Rick Perry
Joe Barton

Next time I'm in Texas, I'll drink bottled water

Bush carefully had no contact with Blacks growing up. That was by design in those days. Bush was born in July 1946 and grew up in legally segregated Texas, attending segregated schools just as I did. Blacks were talked about, not to. School segregation was fought against into the 70's. Somehow I doubt that his fraternity had any Black members, either. I am sure his private schools did not. Communities remained segregated, and still are, now more by income, race and ethnicity than law. The mortgage lenders and landlords to the segregating even today. Isolating poor and minorities that was is a primary method of raising while children who have no empathy for them. They become too "different" to understand, and since they are substandard people, it is easy to accept that the way they think and react cannot be understood.

I learned of the use of that kind of patronizing language through what I read, not what I heard. I seriously doubt that a rich conservative politician's son read the kind of things I did.

The only real change in the South and in Texas these days is that the old segregation laws are no longer enforced by the police and courts and that the more successful minority individuals who can speak White English quickly move out of the minority ghettos the poor are relegated to as Condi did. The ghettos themselves tend to be very segregated. Here in Fort Worth low income neighborhoods tend to be Black, Hispanic, White or Asian with little mixing. Since "Racism" is simply not discussed in polite society, how would whites recognize such patronizing terms? Even talking about such a thing is put down as "PC" among Whites, and the middle class minorities don't want to rock the boat.

That's all my own opinion, of course.

There was something strange going on between W and Condi the whole time. At one point she flubbed, and referred to him as "my husband," before catching herself.

That's possibly a random slip, but more likely Freudian. It's a peculiar flub. He obviously loved her company. Went alone for dinner in her apartment before leaving office; why not to Gates's apartment? She didn't threaten him. I think many people somehow did.

Did they ever kiss/bang? I don't think it matters. The relationship had its sexual elements, and more than the baseline between any given man and woman.

*Facepalm*

Well, for once I agree with W. I thought the "articulate" flap was completely manufactured by the media. We actually DO talk about politicians as articulate or inarticulate. All the time. Regardless of race. It's a shame we had to spend 8 years referring to our leader as inarticulate, but that doesn't mean its antonym should be banned from the vocabulary. I suspect Biden's comments wouldn't have raised an eyebrow had they been (appropriately) used to describe John Kennedy (either) or Gavin Newsom. On the other hand, it's worth noting Debbie Wasserman Schultz is also "articulate and bright and clean" but I don't think anyone would get away with saying it. Biden got slammed for nothing.

Richard Wolffe's reporting has been superb, and I'm sure Olbermann has him on frequently by choice. Not sure why this news item has become a referendum on Wolffe and Condi, rather than casual racism, its subject.

And no, Justin Elliot, one oughtn't give Bush a pass on the conventions around "that particular adjective"! When you grow up in the US, and work intimately with black folks, it takes a pernicious sort of cluelessness not to notice what condescension is.

My hunch, of course, is that Bush is so patronizingly condescending that Biden's "articulate" comment simply mystified him. This was a president, after all, who took to writing his own remarks by the end of his second term, and would usually state where he was, why he was there, and look pleased with himself for having done so. Cluelessness isn't just GW Bush's greatest fault; it's his M.O., the way he gets through his day.

Any wonder, then, that the former president has chosen the companionship of a 14-year-old boy since leaving office?

Richardxx's comment above was very informative and accurate about racism in Texas and how it works. And as someone pointed out above, at least Bush was curious enough to ask a pertinent quetion, no matter how dumb it made him seem.

I'm sad for the loss of descriptive words that can't be used in their original sense any more in certain contexts. Like gay, niggardly, shrill, articulate, straight, Oreo, apple, ambitious, articulate, queen, etc. This coding, which adds a weary veneer over speech we cannot tolerate, causes its own collateral damage.

