[Deleted by editor]

For those interested, the link to the Washington Post.

A lot of folks in this country, especially Georgia, may still feel about Obama much like Huck Finn's father felt about...blacks, as described by Mark Twain in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Why, looky here. There was a free nigger there from Ohio -- a mulatter, most as white as a white man. ....hey said he was a p'fessor in a college, and could talk all kinds of languages, and knowed everything. And that ain't the wust. They said he could vote...was just about to go and vote myself if I warn't too drunk to get there;...the country may rot for all me -- I'll never vote agin as long as I live..

Evidence of the last six years makes one wonder if America has advanced all that much since Mark Twain wrote those words.

I grew tired of Ms Quinn over a decade ago when she appeared on TV stating that the "reaaly important" didn't attend the inuaguration balls. Her impression seemed to be that only the riff-raff were in attendance. Thus it is not suprising that she doesn't feel that she "knows" Barack Obama. In all honesty Ms Quinn could have come from anyplace in the country and still have her elitist attitudes. Georgians have the misfortune that Quinn's parents were in their state when she was born.
Ms Quinn is just a MSM elist. She is the female version of David Border. Mr Broder felt that the Clinton's sullied his city, although he is able to tolerate an inept, arrogant and corrupt Bush administration. Perhaps if the DC madam identifies many GOP members as having utilized her agency's services, Broder will feel that the city has been damaged again. Ms Quinn, like Mr Broder did with Clinton, may feel that an Obama administration means that the "right people" are no longer in charge.

And isn't everyone in Savannah offended no matter what she intended by that reference?

Well, I'm across state from Savannah and I wouldn't say I was offended...more like embarassed by its stupidity.  And Ms Quinn is from Savannah as W is from Texas or Al Gore from Tennessee.  It is just one of many occasional homes.

Sally Quinn is beyond parody.

Her 1998 cri de coeur will be read by future historians as Exhibit A of everything that was wrong with the Washington Establishment during Monica madness.

The woman seems to have no self awareness. The bigger scandal is that the Washington Post publishes her. OK, her husband used to be a hot shot editor at one time. But that was decades ago. Nepotism needs to end sometime.

CVille Dem,

I can only guess why your post was deleted. It is not like people don't know about Ms Quinn's "reputation".

BTW, one of the reasons Sally Quinn and her friends cheered on Bush in 2000 was because they personally knew Bush's inner circle and felt comfortable with them. Colin Powell was a Sally Quinn coctail party regular, "one of us" in Quinn's vocabulary, just like she called Kenneth Starr "one of us".

My guess is Sally Quinn and her coctail friends will cheer on John McCain in 2008. He is part of her coctail set. If McCain falters Quinn and her friends will probably cheer on Fred Thompson, another DC coctail party favorite.

Nah; it's Obama all the way. No Smith girl can resist a tall, slim Cantab who reminds her of her glorious youth.

Ellen you are selling Smith girls short. Obama is an airhead by my estimation. Way too scripted.

Don't you get it?  This is not a story about Obama.  This is a story of Sally Quinn and her fabulous vacation in Brazil, and how she sees other people, like for example, Obama.

Jan

Jan, You didn't call her a stringy-headed ho, did you?

Okay, sorry...there's just some kind of creepy elitist, white guilt running through Quinn's article. I loved this line- Whether you see him as black, white or opaque, Obama will be the face of America.

I haven't read much of Quinn's writing, so don't have the same apparent reflexive negative response. And what's with not including the link, Mr. Hundt? I think that's an internet faux pas or something, isn't it?

Ellen's point is a good one, though, in all of the negative reaction. It may be worth noting that Quinn's observations and attitudes are not as elevated and enlightened as the members of this august panel, but may be more closely aligned with the voters out there who will actually make a difference in the next election.

And what's wrong with calling for the identities of the people around a major candidate for president, perhaps now the front-runner? Accountability cuts both ways. And I'm an Obama supporter. I think the country needs to know as much about his and his campaign as possible, because it will only help.

Observing that race still matters is not the same thing as saying that race should matter. It is simply an observation of reality. But I can't help but feel that the excitement around the Obama candidacy is fueled by the growing awareness by the great Middle that the issue, race, that has caused more heartache than any other may be finally addressed and put on the road to irrelevancy. That's a very hopeful trend, to me. And that's at the core of the Quinn article. So what? 

