KFC Denounces Republican Group’s "Obama Bucks" Racist Slur
October 25, 2008 by Sean Kelly
Filed under Business
Activist groups love to denounce YUM Brands’ KFC for everything from not killing delicious chickens more politely before we eat them, to making us fat after we eat them.
Let’s see if anyone gives KFC a little credit for immediately lashing out against the racist propaganda called “Obama Bucks” distributed by a California Republican group named the Chaffey Community Republican Women Federation. The asinine graphic, which appeared in the group’s newsletter, depicts a phony foodstamp depicting Presidential candidate Barack Obama, a bucket of KFC chicken, a slab of ribs, Kool-Aid, a slice of watermelon and the words “Obama Bucks.”
A story in the Black Voice News Online reported that KFC demanded that the group responsible for distributing the racist material immediately cease and desist from further use or distribution of KFC images or trademarks. KFC spokesman Rick Maynard stated that the company has requested a public statement from the group “acknowledging that KFC had no part in the creation or distribution of this material.”
“It was just food. It didn’t mean anything else….”
According to the Black Voice News report:
Under intense pressure the group’s president Diane Fedele has agreed to resign and says she plans to send a letter of apology to her members and to make a public apology at the club’s meeting this week. Fedele did not respond to an interview request Monday morning seeking reaction to the latest developments.
She accepted responsibility for the October publication, which she created. The illustration was something she said she downloaded from a chain of e-mails and decided to re-print it. She said she wanted to deride a comment Obama made over the summer about how as an African American he “doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.”
Fedele told The Press Enterprise which first aired the story on its website she does not associate the food items with stereotypes about African-Americans.
“It was just food. It didn’t mean anything else. It was strictly an attempt to point out the outrageousness of his statement.”
She said she also wasn’t trying to make a statement linking Obama and food stamps, although her introductory text to the illustration makes a clear association between Obama and food stamps.
Read the whole story here: Black Voice News Online
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It was stupid to produce and disseminate the “Obama Bucks.” However, juxtaposed with the onslaught of myriad vile, petty, vicious, salacious, pornographic, profane, and sexist slurs that have been directed at Governor Sarah Palin by a diverse mix of ignorant journalists, pundits, actors, actresses, and other “nobodies,” Democrat and Republican alike, “Obama Bucks” is just an example of politics as usual … no better, no worse.
“Obama Bucks” is just an example of politics as usual … no better, no worse.
That’s kind of like telling all the people here who have been ripped off by scams or fraudulent investments that the loss of their life savings is just an example of business as usual… no better, no worse.
If we want fairness, we’ve got to demand it across the board, not just those we disagree with.
Sean is right! He comes from a good place, even though he felt he had to remove some postings recently from his website.
Unfortunately, the nasty attacks have been shown to work, especially for the ignorant, and those who manage the campaigns for the candidates really get nasty in the last month of the capaigns because the prize of the “Presidency” is ultimate success and power for the candidate and those who surround him.
Unfortunately, in my opinion, the Republican managers of the campaign decided to use Sarah Palin as an attack dog to try to inflict serious damage on Barack Obama. She and O’Reily(sp?) of Fox News have led a coordinated attack —but I like both Sarah Palin and O’Reily and all is fair is love, war, politics, and franchising.
I think the personal attacks on Sarah Palin are unfortunate, as well, but these have been attacks by media who use her as “product” to produce jokes because they don’t take her seriously.
However, does Sarah Palin really believe that Barack Obama is a terrorist because he served on an “education committee” with a Professor who was a terrorist in his youth? Does she really believe that his attendance at the Church in Chicago whose members would of course be interested in civil rights and the preservation of those rights is not understandable? As an old white WASP woman who grew up on the South Side of Chicago, I wouldn’t have any respect for Barack Obama if he hadn’t attended a church that was ministered to by an activist like Rev. Wright.
Ghandi, Rev. Martin Luther King, and Barack Obama have something in common. They all understand that the concept of justice and fairness is born into human beings. Look how far we have come in this country to champion “human rights” — Barack Obama has white genes and black genes and has lived in a white and black country that has become integrated in his lifetime. He brings an understanding of the underdog and the underserved and the underprivileged that Senator McCain couldn’t possible have because he lived so much of his life under the premise of white supremacy.
Senator hasn’t lived with the “special corporate interests” in Washington as long as Senator McCain has lived with them. I voted for Ralph Nader the last two times but if I have any sense that the Republicans could possibly win this election, I am going to cross over to Obama in the election booth.
Senator Obama could buy my independent vote if he would seriously look at Ralph Nader for the next Attorney General of the United States. Now, this would be democracy at its best.
Carol
Sean: You draw a false analogy. Sophomoric ads inserted inside an organization’s flyer and the character assassination of a perfectly decent woman and her family are not “like telling all the people here … [etc.].” Political sparring has impact on elections. The people elected have direct and vicarious impact on the citizenry. We, the citizens, strive to siphon through the flyers, slogans, effigies, speeches, & spin to decide for whom we should vote because the outcomes will affect us. However, if we vote for the wrong person or the person we didn’t vote for gets elected, AND then our taxes are raised and interest rates reach 21% (for example), we cannot bring any legal action against the incumbent, can we, for raising our taxes & interest rates?
