My highest bowling score was 283 and I did it with inch-long, bright red acrylic nails. Fuck you and your macho bowling, Matthews.

Who cares what sports these candidates are or are not good at? Personally, I want to see them doing the minimal that they need to do to keep fit and healthy, and otherwise have their heads down in their work. No daily cycling jaunts, and no early bedtimes before you understand what's going on in the world. To me, it's a good thing if they suck at bowling, or golf, or whatever.

who isn't terrible at bowling when you haven't done it in 30 years!!? to be good at something consistently takes practice. This guy is a complete idiot and he should be removed from his responsibilities. why are we allowing this person to have a voice? He doesn't speak for us, he speaks for his middle school aged friends.

This reminds me of an early Office episode - a show that is only funny as satire and not as real life.

The boss is choosing people for a basketball team so he picks the black man, who doesn't want to play, and ignores the woman and Hispanic man who do want to play (he won't let the woman be a cheerleader either, because she's not young and skinny. He tells the Hispanic man that he can be on the baseball or boxing team). Of course the black man is not very good and naturally the woman and Hispanic man are good. (I'm sorry, I don't know anyone's name!)

What the absolute hell? Is it racist politcal/money commenters day or something? I need a drink.

Why would he assume that Obama is good at basketball?

Possibly because he appeared on TV playing basketball last summer, although, yeah, it could also just be racism too.

I always want to punch Chris Matthews in the head.

considering this is the full quote:

"the fact that he's good at basketball doesn't surprise anybody, but the fact that he's that terrible at bowling does make you wonder --"

"Is black a bowling --"

" don't know, I guess everybody bowls."

kinda spells out that it is racism, not the televised bball playing from last year, which inspired matthews' comment.

why can't i get paid a shitload to be on tv instead of this brain-damaged piece of human sludge?

anyways, i always thought bowling was about how many beers you can get down, not how many pins you can knock down, but whatever...

Isn't it interesting that both lou dobbs and chris matthews are all of a sudden saying racist things?

I agree that this was disgraceful.

However... I'm getting kind of irritated with all the Obama pushing on this site (as well as the Hillary pushing on certain other feminist sites) lately, especially when half of it has nothing to do with feminism (which at least is something I can say for the Clinton posts). I know feminism and politics are entwined, but are posts like this necessary when they have nothing to do with his actual ideas on women's rights and issues? I get excited when I see a post from Feministing on my blog feed reader, but it's always a disappointment to find it has nothing to do with an actual interest in feminism so much as it has an interest in pushing a political candidate.

Spacecake beat me to it, but yeah Matthew is like Michael Scott only instead of it being a satire it's a real person which is just so FUCKING sad.

This is one time where I really don't think Matthews is being racist. I saw this entire segment and it was really just about poking fun at Obama for trying to bowl and not being the greatest-- the lighter side of the campaign if you will. If I remember correctly, it was a completely different person (for some reason I remember it being a black woman) who started to make the comment about whether or not bowling was a "black" activity/sport.
As for Obama being a good basketball player-- he has been covered playing basketball in the past and people often talk about the fact that he is a good basketball player (black or not).

racism is a feminist issue. The lives of women of color are affected by their race and their gender, and their identities are intertwined. By addressing racism in the media, even if it is addressed to a male, or a presidential candidate, we are addressing the issues of racism that exist in our society and hinder the lives of women of color and men of color.

nei: Pointing out the racism against Obama and the sexism/misogyny against Clinton is related to feminism. Feministing.com has made no formal endorsements of a presidential candidate but the blog is good at pointing out how sexist and racist statements are made about both of these historic candidates and highlights the problems our nation has with racism and sexism (not to mention all the other -isms). By saying that Obama is not "macho" enough is essentially questioning his masculinity, which is rooted in sexism. That if you aren't "man enough", you must be like a woman.

i think the comment says more about his view on race than gender. obama is known for playing basketball well in high school and also has played the morning of every primary. i got the impression that matthews can see obama's 'blackness' through his basketball, but that obama has failed to prove well at bowling which is perhaps seen as the 'white' sport. whatever the intent, its a ridiculous assertion.

i think the comment says more about his view on race than gender. obama is known for playing basketball well in high school and also has played the morning of every primary. i got the impression that matthews can see obama's 'blackness' through his basketball, but that obama has failed to prove well at bowling which is perhaps seen as the 'white' sport. whatever the intent, its a ridiculous assertion.

