2018 - Elections and Trends

[Brisketexan 104,537]

Just now, Biff Tannen said:

Ruh roh.

Why?  He just inspired GOP-leaning voters to show up and vote.

[Message Board User 12,389]

This event is going to be off the chain.  The comments to this tweet are gold.

 

Edited August 30, 2018 by Message Board User

[Gil Bang 25,894]

 

[bolverk 29,394]

I'm usually pretty hesitant about accusing someone of racism, but until yesterday, I'd never heard the phrase "monkey up" before. Sure, muck up, fuck up, and mess up. But monkey up?

Have I been living under a rock and this is actually a common expression in the American vernacular?

[Anastasis 23,390]

I’d say formulations like “don’t monkey with it” and “stop monkeying around” are fairly common. I haven’t watched the video and drawn any conclusion about the use in this case. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,356]

A lot of people have been commenting that “monkey it up” is not a phrase people say. And it’s true that when you google the phrase and filter out today’s news, you won’t find much.

But you will find a couple of references to the phrase on car repair forums. The phrase means “messing up a repair badly because you don’t know what you’re doing.” Here are a couple of examples. It is very, very common in southern repair shops.

And importantly, the phrase is a first-cousin of another more well-known racist phrase, “n*****-rigging.” It has the same meaning.

When a redneck auto mechanic scolds a colleague for “monkeying something up,” it means he did the repair like a black person would do it.

The same thing holds true for a far-right wing GOP governor candidate from Florida.

Let's me be clear. I concede you can use the phrase ignorant of its cultural baggage, especially outside the south (that's how dog whistles work). But in my job, I knew what it meant when a white Florida mechanic said "Give me this job, not Darnell, he's gonna monkey it up."

Another story because this is getting attention: One day my wife is at day care playing with the kids. A girl something silly, and my wife says "What are you doing, you little monkey?" As she said it, she was paralyzed. The little girl was black. So are two of the aides.

My wife calls my son "little monkey," but this was different. She was mortified at herself. She's an upper middle class lawyer, but raised in rural Texas, and hyper-aware of how bad this was. Because here, the word "monkey" means something awful when juxtaposed with black folk.

And my wife slipped up. She meant nothing bad, but it was wildly inappropriate. But what we saw from DeSantis looks nothing like a slip up. You might call a kid "monkey" if you routinely calls kids monkeys, as my wife does. But "monkey it up" about your black opponent? Please. /end

[WhatTheBuck 28,703]

53 minutes ago, bolverk said:

I'm usually pretty hesitant about accusing someone of racism, but until yesterday, I'd never heard the phrase "monkey up" before. Sure, muck up, fuck up, and mess up. But monkey up?

Have I been living under a rock and this is actually a common expression in the American vernacular?

Nope, I've never heard that phrase either. That was a pretty blatant dog whistle.

[Aqua Buddha 14,501]

9 hours ago, Message Board User said:

This event is going to be off the chain.  The comments to this tweet are gold.

 

 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,406]

I’m willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt that they didn’t mean to imply race when making a comment about a monkey but someone wanting to be the governor of a state with over 2m African Americans, he should know better about using some words.  So either he’s a idiot, he can’t control his words, or he intentionally used it.   

The dude that works the car wash can be forgiven as just being ignorant of his language.  A candidate for governor of Fla...

Edited August 30, 2018 by Nice Guy Eddie

[WhatTheBuck 28,703]

Of course he meant it and knew exactly what he was saying and to whom he was saying it. As long as it's working for Trump a lot of other Republican candidates are going to employ openly racist rhetoric in their campaigns.

[SubliminalHorn 6,672]

2 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Nope, I've never heard that phrase either. That was a pretty blatant dog whistle.

Not only did he use that phrase, he started off by saying that he was articulate. I mean, come on, The dude’s a blatant racist and he wasn’t trying to hide it. 

[ERhine 1,894]

 

That escalated quickly.

