No More Mister Nice Blog

Friday, August 18, 2006   ANDREW YOUNG SWITCHES PARTIES Shilling for Wal-Mart? Bashing immigrants? Qualifying his apology for immigrant-bashing by insisting that he doesn't actually believe what he said, but also that his remarks were accurate? When did Andy Young become a Republican? The civil rights leader Andrew Young, who was hired by Wal-Mart to improve its public image, resigned from that post last night after telling an African-American newspaper that Jewish, Arab and Korean shop owners had "ripped off" urban communities for years, "selling us stale bread, and bad meat and wilted vegetables." In the interview, published yesterday in The Los Angeles Sentinel, a weekly, Mr. Young said that Wal-Mart "should" displace mom-and-pop stores in urban neighborhoods. "You see those are the people who have been overcharging us," he said of the owners of the small stores, "and they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs." Mr. Young ... apologized for the comments and retracted them in an interview last night. Less than an hour later, he resigned as chairman of Working Families for Wal-Mart, a group created and financed by the company to trumpet its accomplishments. "It's against everything I ever thought in my life," Mr. Young said. "It never should have been said. I was speaking in the context of Atlanta, and that does not work in New York or Los Angeles."... Explaining his comments about Koreans, Jews and Arabs, Mr. Young said he was referring to the history of retail ownership in the neighborhood where he lives in southwestern Atlanta. "Almost everyone who has come into my community has moved in, made money and moved out and moved up," he said. "That process is still continuing." ... Wow, it's been a hell of a month for racist speech. Mel Gibson. George Allen. (By the way, the deepest research into Allen's "Macaca" insult is from Jeffrey Feldman at Frameshop; Feldman finds the word at quite a few racist bulletin boards, in reference to people such as Rodney King.) The Weekly Standard cover that depicts Al Sharpton as a chauffeur. Marty Petertz's "Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Maxine Waters have stumped for Mr. Lamont. As I say, we have been here before." And, in case you missed it, there was what Tramm Hudson, a Republican who's running for the House seat being vacated by Katherine Harris. said to a Christian Coalition meeting: "I grew up in Alabama. I understand, uh, I know from experience, that blacks are not the greatest swimmers or may not even know how to swim." Where does that come from? That's not just Al Campanis said -- it's an incredibly widespread belief. I don't get it. posted by Steve M. | 9:28 AM |

archives October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 links MAIN PAGE E-MAIL NO MORE MISTER NICE BLOG ATOM FEED * Spencer Ackerman (Attackerman) * (the other) Roger Ailes * Alas, a Blog * Alicublog (Roy Edroso) * Alterdestiny * Eric Alterman's Altercation * AlterNet PEEK * AMERICAblog * The American Street * Americans United for Separation of Church and State * Annie's Annals * Applesauce * Atrios (Eschaton) * Attytood (Will Bunch's Philadelphia Daily News blog) * Bad Attitudes * BAGnewsNotes * Balloon Juice * Bark Bark Woof Woof * bastard.logic * Steve Benen (Washington Monthly) * Michael Berube * Bill's Big Diamond Blog * Birmingham Blues * bjkeefe * Blue Gal * Blue Wren * Break the Terror (now at a new address) * Bulworth * BuzzFlash * A Cautious Man * Ta-Nehisi Coates * Juan Cole (Informed Comment) * Comments from Left Field * Cormulley.com * Betty Cracker * Crooked Timber * Crooks and Liars * Cup O' Joe (formerly PSoTD) * Daai Tou Laam Diary * The Daily Howler * Daily Kos * Scoobie Davis * D-Day * Dear Leader Blog * Dependable