Making ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Scandalous

Posted on | July 25, 2012 | 76 Comments

The English-speaking world shares a culture as well as a language, and the term “Anglo-Saxon” has long been employed as a shorthand designation of this culture, for good or ill. But use of the term becomes a shocking scandal when it is employed by Republicans:

As the Republican presidential challenger accused Barack Obama of appeasing America’s enemies in his first foreign policy speech of the US general election campaign, advisers told The Daily Telegraph that he would abandon Mr Obama’s “Left-wing” coolness towards London.
In remarks that may prompt accusations of racial insensitivity, one suggested that Mr Romney was better placed to understand the depth of ties between the two countries than Mr Obama, whose father was from Africa.
“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” the adviser said of Mr Romney, adding: “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have”.

Oh, how terrible: Acknowledging that our history and common culture creates a “special relationship” between the United States and Great Britain, our ally in both world wars of the 20th century. How awful that anyone would risk “accusations of racial insensitivity” by expressing pride in “an Anglo-Saxon heritage” that includes William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.

This is a dreadful scandal, you see, in the same way that practically everything any Republican does is interpreted as scandalous.

Ann Romney owns a horse? Scandalous!

Mitt Romney’s business made profits? Scandalous!

Democrats can engage in routine corruption, enact ruinous policies and leave campaign aides to die in submerged Oldsmobiles and nobody in the media ever blinks an eye, but anything done by any Republican is automatically a controversial scandal.

Category: Election 2012, Great Britain, Mitt Romney, Scandal

Comments

76 Responses to “Making ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Scandalous”

PaulLemmen
July 25th, 2012 @ 8:23 am

Of course the left will do this, their entire mindset is “Do what I say, not as I do”.
Their hatred of all things Anglo-Saxon is part of the Frankfurt School/Tavistock Clinic developed plan for the destruction of America from within by the incrimental imposition of Socialism until our society and nation implode.
Theodor Adorno would be so proud!
Adobe_Walls
July 25th, 2012 @ 8:53 am

We have every reason to be proud of our Anglo-Saxon heritage as should the other successful nations of the world. An international Anglo-Saxon organization would be an excellent replacement for our UN membership.
Ryan R.
July 25th, 2012 @ 9:31 am

Way to be tone deaf, willfully or otherwise. You really think Romney can run a campaign that endlessly pushes the idea that the first black President is foreign and un-American, then come out and say Romney is more a part of the “Anglo-Saxon heritage” and not have it be read by a huge portion of the electorate as Anglo-Saxon=White=Racist Dog Whistle(or Bullhorn)?

Oh, and the second comment’s suggestion of an “international “Angle-Saxon organization”… beautiful, just beautiful. Maybe they can wear pointy white hats. But you know, not as a racist thing. You guys know what politics is, right? Seriously, I hope the Romney campaign stays exactly this clueless right through election day.
Bob Belvedere
July 25th, 2012 @ 9:36 am

Indeed, it would.

It is the Anglo-Saxons who gave us such things as reevemen [now called ‘jurors’], Rule Of Law, free speech, etc.

If Anglo-Saxon Cultures are so bloody awful, why is it the ambition of huge numbers of people in the rest of the world to move to the Anglosphere???

One more thing: Unlike all of the other cultures of the world, the Anglo-Saxon-based ones allow easily anyone, regardless of race or ethnicity, to become a member.
Benjamin Couranto
July 25th, 2012 @ 10:03 am

Because Obama is foreign. He grew up in Indonesia eating dog meat, then spent 10 years mentored by communist anti American Frank Marshall Davis, then spent the next 20 years listening to the anti American anti white rhetoric of Rev Wright, while befriending terrorist William Ayers.

Show me where he’s not un-American.
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July 25th, 2012 @ 10:25 am

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Pathfinder's wife
July 25th, 2012 @ 10:27 am

While acknowledging that yes, our country is founded upon Anglo-Saxon culture, would it be too much to ask for us to not have a “special relationship” with any country…other than say, ourselves?

I am an American, not an Englishwoman West (or even Eurowoman West) — I’m sick of “special relationships”. Wasn’t that a concoction of that vile old schemer and wannabe king FDR anyway? Why are we still using it, and why are we allowing politicians to use it?
PGlenn
July 25th, 2012 @ 10:32 am

Let’s break down your comment:

“Way to be tone deaf . . .” Tone-deafness implies that the logic and substance of RSM’s might have been right (or wrong), but that RSM failed to take into consideration how some others might have interpreted and/or perceived those comments.

