Time Magazine Asks: 'Is Herman Cain the Most Unctuous Black Man Alive?'
The author who calls himself simply Toure -- a regular guest on MSNBC, and before that on CNN -- is throwing rhetorical bricks at Herman Cain for Time magazine. His article is headlined "Is Herman Cain the Most Unctuous Black Man Alive? Why the Hermanator experience is making me sick."
Toure compared Cain to a circus clown, called him a "buffoon," compared him to "rancid, spoiled, stinky, curdled milk" and dissed him (in the liberal mind) by calling him "the Black Sarah Palin." In the midst of that, he somehow scolds Cain for "sinking to teenage-level disses." He began:
This presidential election has not lacked for clowns, and in a circus Herman Cain fits right in. But as the Black clown, Cain's foot-in-mouth moments mostly involve insulting the Black community. This could be to establish his independence from the community in order to earn his bona fides with the GOP electorate or a way of appeasing the white conservatives he's courting. Or it could be that his foot and his mouth are magnetized. Whatever the reason, as a Black person, the Hermanator experience has been as distasteful as rancid, spoiled, stinky, curdled milk.
First Cain't told Blacks we were "brainwashed into not being open-minded or considering a conservative point of view." Brainwashing is a highly offensive charge that suggests the Black mind is defective or has gone to sleep. In a world where Black intelligence is constantly maligned and denigrated and underestimated, this cuts deeper than the quick. Alleging that we're not intelligent enough to make rational political decisions would hurt if it weren't so comical coming from his mouth. Also, has the GOP offered a reasonable alternative?
Then the Black Sarah Palin said, "Obama's never been a part of the Black experience in America." Now we're doing teenage-level disses?
But he's not done. Next, he's a buffoon:
Cain is a clown. You see it in the way he constantly mollifies white audiences with self-effacing, racialized comedy that borders on minstrelsy (referring to himself as "black-walnut ice cream" or suggesting that the Secret Service call him "Cornbread"). You see it in his stunning gaps in knowledge and understanding of foreign policy and domestic affairs. He says if you don’t have a job, don’t blame Wall Street, because it’s your fault, which in a crippling recession with historically high unemployment numbers means he’s either frighteningly blind or offensively ignorant. This is not a man of serious intellect or realistic solutions or admirable character. This is a buffoon.
Cain is what I long imagined the first Black President would be like: a Republican who many Blacks find unctuous. But is he really the most unctuous Black man in America? I’d say it’s a race between Clarence Thomas, Flavor-Flav and the Hermanator, and if Cain isn’t No. 1, he’s no worse than tied.
But the strangest passage was how Toure twisted America into a pretzel. America can never disprove that it's deeply racist. Blacks never have to prove it's not omnipresent. It's so omnipresent that it condemns blacks to failure without anyone ever saying a discouraging word. It's a Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy that's so secret and unknowable no one can really identify it:
Also, Big Daddy Cain recently said racism no longer "holds anyone back in a big way," which is a disgusting and dangerous statement because it gives leverage to those who want desperately to believe that lie. Racism is like the weather: we only talk about its extremes, but it’s always there. America has institutional inequities built into its structures that guarantee that millions of Blacks have no chance at success. Those systems operate powered by white privilege, which works automatically, no need to apply or activate it. And much of modern racism is subtle and hidden; there are fewer smoking guns now than ever.
For my book Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness?, I asked about 100 people, What’s the most racist thing that’s ever happened to you? More than a third of them said the answer is unknowable. It’s something that they weren’t aware of happening but that materially changed their lives. There was no confrontation, no ugly words, just power exerting itself in a smooth, efficient, prejudiced way to maintain the vast inequalities of this country. Racism is far from over, and the success of some Blacks — including Herman Cain — doesn’t refute that.'
In other words, who's afraid of post-blackness? Toure should be looking in the mirror.
This is an odd article compared to a recent Washington Post profile, in which Toure was described as too white to some, and yet arguing that Justice Thomas is as black as anyone else -- and Herman Cain, too?
It’s the central point of Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness?, in which Touré declares that being black means breaking free of "normative" black behavior. There are no limitations or boundaries, despite what the arbiters of what is and isn’t black might say.
Justice Clarence Thomas, in other words, is no less black than Jay-Z....
"I wanted to say something about America," says the 40-year-old Touré, who has heard repeatedly, from whites and blacks alike, that he talks and acts white. "Barack Obama had been elected. I needed to recalculate where we are and who we are. I saw this stuff going on, and I wanted to talk about it."