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3,861]

28 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Of course he meant it and knew exactly what he was saying and to whom he was saying it. As long as it's working for Trump a lot of other Republican candidates are going to employ openly racist rhetoric in their campaigns.

What I think is interesting is that it helps tease out what Trump's appeal is.  Was it hatred of Hillary?  Was it 'economic anxiety'?  Was it dog whistles?  Was it just time to stick it to the system?  Was it his tough guy persona?  Was it his reputation as a business mogul?

 

The answer can be found in what his imitators do and how that affects their support.  They serve as a sort of control group.  Some Trump acolyte (DiSantis or whoever) adopts just one or a few of Trump's features and get the same votes from the same people.  By eliminating a lot of the variables but the result is the same, you can tell the variable that wasn't eliminated was the most important one.  It turns out people just love saying blacks and browns are bad, and love it when they can get someone in power to do so.

[WhatTheBuck 28,703]

31 minutes ago, SubliminalHorn said:

Not only did he use that phrase, he started off by saying that he was articulate. I mean, come on, The dude’s a blatant racist and he wasn’t trying to hide it. 

Yep, that was another one. The "articulate" black man. The exception to the rule. Don't let him fool you. 

[Guest]

I've heard the phrase "monkey it up" but also, I think it's extremely poor taste to use it when referring to a black guy even though it's not inherently racist, just like you can call your white kids "little monkeys" but never do that to little black boys.

 

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3,861]

19 minutes ago, OatmealRaisinCookie said:

I've heard the phrase "monkey it up" but also, I think it's extremely poor taste to use it when referring to a black guy even though it's not inherently racist, just like you can call your white kids "little monkeys" but never do that to little black boys.

 

Yeah, I don' t think the phrase is so unusual that you can rely on its unusualness to prove it was an intentionally racist move.  I just think that it was intentionally ambiguously racist regardless of whether it was unusual or not.  In other words, a standard every day dog whistle.  He knows his base wants to hear it, he knows the left will parse it, he knows he gets the paint the left as PC language parsers.  It was a preplanned race inciting jumping off point.

[Mojo Hand 4,580]

I've actually never heard that phrase before, and don't see it used in Google than in connection with this story. I've heard of "monkeying with" something, but that doesn't necessarily have a negative connotation.   Like calling your kids "little monkeys," it more has to with the resemblance to the way monkeys climb or fiddle with things. 

I guess, charitably, the phrase could be a variant of "throwing a monkey wrench in the works."  Just weird that I don't really see it used that way online before this story. 

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

Yeah, I don' t think the phrase is so unusual that you can rely on its unusualness to prove it was an intentionally racist move.  I just think that it was intentionally ambiguously racist regardless of whether it was unusual or not.  In other words, a standard every day dog whistle.  He knows his base wants to hear it, he knows the left will parse it, he knows he gets the paint the left as PC language parsers.  It was a preplanned race inciting jumping off point.

Agreed. I would think in this day and age and in this climate, someone whose goal is to NOT dog whistle, would err on the side of caution and benefit of doubt to PoC's and just use different language. This guy clearly doesn't care, has the plausible deniability he needs to get away with it, and also appeal to people who think it was funny.

[Hank Kingsley 20,676]

14 minutes ago, OatmealRaisinCookie said:

Agreed. I would think in this day and age and in this climate, someone whose goal is to NOT dog whistle, would err on the side of caution and benefit of doubt to PoC's and just use different language. This guy clearly doesn't care, has the plausible deniability he needs to get away with it, and also appeal to people racists who think it was funny.

FIFY.

 

 

[Ghost of LL 15,469]

1 hour ago, SubliminalHorn said:

Not only did he use that phrase, he started off by saying that he was articulate. I mean, come on, The dude’s a blatant racist and he wasn’t trying to hide it. 

I think you can use "articulate" as an adjective without it being pejorative or racist.  But, when coupled with the "monkey it up" comment, DeSantis gets no benefit of the doubt.