So, is your point to help RSM better reach out to people who might disagree with him, or to suggest that RSM is a racist? Obviously it’s not the former, though, because you hope that the Romney campaign “stays exactly this clueless right through election day,” meaning you want Romney (RSM’s candidate to lose); therefore, shouldn’t you applaud RSM’s tone-deafness, lest readers otherwise might fail to grasp that RSM (and Romney) is a racist? Isn’t tone-deafness the antidote to dog whistles?

“Romney . . . endlessly pushes the idea that the first black President is foreign and un-American. . . .” This is flatly false, so either you’re mistaken on this point or you’re a liar and probably “willfully” so. I’m guessing the latter.

What’s your evidence that a “huge portion” of the electorate will read Romney’s comments concerning the Anglo-Saxon heritage connection between U.S./U.K. as a racist dog whistle? I call b.s. Now, if you want to suggest that a small segment of leftsists/progressives/hardcore partisan Dems will read it that way, you’re probably right. But don’t they interpret much of what Romney says as being a racist dog whistle?

Yawn.
M. Thompson
July 25th, 2012 @ 10:35 am

Fear of the familiar strikes again. And the once nationally recognized as important cultural ties of the English-Speaking world are now the providence of a single section of our polity.
W. J. J. Hoge
July 25th, 2012 @ 10:38 am

While my ancestor William Hoge immigrated from Scotland in 1680, his ancestors didn’t move north from England until around 1610, and their ancestors didn’t arrive in England until 1066. So much for my Anglo-Saxon heritage!
Different Points of View, I Guess | Daily Pundit
July 25th, 2012 @ 10:56 am

[…] Points of View, I Guess Posted on July 25, 2012 7:56 am by Bill Quick Making ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Scandalous : The Other McCain Oh, how terrible: Acknowledging that our history and common culture creates a “special […]
TC_LeatherPenguin
July 25th, 2012 @ 11:08 am

I see from the Memeorandum thread that all the usual suspects are latching on to this as “proof” Mittens is a raaaaacist!; completely ingnoring that the article’s author was the one who brought the subject into the mix….
The Monster
July 25th, 2012 @ 11:23 am

This is a common Leftist tactic. Because they don’t believe in the core principles of Greco-Roman/Judeo-Christian/Anglo-Saxon (AKA “Western”) civilization, they are incapable of separating culture from skin color. They don’t understand how people can honestly believe that certain principles that the Angles and Saxons brought to Britain represent a superior form of social organization. Therefore, the only thing “Anglo-Saxon” can possibly mean is “white”.
rosalie
July 25th, 2012 @ 11:23 am

It seems to me that you are the one with the problem. The real racists see it everywhere. And if it doesn’t exist, they make it exist.
James Knauer
July 25th, 2012 @ 11:42 am

This is not a winning argument for ANY President.
scarymatt
July 25th, 2012 @ 12:24 pm

Sure, but there’s something you have to remember about what they say:

That’s not what they said.
Don’t KNow Much About History | hogewash
July 25th, 2012 @ 12:48 pm

[…] KNow Much About History Posted on 25 July, 2012 by wjjhoge Gasp! Some folks are seeing potential raaaaacism in a remark by Mitt Romney referring to America’s Anglo-Saxon […]
If All You See… » Pirate's Cove
July 25th, 2012 @ 1:02 pm

[…] blog of the day is The Other McCain, which provides some context on Mitt’s “Anglo-Saxon” […]
Adobe_Walls
July 25th, 2012 @ 1:29 pm

Any rational discussion of our first black president starts with the premise he is foreign and anti-American as a matter of objective fact and there is no need to pander to the nitwits and dingbats by pretending other wise. Nobody cares whether the aforementioned critters do or do not like the “tone” of statements to that effect. The Anglosphere epitomises the exceptionalism of western values which are waist,head and shoulders above the rest of the world in every respect, culturally, socially and governmentality. America in turn represents the highest achievement of Anglo-Saxon values particularly in terms of our founding documents and the Republican form of government they established which is superior parliamentary systems and is why we are THE exceptional nation we’ve become. If you detect a touch chauvinism, damn right and well founded it is.
The UN is merely an Islamic supremacist organization and serves no constructive purposes what so ever, it should be nuked.
Via Yiddi, Romney Campaign Never Said Anything About Anglo-Saxon Heritage
July 25th, 2012 @ 1:54 pm

[…] It was a put-up job, through and through, but that won't prevent the searchers for impurity of racial thought from actiing as though it had. Stacy notes that, even had someone said that, it might not be screech-worthy. […]
Bob Belvedere
July 25th, 2012 @ 1:56 pm

The idea of the Special Relationship probably started with the Federalists. And all who have touted it since were correct [Jefferson’s Francophilia blew up in his face].

The English-Speaking Peoples of the world share a common heritage and all of them are brought-up with the same core beliefs. We are unique in the world because of these two things.

