I don't think it's about making overtly racist comments. I think it's toward a group of people (mainly of a younger generation) who seem to think everything and everyone is racist. It's stuff like this.

Gap Pulls Ad Called 'Racist,' Apologizes to Critics - ABC News
Sprint pulls ad featuring white woman calling T-Mobile ‘ghetto’. Do we see a trend yet? - The Washington Post
MSNBC Host Says 'Star Wars' Is Racist Because Vader Is a 'Black Guy'

Just a tiny sampling. You can head over to Huffington Post and I'm sure you'll find a dozen other things in today's culture that is totally racist.

I think there is a middle ground where you can point out the guy who's flying a confederate flag on his block in the Pacific Northwest is probably racist but having a black person play a villain in a movie isn't racist.

He was saying that there wasn't as much "PC" backlash against saying those things in the 30s and 40s (which he misses) because many of the people offended by those statements could not speak up for fear of being lynched. Or vote. Emmett Till was born 11 years after Clint Eastwood.

What is so powerful about the word racist? If you think people should be treated differently based on race, racist is the word for that. If I am more likely to cross the street when I see a black homeless person than when I see a white homeless person, the consequences are relatively benign but it is a racist behavior. Once you start to let racist thoughts and ideas influence government policy (and try to tap-dance around the fact that racial animus is the driving factor behind such policies) then it's a problem for everyone.

That definition makes anyone who supports affirmative action a racist. Like I said, the broader you folks make the definition, the less the word means.

I think the funniest thing about the Sprint one was the CEO tweeting "Not meant to offend anyone" when it was probably going offend a good chunk. The other ones are stupid, but I thought everyone was aware that calling something "ghetto" had inherent racist undertones. I'm not even that PC...

New state polling today. Trump likely doesn't have a path to victory that doesn't include winning PA.

I would say the most significant change since 30's and 40's is now we give the benefit of the doubt first to the person on the receiving end. If one feels that the comment is racist towards them, it's racist. If one feels like it's sexual harassment towards them, it is. If one feels like they are being bullied, they are. Dismissing someone's feelings is the power/privilege move, not the words that caused it.

Of course many of those claims may be a misunderstanding or unintended or made up. The fact that we now say your intention does not Trump my reaction does put us all on notice. But our right to say what we want does not take another's right to hear what they want.

So I guess, combine that with shrinking income, dysfunctional Supreme Court rulings and flacid demographic growth, you are going to get a lot of grumpy old men feeling stiffed.

He probably also has to win Michigan and Virginia too, right?

538 assumes the race will tighten in their formula but they have Clinton with a 92% chance of winning in the "now-cast" which is how things would play out if the election was today. Can't remember seeing polls shift so fast.

Trump has made some really horrible decisions really quickly, and that's catapulting off Clinton's post-convention bounce.

So........Trump's wife may have been an illegal immigrant.

Gaps in Melania Trump's immigration story raise questions - POLITICO

Oh, irony!

Starting to get personal, probably get Trump to go rogue. It would be ironic though.

I wonder if the Dem has all these little stories lined up for release every other day till election day.

Leavin' this right here for November...

wow and even was in this country on the type of visa Trump has vowed to do away with. The irony indeed. Feel bad for Melania being dragged through the mud though.

Donald Trump Never Saw 'Top Secret' Iran Video: Campaign - ABC News


After his campaign admitted that the video he talked about didn't exist he described watching it again at another rally today.

I do respect Trump's ability to be able to tell it was obviously a government camera though

Now read that statement in the voice of your favorite standup comedian

"Over there where that plane landed, top secret, they don't have a lot of paparazzi. You know, the paparazzi doesn't do so well over there, right?"

I mean, that´s an easy laugh in any context.

She has spoke numerous times about how she feels immigrants should follow the law. She is fair game.