An office once had two recycling bins for its surplus paper. One bin was labeled "White Paper" and the other "Colored Paper." One morning, the second sign was changed to "Paper of Color." This caused some angry words. The next day the two bins had new signs: "Bleached Paper" and "Dyed Paper." A pox on both their houses, apparently.

"One has to ask: can we really blame Bush for not knowing the conventions attached to that particular adjective?"

Easy one - the answer is Yes!

George W. Bush's ignorance is George W. Bush's fault

I always considered "clean" to refer to the fact that Obama didn't seem to have a controversial past, which I considered a reference to Jesse Jackson who is rather controversial figure (love him or hate him). Recently in the news, the Prime Minister of India is considered one of India's most "clean" politicians, and I also took it that way. Still not one of Biden's brighter moments, of course.

Now I can understand under most circumstances how someone would assume this could have been used as a code word, but in the context it was made (comparing him to George Bush) that is indeed a point that rings true. (The Bright, yeah, he's very smart, the "clean" part was probably just a Bidenism - like a Yogism that rolled off the tongue in an alliterative overrun) but articulate?

I remember thinking how refreshing it was to have a presidential candidate who could put together a competent sentence or two without a major stumble.

Articulate wasn't the best choice considering the baggage the word has accumulated over the years, but in this case it was such a stark contrast with Bush that it actually was meaningful in a positive sense. The sentiment was no doubt genuine. It's unfortunate such words take on negative meaning not intended.

Please, someone get Joe a thesaurus!

Richardxx, my story may be similar to yours. I was born in '45 and grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. Just before 10th grade, the Little Rock public schools were ordered to be integrated, starting with the 2 high schools, and the Governor closed them for a year, rather than comply.

If any of you were around then, or if you've seen documentaries on public TV, you know it was a sad, horrible, drawn-out injustice - to my way of thinking. And, it helped get this country to the next stage.

My family was white, "liberal," and middle class. Still, my folks were products of their environment: Liberal meant you fought for civil rights for blacks but you didn't socialize with them.

Through scouting, church camp, and Head Start, I worked with peers who were black. I couldn't tell you how I learned the code words, but white friends in Arkansas knew them, as do my white friends here in Minnesota....

Just realized - my white liberal friends know. I wonder how many non-liberals who use the words do so unconsciously because that's how their political peers describe blacks.

It doesn't matter. I believe we're responsible for our words.

Maybe Bush started living in a bubble a lot sooner than we knew.

For those of you disagreeing for any reason, please know that if you are going to use words that you know are code because you think they ought not to be, you may well offend someone who does know, and it could even be a powerful white whose good opinion you depend on.

Perception is everything.

Sorry, this seems like over-reaction, except for the "clean" thing. I know a lot of people--way too many--who are not very articulate, or are downright inarticulate. I also know a lot who are either not bright or are very bright in a very narrow sense. But that doesn't make them bad people, or even unsuccessful people. The difference in success rates between 4.0 point students and 2.0 students later in life is not what grades would suggest. Who is articulate and who is not has no racial basis.

Well, I am a white man, and on the rare occasions when I meet someone who IS articulate, I describe them as such, regardless of race, creed or color... Just sayin'

Wait a second. Articulation and people saying things are expected to beyond the 43rd occupant of that office. It would be great if a truth commission could document that.
The real threat to America is the stupidity of the most electable.

I don't think you have to be [a minority, who has been told and treated for centuries, like you don't matter, have nothing to contribute and despite your achievements it’s made clear you are not quite good enough], to understand why Joe Bidens words matter. But it helps!

Just ask Judge Sotomayor, who is probably more accomplished than 100% of her critics and yet they would suggest she is not intelligent. That argument only gains traction in some quarters, because of the supremacy stereotypes that have been perpetrated throughout time. Joe Biden’s words were not just words. He made the mistake (from what I can tell, innocently) of stepping into one of those time worn stereotypes that it is unusual for a black person to be well spoken and well groomed.

Wait, I thought the issue was the "clean" part, not the articulate part. After all, articulate was still a common adjective people used for Obama after that, without much of a flap.