What’s With Joe Biden And Dunkin’ Donuts?
July 6, 2006 at 3:30 pm
The left’s not pleased with this Joe Biden crack:
“You CANNOT go into a 7-11 or a Dunkin Donuts without an Indian accent.”
Were they equally angered when he said this about law enforcement officers:
“if anybody is going to find a terrorist about to put sarin gas into the heating system or cooling system of the largest mall in Little Rock, AR, or in Savannah, GA, … it is going to be a local cop on his way from a Dunkin’ Donuts shop.”
Patrick Taylor said,
July 6, 2006 @ 7:02 pm
My God it is clear to me now. The democrats have a jackass as their mascot and with Biden, Clinton, Gore, Kennedy, Boxer et al making comments like this well….If it looks like a jackass, acts like a jackass and now speaks like a jackass…it must be a democrat….!!!!
Charles Lattan said,
July 7, 2006 @ 7:20 am
“Homer! Stop stealing squishees and change the expiration dates on the dairy products!” — Quick-E-Mart founder and managing general partner Apu to Homer J. Simpson in the “Simpsons” episode when Homer takes on a part-time job at the convenience store.
Desert Fox said,
July 7, 2006 @ 7:38 am
C’mon guys, lighten up. Biden is an idiot, but not because he made an off-key joke. Let’s pick our battles wisely. This is pedantry.
Craig said,
July 7, 2006 @ 7:44 am
I don’t Biden’s comment is a big deal really. Lots of convenience markets are owned and run by people from India — that are here legally. Of course if a Republican had made the comment then the media would be rebroadcasting it everywhere, and there would be a general frenzy of activity in Congress with everyone calling the Republican a racist. So I think we should be calling for Biden’s resignation…
Peter Roff said,
July 7, 2006 @ 7:59 am
I just wonder who said it first — Neil Kinnock? Tony Blair? Hillary Rodham Clinton?
Dave Thomas said,
July 7, 2006 @ 12:46 pm
The people of Delaware may soon be doubly blessed; the crown prince, Beau Biden, is running for Attorney General of the state.
Richard R said,
July 7, 2006 @ 9:54 pm
If it weren’t for the blogosphere kerfuffle about this, I never would have gotten the joke. Out on my part of the left coast, all the donut shops are owned by Cambodians.
JorgXMckie said,
July 7, 2006 @ 10:46 pm
It’s hardly surprising to find hard-working immigrants of any kind working in businesses where you can franchise or lease for a reasonable cost and make a profit by using the hard work of your family. It’s a tried and true formula for success, especially when coupled with an insistence that the children in the family get as good an education as they can. In fact, working in the family’s business is a great way to further your education. It involves hard work, being on time, working with money and numbers, being precise and efficient. That is, it does if you want to make it.
In my area a lot of 7-11s and gas stations are franchised or leased by Jordanian immigrants. Same story. Personally, I like them and admire them. I have had the fathers in my graduate classes and the kids in my undergraduate classes, in one case simultaneously. We also have quite a few Indian and Pakistanis who run small businesses.
Too bad some of our native citizens don’t show the same drive.
Jason said,
July 7, 2006 @ 10:50 pm
Man, does that guy love Dunkin Donuts or what?
Dusty said,
July 8, 2006 @ 2:09 am
I had the same thought Jason, above, did. I wonder, though, if Biden is testing out some product placement scheme no one has thought of yet.
Jabba the Tutt said,
July 8, 2006 @ 3:44 am
I figure the Dems make Indian jokes, because the Indians, especially the small business owners, probably vote for Republicans. They don’t make lawyer jokes, that’s for dang sure.
The Monster said,
July 8, 2006 @ 10:49 am
Jorg, I’ve seen this firsthand at a Chinese restaurant. I saw a girl sitting at a table away from where the customers were being seated, doing her homework. There was no doubt in my mind that some of her elder family members were working there, and occasionally checking up on her to make sure she got that work done (no doubt before she put on an apron and helped with the dinner rush).
