Racism is alive an well and dwelling deep in the bowels of the Democratic Party. How can this be interpreted as anything but an inference that most blacks are anything but clean? Not only that, but when you have to come out and say a politician is clean it makes one wonder why it is necessary.

It is a lesson in thinking before you speak…

I think Biden is brilliant in his political experience, but he should let the Repubes show their usual Bad Manners in criticizing Democrats, and start on a more Positive Campaign to let the public know What He Has to Offer, politically(The Glass is half full)…

The network media(Out to Control and keep the Republican Conservatives in Office-Corporate Rules(Criminally)will go after any remark, no matter how innocently(Or not) it was uttered…

Dean(Still Love His Outspokeness) did not deserve the Media Witch Hunt and would have been a Real President.

The Demos need to Investigate the —- out of the FCC.
Exxon/Pharmaceuticals seem to own most of it and, No White House or politicians should have Control Over it…Censorship is attempting to make Bush’s policies look palatable and honest when that is the furthest from the Truth…

no no no. we all know what it means or there wouldn’t be a contreversy over it.

if you don’t know what it implies then good for you. you might be a genuinely good person.

or you haven’t spent enough time in America.

Matt,

The point is his use of the word ‘clean’ was not used in a sentence referring to either the history of Chicago politicians or his shaving habits. It was the following:

“the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”

I don’t see how that isn’t a racial comment, but there is of course ambiguity over how racist it is. At the least it’s a slap in the face to the many, many mainstream African-Americans who have been all of those things in the past, as Obama made a point of saying himself.

This controversy might have been overblown (comparing anything’s importance to war is, of course, an easy way out) – but let’s not whitewash his words, either.

Sorry, I meant “Tim” – got you mixed up with the lowpost guy.

Biden meant clean-cut as in well groomed. That could be taken either way. Its funny how everyone is getting upset at the word clean while ignoring the fact he suggested the other african americans were NOT articulate and bright. Thats what makes his statement racist. And for those that didn’t mention that makes me wonder.
In the end, it doesn’t matter. There will be another incident in the near future similar to this. Oh did you hear the one about the Clemson Univ. students. Or what about the comedian from Seinfield?

And Joe Biden has some damn smart things to say about how we might end that war..

this was meant as high irony, right? like, giving britney spears an rs cover story, yes?

Please, give us a break!

Look on the Republican list of “Candidates” if you want to find “Racism”- it always lurks there…

Shows how desperate the Repube Spin doctors are to “Eliminate” the competition(especially when the Republican platform is lacking anything relevant.)

Obama should wait till later build a record in the senate and then he might win.

This is America. History shows that a remark regarding US citizens from places other than Europe can turn the race card face up. As an off the cuff remark I thought Biden was commenting on Obama’s lack of corruption. However, being African-American my mind went to a popular stereotype that black people are not clean. As I said this is America. Sometimes the mouth says what the mind should not have let loose.

the comment would have been fine if he replaced “african american” with something like “young politician” or something like that. i sure he didnt mean anything by it, but still it was said………….

For the love of God…every one, call a whaaaaaa-bulance.

This is how the right makes its points:

While hyper PC crowds, waiting to be offended, debate hurt feelings, the Right bulldoze over because 80% of America does not trip over itself to avoid secondary guessing on what a speaker “could of ment!”…more foder and ammunition for Rush/Sean and Bill.

Look at Bidens record…is it littered with racial overtones, and bars and stripes legistlation? I think not.

Stop being so silly and sensitive and OH BY THE WAY…there’s a real war on. Let’s adress THAT shall we?

My disappointment was that Obama kind of fed into the media frenzy – thought he was better than that.

Please! Anyone who doesn’t see how this is the most pervasive, deep-seated sort of racism is simply naive. This is the same sort of “grooming and deportment” bullshit that Booker T. Washington was pushing back at Tuskeegee. In Biden, we’re talking about the same dude who commented on your inability to enter a Dunkin’ Donuts or 7-11 in Delaware without bumping into a South Asian, and the same dude who seemed to revel in his state’s former status as a slave state. He’s perpetually full of shit … and if you are PFOS, you shouldn’t be refreshingly unrehearsed (see Dubya). Do I want another president who’s constantly pulling his clean, lily-white foot out of his big-ass mouth? And it was Day 1 of his campaign! HAHA! I’m afraid I do need an articulate CIC … nothing kills credibility so quickly as perceived stupidity.

all this bullshit is distracting us from the real news. china can shoot down our sattelites, and they are slowly gaining a monopoly-likecontrol of the rich natural resources offered by the entire continent of Africa. i’m glad our presidential candidates aren’t talking about that.

Intentional or not, the comments certainly reveal Biden’s latent thoughts, beliefs, and sterotypes about African-Americans. Sad.

I couldn’t agree more with Tim Dickinson’s essay. Biden is refreshing, outspoken, creative, experienced, bi-partisan statesman, and knowledgeable in foreign relations! He’s a gem!

And it’s true, you can hardly enter a convenience store without seeing Indians. This is a testamony to the thriving Indian population in our county. And actually– in my area — it is the Iranians and Lebanese we see in or managing our convenience stores. This truth is not a criticism nor a prejudice. Those who hear it that way only reflect their own subconscious bigotry they are projecting outward on others’ statements of facts.