And what Femidancer said. :)

nei,

I don't see how this is "pushing" any particular candidate. All Samhita is doing is pointing out a really hideous example of blatant racism in the media ["this gets very ethnic"] along with a healthy dose of sexism AND homophobia ["the fact that he's terrible at bowling does make you wonder"], masquerading as political commentary. Read the full text -- Matthews goes on to explain that Obama's lousy bowling "makes him wonder" if O is "macho" enough. If this isn't appropriate subject matter for a feminist blog, then where does it belong?

[FYI -- There was a similar exchange on Scarborough Country over the same subject matter that somehow managed to be even MORE sexist and homophobic.]

Pointing this out is a criticism of the media, and shouldn't be interpretted as an endorsement for a particular candidiate.

"This is one time where I really don't think Matthews is being racist."

Matthews has proven he is a racist in the past. I would also argue that every white person is racist because we have grown up and live in a society where racism is institutionalized.

He was being racist, whether Obama played basketball in the past or not, but making a comment about not being able to bowl? Matthews is definitely connecting the stereotypes of: black man=basketball player, white men=bowlers.

The human body isn't identified singly by gender. Issues of racism, homophobia, classism, ableism, and more affect women and therefore feminism and I for one am pleased as punch to see more of these issues being brought to the forefront for discussion.

This is what amuses me...as far as I'm concerned..."macho" is an insult...

Consider the definition (dictionary.com):
1. having or characterized by qualities considered manly, esp. when manifested in an assertive, self-conscious, or dominating way.
2. having a strong or exaggerated sense of power or the right to dominate.
–noun
3. assertive or aggressive manliness; machismo.
4. an assertively virile, dominating, or domineering male.

Do any of these sound like a good thing to have in a president? Other than the masculine requirement...we could rename this "jack ass".

"I would also argue that every white person is racist because we have grown up and live in a society where racism is institutionalized."

Seriously? You would seriously argue that EVERY SINGLE white person is racist?

Yes, in the U.S. I would. I don't mean on a KKK level, I'm talking about institutionalized racism and white privilege that each white American must understand and deal with.

I agree with adminassistant. I am a white person, and I grew up with racist stereotypes and hatred all around me. They are a part of me that I am very ashamed of and that I realize are wrong, but that does not make them disappear. Not acting on racism and not saying racist things doesn't mean that you are not racist. All white folks (in fact, most people in general) are racist because our society/culture is a racist one. We can recognize that those feelings/beliefs are wrong, but they still exist in pretty much all of us, to some degree.

Oh, and Chris Matthews is an asshat.

In general, I recommend you all take a social psych class if you can (not being sarcastic- I'm being serious). It is true that most everyone has a schema in their minds about what constitutes a "white person," "black person," "man," "woman," "senior citizen," etc. That does not, however, make them racist, sexist, ageist, and so on because those labels actually indicate a negative (or in some cases positive) INTENT. You can choose to act on those schemas or not, build on them or not, accept them as your belief or not.

This is no longer part of the discussion, but I actually found Obama's terrible bowling really endearing. He's as crappy at it as me! It's obviously not something that would make me vote for him, and I'm not American anyway, but I feel like I'm in such good company now. The next time someone makes fun of my horrendous bowling, I'm going to be like, "Fuck you! Obama's bad at it too!"

