trouble. It's always resisted.
CARLSON: Boy, I respectfully disagree. I don't think it's a question of a strong personality. I know that I like strong personalities, particularly in women. I'm married to one. I like that.
STODDARD: I think what she said -- I think she --
CARLSON: I just don't like the sense that she has a sense of aggrievement. And that's the feeling I get from her.
PRESS: Where I would have to give her credit, Tucker -- and I criticized her this morning on my radio show and took a lot of crap from Obama supporters for it. I think what she said was really outrageous. I'm -- I mean, even Ralph Nader could find something about America that he's proud of in his entire adult life. For her to say that --
But I give her credit. She corrected it today. She realized she had overstepped. Look, she is a strong personality. She's also new at this. I think she's a huge asset to Barack Obama. She's new at it. She's going to make some mistakes, but I think she's learning fast.
From Kaus' blog post:
If Michelle Obama's default position is set to "Aggrieved," it also suggests something personal, no? Maybe, like many strong wives, she wonders why her husband is the one on the top of the family ticket--which might also explain her strange occasional habit of belittling him in public ("snore-y and stinky" ). Beats me. For whatever reason, she sure seems to have a non-trivial chip on her shoulder and it's not a winning quality.
The homepage of Kaus' blog continues to highlight the 3-day-old post:
From Sailer's February 19 blog post:
Newsweek has a long article on the wonderfulness of Mrs. Obama, but she sounds like she's got a log-sized chip on her shoulder from lucking into Princeton due to affirmative action. For predictable reasons, being admitted into one of the Big Four super colleges and being given lots of financial aid didn't instill in her a feeling of gratitude toward the benevolence of white people. Instead, it just fed her adolescent self-consciousness and racial paranoia. The bad news is that she doesn't seem to have gotten over it yet. (She's 44).
The Daily CD.
Have another buffalo chip, see you tomorrow.
I'm disgusted that anyone would write off the legitimate aggrievement of black women as control issues !!! It's my understanding that Michelle Obama did not come from a privileged or wealthy family, and coming from the south side of Chicago she probably well understands the problems of American blacks and has probably endured her share of discrimination and harassment.
Kaus was born in 1951, he should know better.
"...being admitted into one of the Big Four super colleges and being given lots of financial aid didn't instill in her a feeling of gratitude toward the benevolence of white people." (Sailer)
I think this says a lot. A lot that many in the more mainstream media don't come out and say as directly, but it seems to be an underlying theme.
I think it says a lot ... about Kaus, who seems to think that financial aid only comes from white people.
He didn't seem to have a problem with this.
In his new book, My Grandfather’s Son, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas writes that “he had grown up fearing the Ku Klux Klan’s lynch mobs but ‘my worst fears had come to pass not in Georgia, but in Washington, D.C., where I was being pursued not by bigots in white robes but by left-wing zealots draped in flowing sanctimony.’”
CARLSON: Barbara Bush had a strong personality, and she's the most popular person ever.
STODDARD: Well, you know what? She's actually not the most popular person ever, Barbara Bush.
CARLSON: Well, not among people that know her, but she's popular with the public.
Tucker's choice of example is interesting. Barbara Bush never had any career other than housewife. I don't think she ever had a single job outside of her home.
I will never forget her statement after visiting Katrina victims: "... so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."
Snoopy, on the other thread you said this: "No surprise there. Racists typically never believe they said something racially offending, or don't care because they think they have a right to express crass opinions civility be darned."
Now, regarding your above post about Barbara Bush, how would you characterize your comment on the "crass" meter or the "civility" meter?
You're not playing nice.
You call what you're posting "payback" and I'll call it idiocy.
I guess we just disagree on that.
Perhaps I did go overboard, but you've gotta admit saying Barbara Bush is some greatly loved individual given her often exposed ignorance is bunk. She has said much worse things than Michelle Obama, giving her a free pass is no better than letting Rush get away with calling Chelsea Clinton the family dog. So berate me, I sure hope you are gonna fight just as hard against the members of the right who continue to do that and worse.
