Mitt Romney seems to be putting his foot in his mouth at every turn this week, giving Joe Biden a good run for his money. First Romney insulted the Brits with a remark about a less than stellar start up to the Olympics. He was able to walk that one back in time, it appears. The Mayor of London did make fun of him, but Oh Well….. Then he waded in up to his ears by saying something about shared “Anglo-Saxon heritage”. The Democrats went ballistic. Anglo-Saxon heritage? What gives?
Well, not to chose sides but what do we call it then? This country was founded by people from England. the Pilgrims, the Puritans, the Jamestown folks led by Captain John Smith were all Anglo Saxons from England. I heard it my entire life and no one bothered to tell me that it was now politically incorrect to speak of Anglo Saxons. What should be be calling them?
Someone had better straighten me out real fast because I have been told I was mostly Anglo-Saxon my entire life. They meant from the British Isles, I know. Obviously, the Anglo Saxons don’t think the expression is wrong. Don’t we Anglo Saxons get to chose what we want to be called just like everyone else does?
Arthur David Millers thinks I should probably already know:
This isn’t about liberals/conservatives, left/right or Democrats/Republicans; it’s about being dumb or smart during a tough and closely fought campaign. Anything that talks about Anglo-Saxons in the politically charged campaign world is truly dumb. Regardless of where this comment stands on the offensive scale, it reinforces the exclusivist, little richie-rich elite image of Romney world.
Politico: The Arena
My family wasn’t elite nor were they rich. Far from it. Up until the time of the Civil War they were farmers, millers, and the patriarch kept a tavern. Nothing fancy. After the Civil War, most farmed for food but they weren’t farmers by trade. Yet they were Anglo Saxons and didn’t hesitate to tell you. They were proud of their heritage in much the same way anyone else would be proud of their roots and their heritage. I think I will have to side with Mitt on this one until someone can explain the error of my ways. I think I have fallen into some sort of “Anti-Other” trap.
Dewey Clayton thinks worse of me than the other guy:
The use of the phrase “Anglo-Saxon heritage” is an example of racial code words and should be offensive to everyone in this country. In 1955, in Money, Mississippi, Emmett Till was murdered by two white men for allegedly “talking fresh” to a white woman. The two men were ultimately charged with murder. At the end of trial, the defense attorney said to the all-white, and all-male jury, that “Your fathers will turn over in their graves if [the two defendants are found guilty] and I’m sure that every last Anglo-Saxon one of you has the courage to free these men . . .” I don’t think that the White House “jumped” on these comments but I think they were right to respond to them. If these comments are true, there is absolutely no place for racism to rear its ugly head in this presidential campaign.
That comment, at least to me, is sort of over the top. so some one mentions Anglo Saxon in an unflattering way in 1955 and I get stripped of my heritage? Well, half heritage. I have a bunch of Celt in me also with the Irish ancestors. There is some French and some Swiss.
So what’s a vintage Virginia girl to do? Where are our genealogists to help me out? For the record, President Obama very well could be just as much Anglo Saxon as I am.
Just to add more confusion…the Angles and the Saxons were from Germany and way before that they were out of Africa. Now if you want to claim a heritage from the British Isles, stick with the Picts, Celts and Gaels (who also were out of Africa originally). I think this country in its present state is still one largely Northern European in culture and morphing slowly (through the successive waves of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America) into a homeland that shortly will not find any value in knowing where your distant relatives once lived at one particular period in the distant past. Claiming some sort of magical power or Devine guidance by being Anglo-Saxon or any other long-ago tribal grouping is fun and a parlor game in a modern setting.
I can find no fault with the shared Anglo-Saxon heritage thing. Yes, it’s more complicated than that, don’t forget the Danes. It is as good or bad as any other characterization. What really turns me on here is the fact that the Democrats, whose very stock and trade is taking advantage of (and really abusing) “minorities” are mad about what he said. This is the kind of mad that I, for one, would like to foster until those who are mad lose control of their bodily functions. I know this, I’m looking forward to the opening ceremonies tonight.
By the way, Prof. Dewey Clayton is a scholar the same way Obama is a scholar. Suuure.
NO one has sent me to the naughty corner yet! Whew.
Slowie, behave!
I don’t know if you’ve ever seen any of the Mr. Bean movies, but so far Romney has been like an American version of Mr. Bean … a bumbling goof who without knowing better leaves a wake of destruction wherever he goes. Now that he’s insulted and infuriated our number one international partner (those Anglo-Saxons with which he has such a close kinship), I can hardly wait to see more of his deft diplomacy in Israel and Poland: if can manage to insult his Brit kinfolk, just think what he can do in countries with mainly Jews and Poles.
Meanwhile, we’re still in awe of the One, who gives an ipod full of his worthless speeches.
” I will transmit this information to Vladimir”
Everyone is out of Africa if you go back far enough. Anthropologists have traced the origins of humanity to a group in Southern or Eastern Africa that migrated through the Middle East and spread out in Europe and Asia.
