>>Gotta do it whenever I see piling on: ;-)
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>>What exactly is the objection? Is it the comment about the portly man's button about to fly off? Or is it the quip about a black man nobody knows?
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>>The article itself makes a similar comment that Pawlenty is relatively unknown (though even I know who he is)... since this hasn't been taken as bigoted, I'm guessing it must be use of that "black" word.
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>>Would it have been okay if MB said "African American" rather than "black"? Sorry to have to ask but my national Rugby Team is called the "All Blacks" and it's a term of pride, so I'm just trying to fathom the cultural nuances.
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>>Or perhaps the crime is to suggest that a dark fellow on a Republican podium is just a cynical symbol? MB wouldn't be the only one to believe that.
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>>FWIW, certainly I agree with Romney that you need to get the troops back rather than fighting a war of independence on foreign shores: if US wealth keeps accumulating in the pockets of the super rich and the middle classes continue to be marginalized... well, you'll need the soldiers for exactly the reason Romney said.
>
>Perhaps even with your time and experience here you don't get the inflammatory nature of "random black" which is no different than "token black" and some have been fired for using that phrase. It's the phrase (as you really know I think as you are not obtuse in the least bit) and the implication of that phrase as you well know ( :o) ) not the word.

FWIW I did not choose that phrase to be inflammatory, other than maybe to Republican movers and shakers who like to put a black face out there to support the false notion that they are a big tent. I do not agree with those who considered it a racist comment. It was an offhand observation and not even the main point of my post. Jeez.

It's funny in a way. Generally I just comment on the passing parade. Once or twice I have started a thread thinking this one is really going to be a conversation starter, and then the silence was such that you could hear the crickets chirp. Here I make an offhand comment and the forum is off to the races.