Snoopy, all we have on this board is our credibility. I'm pretty sure Beck and his ilk have lost theirs. Don't go down that road with them. I'm just trying to help.
CARLSON: Well, not among people that know her, but she's popular with the public. - Atheist
I think that line is hilarious! If you actually know Babs, well not so much with the love. If all you have ever seen is a carefully crafted media image - THEY LOVE HER!
Barbare Bush, the most popular?
According to who?
I'm convinced that young Tucker really believes that just because he says something, it becomes the truth.
It's getting more and more like the fifties when you didn't need to hide your racism.
What is Tucker talking about Barbara Bush is popular? I have heard terrible things about Barbara Bush and this unfortunately includes the often tossed out B-word used to slime out spoken assertive women. Although I have heard Barbara Bush is cold
Lynn,
I've mentioned here before that our next door neighbor is a flight attendant for American Airlines. She has met a great many "celebrities" on her flights. While one cannot judge a person solely based on these meetings, one can probably get at least an inkling to their personality.
She met Barbara Bush [before George W became Prez] & was impressed by the warmth & kindness she exhibited towards the crew. She was personally interested in chatting with each of them during the flight. She even shared some stories as well as photos of her family & asked the attendants about their families. My neighbor carries a small photograph album on her flights & showed it to Barbara Bush. On a personal note there was a photo of our neighbors cat getting a sip of a White Russian...& the person sharing their drink with the cat...yeah that would be me ;-) Anyway Barbara Bush got a chuckle out of that one.
Before anyone calls the ASPCA or PETA...it was just one sip!
IMO, Michelle Obama is a strong woman, maybe even a tad outspoken [but not in a negative way], but the last thing I would have attributed to her was a "chip on her shoulder". I don't see anger, I see gritty determination. And she seems to possess a very engaging & pleasant personality as well.
Anyway she seemed really friendly and nice when she was talking to the people she wanted to talk to.
Point taken Lynn, & it's a good one. And I agree, Barbara Bush is likely that type of person considering some of the things she's been quoted to have said.
"Newsweek has a long article on the wonderfulness of Mrs. Obama, but she sounds like she's got a log-sized chip on her shoulder from lucking into Princeton due to affirmative action. For predictable reasons, being admitted into one of the Big Four super colleges and being given lots of financial aid didn't instill in her a feeling of gratitude toward the benevolence of white people. Instead, it just fed her adolescent self-consciousness and racial paranoia. The bad news is that she doesn't seem to have gotten over it yet. (She's 44)."
This whole statement here makes me mad. Does he know that she got into Princeton due to "affirmative action" or is he just making generalizations because Michelle Obama is black and got into Princeton? No way she could have ever done that on her own, being a black woman and all, must have been that "evil" affirmative action that got her in there, and I'm sure that her good grades were because of affirmative action as well. It's hard to believe that she might have been looked down upon in this white male dominated society having the gall to attend a prestigious school, do well there, and then go on to, GASP! law school as well. How dare she? And I'm sure that those years of school were all peaches and cream, seeing as how she got there because of "affirmative action" and all.
So through the benevolence of white people she got to go to school? Does he actually have any backing information about that? What a maroon this guy is. Just because someone got a good education, doesn't mean that they didn't have a hard time getting it, or were treated fairly when they were there.
As someone else said, ask Clarence Thomas. That man does have a gigantic chip on his shoulder, even though he's a Supreme Court Justice, and has a job for life no matter what he does.
In listening to Michelle Obama speak, and hearing her talk, she doesn't appear to have a chip on the shoulder. Does she seem angry at some things? Yeah, of course, as the bumper sticker says, if you're not angry, you haven't been paying attention.
Holy crap, I almost fell off my chair, did this Sailer guy actually call Barack Obama a "wigger" Wow.
Amazing aint it?
I'm not sure if I'm more offended at the racism of that comment or the stupidity of it. Obama is a black man who...what, acts like a white man who acts like a black man?