To observe that Asian immigrants come to this country, work their butts off, and succeed, isn’t racist at all. It illustrates the important difference between most people in this country, and the target constituency of the Democrats: the latter are VICTIMS. I call this the Three Island Theory:
* Ellis Island: Most Americans identify with this island. Their ancestors chose to come here, thinking it would make their lives better. When you consciously commit to a choice, you’ll be willing to work to try to make the result as good as possible.
* Isle de Goreé: (The processing station for most African slaves sent to the New World) Everyone is probably familiar with the Malik X. Shabazz quote “We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock; Plymouth Rock landed on us!” Blacks who identify with this island consider that the entire American SYSTEM has been imposed upon them against their will. They feel powerless against it; that the whole thing has been engineered to keep them down. Then they are willing to believe that no effort on their part as individuals will do any good. Their only chance is to elect Dem politicians who will give them what the evil system can’t.
* Turtle Island: (The name many ‘Native American’ or ‘First Nations’ tribes have for the Americas). Most of us heard from the recent pro-illegal immigration rallies this Reconquista de Aztlan sentiment: “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us!”. This group includes the people who identify with ancestors who were living in what is now the US, before it was US territory. The people agitating for some kind of special status for native Hawai’ians, although their ancestors have no history on Turtle Island itself, conceptutally fall into this category as well.
From a practical standpoint, the Goreé and Turtle mentalities are the same. The main difference is that it can reasonably be asked of Goreéans that if they truly find Mother Africa to be superior to the US, the logical thing for them to do is go back where they won’t be oppressed. This was attempted in an organized effort which resulted in the creation of Liberia. I don’t see anyone lining up to make that trip. The Turtle Islanders aren’t subject to such an argument; they don’t have anywhere to ‘go back’ to.
None of this analysis is ‘racial’ though. Colin Powell’s parents are not Goreéan; they voluntarily immigrated to this country from Jamaica, making it easy for him to consider himself Ellisian. The attitude that decendents of slaves seem to have for Jamaican immigrants is curious: In the television series ‘In Living Lolor’, a recurring sketch entitled ‘Hey Mon’ had the predominantly Goreéan cast portray the members of the Hedley family, in which everyone had several jobs. They mocked the apparently manifest fact that Jamaican immigrants work far harder than they do. That their own relative lack of success is somehow the fault of The Man Keeping Them Down is so ingrained into them that they can’t see this counterexample.
But the key to the whole Three Islands theory isn’t even what one’s ancestors may have done along the way. It’s about whether we, INDIVIDUALLY, consciously choose to be Americans or not. The victim-making machinery is struggling to manufacture new islands, such as the downtrodden proletarian, Womyn Opppressed by the Patriarchy of Dead White Guys, or those with different sexual proclivities. Enviromentalism can even be seen as Turtle Island by Proxy, in which the trees, animals, and the very land itself, having been deprived the opportunity to vote in our elections, must be represented by humans who will represent those interests.
It’s up to YOU to decide whether you want to be an American, and work to make your experience as an American, that of your family, community, congregation, etc. as good as possible, or instead be an impotent victim who needs the power of the Almighty Government to save you from your misery. Those people working in the convenience stores and donut shops are Americans..
Too Conservative said,
July 8, 2006 @ 11:39 am
While I don’t agree with Senator Biden’s comments…
personally, I disslike when people play any type of race card, regardless of where it’s coming from.
I don’t think it’s a big deal what he said.
Mark Rubenstein said,
July 9, 2006 @ 10:43 am
JorgXMckie didn’t address the statement. Nobody can argue with what he said about Asian immigrants, but Joe Biden was referring to the customers who enter those establishments and his comment implied that the customers should mimic the owners. Given his past his present shows he may have changed his style but he hasn’t learned a thing. It’s too bad, he’s a bright guy who just can’t put his brain in gear before he opens his mouth
Beverly Kirsch said,
July 12, 2006 @ 5:14 am
Joe Biden never had finesse in his comments, but he is refreshingly honest. Where do we find that today among our dishonest, greedy Republicans?