Daily Kos Blogger: If You Don’t Believe Our Polls, You’re Probably a Racist

by Frances Martel | 2:28 pm, February 8th, 2010

» 21 comments

Apparently, Daily Kos blogger Dante Atkins did not appreciate being reminded that his website was one of the few to predict a Martha Coakley victory in Massachusetts a few weeks ago, or being called insane, or dangerous, or, worst of all, insignificant.

That’s how Fox News responded to the Daily Kos blog’s latest research findings in their Republican Poll co-conducted by nonpartisan group Research 2000. Short version: an overwhelming number of Republicans think Barack Obama is a socialist Kenyan who hates white people (oh, and they seem to like the idea of Dick Cheney making an encore political appearance as president).

After the results were made public last week, Karl Rove appeared on the O’Reilly Factor last week to attack both the poll’s results and methodology, citing their inaccurate Coakley/Scott Brown poll as reason to be skeptical, as well as the site’s frequent use of profanity. He rounded out his point by reminding the audience that most Republicans are just “ordinary Americans” that like the President personally but object to his politics. O’Reilly further dismissed the site as a home for “fearmongering” and “radicalism”, though he admitted that he thinks “these Kos people are insane… I traffic a little in that way, too.” While he did ask Rove for an alternative estimate of radicals within the Republican Party, Rove managed to deflect the question.

This appearance inspired a 1300+ word diatribe from Atkins, who concluded that any attacks on this poll are rooted in, of course, racism. While he accedes that the heads of the conservative movement are probably not racist, he argues that they peddle in racist rhetoric because it attracts a nameless, ignorant horde that they manipulate for their own benefit. He cites the birthers– namely, the oh-so-reliable Orly Taitz– as an example. But then he commits what should by now be considered a cardinal sin in the world of left-wing punditry: equating her with Glenn Beck. “After the onslaught of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Jerome Corsi, and even Orly Taitz, the base was sufficiently radicalized.” Beck thinks the birthers are an elaborate sideshow created by the Obama administration, which means any mention of them from the left plays straight into his theory.

Devoid of any significant evidence for the accusation of racism (outside of the laughable birthers), Atkins creates some out of thin air, arguing that the Republicans are actually speaking in code. Yes, you might be hearing them say “we need lower taxes,” but what they really mean is “we need to keep the black man down.” He calls it “dog-whistle” politics:

“Republicans have been playing dog-whistle politics ever since Lee Atwater theorized on how to use taxes as a subliminal code for racism, but getting people to believe that a highly popular and historic President is a Bolshevik racist Muslim who is ineligible to hold his office and wants the terrorists to win? That requires a totally different frequency and amplitude.”

Which means that anything Republicans say, from “health care reform can wait” to “when are you going to lunch?” is subject to racial reinterpretation. It opens the door for the left to attack from all sides, since the “taxes=racism” narrative is said to be comparatively simple and obvious in comparison to the games the Republicans are playing now.

Shame that Atkins lets a legitmate point fall through the cracks amid his wild accusations: Rove does skirt O’Reilly’s question of just what percentage of the American right are radicals, and if he can’t offer an alternative answer to the Kos poll’s results, it’s hard to refute them. What Atkins presents instead is a laundry list of recycled extreme left-wing paranoia triggers that goes beyond hurting Atkins’ legitimacy to sullying that of the poll he aims to defend.

barack obama, Bill O'Reilly, Daily Kos, Glenn Beck, Karl Rove, Lee Atwater, liberals, Orly Taitz, Polls, Racism, Republicans

Jim R

I found Atkin’s article unhelpful, while containing some good points. The burden is always on “the left” to prove their sanity and comity while the right gets their daily pass.

It’s much easier to minimize the well founded relationship between the Republicans, their policies, and the effect on minority voters; no one needs crank up the volume on what’s otherwise self-evident for anyone watching the last forty years.

I noticed Chris Wallace had no qualms citing the same poll when it suited his agenda, so I guess the poll is okay when Republicans aren’t trying to cover up their craziness.
http://www.facebook.com/people/John-Boyer/602168764 John Boyer

Oh, the left loves the idea of racist “code words,” which, strangely, only leftists seem to know are racist.

I had no idea that when Rush Limbaugh says we need lower taxes, that he really means “keep the black man down.” Does that mean I’m not a real conservative if I don’t understand the “code words”?

What a crock..
AikidoJoe

Wow. Daily Kos calling you racist if you disagree or question anything they do. Nothing new. Nothing to see here. I’m sure someone on the left would be nice enough to give us an estimate on how many radicals are in their party. I’m willing to go as high as 30% for each. On a more important note:

Please hold Obama accountable and find out what provisions were “slipped” in to the health care bill, and who did the “slipping” that would violate his, and all the other Democrat’s pledge, of letting us keep our insurance and doctors.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/01/29/obama_health_care_bill_might_have_violated_pledge_on_keeping_some_doctors_and_insurers.html
tjl

I’m with Jim R on this one. Not helpful, but quite funny that Fox News would use parts of the poll it agrees with a downplay the other part of the poll that speaks ill of their viewers.

Also, AikidoJoe you continue to ask the columnists/bloggers on this site to hold Obama accountable for provisions slipped into the health care bill, but I think you’re not quite sure what function this site serves. It’s not a left/right policy site. It’s a media site. You should probably pose that question to one of the many policy sites out there.
roxsteady

Too bad Frances didn’t choose the story I just read on the dailykos. It’s Jed Lewison’s story about Bill O and Rove last week, trashing the poll. Kos then points out this nugget:

“Flash forward to yesterday, and on Fox News Sunday — the network’s flagship broadcast — Chris Wallace asked Sarah Palin whether she would run for president, pointing out that a recent poll showed her as the frontrunner among Republican voters.

