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[PeaceWave]

This message was self-deleted by its author (PeaceWave) on Mon Feb 23, 2026, 03:56 PM. When the original post in a discussion thread is self-deleted, the entire discussion thread is automatically locked so new replies cannot be posted.

[leftstreet]

1. Jerks?

ffs

[AZJonnie]

2. Cryptic

[niyad]

7. How so? I understood it just fine.

[AZJonnie]

8. I didn't, hence my post

For all I know, the term "jerks" has become verboten in some way due to some arcane historical reference and I missed the memo, and this is a chastising for the OP using the word. I just don't know what "Jerks? ffs" means in the context, though of course I know the acronym

[leftstreet]

9. It wasn't that complicated

Referring to DU members as "jerks" seems rude

If someone starts a provocative or hyperbolic thread on DU they're not necessarily "jerks."

[AZJonnie]

11. That was another possibility

I didn't realize anyone on DU was doing that (it doesn't SOUND like something we'd do here), sorry for my confusion. Thanks for clarifying

ETA: I agree with this point!

[wnylib]

22. There is a DU thread that claims that

Newsom's reference in an interview to being no better than anyone else because he had low SAT scores was racist since there were Blacks in the audience.

The OP interprets what Newsom said to mean that Blacks have low SAT scores. Another poster posted a link to the interview and there is nothing racist about what he said. The Black interviewer and the mixed race audience laughed at Newsom's self-deprecating humor.

[RockRaven]

28. Should be noted that the interpretation offered by that OP is exactly what FOXNews

and other RW news/propaganda outlets are saying about the comment -- including the selective editing of the full quote.

[wnylib]

31. I am not at all surprised. Sounds like Fox talking point.

[FakeNoose]

34. Yes that post was alerted

I think whoever alerted on that post was deliberately spoiling for a fight.

To me (I was on the jury) the statement Gavin Newsom made was NOT racist. It didn't sound to me like he said "Oh by the way, Blacks can't read and neither can I."

[wnylib]

35. Of course it was not racist. This whole thing

smacks of a RW talking point to discredit Newsom for 2028.

I was told that the source of the hoopla about Newsom is Fox. I wouldn't know since I never watch anything from Fox.

[W_HAMILTON]

23. Why would anyone here on DU mock Newsom for this?

[wnylib]

32. They shouldn't. The criticism of Newsom is is being promoted on Fox and

spreading from there.

[Munu]

4. Jerks? Well ...

... Republicans.

[GiqueCee]

18. The two are synonymous. (nt)

[LymphocyteLover]

14. I saw a clip on Bluesky where he said something like I am a poor student like you, talking to a black guy and audience

taken out of context, it looks racist

[maxsolomon]

19. That's a RW specialty, isn't it?

Manufacture a controversy, repeat it over and over and over and over. Force the target to respond, use the response as evidence of guilt.

See: Obama's Birth Certificate.

[wnylib]

27. Spot on. That's how it came across to me, too.

I watched the section of the interview being referenced and there is nothing racist in it, which is the unfounded claim. The Black interviewer and the racially mixed audience laughed at what Newsom said because they understood that he was making a joke about himself.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

36. Exactly.

[GiqueCee]

24. Context is everything...

... I am not familiar with the occasion in which Newsom made that comment, but I suspect it may well have been made to a group of people who struggle with dyslexia, and the gentleman of color to whom he made that remark may have identified himself as a poor student because of his dyslexia. When I was in elementary school 70 years ago, dyslexia was barely considered an actual condition, let alone understood or properly treated. I knew kids that were very intelligent, but had difficulty reading. Back then, ADD wasn't a thing, either. I could read just fine, but paying attention for extended periods was pure hell.

[wnylib]

25. What Newsom said was that he is no better than anyone else

since he had low SAT scores. He did not say "no better than you" and was speaking in general and not directly to the Black interviewer. The audience was racially mixed. Both the interviewer and the audience laughed at Newsom because they understood that he was making a joke about himself.

[marble falls]

3. As a left handed dyslexic, I understood him just fine. I do not get the "pushback" he's gotten. My SATs ...

... were a lot better.

[LymphocyteLover]

15. I think the problem is a clip where he was talking to a black guy and audience and said I'm a poor student

like you (paraphrase)

[GiqueCee]

26. I'm a lefty, too...

... and when we moved from Westport Connecticut to rural southern Berkshire County in Massachusetts in '57, I vividly recall my 4th grade teacher, Miss Garahan, scolding me and trying to make me write right-handed. My mother tore her a new one, and Miss Garahan never troubled me again.

