Congress
Republican Congressman Geoff Davis (not kidding — that’s his real name) of Kentucky has apologized to Barack Obama for referring to him as “that boy“:
According to a Lexington Herald-Leader blog item, Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Ky., said Saturday that he had recently participated in a “highly classified, national security simulation” with Obama, and said that exercise showed that Obama can’t be trusted to make difficult decisions.
“I’m going to tell you something: That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button,” Davis said. “He could not make a decision in that simulation that related to a nuclear threat to this country.”
Geoff Davis, who was elected to the House in 2004, hand-delivered an apology to Obama’s Senate office that said:
“My poor choice of words is regrettable and was in no way meant to impugn you or the your integrity,” Davis wrote. “I offer my sincere apology to you and ask for your forgiveness.”
No word yet whether Obama has accepted the good ol’ boy’s apology.
Topics: Congress
How SWEET it is!! Especially after hearing all of the mouth-breathing, repub, half-wit, in-breds ranting how calling a black man “boy” is not racist down south! Unbelieveable! Choke on it, southern repub cretins!!!
In the south it is common to call every male, “boy” or “son,” race notwithstanding.
I don’t know, Bob. In my part of the south and depending on the context, them’s still fightin’ words. Yes, your waitress who might be 10 years your junior will call you “Hon.” And yes, some old corndodger can refer to a younger man as “son” as a way to show amity. But for a white man of the same age as a black man to refer to a black man as a boy in the third party — especially in a phrase that says essentially, “That boy doesn’t know what he’s doing” — is not good.
And for the record, we’uns down he-yah don’t consider Kentucky to be the south, ya’ll.
i called the office of mr davis and told them i was appalled that mr davis would refer to a man who has the level of community service and education of mr obama as “boy”.
i was born and raised in the south, and custom (arrogance) is no excuse for the basic disrespect of one legislator to another.
this regionally acceptable behavior has held us back too long it has to be called out.
You libs out there need to get over yourselves. Geoff has no reason to apologize. His statement was entirely accurate and appropriate. I know him and his family personally, and I can say with great confidence that there is not a racist bone is his body. Anyone with a brain knows that Geoff’s statement was a commentary on Obama’s relative youth and utter incompetence to discharge the office he seeks.
Isn’t it interesting that Obama, whose comments were far more incendiary, demands and expects a pass for his words, or at least an opportunity to explain them away, yet he is quick to crucify Davis for far less? Obama and his surrogates ought to hold himself to the same standards that he applies to Davis, but of course that is unthinkable to the liberal mindset.
Senator Obama is 46, Representative Davis is 49. If Geoff Davis is not a racist, then he displayed more “utter incompetence” as a politician and public figure in that one statement than Obama has in a lifetime. (In fact, in light of the past eight years of Bush, his heckuva job cronies and their corrupt enablers in the Congress, you rightwingers should avoid lecturing us “libs” on competence altogether.)
Although this story so far hasn’t made big news, it is a big story. If you can’t look at those words, and understand how disrespectful that is, then you might need to take some racial sensitivity classes. When i moved to the south, I had a police officer say “Boy, you can bowl.” Now, when he said it, I had to think about it hard. He said Boy, pause, you can bowl. He wasn’t demeaning me, but complimenting that I can bowl. What the congressman said was demeaning.