Emailed political rumors overwhelmingly conservative

Federal judge sends racist Obama email, apologizes

Montana's chief federal judge said Wednesday that he forwarded an email that contained a joke involving bestiality and President Barack Obama's mother, but he did so because he dislikes the president and not because he's racist.

Even a conservative federal judge cannot help himself.

Cebull told the newspaper that his brother sent him the email, which he forwarded to six "old buddies" and acquaintances. He prefaced the email with the message: "Normally I don't send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine."

I'm not sure how his defense of, "but I'm not racist," makes him look better.

I moved across the country 7 months ago and a couple weeks ago the president of the moving company we used accidently forwarded me a very racist email. Not Obama's mom and an animal bad, but still.

Jayhawker wrote:

I'm not sure how his defense of, "but I'm not racist," makes him look better.

"I'm not a racist. I just act exactly like a racist would act."

Hypatian wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

I'm not sure how his defense of, "but I'm not racist," makes him look better.

"I'm not a racist. I just act exactly like a racist would act."

Precisely. This is exactly how I generally respond when someone does or says something incredibly racist and then hides behind the whole "you don't know what's in my head/heart" bs. Racist is as racist does.

Your words determine your actions. Your actions determine your habits. Your habits determine your character. And your character determines your destiny.

Funny how there's a crossover between people who dislike hate crime legislation because you "can't legislate what's in someone's heart" and people who claim they're not racist in their hearts, they just act like it.

Actually, I found his explanation that he found it funny because he hated Obama to be, well, real. I know a *lot* of people who happily have black friends and co-workers and even family members by marriage who would happily send this email around. I've seen worse from them, that's how I know.

The political divide is huge these days.

Robear wrote:

Actually, I found his explanation that he found it funny because he hated Obama to be, well, real. I know a *lot* of people who happily have black friends and co-workers and even family members by marriage who would happily send this email around. I've seen worse from them, that's how I know.

The political divide is huge these days.

I'm not sure I buy it though.

I have absolutely no respect for Herman Cain, but it would never occur to me to pass on an email joke that attacks his race or ethnicity. And I think to do so says a whole lot about the sort of person that would.

Paleocon wrote:
Robear wrote:

Actually, I found his explanation that he found it funny because he hated Obama to be, well, real. I know a *lot* of people who happily have black friends and co-workers and even family members by marriage who would happily send this email around. I've seen worse from them, that's how I know.

The political divide is huge these days.

I'm not sure I buy it though.

I have absolutely no respect for Herman Cain, but it would never occur to me to pass on an email joke that attacks his race or ethnicity. And I think to do so says a whole lot about the sort of person that would.

Agreed. I won't pretend I haven't found offensive jokes funny but I would never forward them on to people. In fact, something about the email format makes it more disturbing to me, I'm not sure why.

That's just it. They don't see it as racist because they believe that it's funny to mock him. That's the *point*, in their mind - he's not worthy of respect and the idea that his mother was "loose" would be the main point. People see what they want to in this stuff. (Sarcasm alert) How could people imagine they are *racist* just because the President is *black*? I mean, really!

None of these guys thinks they are "bad people".

Whether someone thinks of himself as a bad person has rarely ever been a meaningful metric for whether or not they are (or if their actions are racist). I'm certain that antebellum slave owners and their postbellum iterations the night riders saw themselves not so much as racists, but preservers of white rights.

Paleo, that's my *point*. I don't think this guy is a racist in his everyday life, because I see plenty of people who are *not* racists use racist terminology about Obama without even thinking about it. It's a weird double standard, but I'm betting the guy honestly described his position; he's more repulsed by people thinking he's a racist than he is about the idea that a Federal judge would even consider forwarding something like this. He doesn't get it.

I guess. I guess my point is that the entire discussion of whether or not the judge is a racist is not likely to be productive, but it is pretty clear that his act was very racist in nature. Whatever his deep seeded hatred for Obama, attacking him for his ethnicity says a whole lot about the judge's character that he would see it as somehow okay to commit a racist act.

As I quoted Lao Tzu above, actions make habits, habits make character, character determine's destiny.

Paleocon wrote:

As I quoted Lao Tzu above, actions make habits, habits make character, character determine's destiny.

I thought that was Mark Twain.

Jayhawker wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

As I quoted Lao Tzu above, actions make habits, habits make character, character determine's destiny.

I thought that was Mark Twain.