Racist Rep. Lynn Westmoreland Backpedals, Gets Dumber

10:01 am EST September 7th, 2008 | Republicans | 18 Comments

This has now gone past ridiculous to surreal. Lynn Westmoreland is now saying he didn’t know “uppity” was a racial slur. He apparently has been living under a rock for… all of history.

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18 Responses to “Racist Rep. Lynn Westmoreland Backpedals, Gets Dumber”

  1. Just John says:
    September 7, 2008 at 11:30 am

    ?
    Jay wouldn’y even try that line!

  2. jr says:
    September 7, 2008 at 11:37 am

    the 8th District needs to vote out this David Duke

  3. C.S.Strowbridge says:
    September 7, 2008 at 11:43 am

    I agree with what has been said previously in this subject. The only way you don’t know calling a black person ‘Uppity’ is a racist term is if you are so racist you can’t recognize it anymore.

  4. anotherbozo says:
    September 7, 2008 at 1:59 pm

    Didn’t remember this dullard until Stephen Colbert re-aired his interview. I caught part of the re-run. Wasn’t he the one in favor of the Ten Commandments displayed in federal buildings? Colbert asked him to name them. He couldn’t name even one.

  5. Syco says:
    September 7, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    Well in his eyes uppity is only racist if nigger comes afterwords.

  6. Vanessa says:
    September 7, 2008 at 7:32 pm

    I didn’t know that uppity was a racial slur. My husband and I watched the Colbert clip a few days ago and he was shocked. I thought that it just meant “snob.” Perhaps it should be noted that (even though I’ve held US citizenship since I was a baby and I was schooled in US history by both my parents and teachers) I’ve spent most of my life in Canada and I came to live in the US only 4 years ago. Maybe it is an American phrase? Or maybe I’m completely ignorant…

  7. Bruce says:
    September 7, 2008 at 7:57 pm

    The adjective “uppity” describes exactly one noun in the American language. And both “uppity” and its referent noun are used widely in Georgia. So this man knew exactly what he was doing; he even repeated the slur for good measure.

  8. John J. says:
    September 7, 2008 at 8:13 pm

    Usially the word “uppity” was followed by “nigger” and that was followed by a beation or lynching.

    That fool knew what he was saying, he grew up with that word, who the hell is he kidding?

  9. John J. says:
    September 7, 2008 at 8:13 pm

    OOPS1…(beating)

  10. (: Tom :) says:
    September 8, 2008 at 8:23 am

    Just in case you haven’t seen this yet:

    This morning I called Westmoreland’s office:

    Them: Good morning, Congressman Westmoreland’s office.

    Me: Good morning, I would like to make a public comment.

    Them: Yes, sir, what is your comment?

    Me: I would like to compliment Congressman Westmoreland on his comments yesterday about Barack Obama. We need more people like him to call a spade a spade. You crackers in Georgia must be very proud.

    Them: [long pause] Sir, there’s no need to be insulting.

    Me: I’m sorry, but how did I insult you?

    Them: There is no need to call me a cracker.

    Me: I’ve never heard that term used in a derogatory sense. It is important to note that the dictionary definition of “cracker” is “a thin, crisp biscuit.” That’s what we meant by cracker when we used it in the city where I grew up.

    Them: Well, that’s not how you meant it.

    Me: Oh, so what you’re saying is that you don’t like being called names. Now you know how it feels.

    Them: [another long pause] Sir, I have to take another call.

    I found it by way of Calpundit. Thanks Hilzoy!

  11. Stan says:
    September 8, 2008 at 10:49 am

    I grew up in the South (still there, sorta: South Florida)and I can’t ever remember hearing “uppity” applied to anyone EXCEPT blacks. We were all rednecks, BTW– and “cracker” was a compliment, not an epithet (it wasn’t a synonym for racist, though.)
    I’m sitting here, trying really hard to remember….nope, it was always about someone black. Mostly during the civil rights era.

  12. Sean D. Martin says:
    September 8, 2008 at 11:28 am

    Bruce: So this man knew exactly what he was doing

    Westmoreland? I find it hard to believe the man has sufficient brainpower or reason to EVER knows what he’s doing.

  13. Mike says:
    September 8, 2008 at 1:35 pm

    I grew up in upstate NY, hardly a hotbed of racism…and I knew EXACTLY what he meant. Westmoreland is such a low-life.

  14. WTF says:
    September 8, 2008 at 1:50 pm

    How again is this racist?

    From Websters

    : putting on or marked by airs of superiority : arrogant, presumptuous
    — up·pi·ti·ness also up·pi·ty·ness noun

  15. Quaker in a Basement says:
    September 8, 2008 at 1:57 pm

    The adjective “uppity” describes exactly one noun in the American language.

    Two, actually. The one you’re thinking of, and “woman.”

  16. Quaker in a Basement says:
    September 8, 2008 at 1:58 pm

    Lynn Westmoreland is now saying he didn’t know “uppity” was a racial slur. He apparently has been living under a rock for… all of history.

    Even if he had been literally “under a rock” for all his life, this explanation would still defy reason. In Georgia, you can’t turn over a rock without uncovering a life form that talks this way.

  17. Parthenon says:
    September 8, 2008 at 2:17 pm

    How again is this racist?

    From Websters

    How exactly does ‘cool’ describe ‘good’ and not temperature? Or how does ‘hot’ describe ‘physically attractive’ and not temperature? Or how does ‘dish’ describe ‘meal’ and not the plate?

    Because social context matters, and occasionally de facto metonyms don’t make the dictionary. Some words just belong to racists. That’s just how it is. Westmoreland is either a racist or startingly ignorant of his region’s linguistic heritage.

  18. Duros Hussein 62 says:
    September 8, 2008 at 2:31 pm

    You wanna get pedantic around here, WTF, you gotta step up your game considerably.