Anyone who is the direct victim of a specific fraudulent business transaction has standing in that specific incident and should strive to be made whole.
Do you mean to say that someone could sue the Republican women for … what??? Should Governor Palin sue the down stream media for … what???
Which “people here who have been ripped off by scams [etc],” are you referring to? Don’t tell me the Colonel’s progeny have smuggled the secret recipe onto turkey … I mean, in to Turkey.
Even carol cross who believes that our system of Democratic Capitalism is the root of all franchisees’ woes agrees with me:
“… all is fair is love, war, politics, and franchising.”
And by the way, Miss Pedagogue says “hello.”
carol cross: I do want to respond to your comment, but I have to drink some Kool-aid and get my tin foil hat on first.
Later.
I will respond to Carol, Feminist.
First of all, Barack Obama grew up in Hawaii where he went to private prep schools and where he live with his grandparents. His grandmother was VP of the Bank of Hawaii in Oahu. Sorry dear but that isn’t poor. It is true that William Ayers did the bombing when Barack was 8 HOWEVER Barack was not 8 in 2001 when Ayers proclaimed that he wished he had done more….he and Barack worked for years together. Ayers launched Baracks (career for the Senate) in his living room….their relationship is a whole lot more than casual. As for Rev Wright…have you listened to any of the videos that are out…..he hates this country….the Obama’s have been members of his church for many years….so….with that said, I think that we should be really careful and yes we have reason to question who he really is and what he really stands for. I don’t belong to any party, I just listen and read. Right now I’m reading one of Barack’s books and I’m not feeling any better about him. Please be careful when you vote….really think about what you are doing.
Misdirection. Guilt by concocted association. Nice trick, short term.
They actually duped the entire country into attacking Saddam Hussein for 9/11 while letting Osama bin Laden run free. There are still people who think Saddam was responsible. God bless their ignorant, prejudiced little votes.
Long term, how’d that work out for us?
However, Barack Obama is not above the same tactics. He’s been running ads showing Keating5 member John McCain not only associating with known domestic terrorists, he claims McCain has voted with one more than 90% of the time!
I don’t belong to any party, either. Eight years ago, I would have voted for John McCain but somehow in these last eight years, I have lost faith in his judgment and his ability to control his ambitions. He is a Patriot and a fine man but he did vote with his party 90% of the time and his party, who now wants to blame the Democrats and Senator Obama for the present CRISIS in our country, has brought great pain to our country.
Sarah Palin is a fine woman, a good Mother and Wife, a good Governor of the State of Alaska, and smart —but not smart or experienced enough to be the President of the United States, in my opinion —which is a reality the voters have to confront. She is a direct result of John McCain’s ambitions to be President and an illustration of his sometimes rash judgments.
I’m with Sean and Colin Powell on this matter. I think Barack Obama offers the country what John Kennedy offered the country —-HOPE —and he is a graduate of Harvard and he is educated and articulate and not as “stained” as Senator McCain, in that he hasn’t had the opportunity to learn from a “Keating5 Episode” and he doesn’t yet have seven houses and thirteen automobiles, and he has had life experiences that will help him identify with the average American and their American dreams.
But, of course, in our “politically correct” country, there is dishonesty out there that is carried over into the media. Race will be an issue for many. Barack Obama with his mixed genes is still a “black man” under the law and we are not a fully integrated nation and the suggestion by the Republicans that Barack Obama will try to spread the wealth to “poor black people” and “poor white people” at the expense of the middle class is a dirty tactic, but it may work for the Republicans –who often sincerely believe their own lies.
There are some who say that it IS the middle class voters who keep the rich “rich” and the poor “poor” under democratic Capitalism.
But, Barack Obama can buy my vote if he will look at Ralph Nader for the Attorney General of the United States!
I think I will wear my old Ross Perot Tshirt to cast my vote on election day.
Makes you wonder why the fact that Ida Elizabeth Stover was a mulatto didn’t affect Eisenhower’s election. (She was his mother.)
I guess the racial smear goes back all the way back to Jefferson, who was described by a political opponent as the “son of a half-breed Indian squaw and a Virginia mulatto father.”
Mercifully, they didn’t have to suffer endless TV commercials and direct mailings in those days. Easier to tune out a broadsheet.
Interesting photo of Ike’s parents:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08036/854713-51.stm
Feminist writes: Sean: You draw a false analogy… Anyone who is the direct victim of a specific fraudulent business transaction has standing in that specific incident and should strive to be made whole.
The analogy was more than a bit contorted… so I’ll be more direct.
In my opinion, Americans need to start returning to a greater sense of basic principles of fair play and honesty. That means ending the dirty tricks and BS on your own side… even if it furthers the cause you believe in.