Considering that racism is "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race", I don't think that you can make a sweeping statement that all white people are racist. Do we all have culturally reinforced stereotypes that we grew up with, and that we tend to reference? Yes, of course, it is impossible NOT to have those references. But that is vastly different than believing that race is the primary thing that defines you, and makes one person better than another. I'd say that many of us white people acknowledge the cultural issues, and actively work to change the culture.

I agree with Xana. I came to terms with a lot of that a couple of years ago whe I took a class called "civil rights, human rights"
I figured I couldn't have been racist because I boyfriend at the time was black, and my parents always taught me to be accepting. So I started out in this class figuring "Good thing I'm not one of those awful people I keep reading about." Then one day my professor gave us this quiz which made me totally rethink how I thought about race. Here is a similar one:
http://members.accessus.net/~bradley/albdriaa.html
I realized that I was part of the problem because I failed to realized just how much priviledge I had recieved from being born white. I also realized I was guilty of some of these situations, like thinking to myself that a minority who is successful was "a credit to his race." I've also been guilty of assuming some people only got certain jobs because of affirmative action. These were certainly some negative thoughts that contribute to our society's feeling of "white priviledge"

MLEmac - thats some Peggy McIntosh: http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~mcisaac/emc598ge/Unpacking.html

I kind of have a problem calling myself racist, as some comments above point out about white priv.

I think racism is intentional, and ignorance that causes racism is only intentional if one wishes to stay that way.

HA! Thank you Maeowin, I couldn't remember her name. That would have made my google search a lot easier.

I understand the discomfort of calling it "racism" when it is not a diliberate action keeping another ethnic group down, however I prefer to use that word because it is powerful. It wakes people up a lot more than talking of culturally sanctioned white priviledge and ignorance.

I don't think having white privilege is the same thing as (a) not being aware of it and (b) being racist.

If you're a little kid growing up in an all-white neighborhood, you'd have no reason to notice it. If you're surrounded by it and still don't notice it, I guess you might just be a racist.

But then, people are surrounded by sexism all the time and don't quite tumble to it. Remember Rev. Wright saying that Hillary had never had the experience of having her intellect ignored or denigrated even when she was the smartest person in the room? Not bloody likely! Every smart woman has had that experience.

Matthews is a racist, but he's also a sexist and a dickhead who gets his talking points from the RNC. There's already been some buzz around Obama being a good basketball player (wasn't he on a team in school or something?), but bowling is something most poor and middle-class kids have done, so most of us (regardless of race) know that 37 is an uncommonly bad score.

We don't usually see candidates up close enough to notice, but Obama is also very tall. Even tall white guys get jokes about how good they must be at basketball. If Matthews hadn't specifically mentioned race, it might not have been such a remarkable exchange. But, really, there doesn't seem to be much this asshole can say that would take him off the air.

Let me get this straight:

Don Imus gets fired for "nappy-headed hos".

David Schuster gets suspended for "pimped".

Tweety doesn't get any punishment for this kind of racist horseshit, or his misogyny aimed at Clinton. His comments are worse than Imus', since Imus runs a morning zoo comedy show, and is not taken seriously. Tweey heads up the network's election coverage.

Does he have video of the head on the network blowing farm animals or something?

Well I call bullshit. Saying every white person is racist is about as helpful as stopping oneself from using the term "cotton-pickin" on national TV. I doubt that anyone is going thank us for taking a neat college-sized quiz that points out how deep down, we're all actually very racist, and gosh darn it, society made us this way so have no choice or responsibility in the matter. Sounds more to me like self-deprecating, hand-wringing white guilt than actual proactivity, cultural awareness and self-analysis.

If Matthews had said Obama is known to be a good basketball player (from high school, campgain playing etc.) but bowling obviously is not his sport. That would speak to Obamas athletic ability. Although really who would still care?