I fully support the man and statesman, Joe Biden. And I’m not even from his state, nor his side of the seaboard! GO JOE!

This is a non-story because he’s a Democrat.

The liberal web portals HuffPo as well as Crooks & Liars, et al are happy to throw Biden under the bus. It clears the way for an Obama and Clinton primary race. The Left are eating their own instead of pushing the Democratic controlled Congress to do something more meaningful than pass non-binding resolutions.

Im sorry i said Senator Obama should wait to run after all Senator Obama Gravel and Senator Edwards were the winners this weekend and Senator Clinton senator Biden and Bill Richards were the losers

Um, no.

I’m not suffering from “hyper-PC hyperventillation” (sic) over Biden’s comments because I’m sniffing racism – I assume that in his communications-challenged way, Biden meant to say that Obama didn’t have any of the baggage which the traditional political class in Washington sees as disqualifying for less mainstream politicians.

I am more disturbed that Biden’s inability to understand that people who spend less time with rich white men than he might see his comments differently than he does, and frankly, it’s Biden, who has raced to the Sunday shows to sell the Democratic party out on too many issues for me not to be thrilled that his being a verbal stumblebum has knocked him out early on.

Its an absurdity of the media when theres a war, natural disasters, and republicans still in office and all that we seem to be hearing about is this guys comment. How is the word “clean” offensive? We need to take a step back and ponder our continued existence if we’re going to get pissy when a good word goes bad. Watch out, “fresh” might appear on the 6o’clock news.

If Biden’s already ad libbing for the press, it’s too late for him.

too bad he couldn’t just come out and say… “I meant, he’s relatively clean, unlike most politicians today that are dirty as hell with large industry and corporate donations.”

Unfortunately, that would piss off a bunch more politicians, even though the public would have realized he was telling the truth.

Tim,

I agree with you totally.

I also believe if a Republican had said the exact same thing, they would have been forced to resign by the Dems and the Media.

Sad, but True.

Yup, just like they forced that guy to resign that lied to us about the reasons for going to war. And that other guy that talked about ‘known unknowns, unknown unknowns and unknowable unknowns’.
What planet are you living on? The media and the populace don’t decide a damn thing in this country except maybe court cases. Money is what matters, cash is the only rule. Just ask O.J.

“Just ask O.J.”

That’s racist because he’s black. Just kidding (ya see what I did there).

This Biden thing is another example of the NAACP and other groups of prominent African-Americans trying to make it seem like there is more rasism in this country than there actually is. Seriously, Biden was giving Obama a compliment and he gets called a racist. Bush also recently called Obama a “smart and articulate” guy and he gets called a racist, too. The people who cry racism at everything are actually doing more damage than ANYONE when it comes to black and white relations. It’s really an insult to all the kids who get called “nigger” when they walk home from school or people who are denied jobs because the boss doesn’t think a black person is smart enough for the position. Those people know what racism really is, not some scumbag NAACP chairman trying to make a story to push his agenda and personal position.

Here, here C Co. It’s the same story as the boy who cried wolf. So-called “leaders” like Jesse Jackson, Louis Farakhan and Al Sharpton make careers out of transforming even the most innocuous situations into cases of racism. Hence the charge of racism is losing it’s ability to outrage the populace because we are so used to hearing it thrown around inappropriately. Hence, the instances where racism is a genuine factor do not receive the outrage they deserve. Martin Luther King Jr. is turning in his grave.

Anyone else feel like this Angry White Guy editorial sounded like it was written — natch, faux-scripted — by Mr. Stephen Colbert?

(Oh, Biden is another old-fashioned, one-dimensional dinosaur….Let us all pray for Capitol Hell to completely implode one morning as this “nation at war” arises)

Regards from rockin’ Southern California…

Incredulous. It’s not as though all Dickinson talks about is Iraq, Iraq, Iraq anyway, so why not dissect racist narratives when we see one? Or is it too PC to call it how we see it, nowadays?

It’s ridiculous; Senator Biden is a presidential candidate, he has an obligation to think BEFORE he speaks, if he wants to win, and yet he goes out and out blurts this shock and amazement that Barack Obama, who happens to be African-American, is not illiterate, dirty, and incomprehensible. And that’s not a big deal? Give me a break, Tim.

Biden meant “Clean” as in too young and too new to have any political dirty laundry-trying to make “racism” out of that statement is Desperation…

Go talk to George Allen, channel the late Strom Thurmond and, half the Repubican politicians if you Want Genuine “Racism”…

This is making something out of nothing to inth degree…

Most of us support Obama and, the Biden comment was not a racial slur…Get Over It-Repubes, you’ll have to do better than that for your next Smear Victim…

Dear, please, what was the San Francisc Rolling Stone adress in 1972? It was the same of today: 1700 Montgomery St? I am writting a text about a meet with the publisher Jann S. Wenner with three brazilian journalists in that year. Thank you, Luis Guilherme

Dear, please, what was the San Francisc Rolling Stone adress in 1972? It was the same of today: 1700 Montgomery St? I am writting a text about a meet with the publisher Jann S. Wenner with three brazilian journalists in that year. Thank you, Luis Guilherme