..."If there are 40 million black Americans, then there are 40 million ways to be black," he says, repeating a favorite line from Harvard University’s Henry Louis Gates Jr.
- Tim Graham's blog
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Comments
I'd venture to say that if
Submitted by killa37 on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 11:18pm.
I'd venture to say that if Cain and Toure had a straight-up debate - on issues, facts, history,economics, civics, or basically any other subject of substance - Cain would mop the floor with this clown, and he'd be doing it with style, grace, and good cheer.
Why
Submitted by grammajane on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 11:23pm.
don't these conservatives start sueing these radicals. This name calling and accusations are worth a court date. Come on GOP start something to shut these bottom feeders up.
Keep up the hate from the
Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 11:38pm.
Keep up the hate from the left, everytime the left opens it's mouth they expose themselves for the racists that they are.
This toure is no doubt an angry homosexaul predator.
I can only wonder....
Submitted by Grumpy in Arizona on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 11:40pm.
....if the readers of Time or the writers of Tme actually know what the word "unctuous" means????
- Grump :o)
If Toure gets any publicity, ---
Submitted by matthewdean on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 12:06am.
betcha 'Unctuous' starts showing up on some birth certificates.
MD
I wonder what they would name their kids.
Submitted by Denny Crane on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 3:21am.
If Unctuous and Le-a had a kid they might name it Le-us. (It be said Ledashus)
We Are The 53%
LOL Denny,---
Submitted by matthewdean on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 3:54am.
The dash don't be silent.
MD
How dangerous!
Submitted by mustango on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 11:53pm.
Yes, Mr. Toure, how dangerous to believe you are not held back by racism. Why, if black people started believing that more of them might become rich and successful like Cain, and we can't have that, can we Mr. Toure!!?
I may not live to see it, but I will retain to my last breath the faith that the Toures of this world, the advocates of eternal racial strife, will one day be consigned to the same ash heap of history where the Bull Connors of half a century ago now lie.
He's absolutely right
Submitted by RESTLESS 1 on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 12:05am.
At least in one sense:
"More than a third of them said the answer is unknowable. It’s something that they weren’t aware of happening but that materially changed their lives. There was no confrontation, no ugly words, just power exerting itself in a smooth, efficient, prejudiced way to maintain the vast inequalities of this country."
Sounds like he intutively knows that blacks are being held down by whites. He just can't seem to conceptualize that those whites reside on the left. They have created the mechanisms for racial inequality. Welfare, government is the daddy, abortion on demand; all of these have crippled the black community far more than others. And the carte blanche the left give to blacks, (unless they are conservative and successful), only intensifies the damage.
There have been many black
Submitted by redfish on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 1:07am.
There have been many black liberals in powerful positions in academia and politics, so you can't really talk about it as if its only whites that create those mechanisms. Jesse Jackson had as much a role in promoting the modern welfare state as anyone else has.
The problem with the "white privilege" theory that so many progressives are attached to is that it lumps all white people into a privileged group and all black people into an underprivileged group. But, its not true in every situation.. for instance, black liberals have an easier time getting ahead in academia than do white conservatives.
We can talk about disadvantages that black communities have, but we have to talk about them in real world terms, not "something people aren't aware is happening." If something is happening, people will be aware of it. Toure is right here that there are social biases, but sometimes belief, and politics, divides people more than race does. And do you want to wager that one of the reasons Herman Cain was successful in business is because he had a conservative attitude towards life?
Redfish
Submitted by RESTLESS 1 on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 2:00am.
FDR wasn't black. The liberal media is not black. Government created the mechanisms I referred to, and has been championed by the media. Government has been controlled by white liberals most of my life, and the liberal media is still owned, controlled and represented by white liberals. Blacks have indeed risen to powerful positions in both, but usually only by being liberal and toeing the party line. However, the mechanisms were already in place.
I agree completely with you second paragraph. That was the point I intended to make.
As for people not being aware of it, I think there is some willful ignorance going on. Everyone is aware of it, but why lose the freebies by acknowledging it. And of course, anyone that does, especially blacks or women, are castigated and mocked mercilessly by the white liberal establishment.
Yea but have black liberals
Submitted by redfish on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 2:32am.
Yea but have black liberals risen to power because black liberals are useful to white liberals, or because black liberals are liberals? I think its the second.
What I'm talking about is just that I don't think its useful ttalk about the situation of blacks today in terms of racial conflict at all.. whether its the standard liberal 'black victim' rhetoric, or conservative rhetoric about the 'liberal plantation' where black politicians are running the plantation on orders from white politicians.