The interesting thing about that comment isn't what it says about Ron DeSantis.  I think based on his campaign and policy positions already known, we could have assumed he was a racist.  The interesting thing is what it reveals about what DeSantis thinks about the people of Florida--he thinks there are enough racists in Florida that he will be rewarded for that comment, not punished for it.

We'll see whether he's right.

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3,861]

40 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

I think you can use "articulate" as an adjective without it being pejorative or racist.  But, when coupled with the "monkey it up" comment, DeSantis gets no benefit of the doubt.

The interesting thing about that comment isn't what it says about Ron DeSantis.  I think based on his campaign and policy positions already known, we could have assumed he was a racist.  The interesting thing is what it reveals about what DeSantis thinks about the people of Florida--he thinks there are enough racists in Florida that he will be rewarded for that comment, not punished for it.

We'll see whether he's right.

My wife is pop-culture illiterate and had never heard Chris Rock's bit.  She was telling me about a co-worker the other day and mentioned she was articulate.  A little later she said she was black.  "I know" is all I replied.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,356]

7 minutes ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

My wife is pop-culture illiterate and had never heard Chris Rock's bit.  She was telling me about a co-worker the other day and mentioned she was articulate.  A little later she said she was black.  "I know" is all I replied.

A black gentleman was on one of the news programs last night and, as a black man, he said there were three things he found offensive about the candidates talking points.

1. the articulate thing

2. the notion that his black opponent had a "good performance in the debate"

3. the monkey thing

So yeah, it was designed to trigger. 

Edited August 30, 2018 by Hugo Stiglitz

[Brisketexan 104,537]

52 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

We'll see whether he's right.

We will.

He is.

[Ghost of LL 15,469]

6 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

We will.

He is.

I'm not so sure.

And as I said earlier, I think this is a real windfall for Ben Nelson, who has been struggling.

[lemonlime 5,503]

1 hour ago, Ghost of LL said:

I think you can use "articulate" as an adjective without it being pejorative or racist.  But, when coupled with the "monkey it up" comment, DeSantis gets no benefit of the doubt.

The interesting thing about that comment isn't what it says about Ron DeSantis.  I think based on his campaign and policy positions already known, we could have assumed he was a racist.  The interesting thing is what it reveals about what DeSantis thinks about the people of Florida--he thinks there are enough racists in Florida that he will be rewarded for that comment, not punished for it.

We'll see whether he's right.

He is.  The only questions are (1) whether there are enough decent people in Florida to overcome the racists he is courting who will turn out to vote on election day and (2) whether those votes are not suppressed by the GOP.

[Ghost of LL 15,469]

6 minutes ago, lemonlime said:

He is.  The only questions are (1) whether there are enough decent people in Florida to overcome the racists he is courting who will turn out to vote on election day and (2) whether those votes are not suppressed by the GOP.

But here's the thing in a midterm election: it's all about turnout.  The people who think that kind of language is hunky-dory are generally low-information, poorly-educated voters.  Those voters have very low turnout rates in midterm elections, irrespective of their race.

The people who think that type of language is repugnant and will vote against a candidate solely on the basis of his/her use of such language are disproportionately highly-educated voters.  Those voters turnout.

Those highly-educated voters have traditionally favored the GOP.  But you see that support evaporate when the GOP nominee is tagged as a racist.  By way of example, remember what happened to George Allen in Virginia in 2006 after the "macaca" incident. 

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3,861]

2 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

But here's the thing in a midterm election: it's all about turnout.  The people who think that kind of language is hunky-dory are generally low-information, poorly-educated voters.  Those voters have very low turnout rates in midterm elections, irrespective of their race.

The people who think that type of language is repugnant and will vote against a candidate solely on the basis of his/her use of such language are disproportionately highly-educated voters.  Those voters turnout.

Those highly-educated voters have traditionally favored the GOP.  But you see that support evaporate when the GOP nominee is tagged as a racist.  By way of example, remember what happened to George Allen in Virginia in 2006 after the "macaca" incident. 

