Really ugly: Ruben Navarrette Jr. wrote an OpEd in today's Washington Post. The topic? Why liberals oppose Gonzales for Attorney General.
It's the worst form of ethnic politics we've seen in a long time.
First of all, Navarrette "reverses the charges" as it were. Gonzales has been accused of being a force allowing the torture of prisoners. But in the OpEd, it's the Democrats and liberals who are the bully boys:
- ... were hoping that Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee would treat Gonzales like a punching bag ...
- But in the end they pulled as many punches as they threw.
- ... left-leaning organizations ... [have urged] Senate Democrats to "scrutinize" (read, trash) the Gonzales nomination.
Then, Navarrette dismisses the abetting torture charges with:
- [Gonzales' actions] hardly makes Gonzales responsible for everything that occurred
- ... the final say about what would be permissible in interrogating prisoners was the president's alone.
- ... I'm not convinced that any of this had much to do with why the goons on the night shift at Abu Ghraib staged their horrific frat party.
That last item is straight out of the Republican's talking points. Here is what David Brooks said a week ago on the
News Hour:
Abu Ghraib, those people were not interrogating anybody. They were just torturing people. That was just sadism. That wasn't part of any interrogation process. It was the middle of the night.
You know, at night, when all senior officers are tucked in bed, unaware of the goings on.
Navarrette continues his essay with a bald-faced lie:
... liberals ... are only interested in minorities' success if they can claim the credit.
Finally, if that isn't enough, Navarette concludes with a threat:
The message ... offered up on behalf of a large portion of the Latino community [is]: "Hurt him, and we'll hurt you."
A threat directed towards "punching-bag-friendly" liberals not to "hurt" Latinos.
Ugly.
posted by Quiddity at 1/15/2005 04:52:00 AM
Oh, yes. Conservatives like to engage in the most specious kind of equivalence-baiting:
1) We put up a (name your ethnic minority) for (name your public appointment).
2) You shoot them down.
3) Therefore, you hate (the relevant ethnic minority).
This is like saying that if I object to Phyllis Schlafly being made head of some President's Committee to Examine the Viability of the Equal Rights Amendment, that I hate women.
I blame public education for this.
Man this guy is pure slime. They blame us for identity politics and use it themselves. Just like everything. Slime slime slime.
How many people just read and accept this crap?