Its useful for politics maybe.. but I don't think its the most accurate way of looking at things.
I don't agree with Mr. Cain that blacks are 'brainwashed'. At least, if they are brainwashed, they aren't more brainwashed than anyone else is. Blacks have a 'culture' of voting Democrat, which owes to some historical ties to the Democratic party. North easterners have a 'culture' of voting Democrat also, while Southerners have a 'culture' of voting Republican.
Some of the culture of all of that is influenced by the media, the schools, etc. But its owed mostly to the fact that most people don't habitually follow politics, so go by their biases. What Republicans need to focus on is getting their message across to these communities, not harping on how they're looked at unfairly.
Southern Culture was to vote Democrat?
Submitted by Tugboat Phil on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 8:17am.
That would have been news to my parents and grandparents, the latter of which were born in the 19th century. Southerners only recently started voting Republican, when they figured out the scam that was being run on them with the Great Society.
And to say blacks were steadfast Democrats before the 1960s is just as incorrect. The same racist politicians put on a different suit and started handing out welfare checks. They used the Civil Rights Act far beyond it's original purpose of equality to make blacks a favored minority.
Liberals like to talk about Southern Democrats stepping across the aisle to become Republicans. In most cases it isn't true at all. There were some high profile instances, but not the majority. Northeastern liberals helped to cover the sins of the same Southern Democrats that blocked the Civil Rights Act, and build their reputations as "champions of social justice". Well, as long as the welfare check didn't bounce.
I don't know your age, and you may think I'm talking about ancient history. But these are things I've seen with my own eyes during my brief stay upon this earth.
I'm not talking about before
Submitted by redfish on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 12:07pm.
I'm not talking about before the 60s, since the 60s. The culture changed, you just need to change it again.
RESTLESS 1
Submitted by hydrodynDM on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 6:57am.
Now that was the perfect response to Toure's characterization of the nebulous and omnipresent nature of the racism which supposedly permeates our country.
Good on Redfish and Restless !
Submitted by creekrat on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 8:23am.
Enjoyed your back and forth, all good stuff and well said. Thank you.
LOL. "Unctuous?"
Submitted by ConservaSerb on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 12:15am.
: full of unction; especially : revealing or marked by a smug, ingratiating, and false earnestness or spirituality
Who does that describe? I mean, REALLY? Every single one of these pompous black liberal socialists who claim they want equality, but they want every conservative black to sit in the back of the bus.
Phugg them and their racist, socialist little minds.
A wise & frugal government, which shall leave men free 2 regulate their own pursuits of industry & improvement, & shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. T. Jefferson
Toure just retweeted someone
Submitted by goldwater89 on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 12:44am.
Toure just retweeted someone calling Cain "Herman Coon"
classy, right?
When you look at Turdre
Submitted by ConservaSerb on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 3:55am.
I'd wager a few coin that Herman Cain has 2x the "black" blood coursing through his veins than Mr. one-name.
A wise & frugal government, which shall leave men free 2 regulate their own pursuits of industry & improvement, & shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. T. Jefferson
What the heck does "Unctuous" mean?
Submitted by Denny Crane on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 3:19am.
I had to look it up. I do not think it means what you think it means.
We Are The 53%
it's fancy for "snake oil salesman", I think
Submitted by kata on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 9:34am.
One way or the other I had to walk away from this article for a day to get some perspective and keep from saying things I'd regret later. I am sure Herman has put up with this kind of vitriol his entire adult life, but likely not in such concentrated form or on such a large scale. I wish him, and his family good thoughts.
Time magazine has just revealed itself as the...
Submitted by jawebster1 on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 3:31am.
"racist" publication I have always known it to be. I will suggest to my dentist that he stop displaying it in his waiting room from now on so he can disassociate himself from blatant examples of racism.
Yeah idiot liberal black men would have nothing to whine
Submitted by gmaniac1 on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 6:09am.
about if Herman Cain and people like myself came to the forefront of political issues. Unfortunately there is no short of racism in this country against all races but the majority if not all I ever witnessed comes from the political left. Hence why me and my family have always been conservatives, even though daddy was named after FDR. What in the world was my grandma thinking ugh!
toure
Submitted by D'saredumbpeople on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 7:40am.
great to see blacks churning up each other....Cain has led a company....toure has led hoodies....you compare.
unctuous means overly suave
Submitted by eaglewingz08 on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 8:22am.
unctuous means overly suave or smug. Now between Mr. Cain and Obama who is the smug and overly suave one? Hands down its Obama the slick unctuous one. My only surprise is that Cain wasnt called an uncle tom and house n***r by that socialist. Democrats cant debate policy so they resort to junior high name calling to shut down debate.