We are the pinnacle of Western Civilization [aka: Christendom].

So it is not surprising that a special relationship would arise between such peoples in a world where the majority of peoples are not Anglos, and where said majority envy the magnificence we have achieved and their leaders seek to either enslave or destroy us.

When the chips are down, who would you trust to rush to your side: the English and Australians or the French and Germans?
Bob Belvedere
July 25th, 2012 @ 2:03 pm

Do not despair!

While the Normans may have spoken French, they were, by blood, Vikings [‘Norman’ meaning ‘north man’ from ‘Norse men’]. Therefore, you are Anglo-Saxon! Most people don’t know this.

They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_normans

[This is one of the main reasons the native peoples of England have the least DNA diversity of any peoples.]
PaulLemmen
July 25th, 2012 @ 2:31 pm

The truth is not in them …
richard mcenroe
July 25th, 2012 @ 2:52 pm

Stop blowing those dogwhistles so loud! I’m getting an ear ache!
richard mcenroe
July 25th, 2012 @ 2:53 pm

We should have pulled out of the UN the minute the dictatorships outnumbered the democracies.
scarymatt
July 25th, 2012 @ 2:59 pm

But that always been–ooohhhhhh….
richard mcenroe
July 25th, 2012 @ 3:04 pm

It’s racially insensitive to celebrate the achievements of our own ancestors.

It’s racially insensitive to point out the likes of Sharpton and Jackson evoking violence for their own profit, even to the point of innocents dying.

It’s racially insensitive to point out our public schools are turning out generations of illiterate, unemployable drones whose only reason to exist is as a rationale for the bureaucracy that looks after them.

It’s racially insensitive to point out there is one religion in this country with a unique license to abuse, censor and harass all the others.

In fact, it’s racially insensitive for us to say anything. Just sit down, shut up and be told.
Purusha
July 25th, 2012 @ 3:13 pm

What I really enjoy about this post is that we can see McCain’s spin in flagrante delicto. The Romney campaign comments were intended to slam Obama as anti-American, but McCain elides this in this blog-post. His readers should wonder why he hides facts from them.
richard mcenroe
July 25th, 2012 @ 3:21 pm

Because we alreadyKNOW Obie is anti-American?
Adobe_Walls
July 25th, 2012 @ 3:33 pm

Well Duh.
Pathfinder's wife
July 25th, 2012 @ 4:35 pm

When the chips are down the only country I care about is the U.S.
I really don’t trust anyone to rush to our sides — allies are great, and we should honor our allegiances when/if we can (if they aren’t suicidal for us), but ultimately it is the best interests of my country that I would like to promote.

This is in no way a slam on our Anglo-Saxon culture or the English language, or anything of the sort. I just care only for the safety and well-being of my country.

I kind of take the advice of George Washington: be a friend to all, beholden and afraid of none, and avoid foreign entanglements.
Pathfinder's wife
July 25th, 2012 @ 4:41 pm

….and ethnically I’m an American mongrel, so my blood loyalties are here.
Mortimer Snerd
July 25th, 2012 @ 4:42 pm

Of course BO is anti-American. That is patently obvious. I suspect you are too, so from your standpoint that’s a plus, right?
Pathfinder's wife
July 25th, 2012 @ 4:47 pm

I should probably clarify: and this means no bowing to foreign kings, dignitaries, and assorted muckity-mucks either! Disgusting.

Personally, I think America should stay on neutrally friendly (until proven advantageous otherwise) but distant from every other country (come on, they don’t really like us — they consider us their cast-offs — why try to be extra cozy with any of them? they are not our friends, for several reasons historically well noted).
Sjmuffler
July 25th, 2012 @ 4:58 pm

It explicitly implies that being American requires being white and of English decent in order to have contribute to the history. What a load of BS and even more so an insult to every non-Anglo Saxon American who defended England during the second world war.

The truth is that Mitt is in the UK this week because he can combine politics and visiting his horse in the same week of the Olympic opening ceremonies. This appeal to some definition of American being white Anglo-Saxon I’d insulting to being American…
scarymatt
July 25th, 2012 @ 5:06 pm

“Explicitly implies”?! No wonder you can’t understand what was actually said.
Ryan R.
July 25th, 2012 @ 5:15 pm

Oh, you guys are fun. I’ve actually never stumbled across this site before. The outrage! The martyrdom! Mostly I’m just amused that you guys seem so ensconced in your little right wing bubble that you’ve either stopped caring about actually supporting your candidate, or you’ve totally lost your ability to understand how non-conservatives might hear a quote (I honestly can’t tell which). Here’s a hint: if you had known how this would play and cared about Romney, you’d have spent your outrage demanding team Romney get it together and stop making such amateurish mistakes. If you still doubt this was a gaffe, just hit up your favorite news aggregator. After the giant list of articles about it, you’ll find articles detailing how the Romney campaign is furiously denying they ever said it.