I think the point about Quinn complaining that she doesn't know who the people are who advise and support Obama is that she could know these things--they are not hidden or secret. She could Google.

Or, since she works for a world-class newspaper (in terms of resources) she could use any of several expensive search services most of us can't afford to access.

It was a silly statement for a leading employee of the WaPo to make.

Unfortunately, it seems to be a trend among MCMers* that looking things up, calling to confirm information provided by others, etc., is just too much work.

That's all.

*MCMers--Members of the Mainstream Corporate Media.

Quinn's column is very stupid, and shows how cloistered she is, and how self-indulgent, but at least she is trying to confront her own racism. Contrast this with, for example, Rush Limbaugh's repeated attempts to slur Obama and make him a laughingstock, and other less blatant remarks among the punditocracy. I'd say she earns a D+ rather than an F.

When we think of "thugs" we tend to think of "not nice people." You know, people who don't eat at the restaurants we do, don't dress like us, etc.

But some thugs and their enablers look absolutely smashing in pantsuits. Some thugs have newspaper columns and attend all of the right parties.

I don't know whether Sally Quinn is a thug. Apparently I am supposed to care what one racist on the payroll of the WaPo thinks as opposed to 150 million racists throughout the South and in greater parts of the North than self-righteous Northern liberals would prefer to admit. I don't know that she is actually worse than Marty Peretz and his Big Apple blatherings over at The New Reactionary.

What gets me is the sheer stupidity and classism of Quinn more than her racism; the racism is a commonplace in America, and is the "nice cheerful end" of the reason why Obama now has Secret Service protection in May, according to reports. But the laziness of her assumption that if his advisers are not already in her rolodex, he is nobody, is just the latest drip-drop of the tiresome Beltway Dukes and Duchesses who seem to drink, chat and commit adultery within their own class, like the British aristocracy without the horses. They - Cokie, George, David, the lot of them - should be thinking more about the Jacobins sharpening their (metaphorical) guillotine blades.

I'm an Edwards supporter, (although I like Obama), but I have to admit that I may enjoy an Obama nomination just a bit more knowing that the Sally Quinns out there will be all in a kertuffle NOT THINKING ABOUT RACE.

-Dave Adams-

I have to admit that I may enjoy an Obama nomination just a bit more knowing that the Sally Quinns out there will be all in a kertuffle NOT THINKING ABOUT RACE.

Hilarious.

Thank you.

In truth Obama is the anti-racist candidate. The Reverend Al Sharpton's instincts have not failed him.

Best, Terry

Sally Quinn seems to have become the Paris Hilton of the Beltway cocktail circuit.

(shrug) It's just white folks on their continual quest to *be* racist without *looking* racist.

And as usual, what enables it is the "good whites" who comment on it as though it's a *new*, singular phenomenon, rather than what it truly is - viz. par for the course.

Racists, and their enablers - it's a powerful 1-2 punch.

What is Sally Quinn's job? It's supposed to be, I think, to be informed where the rest of us aren't and to inform us. Instead, she's playing with the old "Who is Barack Obama, really?" theme that's getting kind of annoying.

As Reed Hundt pointed out, there's been plenty written about Obama and his advisors that should tell you who the man is. Not to mention that Obama has written a few books himself.

The media keeps playing up this "Who is Barack Obama?" question as if he just emerged onto the political scene during this election.

It's B.S. He's not an unknown. People were talking about him as a presidential candidate back when he was running for Senate. There's a lot of ink and pixels out there about Obama.

Now, to ordinary people who are only now paying attention because he's a credible primary candidate the "Who is this guy?" question is entirely legitimate. But it's Quinn's job to answer the question, not to reinforce the question. Any journalist or pundit who wants to help the newly interested reader out is right to do so. But do the work. Don't pretend there's a mystery because there isn't one. Anyone could do enough research to say, "You might have had other things on your minds before but now you're wondering who Barack Obama is... here we go..."

thosethingswesay.blogspot.com

Oooh, editor, editor! Get that delete key warmed up!

Isn't this the woman who is married to Bradlee? You know the guy who was friends with the Kennedy's? Or am I thinking of someone else?

That column needs to be filed under the
- inadvertantly hilarious -

"Hey, when I see Obama I dont feel like grasping my purse and crossing the street! I am sooo not a racist anymore!"

Somebody give her a cookie.