Why is Condoleezza Rice's race fair game for Administration critics?

[Woodmonkey]

Cartoon Calumny

Friday, October 22, 2004

It's no secret that Jeff Danziger is a syndicated cartoonist who leans left of center. But who knew that he also considers himself an arbiter of black authenticity?

One of Mr. Danziger's recent illustrations features National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice as a semi-literate mammy. Ms. Rice--a Russia scholar, former provost of Stanford University and concert pianist--is drawn barefoot and wearing a housedress. Mr. Danziger forgot to put a handkerchief on her head, but the size of her lips has been exaggerated sufficiently to make up for that oversight. She's sitting in a rocking chair and nursing an aluminum tube as though it were an infant. The caption reads: "I KNOWS ALL ABOUT ALUMINUM TUBES! (Correction) I DON'T KNOW NUTHIN' ABOUT ALUMINUM TUBES*.*.*."

Mr. Danziger, a proud member of the media's "Bush Lied!" brigade, is making a point about the administration's supposed manipulation of prewar intelligence on Iraq. The caption is an apparent reference to Prissy, the house slave in "Gone With the Wind" who uttered something similar about babies.

A substantive debate about the president's handling of the war is something reasonable people welcome, especially in an election year. But it's impossible to see where the national security adviser's race or sex fits in to a debate about what Saddam Hussein planned to do with his aluminum tubes.

Prompted by a deluge of complaints about the caricature, Mr. Danziger sent out a form letter defending himself. He says that the cartoon isn't racist because the idea "was suggested to me by a friend who is African-American"--as if blacks are incapable of being racist. He then goes on to dismiss Ms. Rice as "a political operative, out of her depth." This is a man who doesn't know when to stop digging.

The cartoon has since been removed from both Mr. Danziger's Web site and that of the New York Times Syndicate, which distributes it. But racist or not, the illustration is certainly revealing. For liberals, Condi Rice's real crime is bucking Democratic orthodoxy and working for a conservative president. This makes her fair game for race-based attacks even when the issue at hand has absolutely nothing to do with race. She is a black woman who, in Mr. Danziger's view, has wandered off the liberal plantation. And this is his way of putting Ms. Rice and other black conservatives in their place.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/forms/...l?id=110005788

[Snowden]

One of Mr. Danziger's recent illustrations features National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice as a semi-literate mammy. Ms. Rice--a Russia scholar, former provost of Stanford University and concert pianist--is drawn barefoot and wearing a housedress. Mr. Danziger forgot to put a handkerchief on her head, but the size of her lips has been exaggerated sufficiently to make up for that oversight. She's sitting in a rocking chair and nursing an aluminum tube as though it were an infant. The caption reads: "I KNOWS ALL ABOUT ALUMINUM TUBES! (Correction) I DON'T KNOW NUTHIN' ABOUT ALUMINUM TUBES*.*.*."

Can you imagine if this cartoon had been in a right-wing newspaper? No wonder it was removed from Times, which is notoriously left-wing. It used to be a decent newspaper, but now it's just a rag.

[Joker]

It's obviously a take on that annoying character from 'Gone With The Wind' (about as welcome as Micky Rooney's Japanese tenant in 'Breakfast At Tiffany's'). Mildly abrasive, but I don't go a lot on Political Correctness. Didn't think anyone here did, but it's always easy to fall back on 'what if it had been the rightwingers?', without any examples of how us liberals, right here right now, respond to rightwing cartoons (not as if enough of them don't get posted by helpful people like Neal...).

[Betty Boop]

Calling "an ace an ace and a spade a spade," Joker, should not be something that either party can claim as their domain soley.

Liberals oft times forget on this side of the pond that not all blacks, not all Jews, not all women are Democrats - and that these three groupings are not "owned" by their machinery. So when a well-educated black woman chooses conservatism as the vehicle of her politics, then goes on to achieve a position of respect and authority not because of her race or gender but based on her competence and integrity, and handles the position with grace and intelligence, it does tend to remind them of that fact in undeniable terms!

A frightening thought to the liberal wing of the Democratic party is that the demographics are now changing. Whereas Democrats were once seen as the benefactors to women and women's issues, now that women are feeling empowered in our own right, women are now choosing conservatism more and the gender gap in politics is shrinking. What an insult it was to me personally as a woman last weekend to hear ABC News report that Bill Clinton and Leo DeCaprio were being brought out as Kerry's "pretty boys" to woo the women's vote on November 2nd. The racist and sexist comic referenced above reflects what Democrats of the liberal wing believe both professional achieving and minority women are considered to be - nonthinking, guaranteed "slaves" to their liberal agendas.

An empowered woman is a woman who can think, self-determine, act and achieve on her own two feet - without the need of a liberal "Daddy Warbucks." That makes women such as Condi Rice dangerous to a liberal social agenda.

[Snowden]

Originally Posted by Joker

It's obviously a take on that annoying character from 'Gone With The Wind' (about as welcome as Micky Rooney's Japanese tenant in 'Breakfast At Tiffany's'). Mildly abrasive, but I don't go a lot on Political Correctness. Didn't think anyone here did, but it's always easy to fall back on 'what if it had been the rightwingers?', without any examples of how us liberals, right here right now, respond to rightwing cartoons (not as if enough of them don't get posted by helpful people like Neal...).

Of course it is, Joker - but I liked the character of Prissy. Butterfly McQueen was a very talented actress, and she played that role to the hilt. Hattie MacDaniels played Mammy perfectly too. I wonder if any actor or actress would be willing to play such stereotypes today. Those two rose above it and played the roles - and earned a good bit for it.

Cal, I think they were empowered women too; just not in a time where it could be shown openly.

[Betty Boop]

Originally Posted by Snowden

Cal, I think they were empowered women too; just not in a time where it could be shown openly.

I suppose you are right, WM. I remember Grandmother (born in 1893) speaking about how she would nod her head, seeming to agree with my grandfather on political issues, but then as a woman in the voting booth she knew to vote what was on her heart and in her conscience. She was, by the way, a graduate of UCLA and very proud of it!

I notice with my daughters that they don't appreciate what has gone on before them to allow them the openess in choices and opporunities they now enjoy - Probably much as my grandmother never saw me appreciate what her generation of gentle (and, okay sometimes not so gentle) suffragettes had empowered mine to be able to accomplish.

My point was that Condoleezza Rice cannot be stereotyped as a poor, uneducated black that has been disenfranchised by American Republicism nor can she be stereotyped as an oppressed woman subservient to her husband/father in her decisions that needs to be encouraged and protected as she strives out on her own. She is an extremely well-educated, self-motivated, confident, successful woman - a role model for women both of and not of color. To some that is a frightening thought - a minority woman succeeding on her own terms and out of the prejudicial stereotypes that were traditionally the calling card away from conservatism in the political arena.