But, Matthews' comments can't be taken as anything but racist. The "this gets very ethnic" and the "the fact that he's good at basketball doesn't surprise anybody" = black men are good at basketball. The bowling thing though really confuses me. Unless Matthews thinks Obama is Polish.

Bottom line Matthews is a dumbass that needs to be fired.

"Sounds more to me like self-deprecating, hand-wringing white guilt than actual proactivity, cultural awareness and self-analysis."

But is saying that every white person is racist because of our society mutually exclusive from proactivity, cultural awareness and self-analysis? I don't think so. Just as many white people aren't self-analytic on issues of race and justify it by saying they're /not/ racist.

nina:
I'm not sure what you're saying. "Mutually exclusive" means having no common outcomes-or that two things cannot occur at the same time. Calling all white people racist doesn't ask anyone to actively solve racism, it merely places perpetual and immutable blame and robs us of personal accountability and volition. So asking everyone to accept it as inevitable in ourselves leaves no room (or parallel outcome) for change.

Chris Matthews is indeed often an asshat (though he wrote some great speeches for Jimmy Carter, and his weekend show is the best politics show on TV). But I don't think he was being racist here, at least not in any kind of negative way. He admitted on Jay Leno that he is strongly for Obama for president. So if he sort of stereotypes him a bit, but is hoping for him to become president, is that really racist in any really discriminatory way?

Alan

I'm a black guy and I watch Chris Matthews/Hardball every day as well as his Sunday show. Maybe love is too strong a word to use in this case but I would say that Chris "loves" Barack Obama and really wants him to be president. This is clear from every show/discussion regarding Barack I've seen at least since Barack won Iowa. In fact, Chris just gave Barack the entire hour on his show as a part of the Hardball College Tour.

I was watching the show when Chris did the bowling/basketball discussion and as a black man I did not think it was at all racist. At the very least, I know it was not meant to be racist. We can always parse people's statements and find portions that could be regarded as offensive (if we look hard enough) but I think it's really important to consider what the speaker intended before labeling people as racist or sexist or any other "ist".

The fact is that Barack's basketball skills were discussed on Chris' show and other msnbc shows where Chris was a guest before this incident. Barack has been described as “a very good basketball player� by several guests before and after the “bowling incident� so the fact that Chris describes him as a good basketball player does not surprise me.

BTW, I believe it may have been on the same show where Howard Fineman of Newsweek said basically that Barack should forget about bowling and stick to basketball. Many people might see this as racist but I think they would be taking his comment out of context if they did.

My point (if I can remember it) is that in any kind of conversation, anyone can say something that doesn’t sound very good if taken out of context or if a person’s intent is not taken into consideration. We should be very careful before labeling someone.

Chris grew up in Pennsylvania and went to school all the way through grad school and never once had a black student in any of his classes. He left school and went to the south where he lived with a black family while he trained for the Peace Corps. He then went to countries in Africa living with and working to improve the lives of poor black people.

In addition, he’s spent a great deal of time on his shows trying to push serious and intelligent discussions on race and gender (much more time than I’ve seen on similar shows). Maybe he was in-elegant in the quote above but he’s not the only one and it clearly was not intended in a negative way.

I think Chris is a great guy and while I can’t see inside of him, I don’t think he has a racist bone in his body. In fact, out of 300 million Americans, Chris is one of the last people I would ever think is racist.

If for no other reason, I think this democratic contest between a black man and a white woman is great because it is giving all of us the opportunity, excuse, freedom…to discuss race and gender in a way most of us probably haven’t been comfortable doing before. Hopefully we’ll all be richer for the experience.

BTW, 37 is a bad score and Barack had a few gutter balls but this was not out of 10 frames, I believe it was 6 or 7 frames according to someone from the campaign and at least one reported who was there.

A brilliant senator is running for president, Matthews gets him on his news show and asks him about his bowling vs basketball skills? Obvious racism aside, why would any respectable journalist waste that opportunity? He's running for president, ASK THE REAL QUESTIONS!!