And then...
Submitted by okiehawk44 on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 8:35am.
if you have to be a Democrat in order to be valid shouldn't all blacks resent that and rebel against that as just more enslavement? I would.
I don't like other people telling what to do, how to do it, and when to do it in order to be included in their "club" -- never have and cannot for the life of me understand why others do.
Conservatives of any color are always being criticized
Submitted by dr-go on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 8:53am.
by all sorts of sissy name calling but never by an actual analysis of their views. The pathetic souls on the left are clearly unable to overcome the urge to verbally abuse those with whom they disagree. It is embarrassing to see this small minded but classic schoolyard behavior being practiced by adults who should be able to speak with some small degree of merit. However, after watching first hand some of the OCW "zombies" being fed two or three words at a time to regurgitate, I am not sure there is a hope for any sort of solution for this generation of leftists.
DISSES!!!
Submitted by rikmey45 on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 8:56am.
Tim please stop using the slang word DISS...just use the proper words...thats whats wrong with this country everybody trying to sound common!!!...but the larger view ...Caine is the man...
Big Apology Tim
Submitted by rikmey45 on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 9:00am.
Ok go t to apologize Tim only saw Diss...didnt see that the author of the article used it...very sorry only read the first paragraph and saw the work...STILL HATE it though I heard that liberal hack ...Alan Colmes use it the other night sounds so juvenille.....
9-9-9 Talking Points I WISH Herman would use!
Submitted by Annie Ashe Fields on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 9:04am.
9-9-9 Talking Points I WISH Herman would use!
1. Establishment, career politicians HATE it because they CAN’T HIDE THEIR CORRUPTION in the tax code anymore.
2. 2/3′s are required to raise it a penny. Even in less partisan days, it’s a seismic event to get a 2/3′s to agree cancer is bad and puppies are cute.
3. 2/3′s, by the way, was The Founders’ Original Intent. That ‘Glorious Liberty Document’ as Frederick Douglass called it. Would YOU be a member of the 1/3 voting to RAISE EVERYBODY’S – not just Obama’s fat cats – EVERYBODY’S taxes? Really?
4. Remember the Reagan years? You know who did the math on Reagan’s economic proposals when it was MORNING IN AMERICA? Art Laffer. You know who is on the record supporting 9-9-9? ART LAFFER.
5. If you are another Steve Jobs in your garage with no money but a great idea, are you MORE likely, or LESS likely to succeed NOW, or under 9-9-9?
6. If you have to pick a country on planet earth to do business, and you could pick COMMUNIST CHINA, or The Land of Liberty, even FREER with 9-9-9, which place would you rather try to draw the best & brightest to work for you? Hmmm? You know – CREATE JOBS?????
——————————————————————————————————————————–
HELLLOOOOOOOOOO?????????????????????????????????
THIS AIN’T ROCKET SCIENCE!
OH- Wait – Herman actually, LITERALLY, *w*a*s* a rocket scientist!
Kind of a stretch, don't ya think?
Submitted by rowdygirl on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 9:19am.
"What’s the most racist thing that’s ever happened to you? More than a third of them said the answer is unknowable."
Really? So, they're positive that something racist happened, they just don't know what it is? That's priceless.
Tam
Dr. Thomas Sowell says the
Submitted by ricklail on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 9:53am.
Dr. Thomas Sowell says the Hermanator is more black that Obama. Hillary makes fun of the Hermator with Karzai.
first,
Submitted by misterbee241 on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 10:33am.
who is toure and why is he being given credibility by Time magazine?
Second, if i recall my history correctly, when the slaves were freed many refused to leave the plantations. why? because that was their world - they had no place to go. that was all they knew. there was something outside the plantation and they were afraid of it. They looked to the white plantation owner for survival because they did no know how to get it on their own. The same is true today. there are many blacks who are afraid to leave the plantation and look to the white liberal democrat plantation owners for their subsistence. Toure is one of those. He is the black overseer keeping his brothers and sisters on the plantation.
Well, there it is for all to see.
Submitted by WhoIsJohnGalt on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 10:59am.
"America has institutional inequities built into its structures that guarantee that millions of Blacks have no chance at success. Those systems operate powered by white privilege, which works automatically, no need to apply or activate it. And much of modern racism is subtle and hidden; there are fewer smoking guns now than ever."