 

Post-grad is 3x as likely to turn out for midterm as less than high school.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,356]

 

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3,861]

 The onion has the right take on the DeSantis thing. 

 

https://politics.theonion.com/ron-desantis-clarifies-that-monkey-comment-was-intend-1828728794

 

 He was just going for a standard-issue dog whistle and botched it making His intent a little too obvious. 

[JimmyJames 12,271]

1 hour ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

 

This is why the GOP is going for apartheid style governance. Its all they have. They know once their olds die they’re fucked. They’re trying to head it off at the pass. 

[JimmyJames 12,271]

The GOP baby boomers think that once the millenials get older they will wise up like they supposedly did. They are wrong. The millenials aren’t inherent narcissists like a majority of the boomers are. Smart GOP reps and backers recognize this fact and so are doing whatever they can to destroy democracy before it first destroys them. 

[Horn Dog 9,671]

11 hours ago, SubliminalHorn said:

Not only did he use that phrase, he started off by saying that he was articulate. I mean, come on, The dude’s a blatant racist and he wasn’t trying to hide it. 

GOP candidate 2020:  “You can’t vote for my opponent.  He is a watermelon loving, fried chicken eating, basketball dribbling, ebonics speaking tar baby nig**r.”

Reporter: “Sir, that sounds a bit racist”

GOP candidate:  “ I am deeply offended  that you are being so PC and accusing me of being racist!”

[JimmyJames 12,271]

4 minutes ago, Horn Dog said:

GOP candidate 2020:  “You can’t vote for my opponent.  He is a watermelon loving, fried chicken eating, basketball dribbling, ebonics speaking tar baby nig**r.”

Reporter: “Sir, that sounds a bit racist”

GOP candidate:  “ I am deeply offended  that you are being so PC and accusing me of being racist!”

But he talks like us!

[JimmyJames 12,271]

I predict a surge in purchases of copies of a favorite book of my camp childhood, “truly tasteless jokes.” Possibly the sequel as well. 

I remember as a young lass of 10 in the early 80’s reading that book with my friends at camp and thinking yeah this is funny, but is it really ok? Well back then it was and maybe we can go back to those days someday, trump willing. Not many blacks, Jews or pollacks at my camp though. That might have helped. 

[Ghost of LL 15,469]

I predict a surge in purchases of copies of a favorite book of my camp childhood, “truly tasteless jokes.” Possibly the sequel as well. 
I remember as a young lass of 10 in the early 80’s reading that book with my friends at camp and thinking yeah this is funny, but is it really ok? Well back then it was and maybe we can go back to those days someday, trump willing. Not many blacks, Jews or pollacks at my camp though. That might have helped. 

Wait—you’re a chick?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JimmyJames 12,271]

2 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

Wait—you’re a chick?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Shit I never knew “lass” was a chick. Learn something new every day, all thanks to google I guess. So no I’m not. 

Edited August 31, 2018 by JimmyJames

[ERhine 1,894]

Shit I never knew “lass” was a chick. Learn something new every day, all thanks to google I guess. So no I’m not. 

Way to monkey that all up.

Did I use it right? Everyone says this phrase right? Is this the right context? Oh man. I should have rehearsed this a couple dozen more times.

[JimmyJames 12,271]

9 minutes ago, ERhine said:

 

Way to monkey that all up.

Did I use it right? Everyone says this phrase right? Is this the right context? Oh man. I should have rehearsed this a couple dozen more times.

 

All you have to do is watch that to see it was intentional. i guess we’ll see if it works. God I hope not. 

[cactusflinthead 27,594]

Lad and lass. 

I'm having to rethink the position that we are mostly fixed in our political mindset around the time we get our first chance to vote. There are too many people going out of their way to broadcast that they are done with the Republicans until there are changes. Rick Wilson is among the Never Trump group. How many of the college educated suburban women are they going to get? 

