Friday, August 05, 2011

Ol' Ivan Offers a Refesher Course in Bubba

U.S. Rep. Mike D. Rogers  (R-Ala) says of Barack Obama: "We survived Jimmy Carter … we can survive this ol' boy."  The Opelika Auburn News is not impressed. "Rogers needs to apologize for what we hope was a momentary lapse in judgment. We find his comments to be offensively disrespectful. Our president is nobody's 'boy."

Ol' Ivan, Underbelly's crack Alabama bureau chief, uncharacteristically comes to Ol' Mike's defense:

 Rogers did not use the expression “boy” in referring to Obama, which is as insulting as using the “N” word. He used the express “ol' boy” as in “that good ol boy may be dumber than a log, but he knows catfishing.” Or,  “that ol' boy aint got the sense that gawd promises a billy goat.” In other words, “boy” by itself is racist but “ol' boy” or “good ol'boy” has nothing to do with race. Used here, it says while I disagree with Obama, we’re “ol' boys” or really “good ol' boys” in this political world together, though on opposite sides.

PS – If Rogers had the sense that God promises a billy goat he would have tacked a “bless his heart” onto his comment. You can say anything about anybody in da souf so long as you include a “bless his (or her) heart.

3 comments:

dilbert dogbert said...

Buce,
Bless yo heart.

Anonymous said...

actually before i wrote my explication i checked with a friend in huntsville, alabama, former legislator, retired judge, democrat, and he told me my analysis was correct.

Ebenezer Scrooge said...

I'm sure that our genial host is right. (Our genial host is always right, except when he isn't.) But give "ol' boy" a pass, we'll soon start to hear "ol' BOY" and variants thereof. Never underestimate the politicians' capacity to dog-whistle.