Which poll was Wallace citing? You guessed it: none other than the Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll of Republicans derided just days earlier as a “fraud” by O’Reilly and Rove”

By the way, you should inform your readers that Research 2000 isn’t a dailykos organization. It’s an independent pollster that they use. The pollster simply called people who identified themselves as Republicans and asked them questions. Republicans came off looking like loons but, that’s not the pollster’s fault. Their asnwers were littered with crap they’ve been hearing on fox. Don’t shoot the messenger!
AikidoJoe

til,

Mediaite is the site for news, information and smart opinions…..

If this is the site for news and information then they should find out the information that resulted in the breaking of a major pledge given to us by the people that control both the White House and Capitol Hill.
Azarkhan

The Daily Kos-another trough for leftist swine.
The Real Royal King

… the left loves the idea of racist “code words” ….

—

Which is well and good since so many come upstream to us from the right.
Jack Kennedy

always luv to see the liberals whine about racism and admit they cant carry any argument against the facts by the right

always count on dkooks and huffpoo resort to the failure admission of the racism whine to try and silence the argument that they cant win

liberals – keep up the admission of failure to go with your defense of incompetent obama liar
http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Jones/1384303476 Chris Jones

That’s typical. When the radical left runs out of ideas they accuse Republicans of racism. When that doesn’t do the trick they accuse us of using racist “code language”. Accusations of racism are usually accompanied by accusations of homophobia, but not always. Even just a year ago, charges of racism carried a lot of weight. It was a serious accusation to make about someone and Democrats wielded that weapon well. However, that accusation has been used so often and about so many things that it’s more of a punchline than anything else. What was once a serious charge is now worthy of an eye roll and that’s about it. I expect the phony charges of racism will really start to fly as we get closer to the midterm elections. As 2012 approaches, you can look for the Republican Party to be painted as the second coming of the Klan. Not only does this not concern me, I relish it and welcome it. To quote former President Bush, “bring it on”.
writer

The poor left. They don’t realize that they’ve used the racism accusation so often, it has become a joke. And you can never pin them down on the rules. When blacks criticized Bush, was that racism? If Michael Steele criticizes Obama, is he being a racist for disagreeing, even though he’s the same race? Can Michelle Obama even criticize the president safely? Or would she be a racist too? If a member of one minority group hates members of another minority group, is that racist? Or does the hater have to be white in every instance or else it doesn’t count? Yes, it’s ridiculous, but the left keeps beating the same dead horse.
felixw

There is a group of Americans who are obsessed with the President’s skin color . . . and they are ALL on the Left. Just do a Google search, and find out who writes about this issue. Always left-wing pundits who force it into the national conversation. But people can see these smear campaigns for what they are … namely, a pathetic attempt to distract attention from unemployment, deficits, terrorism and all the other real issues facing us.
Jim R

Gee, I wonder where all these totally unfounded accusations of racism against Republicans comes from?

Those crazy lefties! If they would only have voted for Thurmond in 1948 we wouldn’t had all these problems!
writer

The president is very clean and articulate. Sometimes I even forget he’s black.
felixw

“Leftist web site accuses people who disagree with it of racism.”

This is a news story? Give me a break, the “progressive” blogosphere deals out race cards 24/7. This is their preferred way of dealing with people who want to debate them on the issues. “Dog bites man” would be a more surprising story.
Facebook User

I love it! Glen Beck, tells it like it is.Gets under those left coast yuppies skins, ha ha.. N. O. W. Nagy Old Women. LOL. I made that up. The Census Commercial went completely over my head.. Guess you have to be an elitist to understand that one…..
Facebook User

Really how much longer will black voters keep buying the” evil racist republicans” line. The line keeps coming because the progressives have no other issue that anyone pays attention. If the “offended” blacks quit listening to the left and get on the train with the rest of the country, only the choir will be left on the platform, bitching about the train engineer being a racist for leaving on time.
Jelperman

Ah, the intellectual dishonesty of Media Shite…

Glenn Beck and Rush Limp-balls can try to distance themselves from Orly Taitz, but Jabba the Rush has claimed on his show that Obama doesn’t have a valid birth certificate, and Glenn Beck, who still hasn’t come clean about whether he raped and killed a girl in 1990, accused Obama of taking an “un-American” name. So they wallow in the same racist filth as Taitz and the Teabaggers.
marcus.lewis

Frances, I fail how to see this matters at all to media. The comments he made was stupid and ignorant, just like you can find on redstate’s front page. Also, blogging about a blogger just seems silly to me.

If Medialite is really going to be doing huge articles about some fools blog on a very liberal or very conservative site, then this site will go down the drain very quickly. I think most reasonable people can distinguish between partisan sites and non-partisan. Perhaps pick on some of the big dogs, but you even wasting as much time as you did to type up this rebuttal of parts of his blog seems crazy.

I see these same arguments from all sides of the isle. The best way to deal with them I find is that you just ignore slippery slope arguments. Once a person even starts to use that fallacy, their point is moot.
stevelaw

It’d be laughable if it was so sad and pathetic. What else is new? White people employing their very own racism to accuse Black people of their own (white people’s) racism: a crazy circle.

bariatric surgery
cryptblade

I’m a proud conservative but I hear from black and white democrats calling me racist. It’s laughable when white people accuse me of being racist. I’m asian. My race is about 5% of the US population, I think.

It’s annoying to hear it from black people. Insulting in fact. Just because I disagree with you politically doesn’t make me a racist. But to crassly throw that label around like that makes me want to grow insensitive to any racial plights of black liberals. In other words, that kind of crap creates a “boy who cried wolf” effect – cry too much, people stop listening.