Turning Texas blue is 100% getting out the vote. You have to go and meet people where they are. The mugshot question came up in Comanche County. That's about as red as it gets. That's Sid Miller's backyard. Captain Cupcake with the Jesus Shot was no where to be found. Beto and Ojeda are meeting their constituents mano a mano. It's glorious to see someone out there beating a trail doing the work of campaigning. Cruz knows how to work on a ground game, or at least he had that reputation. What if he was an early harbinger of the wrath to come for Sensible Republicans. Dewhurst didn't see it coming. Kantor didn't either. They should have. 

Cruz is smart enough to know when he has a fight on his hands. The problem is what he's trying ain't working. The mugshot and band picture just made the women gush over him. And when I found out of the circumstances of the cases, I was There but for the Grace of God go I.

The money worries them. The crowds worry them. But, the ace they hold is that those olds in the BBQ joints are going to be there on voting day. Whether or not the 18-25 year olds do remains to be seen. If they do, those worries become stark terror.

[JimmyJames 12,271]

11 minutes ago, cactusflinthead said:

Lad and lass. 

I'm having to rethink the position that we are mostly fixed in our political mindset around the time we get our first chance to vote. There are too many people going out of their way to broadcast that they are done with the Republicans until there are changes. Rick Wilson is among the Never Trump group. How many of the college educated suburban women are they going to get? 

Turning Texas blue is 100% getting out the vote. You have to go and meet people where they are. The mugshot question came up in Comanche County. That's about as red as it gets. That's Sid Miller's backyard. Captain Cupcake with the Jesus Shot was no where to be found. Beto and Ojeda are meeting their constituents mano a mano. It's glorious to see someone out there beating a trail doing the work of campaigning. Cruz knows how to work on a ground game, or at least he had that reputation. What if he was an early harbinger of the wrath to come for Sensible Republicans. Dewhurst didn't see it coming. Kantor didn't either. They should have. 

Cruz is smart enough to know when he has a fight on his hands. The problem is what he's trying ain't working. The mugshot and band picture just made the women gush over him. And when I found out of the circumstances of the cases, I was There but for the Grace of God go I.

The money worries them. The crowds worry them. But, the ace they hold is that those olds in the BBQ joints are going to be there on voting day. Whether or not the 18-25 year olds do remains to be seen. If they do, those worries become stark terror.

No doubt Cruz is smart, hell he almost was the president. If not for president shitstain he might have been.

But I don’t think he expected or was prepared for the fight he is currently under. Abbot is cruising to a victory while ted is not. Can he adjust? Remains to be seen. But this is new and not expected, I can pretty much guarantee that. 

[WhatTheBuck 28,703]

1 hour ago, JimmyJames said:

Shit I never knew “lass” was a chick. Learn something new every day, all thanks to google I guess. So no I’m not. 

Holy shit, dude. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,356]

20 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

No doubt Cruz is smart, hell he almost was the president. If not for president shitstain he might have been.

But I don’t think he expected or was prepared for the fight he is currently under. Abbot is cruising to a victory while ted is not. Can he adjust? Remains to be seen. But this is new and not expected, I can pretty much guarantee that. 

I know we gloss over Ted Cruz’s ties to Cambridge Analytica but I honestly think that’s a dynamic he’s desperately missing.  

Mercer/SCL/Cambridge Analytica was a very powerful weapon for Cruz when he had it.  They basically won Iowa for him in that overloaded GOP field in the 2016 primaries. 

Cambridge Analytica didn’t just micro target people on Facebook, they would run the entire campaign for the candidate, including the messaging at speaking events.

Now it seems all Cruz can do is follow Trump’s lead because he doesn’t have a sophisticated military psyops operation running the show behind the scenes.

[Lurch 5,921]

Shit I never knew “lass” was a chick. Learn something new every day, all thanks to google I guess. So no I’m not. 

