joe the plumber: "almost as good as sammy davis jr"

[graylocks]

Black Landlord wrote: Well, at least you asked.
To answer your question, yes, I grew up on the same planet you did.

gimme a break, here. i would not expect anyone under 30 to know who the original Rat Pack was. except for Samintx i'm really not that aware of the ages of our forum community.

[Black Landlord]

AlphaDog wrote:
Got it! The problem was that I think of Sammy as being part of the "Rat Pack" and had forgotten he was actually a dancer. Wasn't he also a very gravelly voiced singer? I know he acted.

Same problem here-- now that it was mentioned I remember that he used to tap dance, but most of my memories are as talk show guest and sit-com cameo (didn't he take over for Carson as host at times too?)
Without a debriefing from Rob I think I'd have to watch the clip again to be convinced, but I could barely stomach it the first time.

[GGD]

Black Landlord wrote:
[quote=Don Kiyoti]
Sammy Davis Jr. was a very good tap dancer. Joe Plumber felt Obama "tap danced" around his question about small business taxes. Hence the analogy. Davis was seen by some people as something of a "token" (which I think was unfair to him). It might be fair to say that at one time Davis was the only black man many whites were familiar with. That's why Joe Plumber's reference to Davis may seem vaguely racist. But I immediately understood it to mean that he felt Obama had not adequately answered the question. Much ado about nothing.

What's more interesting is that, as luck would have it, Joe Wurzelbacher turns out to be an unfortunate hero for the Republicans: he's unlicensed in violation of Ohio law, and he has a lien against him for unpayed taxes.

I thought I watched that whole clip but I didn't catch any reference to Sammy Davis Jr.
I must say, however, I think it's genius the way Rob Films packed all of the above into one cryptic analogy.
Did you happen to read the linked article and see this near the end?

He went on, “You know, I’ve always wanted to ask one of these guys a question and really corner them and get them to answer a question,” he said, “for once instead of tap dancing around it, and unfortunately I asked the question, but I still got a tap dance.”

He added, “Almost as good as Sammy Davis Jr.”

[Black Landlord]

GGD wrote:
[quote=Black Landlord]
[quote=Don Kiyoti]
Sammy Davis Jr. was a very good tap dancer. Joe Plumber felt Obama "tap danced" around his question about small business taxes. Hence the analogy. Davis was seen by some people as something of a "token" (which I think was unfair to him). It might be fair to say that at one time Davis was the only black man many whites were familiar with. That's why Joe Plumber's reference to Davis may seem vaguely racist. But I immediately understood it to mean that he felt Obama had not adequately answered the question. Much ado about nothing.

What's more interesting is that, as luck would have it, Joe Wurzelbacher turns out to be an unfortunate hero for the Republicans: he's unlicensed in violation of Ohio law, and he has a lien against him for unpayed taxes.

I thought I watched that whole clip but I didn't catch any reference to Sammy Davis Jr.
I must say, however, I think it's genius the way Rob Films packed all of the above into one cryptic analogy.
Did you happen to read the linked article and see this near the end?

He went on, “You know, I’ve always wanted to ask one of these guys a question and really corner them and get them to answer a question,” he said, “for once instead of tap dancing around it, and unfortunately I asked the question, but I still got a tap dance.”

He added, “Almost as good as Sammy Davis Jr.”

Oh, thanks. I guess I'm used to looking at TV news websites, where the text is redundant to the film.
I confess I could only stomach about 3/4 of the film-- I couldn't take the bullshlt.

[$tevie]

I didn't watch the video but I heard him say it last night, and personally I thought it was meant to be a a wink and a nod to fellow racists. Wouldn't most people use Fred Astaire as their tap dance reference? Anyhow, that's how I felt.

[lafinfil]

Most of us here are pretty old

: -)

[Don Kiyoti]

$tevie wrote:
I didn't watch the video but I heard him say it last night, and personally I thought it was meant to be a a wink and a nod to fellow racists. Wouldn't most people use Fred Astaire as their tap dance reference? Anyhow, that's how I felt.

Nah - I think you're looking too hard for the racism. When I think of Astaire I don't think of tap and I'm very doubtful most people do. Think: Ginger Rogers, musicals, and so on. When It think of tap dancers I think of Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis Jr.

[Black Landlord]

Don Kiyoti wrote:
[quote=$tevie]
I didn't watch the video but I heard him say it last night, and personally I thought it was meant to be a a wink and a nod to fellow racists. Wouldn't most people use Fred Astaire as their tap dance reference? Anyhow, that's how I felt.

Nah - I think you're looking too hard for the racism. When I think of Astaire I don't think of tap and I'm very doubtful most people do. Think: Ginger Rogers, musicals, and so on. When It think of tap dancers I think of Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis Jr.
You're right--
Probably more of a "look, I'm not racist, I mentioned Sammy Davis Jr."

[Wags]

AlphaDog wrote:
Got it! The problem was that I think of Sammy as being part of the "Rat Pack" and had forgotten he was actually a dancer. Wasn't he also a very gravelly voiced singer? I know he acted.

Sammy was a very talented and enigmatic individual. I got to see him do his nightclub show once in Lake Tahoe, must have been around 1966 or maybe 1967. He was an accomplished dancer, and not only a tapper. He also had a fine singing voice, definitely not gravelly, and could phrase a melody with the best of them, ala Sinatra. During his show he played nearly every musical instrument in the band: drums, vibes, trumpet, piano - and he played them all well. Add to that the ability to tell a great story with humor and pathos and you start to understand what a great, one of a kind entertainer he was. I can't think of another current or past entertainer who had such a depth and variety of talent. He converted to Judaism, lost an eye in a car accident, and got to do the nasty with Kim Novak (which could have landed him in jail back in those days). All in all a quite remarkable man.

[$tevie]

I read his book "Yes I Can" years ago when I was a teenager. He had an amazing amount of stories to tell. I sort of stopped admiring him when he hugged Richard Nixon.