Chris Rock on the '08 elections

Al Gore: Not retarded 2

Chris Rock, in this week's issue of Life, on the '08 elections:

LIFE: In the first movie you directed, Head of State, you were president of the United States. Is this country ready for an African American president?

ROCK: It's ready for a retarded president, why wouldn't it be ready for an African American president?

LIFE: So, of the current presidential contenders, who do you like best?

ROCK: I like Al Gore, actually. (A) He's more qualified than everyone that's running on the Democratic side. (B) If he won or didn't win, he has an agenda to help people and make this a better world. ... Maybe Barack will win, but I probably won't see a black president. There's real equality when you don't notice [race], you don't even talk about it. I probably won't live to see that.

Kate Sheppard is Grist’s political reporter.

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  1. DarkFaculties Posted 4:39 pm
    15 Mar 2007

    The instinct to classify . . .. . . is fundamental to the human mind, which means that as long as our eyes can distinguish between earth tones, race will continue to be salient. It's unfortunate, but if you look at the fates of recent black electoral candidates (Lynn Swann, Michael Steele, and Harold Ford Jr. come to mind), there does seem to be a bit of a colored-glass ceiling in this country. So CR is probably right, but right now I'd settle for a reality-based president only slightly less in hock to corporate interests than the one we have now.

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  2. Delay And Deny's avatar

    Delay And Deny Posted 1:55 am
    16 Mar 2007

    Let's Be Race Blind

    Yes, let's be blind to race in this election.  For example, people never mention that Rudy Guiliani would be our first Italian-American President.   Why?  I have contacted the Chicago Tribune on this slight, and they hemmed and hawed.
    I think that we should treat all candidates equally, and not give less credit to someone because he's Italian-American.



    The Texeme Construct offers international text memetics construction and textcasting services. http://www.you-read-it-here-first.com

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