 

If you are a golfer, there was a brief period some 10 years ago where guys discovered some lady golf balls performed well enough to play over more premium balls, but were embarrassingly marked “lady”. One of the manufacturers quickly came out with the same ball, but marked “laddie”

/csb

[Washpark 176]

1 hour ago, Ghost of LL said:

Wait—you’re a chick?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

1 hour ago, JimmyJames said:

Shit I never knew “lass” was a chick. Learn something new every day, all thanks to google I guess. So no I’m not. 

Well, you may want to delete all those PMs that were sent before you’re replied.   Probably a bunch of dick pics

Edited August 31, 2018 by Washpark

[FondrenRoad 4,378]

1 hour ago, JimmyJames said:

No doubt Cruz is smart, hell he almost was the president. If not for president shitstain he might have been.

But I don’t think he expected or was prepared for the fight he is currently under. Abbot is cruising to a victory while ted is not. Can he adjust? Remains to be seen. But this is new and not expected, I can pretty much guarantee that. 

But is Abbott cruising to victory? Valdez ain't popular, but how many Beto-Abbott votes to you picture occurring? I dont think hardly anyone who shows up just to vote for Beto is also going to shade in Abbotts circle. They may not like Valdez, but where else are they gonna cast that vote?

I think Beto is a rising tide that lifts all boats, but I dont think he will get any of them over the hump including his own. 

[JimmyJames 12,271]

1 hour ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Holy shit, dude. 

Yeah I’m a dumbass sometimes. I’ll admit it.

[JimmyJames 12,271]

1 hour ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

I know we gloss over Ted Cruz’s ties to Cambridge Analytica but I honestly think that’s a dynamic he’s desperately missing.  

Mercer/SCL/Cambridge Analytica was a very powerful weapon for Cruz when he had it.  They basically won Iowa for him in that overloaded GOP field in the 2016 primaries. 

Cambridge Analytica didn’t just micro target people on Facebook, they would run the entire campaign for the candidate, including the messaging at speaking events.

Now it seems all Cruz can do is follow Trump’s lead because he doesn’t have a sophisticated military psyops operation running the show behind the scenes.

Methinks you’re right my conspiracy minded friend. I do believe he’s lost without them.

[WhatTheBuck 28,703]

2 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

Yeah I’m a dumbass sometimes. I’ll admit it.

We all are and there's no shame in that. But damn. 

[JimmyJames 12,271]

23 minutes ago, FondrenRoad said:

But is Abbott cruising to victory? Valdez ain't popular, but how many Beto-Abbott votes to you picture occurring? I dont think hardly anyone who shows up just to vote for Beto is also going to shade in Abbotts circle. They may not like Valdez, but where else are they gonna cast that vote?

I think Beto is a rising tide that lifts all boats, but I dont think he will get any of them over the hump including his own. 

The state right now is currently too republican for a dem to win statewide unless the democrat is very popular and the Republican is very despised. That formula only applies to the Beto Cruz race. I’d love to be wrong about that. We shall see. 

[FondrenRoad 4,378]

13 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

The state right now is currently too republican for a dem to win statewide unless the democrat is very popular and the Republican is very despised. That formula only applies to the Beto Cruz race. I’d love to be wrong about that. We shall see. 

Yes but for both Beto and Abbott to win, you will need a lot of ballots selecting both. I just dont see that happening. I think Beto and Lupe come up the same amount of short, but if Beto wins, I think Lupe wins too.

I know you envision some old grandma going to the polls with an "I hate that Cruz" feeling and voting Beto while straight R otherwise. That ain't gonna happen though. You either flip grandma entirely or you, more likely, dont. Either way, you need to get her grandkids to the polls for the first time ever. 

I imagine your canary in the coal mine is someone like LL who is no fan of Lupe or Abbott, was a W Republican, and who is voting for Beto.  Who are the LLs gonna vote for in the governor race? Or the Briskets even?

 

Edited August 31, 2018 by FondrenRoad