Limbaugh: Elizabeth Warren is ‘Heap Big Squaw Indian Giver’

By David Edwards/Raw Story

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Thursday referred to Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren as “Heap Big Squaw Indian Giver,” confirming that he would continue to provide ammunition to critics who accuse him of being both racist and sexist.

Speaking on his radio program, Limbaugh noted that a group of Democratic senators had written a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) asking to delay a medical device tax that was passed as part of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

“Elizabeth Warren, for example, she gave her whole-hearted approval to Obamacare,” Limbaugh explained. “Now, she is one of the senators that wants to take that back.”

“She’s an Indian giver,” he ranted. “Yes! I intended to say that! Elizabeth Warren, Heap Big Squaw Indian Giver!”

During her Senate campaign earlier this year, Warren faced criticism over a claim that her mother was part Cherokee and part Delaware Indian. At one point, Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) staffers mocked her heritage by shouting “war whoops” and doing the “Tomahawk Chop” at a campaign rally.

“It is those types of actions that perpetuate negative stereotypes and continue to minimize and degrade all native peoples,” Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation Bill John Baker said in September. “We need individuals in the United States Senate who respect Native Americans and have an understanding of tribal issues.”

Listen to this audio from The Rush Limbaugh Show, broadcast Dec. 13, 2012.

Palin Uses Slavery-Era Phrase To Describe Obama’s Libya Response

 By Hayes Brown/Think Progress

Former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin has a new Facebook post out, accusing President Obama of lying to the American people, using language deeply entwined with America’s Jim Crow past.
Titled “Obama’s Shuck and Jive Ends With Benghazi Lies,” Palin’s piece lays out how in her mind newly revealed emails concretely prove that the Obama administration has lied about the Sept. 11 attack against a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya:

We now know that the State Department sent an email to the White House, the Pentagon, the FBI and others in the intelligence community about this Islamist group claiming responsibility. And yet for days afterwards the White House and State Department led everyone to believe that the attack was the result of a spontaneous protest over an obscure YouTube video that had been uploaded months prior. Anywhere from 300 to 400 people from the administration and our intelligence community would have seen that email. Why the lies? Why the cover up? Why the dissembling about the cause of the murder of our ambassador on the anniversary of the worst terrorist attacks on American soil? We deserve answers to this. President Obama’s shuck and jive shtick with these Benghazi lies must end.

Palin’s title and final sentence show an extreme insensitivity to the racial history of the phrase. The concept of “shuck and jive” originated in the Deep South, as a term that referred to the overly subservient language that African-Americans used towards whites. Blacks, during the time of slavery or the Jim Crow segregation period, could shuck and jive to either put on the illusion of doing work when being watched or to feign obedience to those in power. While the phrase has morphed over the years to mean something more bland, akin to “acting facetiously,” the connection between the President’s race and Palin’s phrasing can’t be overlooked.

Man At Romney Rally In Ohio Wears Shirt Saying "Put The White Back In The White House"

Andrew Kaczynski/Buzz Feed

RNC Delegate Offended By Presence of ‘Mexican’ At Disney’s Epcot Center

By Aviva Shen/Think Progress

During a trip to Epcot at Disneyworld, Pennsylvania delegate Mark Harris and his wife were shocked and offended to find a Mexican employee working at the amusement park’s American pavilion, which showcases the different cultures in the United States. According to the couple’s blog, Harris complained to staff that he was “highly offended” that a “person from Mexico” was working in the American pavilion when other nations’ pavilions were staffed by people from each respective country:

The local GOP in Snyder County, Pennsylvania has rushed to disavow Harris’ overtly racist comments. County Commissioner Malcolm Derk told The Daily Item, “Americans are people of any race, color or heritage. Cheers to the individual working at Epcot for showing what a true American looks like.”

According to their website, “Mark and Irene are both pro‐life, believe marriage is between one man and one woman, are for open records and transparency, believe in very conservative principles and the Republican platform.”

The RNC has been marred by racist incidents this week; on Tuesday, two delegates had to be escorted out after throwing peanuts at a black camerawoman and called her an “animal.” Harristold the AP at the beginning of the convention that he liked how Romney was “hitting all the conservative bells” and “has the potential to be a great president if he keeps going in that direction.”