In more recent history, and by that I mean the last few millenia, my ancestry is primarily from the UK, but mostly Celtic. I’m mostly Welsh and Scottish, and have very little Anglo-Saxon in me. We’re still waiting for our reparations from the English for enslaving us and stealing our lands.
London newspaper headline this morning: “Mitt the Twit.”
@SlowpokeRodriguez
And yet they love him. Sorta makes you want to pull your hair out, doesn’t it, Pokie?
I still haven’t been sent to the naughty corner.
I guess its a real deal breaker to know that Obama is very much anglo saxon. I mean the guy did have a mother! the Irish also love him!
THIS will get me sent to the naughty corner!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xkw8ip43Vk
There’s no one as Irish as Barack Obama!
@Morris Davis
Oh NO!!! Mitt the Twit. Geez. Plus the women should hang him.
He is trying to be all cool and not really admit his wife is in the Olympics. I honestly think he thinks it would be showing off. It isn’t. Mrs. Romney is in her 60’s, has MS and is in the Olympics. Granded, its in a prissy sport that very few people can afford or know much about but still. He should be proud of her and brag.
BTW, I don’t think his people really said that Obama wouldn’t get the Anglo saxon connection. I never believe the Brit press.
@Moon-howler
Obama is half Irish. That makes him Celtic rather than Anglo-Saxon. Be careful, Moon. The Irish and the Celts can have tempers and don’t like being called English (mostly Anglo-Saxon).
The Irish do love Obama. He visited once and was treated like a king (fitting his self-perception). They think of him as O’bama. Here’s an idea – maybe they’ll take him for their President and we can elect someone who will get job creation going again. If he wrecks Ireland’s economy worse than it already is, they can just take a bailout from the EU like Greece and Spain.
@NTK,
I have no idea how they ever tell what’s Anglo Saxon and what isn’t these days. I have never gotten into all the invasions. Frankly Scarlet, it bores me.
Now being a Lucy descendent, that’s another matter. Who has had their DNA tested? My brother did and therefore, so did I, by default.
@Need to Know
He is part Irish and part English. I am part Irish and part English. So far my DNA hasn’t blown up. 😈
I heard Elena say she was thinking about declaring this place Obama country.
Oh spare me the bullshit about Obama not saving the economy. It could have been far worse. I keep waiting for those teahaddists who promised us jobs before the 2010 election to come through. They knew all the answers. Where are the solutions?
@Moon-howler
Hard to get anything done with Obama and a Democratic Senate obstructing and still trying to put everything under government control.
Hard to get anything done needing a super majority and that Congressional house of ignorance.
O’Bama is 3.1% Irish according to ancestory.com
Obviously not all of us will vote the same way. However, I don’t want to annilate Mitt Romney. If I didn’t vote for Obama I would vote for Romney.
He is just too conservative for me. Its those women’s issues.
@Moon-howler
Only 3.1%? That surprises me. When he went to Ireland I recall the media and Obama claiming much more Irish than that. I wonder if the Irish know about this?
I am only quoting what ancestor.com said. They could be dead wrong. His great great great grandfather came over in 1850 or thereabouts. Lucky them. They didn’t miss the Civil War. He GGGGrandfather was 19. He came with his sister and her husband. The dude had 10 kids and one of his daughters was the gggrandmother. It traces down through his grandfather I think. Now that might be that one grandfather.
I would guess most of us are pretty diluted by the time you get down to an ancestor who has been here for a while. My husband is 25% Irish but his grandmother was off the boat as a baby. She married a 100% German immigrant, also off the boat. So that gets him up to 25% German. Then he gets the Scots and the English on the other side. That’s the part that gets real diluted and who was who gets sort of obscured because they have been here 3 centuries.
I have mentioned this many times but if he choses to go to the trouble and expense, he can claim Irish citizenship. It is not transferrable to the kids so he probably won’t bother. I would make him do it if he would get a brogue to go with it.
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-do-an-irish-accent (pardon the commericial)
I will have him practice this.
I’m sticking with Mitt-for-Brains
Stop making me laugh!!!!
You could go further and do worse than Mitt for Brains.
Busy day making challah, taking kids to target to my Rachael a pre treat for getting two teeth pulled, back home, making soup, soon to be off to piano.
I miss ALL the fun around here!
Slow, you remind my of my husband who redeem himself constantly with his quick humor!
You have missed no fun. That is all I can tell you.
Excellent idea! And, while you’re at it, this place could use some redecorating (as in some new artwork). Here’s a suggestion: http://uswgo.com/wp-content/uploads/HLIC/66cd793e94d4759365550837ace3a089.jpg
Why would we chose to put up something that most people would consider irreverent and in poor taste?
Tracing my family line jumps “the pond” to the England, Scotland, Wales, the Great Gail. Have a cousin who spent time tracking it to Normandy, and decided it got to complicated. All that can be found is the family came over to England with William the Conqueror.
My cousin gave up since the Normans were the ancestors of the Vikings who had invaded Europe and then decided to stay in that region.
Yea, it gets a little complicated about who raided whom.
That DNA thing my brother did seemed like a big waste of money also. It was a gift. It told us pretty much what we thought anyway.