It's almost as if the thought of a black man running for President has him so angry he can't even figure out what words to use.
Why should black people be proud of the USA? Because it only allowed slavery for 90 years? Because it only allowed Jim Crow to exist for another 90 years? Because now, black folks can mix with white folks in some parts of some cities?
The USA beat Hitler, the crazed racist monster--and was the only member of the Allies to practice racial segregation. There were the forces of freedom and democracy--and there was the United States' segregated army. And when the black soldiers and sailors and Marines returned home, their uniform meant nothing.
What should they be proud of, that we eventually started to live up to our ideals? Some of us?
Should they be proud of a nation that still flies the Stars and Bars from statehouses and pickup trucks? Should they be proud of a country that has eventually gotten around to treating them like human beings?
Michelle Obama probably bears no hatred for white people. She probably loves America. But pride?
Bruce,
Do you really think for one moment that Michelle Obama hates White people? Her in-laws are White and I'm certain she doesn't hate America and I don't even know her. She probably really loves it like I do, it's our home. I'm really really sorry she said this. As soon as I heard it I knew the Cons were going to start tossing sh-it at the fans. This is exactly what Tuck and the racist V-dare guy are doing here; but what do I know my native skills are challenged.
Lynn, no I do not.
I was merely pointing out the idiocy (IMO) of PGB's comment in that regard. It seems he or she must have at least some doubt about that.
Bruce, for all of your "be nice" advice, you've used "idiocy" to describe more than one posters comments in this thread.
I'm just trying to help , too.
M-F-er! ;0)
As in: George Bush is probably sincere in his Christianity. As in: Bill ORielly is probably unaware of the numerous times he contradicts himself.
PBG, my comment about your post was too harsh, I apologize for it.
See you around the threads.
This Sailer guy is a peach of a human being. I'm glad he identifies himself as a Conservative:
"Sailer, a self-described race realist, argues that race is not a social construct. He also specifically asserts that IQ is not only “strongly hereditary,” but at the same time points to the 15 point gap between white and African-American average IQs."
"Following Hurricane Katrina, Sailer argues in a series of VDARE articles that subsequent anarchy was preventable and easily foreseen based on "the demographics and culture of New Orleans."[19] "Officials should have expected that the population that failed to evacuate would be numerous, improvident, poor in judgment, laced with criminals, and highly dangerous to each other." Sailer argues that the racial demographics data would have been germane, as the lower average IQ of the African American population found in intelligence research correlates with "poorer native judgment than members of better-educated groups [resulting in the need for] stricter moral guidance from society."[20] Realistic predictions of population effects, Sailer argues, were not made because of a cultural taboo against noting negative behavior on the part of poor African Americans."
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil-rights advocacy group, argues the science of human nature that Sailer and the HBI deal with have negative effects for minority population segments, and imply such study isn't scientifically legitimate.
"What you won't hear, except from me, is that 'Let the good times roll' is an especially risky message for African-Americans. The plain fact is that they tend to possess poorer native judgment than members of better-educated groups. Thus they need stricter moral guidance from society. ... In contrast to New Orleans, there was only minimal looting after the horrendous 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan — because, when you get down to it, [the] Japanese aren't blacks."
TUCKER....
I hate to break the news to Tucker but most (not all but most) black women (and for that matter, women of color) HAVE an attitude, opinion and/or two cents to add to a argument....if you expect Michelle to take a backseat or assume a position in the background--not to be heard!!--you've got a whole lot to learn about CHANGE!!!
This is not country club politics anymore.....everybody's got a seat at the table.
Stepford....
Yup!!
I would definitely like to see another candidate for President besides the poor choices we have now, but I'm not sure Mr. Nader is the one. I just checked his website votenader.org and found that the biggest issue hurting Americans at home, ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, is not even on his 12 Issues That Matter Most in 2008 list. Illegal imigration should be a number one Priority, right up there with the Iraq war. I am looking for an anti-amnesty Presidential candidate, he'd get my vote!