[marble falls]

30. I was in Lutheran private schools. She wanted me to change hands, but I learned to change the slant and not ...

... drag my little finger through the ink/pencil. She thought she won. Used my right hand for black board work.

Out of us six kids, three are left handed. Out of my three kids, one is left-handed.

[marble falls]

41. Being a left handed dyslexic made me a good 3D computer aided draftsman.

[SWBTATTReg]

5. Anyone making fun of anyone's disabilities and/or handicaps are themselves choosing to be a human being of

the worst sort. Anyone w/ eyes can look within their own communities, their own families, their own close-knit group of friends and see all sorts of handicaps within their own group. Eyeglasses, hearing aids (me), limping (a favorite cousin of mine, polio as a child), etc. The list is endless, as the handicaps range through the whole span of the body and mind. And we done pretty damn good for the most part, in helping these beautiful individuals to become more in their own ways through a variety of ways, as we have done over centuries in this country.

What also sadly is true is that scumbags of the lowest sort have always been around, mocking these members of our society who are handicapped in some manner. They do this, thinking that they can attack these victims in relative safety, w/o being attacked in return.

Cowards. Pure and simple, Cowards.

They don't realize that the handicapped have friends, families, all sorts of friends in their corner. As a person suffering a profound loss of hearing, I went to school w/ these developmental challenged individuals as before they recognized my handicap as being one of just profound hearing loss, so they outfitted me w/ hearing aids, and then started the process of rehabbing, reteaching me English, how to speak, etc. I was lucky, caught in time (I was 9 years old when this was discovered). I went into the regular school system starting in the 4th grade. There are still words that I just quite get on pronouncing them. And yes, I still miss tons of conversations, but all of my friends know this, all of them know if they talk to me, make sure that I'm looking at them (to read their lips).

Those that mock, stand in their own filth and are the bottom of the human race, the scum of the human race, the foul far worse than the handicapped

[wnylib]

29. I can agree with what you wrote, but it does not apply

to the Newsom interview in question.

Newsom said that he was no better than anyone else since he had a low SAT score. It was a a little bit self-deprecating since he is the governor of a lage, populous state who was admitting that he had struggled with academics. There was zero implication of race or of inferiority of people with any disability. In the context, it was as if he was saying that anyone can have a disability but still achieve things.

The whole thing is being misrepresented and magnified in a way that smacks of a political attack from a RW talking points memo.

[SWBTATTReg]

37. I wasn't directing my response in regards to Newsom's remarks. I do agree w/ your remarks that things are being

mispresented and magnified, as usual, from repug sources, as usual.

[niyad]

6. JFC. Probably the same ones who ragged on President Biden's stutter.

[twodogsbarking]

10. Humans can be imazing. He is.

[multigraincracker]

12. If only we were all the same?

What a
Boring world it would be.

[NoMoreRepugs]

13. Our country is teetering on the edge of a cliff and yet DU finds time to dig deep into the minutia and potential meaning

of a word - give me a F'en break.

Go ahead and alert me - I said what I wanted to.

[pinkstarburst]

16. I really admire Newsom

And I think we need to stop picking apart democrats.

I especially think we need to stop picking and choosing which democrats we get our panties in a twist about, if we aren't doing the same for ALL democrats who make gaffe comments. I personally think this comment was just him trying to talk about his dyslexia.

I am not interested in entertaining "hurt feelings" from anyone who wants to call out Newsom for this, who isn't shouting from the rafters about how Jasmine Crockett has made ableist remarks that are insulting to disabled people. If you aren't offended by the one, why are you suddenly offended by the other?

We need to stop picking apart our candidates who have a real chance of winning in 2028, or we will end up with Vance for another 4 years.

[BannonsLiver]

17. Well said

When you hate Gavin Newsom so much you amplify right wing nut job talking points you’re a GD moron in my book. You know who also is pushing this? The NYP and Nikki Minaj. I guess for some folks that’s considered good company. Sad!

[hay rick]

21. Buttery males!

[synni]

33. The controversy isn't about his dyslexia

People are upset because he was speaking to a black person, as if that black person is unintelligent. Dyslexia doesn't make a person unintelligent, which Newsom should know.

As much as I support Newsom's trolling of Trump, I must admit to having serious reservations about him. Some of his policies have been detrimental to people in need. (And no, I'm afraid I can't list them all, because my eyes are giving me such problems today, that I can barely see.)

I sincerely hope that he learns from his mistakes, because we need all the powerful Democrats that we can get.

[marble falls]

42. Those folks are misreading what happened.

[Torchlight]

38. Newsom's certainly not one to delete his own words... his convictions stand firm

and his primary candidacy appears to be the real deal.