Abhi Tripathi of Sepia Mutiny will attend and liveblog from the Democratic National Convention in Denver next week. Since a desi guy in a button-down shirt and khakis will most likely be mistaken for IT support staff, Manish Vij of Ultrabrown helped Abhi design t-shirts, which Abhi will sport at the convention. You can see all designs here and ORDER THEM HERE (more coming), but I want to point out two that may amuse my Louisianan friends.
The reference for the above design is available here.
I love the placement of India (the outline of which sorta resembles Texas) alongside Louisiana. “India Louisiana bhai bhai!” Which leads us to the next t-shirt design of relevance:
All Louisiana netheads should get this reference, especially since our very own Jeffrey broke the news way back in 2003 and The Daily Kingfish has covered it since.
The Mutiny could try sending some shirts to Obama and see if he will wear them. After all, he did just tell a gathering of South Asians in San Franciso that he considers himself one of us.
“Not only do I think I’m a desi, but I’m a desi,” he said, using a colloquial term that describes South Asian immigrants. The remark was greeted with laughs. “I’m a homeboy.”
… To applause, he said he became an expert at cooking dal and other ethnic dishes, though “somebody else made the naan,” the trademark Indian bread. “Those are friendships which have lasted … for years, and continue until this day,” he said. “I have an enormous personal affection for the people of South Asia.”
Surely a far cry from McCain who probably thinks a Desi is Lucille Ball’s Spic husband.
“You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. … I’m not joking.”
Joe Biden – April 2008 quote…imagine if McCain or another Republican would have said that – can you imagine how outraged the papers and pundits would be? Joe Biden (Democrat) got no blowback.
Joe Biden will help because he is very knowledgeable on Pakistan and is close friends with Indians and Pakistanis here and abroad. As you well know, relations with Pakistan is a time bomb for both India and the United States, an issue much more important than a throw-away comment about 7-11s and Dunkin Donuts in Delaware.
I don’t make an issue about his throw-away comments either – frankly I wish our politicians were as un-PC as the rest of Americans for a change – I’m just making the point that if a Republican would have said it it would have made news and libs would have made him out to be an ignorant racist…
“Surely a far cry from McCain who probably thinks a Desi is Lucille Ball’s Spic husband”
John McCain has never made any ill comments toward Indians, hasn’t shown himself to be ignorant on the subject, and yet he still gets accused of being ignorant with statements like this. I think a man who has an adopted daughter from Bangledesh knows what a Desi is.
One thing I can’t stand about the media (and the left in general) is how they paint Republicans to be ignorant and racist, with nothing to back it up (like when Obama says “they (as in McCain) are gonna make you afraid b/c I’m black” ).
Given Barack Obama’s threat last year (in one of the debates) to invade Pakistan without the country’s permision, it will be good to have someone on his ticket that has actually dealt with foreign policy before and balance out his “neo-conservatism” on this issue…
Conservative people in general, not just in America and even those with PhDs, tend to be more bigoted and condense issues down to those of culture, religion, etc. It is the nature of conservatism – staying within cultural and class confines, not trusting other groups, a sense of cultural hegemony and superiority. Even conservative Asians do this.
While Cindy McCain adopted Bridget in Bangladesh and didn’t tell John about it until she came home with the child, it was the Republicans in 2000 (led by Rove and Bush) who started a smear campaign against McCain that Bridget was actually McCain’s illegitimate black child, that she was the child of a black prostitute. This ignorant and racist act on the part of the Republicans was one of the two main things that cost McCain that primary (the other being another smear campaign that questioned McCain’s Vietnam experience). It also made little Bridget really upset to the point of asking why the president hates her.
Then, there are Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms, Absolute Bastions Of Knowledge And Racial Equality, who are revered by the right. I can’t think of anyone as heinous as them on the left.
As for Obama’s statement on the invasion of Pakistan, yeah well, he voted for domestic surveillance, too. *sigh* He isn’t perfect, but simultaneously and I don’t endorse invading any country, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are alive and well in Pakistan and what is actually happening and has happened in Iraq for the last five years, which has actually left us less safe, is a far cry from where the battle could be, i.e. in Pakistan, where DUH the terrorists who masterminded 9/11 actually are. Yet, this administration is friends with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. And, seven years later, where’s Osama? Isn’t that what started this whole thing?
Politics makes strange bedfellows. Quite honestly, I never thought I’d see Obama and Biden on the same ticket. And my candidate for president is Russ Feingold, senator from Wisconsin. I like Ron Paul’s ideas on some topics, too. But, you play with the cards that are dealt; right now, mine are Obama and Biden.
It’s all good Maitri – I’m just saying I get pretty sensitive when a) people unfairly bad mouth the oil industry and 2) Republicans get called racist (in so many words).
McCain has run a clean campaign, unlike Hillary. He has never brought up race, unlike Hillary, and when it has happened with someone affiliated with his campaign (twice back around the Rev Wright deal) he let those folks go.
Yet still Barack, and his Zombie like followers in the MSM, play the race card.
I swear you can’t say Obama has very little experience ( = true statement), hasn’t accomplished anything of note as far as passing legislation/working across the aisle (= true statement), and has had some pretty radical associations (= true statement) without being painted as a racist (in subtle ways).
For all the bad things one can say about mccain, he has served his country with honor, he has accomplished a lot in the Senate, he is not afriad to oppose his party (no matter what the consequence), and he works across the aisle (McCain Feingold, McCain Kennedy, McCain Lieberman to name a few).
As far as Obama’s stance on Pakistan, don’t fret, I’m sure he’s changed his mind by now…
BTW – Red Dres run was a blast!
