Racism? SOme of the statements may have been silly but were certainly not racism.

For your reading pleasure....

racism...a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.

Whoa.

This whole thing is so ridiculous. It's like just because the Democrats are the one bringing this to the table, the Republicans are against it in any way shape or form.

It's elective for crying out loud. If Ted Kennedy wants to keep his own private health insurance, he can - as can any other American.

When my staunch Republican father agrees with me that Glenn Beck is a nutball - you know he is.

I'd say thank you for bringing us more trash from the merchants of spew, but I'm too busy looking for them underneath rotting logs.

The Beck quotes, about reparations, if that wasn't racism it was close enough. It has roots in racism if nothing else. It's not that whites get to rule over blacks because we are superior but if they weren't inferior they'd have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps by now and not be still whining about a little slavery and discrimination. You know. Like the rest of us did.

Who was it who said "You'll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public"? I like to think these freaks represent only a small segment of the population, we did elect Obama, after all, and reject Barbie Palin, but I fear way too many of us think like they do.

But the resistance to universal healthcare is more complex than just racism. The positive slant might be that there are still so many people here who are secure, who haven't had to test the limits of what health coverage they have, that they just don't understand the position of people, and the number of them, who aren't so secure. Americans understand things almost exclusively, I think, from personal experience, not from study or learning about things beyond their own sphere. In one way or another most of us are convinced of our own exceptionalism. We are stronger and braver and harder working and more independent than socialist Europeans who expect to be nannied cradle to grave by the state, we say. And we feel ever so morally superior because of it.

just imho

Blackflon: "Racism? SOme of the statements may have been silly but were certainly not racism."

Fair enough. Let's call it bigotry or racial prejudice, then. It's still ugly. And there's no question about the silly part. Just imagine Savage suing Media Matters for telling people what he says on the radio...

Julie Tarp: "Whoa."

My thoughts exactly.

old new lefty: It's a swamp out there...

nerd cred: "But the resistance to universal healthcare is more complex than just racism. "

I know, I know, you're right. I'm stretching the argument here (a testament to the disgust I felt when I hear Glenn Beck and his compadres). But it is remarkable that some Americans still argue against the idea that healthcare is something everyone is entitled to. It's one thing to say: "The current system works fine for me, and I'm afraid the politicians will ruin it for everyone if they tinker too much with it." That's not an unreasonable concern, although I would argue that it does not excuse the failure to grant healthcare to every citizen. But to argue that it should be resisted because it would be "reparations" - holy crap!

I don't think it's entirely coincidental that the opponents of the welfare state find their most loyal supporters in the South. Fortunately, they are a minority. But there are still enough of them to seriously affect legislation.

the underlying theme in most of the criticism of the President's goal of healthcare reform.."we ain't no Eur o Peens" "we don't want no waitin lines...people up theres is DYIN waitin in line for a doc-TOR". stupid statements from ill informed people, or worse, informed people misleading the public.

the level of criticism and discourse of the critics and interested parties is downright misleading or outright LIES.

fun fact, Canandians are getting mighty pissed about all this maligning of their health system and they're calling into talk shows and Cspan, telling Americans their healthcare is excellent and to kindly STFU.

I do not for one minute see why ANYONE should be profiting from other's need for health care. what exactly does insurance do EXCEPT broker and profit from need and misery. they've made it profitable to say no to treatment, to preexisting conditions, no to whatever test or drug your doctor prescribes. it's time for single options.

while your comment may seem harsh, the view it describes is a pretty standard perspective here in the US. my former boss (an ardent conservative) told me that he thinks that a lot of people just don't want to be successful. he'd also make jokes about what a "bad neighborhood" it was around a historically black college. just yesterday the property manager for my apartment building asked me if i felt safe around here and gestured across the street toward some cheaper apartments mostly rented to latino families (there's kids playing in the courtyard all the time). but if you'd say to these people "hey, you're racist!" they'd viciously deny it.

i recently read a really fantastic book called why americans hate welfare by martin gilens. it's based on the author's statistical research on race attitudes, the media, and programs to help the poor (most notably welfare).

his conclusions have really helped me understand a lot of the dynamics in the health care debate as his main point seems to apply here. basically he argues that white americans, since slavery, have thought that black americans were lazy. they're generally ok with the idea of black people, but think that most black people are lazy. they're also generally ok with the idea of poor people, but think most poor people are lazy and undeserving of help. news media sensationalism starting in the 1970s (infused with the civil rights backlash of the time) calcified these views and conflated poor/black/lazy/undeserving. the statistical research is solid and supports these conclusions.

i think it's time to move on from shock that these attitudes still exist. the narrative that was created was incredibly robust and has been repeated over and over by conservatives for the last 30 years. the real outrage is that democrats and other progressives have done no ideological or media work to correct these stereotypes/frames. this is why the current health care outlook seems quite bleak from my perspective.

Actually, I think Glen Beck's statemenet is racism - just hidden behind code words such as "reparations". He's likening healthcare to giving money to blacks for the past evil of slavery.

I see universal healthcare being used as a bogeyman to frighten people who believe their insurance is some hard-earned commodity - as if they are somehow more deserving than others, especially the poor and minorities. So I think your analysis is spot on.