You may now entirely ignore what I’ve written, uncritically believe the Romney team’s denials, and furiously accuse me of being a liar out to smear Romney as a racist. Go!
PGlenn
July 25th, 2012 @ 5:21 pm

That the U.S. and U.K. are linked by an Anglo-Saxon heritage is simply an obvious truth of cultural history. Countless times in the past, actually, leftist anti-“neo-colonialists” would point out this connection, although they did so for critical reasons (as RSM noted, the connection has always been acknowledged for “good or ill”).

Thus, what are the logical implications of this idea that certain truths are off limits to “Reich-wingers” because supposedly when certain phrases/thruths are uttered by those on the right, a certain portion of supposedly latent-racist listeners would automatically be affected by these “dog whistles” and then these rubes would know to go out and vote against the un-American non-white man (without the dog whistles, apparently, they’d either not vote or wouldn’t know who to vote for).

How many other words/phrases will be off-limits?

Anglo-Saxon, white, black, brown, American, foreign, Hussein, Barry, Barack (if it’s pronounced “Bahr-ook”), caucasian, color, minority?

Maybe the left/DNC/media can provide the Romney campaign with a handbook of acceptable words/phrases?
Ryan R.
July 25th, 2012 @ 5:21 pm

Wow. I invoke Poe’s Law.
PGlenn
July 25th, 2012 @ 5:37 pm

To Ryan R. (above): I’m amused by how illogical and idiotic you are. Most of the commenters on this site supported other candidates besides Romney during the primaries, but grudgingly will vote for him in November.

If Team Romney was misquoted in the Telegraph, was quoted accurately but the quote was provided by a low-level staffer, or they simply want to distance Romney from the “Anglo-Saxon” comment, so be it – that’s politics, brotha. I predict that this “gaffe” will get very little mileage, but you’re welcome to check back with me in a few weeks.

In the meantime, the reason we might sharply criticize the parties who’ve really been expressing “outrage” and “martyrdom” over this quote is not out of loyalty to Romney, per se, but because the idea that if one group says certain words/phrases/arguments, that’s fine, but if another group utters the exact same words/phrases/arguments, because of their associations therefore they are using “dog whistles” is disgusting and dangerous and should be opposed at every turn.

But then you’re so ensconced in your little left-wing bubble that you’ve either stopped caring how absurd you and your compatriots have become, or you’ve lost your ability to understand how non-leftists might think that people like you are nasty little pieces of work.
Red
July 25th, 2012 @ 5:40 pm

White envy 😉
scarymatt
July 25th, 2012 @ 5:53 pm

I know, right? How can one take a simple historical reference and call it raaaaacist.
Ryan R.
July 25th, 2012 @ 6:07 pm

Nice riposte. Point for scarymatt.

But I’m still calling Poe’s Law on Adobe_Walls for ending a diatribe of self described chauvinism with a call to nuke the UN… which is headquartered in NYC.
DaveO
July 25th, 2012 @ 7:50 pm

I’m only surprised that the younger generation can spell both “Anglo” and “Saxon,” but I suspect they had help putting the hyphen in there, otherwise they’d’ve created “Anglo-American” and “Saxon-American.” Which would have created quite a problem – are they protected minorities requiring mindless, soulless pandering? Or continued vilification for their lack of melanin?
richard mcenroe
July 25th, 2012 @ 7:55 pm

Win-win, some’d call it. Especially if Baldwin’s in town.
richard mcenroe
July 25th, 2012 @ 7:57 pm

When the tsunami hits, no one looks for the UN evaluation team. They look for the Navy and the USMC. And. We. Show. Up.
richard mcenroe
July 25th, 2012 @ 8:02 pm

Booker T. Washington didn’t speak Swahili. Frederick Douglass didn’t speak Ashanti. Sojourner Truth didn’t speak Aari.

Barack Obama’s family DID speak Aweer. Howzat working out for you?

Being white not mandatory. Speaking English just might be.
richard mcenroe
July 25th, 2012 @ 8:04 pm

My Dad was a “Saxophone-American”. He was a jazz sessions guy in his younger days.
Pathfinder's wife
July 25th, 2012 @ 8:21 pm

Well, seeing as how Britain and Germany (the historical jump off point of the Angles and the Saxons) have both declared war on my country in the past I’d say: I will trust but verify their butts.

Allegiances, sure; common culture — of course…but “special relationships” can lead us into trouble, so nuh-huh — don’t trust those.
MrPaulRevere
July 25th, 2012 @ 8:24 pm

I hope you’re getting paid to do this.