No one runs clean campaigns, no one. Not even McCain. It’s the nature of the beast. I respect the fact that you want to vote for McCain based on your system of values and how he is in line with that, but that doesn’t mean he is to be revered over and above anyone else in the running. So, Fox News / WSJ (which is also part of the MSM) talking points about McCain’s age, experience and military service are just as egregious as “Zombie” comments about Obama:
– I’m older than you, does that make me have more political spectator or voting experience? People the age of Obama with little congressional experience aren’t prepared to lead? Well, they should change the age and experience requirements for becoming president in the constitution then. Age and experience are such straw man arguments. Don’t forget that there is such a thing as experience which teaches you nothing. But, if he has so much experience, what was with this gaffe on Iran and Al-Qaeda? I’d rather have someone in office who knows the difference between Shiites and Sunnis.
– Also, McCain may have served his country with valor (no questions about that unlike the Bushies who have questioned his military service), but what has McCain done for the troops lately? He voted against the Webb GI bill, he has repeatedly voted against funding the VA for medical services and against safety equipment for our troops in the field, he voted against a healthy amount of down time between successive deployments and more.
– He may not be afraid to oppose his party but he had time to pose for photos with George Bush and birthday cake on August 29th, 2005, when a hurricane thrashed the Gulf Coast and New Orleans was flooded.
Again, I respect the fact that your values are not in line with Obama’s, but that doesn’t make McCain a good or honorable man for the sake of voting conscience.
Look, for every ugly story you throw out about McCain, I can raise you an ugly, hypocritical story about Obama. Like how he has a half-brother in Africa living on $1 a week or how he preaches about leveling the playing field and self sacrifice, yet only gives <5% to charity (compare to John McCain who gives 25% – which is par for the course given that the top 25 most chartible states are “red states”). Do some research on how much more as a percentage of their incomes Republicans give than Democrats and you will be surprised. FOr every terrible vote you throw out about McCain I can throw a terrible vote out about Obama
McCain is far from a great candidate, so is Obama. McCain doesn’t jive with a lot of my values, Obama jives with a lot fewer. I am voting for the lessor of two evils.
As a future parent of a mixed race child, I was very much inspired by Obama’s story and words…a long time ago he was even in contention for my vote. But his comment on capital gains tax (i.e. raise it for “fairness” even though income to the fed gov’t will drop) and his comment to elitist San Francisco liberals about small town American’s are the reason he lost my vote for good…my small town dad clings to his gun when he hunts every weekend during hunting season b/c that is his past time and that is his heritage; my mom clings to her religion b/c she is a very strong Christian; neither have “antipathy” toward people who don’t look like them…despite of their 1950’s small town upbringing. I grew up in a small town with people of 4 different races and there is far more racial harmony their than in cities dominated with a more Democratic presense (like New Orleans).
Thank you for giving me a place to express my views and opinions (of which I have many)…maybe my next post will be about America’s education system and about how the 10 cities with the highest poverty level for the last 40 years have been exclusively run by Democrats…
At the end of the day we can agree to disagree and still be civil right? Thats one of the many things makes this country great
Don’t worry – you won’t get any objection from me regarding education, because American education in general, public or private, falls way below the mark when measured on a global scale. As I commented on this post over at Pistolette’s, I will never send my kids to public schools in this nation as the system is now, but I also think public education is worth investing in as a matter of national importance. If the country doesn’t see educated children as the globally-competitive leaders of tomorrow, we are in trouble.
That said, my own husband and some other friends are the products of quite mediocre public school educations in Republican-controlled parts of Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio. (It was their natural smarts that saved them!) So, whether Democrat- or Republican-run public schools score high depends on how much money they have. Traditionally, cities, i.e. urban centers, with high poverty levels have inner cores that have suffered white flight to the suburbs. The people who represent these majority black and poor constituencies, with high rates of drug use, incarceration and low access to medical aid, are black and white Democrats with little money in terms of federal aid. I don’t know of any Republicans representing these downtrodden folks. So, what plans do the Republicans have for the entire way of life, not just education which is a result, of poor people in large cities? I mean, other than introducing intelligent design in the classrooms and nominating a man with seven houses?
Of course, we can agree to disagree and still be civil. Being civil and debating people is what this blog is all about, otherwise I would not have a comments section.
Thanks Maitri, I definately don’t want to get on your bad side b/c you are my second favorite Indian girl in the city :)
Public schools aren’t great, but they ain’t that bad either (I know, I’m a product)…50% of the problem is parents (or lack thereof). I dont have data at my disposal, but I know Washington DC public schools were speding something like $15,000 per pupil and still had one of the worst education system in the country…throwing money at it ain’t the answer.
The second problem – worry about offending the dumb kids (harsh, but true)…now a days you gotta make everyone “feel good” and they end up neglectingthe good students and spending too much time with the ones who just don’t care (again, I went to public school).
Lastly, I am afraid that my 401k will tank in the future b/c we won’t be able to keep up with other countries, where their kids are kicking our butts – one big reason is that they go to school 220 days or more per year vs us going 180 or so days a year.
You think the teachers unions would go for 40 more work days?
I read an article in the Houston paper this morning about teachers are giving kids too much homework now a days, not letting kids be kids…talking about they should bring no more than 30 minutes a night. Unreal.
Parents – only reason I did good in school was b/c if I got a B on an easy test – they were disappointed, if I got a C, that was my ASS. Nowadays, by and large, parents either just don’t care or they always take up for the kid no matter what. Scary future, and education is why.
PS – Komi and I had a 3 hour conversation with a dude from California on Friday night. I can now officially say I met an actual card carrying member of the ACLU. It was fantastic.