Renegade * distributorcap NY * Doghouse Riley (Bats Left Throws Right) * Donkey Mountain * Kevin Drum (Mother Jones) * Eccentricity * David Ehrenstein's Fablog * Emptywheel * Fafblog * Feministe * Feministing * Firedoglake * First Draft * FiveThirtyEight * Freedom Camp * The Garlic * ginandtacos.com * Glenn Greenwald * The Heretik * The Huffington Post * Hullabaloo * If I Ran the Zoo * The Impolitic * Instaputz * Interesting Times * Isebrand * Jack & Jill Politics * Jesus' General * Lady Insignificant (D. Sidhe) * Lawyers, Guns and Money * Leftblogistan * Left I on the News * L'ennui melodieux * Liberal Oasis * Liberal Values (Ron Chusid) * Liberty Street * A Lie a Day * The Mahablog * Making Light * Lance Mannion * Media Matters * Memeorandum * Mojo (Mother Jones blog) * MyDD * MyRightWingDad.net * Needlenose * Newshoggers * News Hounds * The New York Crank * Norwegianity (now at Wordpress) * The November Blog * The Phil Nugent Experience * Nur al-Cubicle * Online Blogintegrity * Operation Yellow Elephant * Opinions You Should Have * Orcinus * Pam's House Blend * Pandagon * Paperwight's Fair Shot * Pere Ubu's Debraining Machine * PERRspectives * pesky'apostrophe * The Plum Line (Greg Sargent) * Polling Report * The Poor Man * The Raw Story * The Reaction * The Republic of T. * Right Wing Watch (People for the American Way blog) * Rising Hegemon * The Rude Pundit * Rumproast * Runnin' Scared (Roy Edroso at Village Voice) * The Ruth Group * Sadly, No! * salto mortale * Seeing the Forest * Shakesville * ShortsandPants * The Sideshow * Situation Vacant * Skimble * skippy the bush kangaroo * Slacktivist * Something to Consider * Stoutdem * Suburban Guerrilla * Talking Points Memo * TalkLeft * TAPPED (American Prospect) * TBogg * Think Progress * This Modern World * Tome of the Unknown Writer * uggabugga * The United States of Jamerica * Vagabond Scholar * Very Early 3rd Millennium * Wampum * War and Piece (Laura Rozen) * The Washington Independent * Welcome Back to Pottersville * Whiskey Fire * Why Now? * Oliver Willis * James Wolcott * Wonkette * World O'Crap * Matthew Yglesias * You Forgot Poland! * The Zen Cabin "The Manipulator" (New Yorker article on Chalabi) "How Chalabi Played the Press" (Columbia Journalism Review article) "Defectors' Reports on Iraq Arms Were Embellished, Exile Asserts" (New York Times article on Chalabi and Iraqi National Congress) Ann Coulter's original New York Observer interview ("My only regret with Timothy McVeigh...") (also here) "Bush planned Iraq 'regime change' before becoming President" (from Scotland's Sunday Herald) "Yankee Go Home: Who's leading the anti-war movement? Congressional Republicans" (1999 Slate compilation of GOP antiwar quotes) "The Press vs. Al Gore: How lazy reporting, pack journalism and GOP spin cost him the election" by Eric Boehlert (from Rolling Stone) America's Taliban (Coulter, Falwell, etc.) in their own words Language: A Key Mechanism of Control (Gingrich's guidelines, still in use today) John Scalzi's "I Hate Your Politics" Column IS IT ANN COULTER -- OR IS IT DAVID DUKE? IS IT CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS -- OR IS IT DWIGHT SCHRUTE? SORELY MISSED: * Americans Are Dumb * Anti-Coulter * Billmon (Whiskey Bar) * The Blog Report at Salon * Busy, Busy, Busy * Cursor * Greg T. * Happy Furry Puppy Story Time with Norbizness * The Jed Report * Little Green Fascists * Main and Cenral * Martini Republic * MaxSpeak * mfinley * Mykeru * Nathan Newman * The News Blog (R.I.P. Steve Gilliard) * Nitpicker * The Rational Enquirer * Rittenhouse Review (R.I.P. Jim Capozzola) * Tristram Shandy (now at Instaputz?) * Slannder (anti-Ann Coulter) * SullyWatch * Jon Swift * Too Sense (but Adam "dnA" Serwer is now at TAPPED) * wastedirony.com * Cintra Wilson