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I gave Lee Atwater a time machine [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-02-02
"You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘N****, n*****, n*****.’ By 1968 you can’t say that anymore—it hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like ‘forced busing’ and ‘states’ rights’ and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things, and a byproduct of them is, Blacks get hurt worse than whites.
By the 1980s, you’re talking about ‘welfare queens’ and ‘tough on crime.’ You’re pushing the idea that urban crime is out of control, that drug dealers are flooding the streets, that Black communities are inherently violent—all without having to say it outright. You push ‘personal responsibility’ to cut welfare, and you make sure everyone knows who’s supposedly abusing the system.
Then in the 2000s, you start saying ‘illegal immigration’ instead. Now, it's about ‘anchor babies,’ ‘sharia law,’ and ‘radical Islam.’ You can’t say the N-word, but you can sure as hell make ‘Chicago’ a scary word.
By the 2010s, it’s ‘Black Lives Matter terrorists’ and ‘cancel culture mobs.’ You can’t say ‘segregation’ anymore, but you can say ‘blue lives matter’ and push ‘stand your ground’ laws that just so happen to let white guys shoot Black guys and get away with it. You can’t say ‘disenfranchise Black voters,’ but you can talk about ‘election integrity’ and shutting down polling places in Black neighborhoods.
And here in 2025? Now it’s all about ‘DEI’ and ‘woke indoctrination.’ You don’t talk about keeping Black folks in their place—you talk about how ‘meritocracy is under attack’ and how ‘woke corporations’ are giving jobs to unqualified minorities. You don’t say ‘no Blacks in our schools,’ you say ‘ending CRT.’ You don’t say ‘no gays,’ you say ‘protecting children from grooming.’ You don’t say ‘no immigrants,’ you say ‘America First.’
And just like before, it works. Because it’s never really about the words—it’s about keeping the same system in place while making it sound respectable."
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