So, in other words, if you can't prove it, it's still there, by reason of inequality of outcome. Let's swap these around a bit...you have a man or woman who has earned a great deal of wealth and power. On one hand you can prove that they educated themselves, worked hard, mastered their respective domains, over and over. On the other hand you suspect that they got their wealth and power by theft. You have no evidence of the theft, but you have much evidence of them having earned their results. So you naturally deduce they they.............STOLE IT?!?!
So even when racism completely disappears (never happen) you use that lack of evidence of racism as...EVIDENCE OF RACISM!?!?!
Got it.
Herman Cain
Submitted by rance on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 11:03am.
If the Left wants to hurt Herman Cain, they need to point out that he is pro choice and pro gay. He has attended an ultra-liberal church for more years that Obama ever did.
Blacks better understand,
Submitted by jkwtrading on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 11:34am.
Blacks better understand, whites pay for their food, shelter et all.. and if we decide to not pay, where will they be then?
Rather harsh and overbroad, wouldn't you say?
Submitted by ConservaSerb on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 12:27pm.
While there are a number of African Americans that are feeding at the trough, there are also may white and Hispanic Americans doing the same. And there are white, Hispanic, and African Americans who are working and paying taxes to help those feeding at the trough of public welfare.
I have no problem with the dollars I send to Washington helping those who REALLY need help. That irks me no end are those that are convinced that they are ENTITLED to it. We have no rules or requirements that force a great number of these folks to get off their a$$e$ and learn a skill or trade . . . or . . . SOMETHING . . . productive.
As Judge Smails once said, "the world needs ditch diggers." Of course Barry "lost" those "shovel ready" jobs somewhere while he was giving out the billions to his political pals and to companies that ManBearPig invested in.
A wise & frugal government, which shall leave men free 2 regulate their own pursuits of industry & improvement, & shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. T. Jefferson
I know this not my place to comment
Submitted by mandrake on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 1:29pm.
Being a Canuck and all. But, that this one of the most racist statements I've ever read on this board. (and I've been around for a while) I tried real hard to intrepret it as sarcasm, but I couldn't. Were you really serious?
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Submitted by liberalsarefunny on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 12:27pm.
Nothing is more threatening to guilty white liberals than a black person who wanders off the liberal plantation and finally figures out that he can do just fine on his own, without his condescending white liberal overseers and their family destroying policies.
Therefore.......Herman Cain must be destroyed, at all costs!!
The Race Industry must be preserved, at all costs!!
Say what?
Submitted by rance on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 1:05pm.
Actually, the liberals like the majority of Republicans haven't figured out how liberal Herman Cain is. He reminds me of former California governor Arnold.
Arnold supported abortion... Cain supports abortion...
Arnold supported gays... Cain supports gays...
Arnold attended a liberal church... Cain attends a liberal church...
Arnold was a "fiscal" conservative... Cain is a "fiscal" conservative...
No to the Jerkinator No to the Herminator.
Say what?
Submitted by rance on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 1:05pm.
Actually, the liberals like the majority of Republicans haven't figured out how liberal Herman Cain is. He reminds me of former California governor Arnold.
Arnold supported abortion... Cain supports abortion...
Arnold supported gays... Cain supports gays...
Arnold attended a liberal church... Cain attends a liberal church...
Arnold was a "fiscal" conservative... Cain is a "fiscal" conservative...
No to the Jerkinator No to the Herminator.
Infiltration of Media by Alinsky Rules for Radicals
Submitted by lotr on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 1:04pm.
"Ridicule is man's most potent weapon."
"Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."
I present the above "journalism" as Exhibit A.
Yep
Submitted by telecaster on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 1:34pm.
Your right there Toure...I can never disprove my putative racism to people of your intellectual caliber....and so I don't try. Nevertheless, appraising people on the basis of skin color is rank stupidity....which is why you're stupid....because that's what you do....even with people of your own pigmentation persuasion.....it's always about color with people like you....whether you're black enough....whether you're authentically black....whether you sold out to the white man.....truly an enlightened way of looking at the world and guaranteed to strengthen the poison in the well of race relations in this country for a long time to come.
Millions of blacks have no chance for success because they've bought in to the victim mantra of the Sharpton's and Jackson's and Wright's and Farrakhan's; because they come from fatherless homes where they discover that their father couldn't be bothered to commit to their mother and the family, that they have no worth in their father's eyes; because they're killing one another over drugs and gang bullshit; because being diligent in school or displaying a degree of intelligence is frowned upon as "acting white" and if you do that your classmates might just beat you to death with a two by four....just some of the reasons you intentionally fail to mention. But, hey, you're the smart one.