Any intelligent person knows that this Ayers/Obama connection is complete BS and the Republican side needs to end the Carl Rove swiftboating crap if they want to restore the faith in their party. They can get some cheap votes by preying on fears, prejudice and ignorance… but even those on their side know they’re abiding scumbag tactics. Like him or not, Obama is putting his life on the line to try to lead the country. Just yesterday they stopped some inbred skinheads who planned to kill him. It doesn’t get more patriotic than to put yourself in harm’s way when you could be raking in millions in private practice.
Here’s the connection to the franchise industry… Most franchisors and franchises are honest enterprises with well-meaning founders, execs and staff. But the industry looks the other way and lets bogus statistics, unrealistic portraits of franchising be put forth and allows some predatory franchisors operate unimpeded. For the most part, they don’t want to damage franchising’s image.
It’s time for people to say that allowing blatant lies to go unchallenged just isn’t OK – whether it furthers your cause or not.
Dream on, Sean. There’s lots of talk right now about how people want authenticity in their ‘leaders’, but I find that what they primarily want are people who agree with them.
Authenticity, i.e., truth and honesty, are what they demand from the other side, but winning is what they want from their own.
Put in old fashioned language, the end justifies the means and I don’t see it changing any time soon.
Fear, hate and intolerance are worse than I’ve seen them during my lifetime (which isn’t all that short:).
Our country has been polarized by ideology on both sides, but far more from a rigid, monolithic Right than from a more ideologically diverse left.
Miki:
I think the monolithic right is more adept at it, as most are not slowed up by the self-delusion that they are unbiased and ethical. Except for the religious extremists, who believe all they do is ethical, being the chosen ones and all.
But the left abides so much nonsensical crap they have castrated themselves (IMHO).
Being anti-business is a form of prejudice, too, and hurts a lot of people.
Like allowing PETA to attack small business owners (franchise owners) with their inane and ridiculous protests. Now they want Ben & Jerry’s to make their ice cream from human breast milk (someone tell me this was a joke) to save the cows.
Can’t both sides get together and just tell PETA to shut up? Boycott Pam Anderson and any other supporter of these psychos.
It’s immediately acceptable to sue McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, etc. for whatever reason) because they are successful companies and international brands. The fact is that these are attacks on small business owners (franchisees) and everybody with a lawyer willing to take it on contingency is lined up to sue.
Both the left and the right are making litigation attorneys rich because both sides – left and right – are extremely adept at justifying their greed and prejudice.
Here’s some funny leftist socialist propaganda by people supporting those who frolic with domestic terrorists:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq8Uc5BFogE
WASSUP?!
I have to agree with Miki and Sean, both!
I think the extremes of the Left and the Right work their harm against the good fiber and the culture of our country that is more and more built on one value —the value of the dollar and how many of them you have, and what you can buy with them to feed your five senses and your ego. Right now the value of the dollar is being questioned by the World.
Is the message and goal of secularism and capitalism, that so often negates and undermines our spiritual values and beliefs, really the answer to World prosperity and World peace? Or, is secularism the answer to the maximization of profits in a world economy for the global capitalists?
The “duopoly” that Ralph Nader talks about actually serve the same special interests, the big banks and investment houses and the insurance companies and the corporate “powers that be” in this country. One man, one vote, can’t protect democracy when our Committees in the Congress are are routinely bought by lobbyists for these powerful groups, or routinely educated and brainwashed to the corporate point of view.
Real “little business” is not what is going to be what pulls this country out of a recession unless more little business is conducted within this country in the form of manufacturing, etc.. The global economy means that “money” will move wherever there is money to be made with cheaper labor because money and profits have no national borders in this new world. Retail franchising is not going to save our economy but the IFA and the ABA use the job numbers from franchising to have their way with the Congress and the Regulators.
The ABA and the CPA’s who helped to develop the questionable financial products and the laws these past thirty years also shared in the great profits made in these last 30 years from betting into the future with other people’s money.
The ABA works with the special interest groups to manipulate and corrupt the law to serve the special interests —-and especially in franchising. Commercial law that is divorced entirely from fairness and decency, as is demonstrated in franchising, undermines the democratic principles upon which this nation was built,
Now! we have socialized banking, a kind of corporate welfare, because the government knows we will have anarchy if they don’t rescue the dire situation, and if they let the pension funds fail and Americans suffer in great numbers from another great Depression.
Whomever (or is it Whoever, Sean?) wins this election will have terrible problems to face that can’t be solved overnight. If Warren Buffet and Colin Powell think that the Democrats and Barack Obama have the better chance of trying to solve these great problems, I’m listening.
But, I would still feel more comfortable if the next President of the United States would break from tradition and appoint Ralph Nader the next Attorney General of the United States. Ralph would really give these Fat Cats who have been stealing the country a hard time and maybe we would have a government that would work for the people if a few of those same fat cats did some jail time. Also, the Independent Voters in this country would be given a voice.
Even the Independents should have a chance to be extremely “adept at justifying their greed and prejudice” (as Sean says) and be able to join the left and the right as the “middle” in free and democratic Republics.
OBAMA WON!!!!