Melania Trump defends Donald by saying she immigrated legally. But for models like her, it’s easier. - The Washington Post

True, probably should pull this out. I'll throw up a new thread and a longer reply when I get some time next couple days. Because this isn't a partisan issue or something that needs to be fit into the 24 hour & on to the next one news cycle.I thought the interview was kind of fun to see the most bitter Get Off My Lawn old man takes ever. As for the specific quote I don't really see the point in posting it. We probably shouldn't look for solutions to this country's racial issues from an 86 year old entertainer we last saw talking to an empty chair? No shit! (At this point I assume half of Gran Torino was just Clint Eastwood being himself between official takes.) But can't we just acknowledge it's a little racist and agree you can't say things like that today without blowing it up in to a big deal? Especially when in real life actually engaging in dialogue on a mild but passively racist statement has a much better chance of changing a mind than shouting them down and trying to shame them. Heck, that was half the point I thought that quote was trying to get across - certainly not advocating for lynch mobs and turning firehoses on schoolchildren, but saying that compared to stuff like that a lot of what's being protested today is a joke. Everything is relative and people want to feel like they're fighting a huge battle, but clearly race relations are better than 80 years ago, and 50 years ago, and 20 years ago. And a large part is just from older people who still hold somewhat regressive positions die off, like Clint will do soon enough.

On the actual issue, I think it is clear there is an "anti-PC" backlash that Trump has tapped in to, but it doesn't need to be a binary issue. I can hate the SJW's/serial protestors/people who are looking to find something offensive and still hate the people who post in BarstoolSports comment section who are clearly racist too. The list of dog whistles that Cuervo posted is indicative of the trouble. There clearly are people and times when those terms are used as coded insults, but there are also plenty of legitimate times to use terms like thug, inner city, or state's rights.

Edit - btw, also think he'd be equally disgusted with any white person complaining they can't use certain language without being called out. And I thought the worse quote was his one about Hillary being "a tough voice to listen to for 4 years". That seems pretty blatantly misogynistic to me.

Hahaha. I hit embarrassed months ago, but thanks, Trump!

Joel Siegel on Twitter: "NBC poll: Clinton leads Trump among African-Americans 91% to 1% https://t.co/0y4cQmBYWf"

so, who are those 15 intrepid men and women ? ;) (well, mostly men)

He's got 2% support from African-Americans in the Marist poll, but he's also down 15 points overall.

Hillary's campaign is currently confident enough to suspended ads in Virginia and Colorado.

It's funny that Trump is saying that the debates won't get good ratings because they are programmed against NFL games.

I see no reason why their first debate won't shatter all-time debate ratings records.

Ben Carson told a good joke about Donald:

Trump: ‘I don’t know why we’re not leading by a lot’ - POLITICO

Let me count the ways Donald...

Right, anything that favors one race over another is racist. Now, the next step to get past your first-grade mindset is to evaluate whether there is a good reason to favor one race over another. I'm sure that there will never be another presidential candidate who more strongly agrees with the statement "Affirmative action unfairly discriminates against white people" than Donald Trump does, so you might as well fuck that 'anti-PC' chicken while you can.

Yes, that's literally the definition.

I never said I was against affirmative action. Just that if that is the definition we are going by, it makes Hillary Clinton and many others racist.

Nol has been given a few days away from FOFC to consider if he wants to change his confrontational/sarcastic style of posting.

EDIT: No one specific post, just an entire body of work and multiple complaints from both sides of the aisle about how annoying his style is.

Can't his campaign tell him to just stop doing this shit for a week?

I'm not sure he can contain himself for a week. It's like asking me not to post polls on the forum.

I strongly suspect that a big part of the issue is that he simply won't listen.

I think a big part of it is his style. He takes the stage and just starts talking without much preparation. He clearly returns to some of the same themes and lines, but he also talks about whatever happens to be on his mind at the time. Even with the best candidate that approach would lead to a lot of gaffes, and DT certainly isn't the best candidate.

We're finally getting a look at the unskewed polls this year.

Unbiased Polls - National Presidential Election 2016 - Long Room

Turns out Trump is currently leading Hillary 44.2% to 43.3%.

The best part of that site is they claim to have been correct on 2012 and 2008 but the site wasn't functioning up till 2015.

Uh... and how much bias points should we be giving Long Form, which is clearly a right-wing hack site?

Speaking of polling,

AJC poll: Hillary Clinton has slim lead over Donald Trump in Georgia | Political Insider blog


Last time GA went blue... it was for another Clinton. But shocking polling here.

:D

They have both FOX and Rasmussen as biased towards the left. :D I'm so glad this is back. :D

You know what's sad is that at this point, I almost instinctively roll my eyes at anything that has a bald eagle front-and-center with the flag flying behind it. Am I wrong in wanting the symbolism used a little more sparingly/judiciously?

Maybe I don't understand how they get their numbers, but McClatchy/Marist poll has a 15 point lead (which seems off) for Clinton, how then does this site have her with a .1 percent lead for them?

And going to LongRoom.com what is the first story there-"what a shock, Trump Implosion Stories Completely fabricated by Liberal Media Hacks"

so just how unskewed are these polls again?

Was this the site that said Romney was going to win 4 years ago? ;)

I'm starting to become interested in how the GOP will transform itself. A quick review of the Presidency from Lincoln to Wilson shows massive ideological shifts. And it doesn't seem to be people based, but executive and party based. The party, quite bluntly, needs to hammer home that minorities are important stakeholders in their ideals. If they can turn the tide and break the monopoly on the black vote (in particular) then I think we will see an end to the divisiveness that currently afflicts our nation. Hell, even 20% support should see noticeable positive gains that might actually pit the two sides against each other in real cultural change. This 91%-1% imbalance has got
to stop. That simply signals that the GOP has no influence and the DNC doesn't have to lift a finger beyond their current strategy that doesn't seem to do anything but stoke the fires. Right now the center-left and center-right is a white persons game. Until it's a good choice for all Americans, we will continue to hurt. But to be clear, this is a GOP problem, nobody else's.

To be fair (and this isn't about the black vote, which is even more a tough nut to crack), President George W. Bush tried his hardest to hammer home that Hispanics have an important role to play in the GOP. The base loathed him for it and denied him any push on that front.

Don't have any numbers in front of me right now Dutch, but the Republicans actually had an opening with Hispanics. Many come from conservative evangelical backgrounds and moves there could have won them this election. But Donald "Build a wall, all Mexicans are rapists" Trump quickly stopped that from happening.

I mean, I know it's Vox, but:

How Republicans went from the party of Lincoln to the party of Trump, in 13 maps - Vox

It's not an easy proposition. I think first and foremost, it would have to get rid of language that hints at returning to the "good ol' days." The fact of the matter is that if you are a minority in the U.S., odds are pretty high that you think that *today* is the best it has ever been for people who look like you. I read a great article during the primaries that referenced this well...

The Split Between Ted Cruz Evangelicals and Marco Rubio Evangelicals: 5 Theories

Here's the money section with regard to minorities (emphasis mine):
And, quite frankly, a whole lot of Republican voters really like the thought of "returning to the past." That's not to say that they're necessarily racist in desiring that. Most of them are just blissfully unaware of the message that is sending.

Here's a look at Trump's economic team:

Trump unveils all-male economic advisory team - POLITICO

tell me what you see there?-no women, and I'm betting all white. and mostly Wall Street businessmen, with no academics.

32%

That's the percent of the Asian vote Bill Clinton won in 1992.


73%

That's the percent of the Asian vote Obama won in 2012.

It isn't just the black vote. The GOP has become a white nationalist party and they've driven away minorities of all types.

Dubya won 9% of the black vote in 2000, then increased it to 11% in 2004.

It is pretty clear at this point that there is no one in the inner sanctum that has the courage to speak truth to the Donald and then to stand their ground against the inevitable backlash.

Of course McCain and Romney did worse running against BHO. My guess is that Rubio could have had a shot at topping GWB's numbers with black voters. But GOP voters didn't want Rubio. Even before the Christie pantsing he was #3 at best.

Hispanic vote...

Dubya 2000: 35%
Dubya 2004: 44%
McCain 2008: 31%
Romney 2012: 27%