Weigel On Richard Cohen's Claim That The Tea Party Hates Race Mixing
Right-on blog item by David Weigel at Slate:
The problem with Cohen's column was that he made an assertion about an entire class of people being racist, and did no work to prove it....In an interview with the Huffington Post, he asserted that "I was expressing the views of what I think some people in the Tea Party held," though "I don't think everybody in the Tea Party is like that, because I know there are blacks in the Tea Party. So they're not all racist."
That's still quite an assertion about a group of people Cohen didn't even try to talk to for his column. He could have asked Tea Partiers whether they were bothered by Clarence Thomas's marriage to a white woman, given that she took a (short-lived) role as a would-be Tea Party leader in 2009 and 2010. He could have asked about their reaction to FreedomWorks's outreach director Deneen Borelli, whose husband Tom is white. Or, because anecdotal evidence is only worth so much, he could have "taken the Internet express" to Gallup.com and noticed that 85 percent of whites and 70 percent of elderly people are fine with interracial marriage. He could have shelled out for some current political science research, which suggests that "there is no difference between the racial attitudes of the general white population and self-identified tea party members."
He could have. Instead, Cohen made up a claim about a bunch of conservatives probably holding circa 1960 racial views. It's the sort of claim any columnist with sense or a work ethic would probably veto right away, but it jibes with a sterotype of conservatives, so even the publisher of the Washington Post gave it an attaboy.
People need to remember that the T-E-A in the TEA Party stands for Taxed Enough Already. There's nothing racist about that; I think EVERYONE, regardless of skin color, is pretty ticked off over excessive taxes.
Of course, I could be wrong. But I don't think so.
o.O
Flynne at November 13, 2013 7:47 AM
Because only whites can be racist?
That's kind of a racist assumption.
Conan the Grammarian at November 13, 2013 8:32 AM
"Because only whites can be racist?
That's kind of a racist assumption."
They keep trying to change the definition of racism, so that that might be true. The latest one I keep hearing is racism must have a long time system with power to oppress. So by that definition, since only whites have power they are already halfway to being racist. And all others since they don't have long lasting power, can't.
Just like homophobe: Sorry, I know someone with a real phobia, she will either curl up in a shivering ball or knock people over rushing out of a room if her phobia is there. So no one who is labeled homophobe is phobic, so it is just a made up label for suppressing speech and mockery.
Joe J at November 13, 2013 9:17 AM
Evidently facts are overrated when they get in the way of the narrative.
MarkD at November 13, 2013 11:48 AM
Comrades,
George Zimmerman is guilty as mandated by his WHITE Hispanic heritage. Remember how the Teabaggers wanted to trifle with the IRS? Furthermore it demonstrates just plain shiftlessness and laziness in the actual effort to comply with the instructions our benevolent IRS had requested. In short, our propaganda continues to portray that the Tea party is composed of low I.Q dolts who are just lazy and pathetic cheaters to boot.
Stinky the Clown at November 13, 2013 2:26 PM
Trendy lefties are always lazy. Cohen didn't seem to point out that Obama is mixed-race.
KateC at November 13, 2013 2:31 PM
"I don't think everybody in the Tea Party is like that, because I know there are blacks in the Tea Party. So they're not all racist."
Written by somebody who has never spent any time with actual black people.
kenmce at November 13, 2013 3:16 PM
KateC, no, but wouldn't that further prove his point, as tea partiers tend not to care for Obama?
NicoleK at November 14, 2013 1:50 AM
The Washington Post, a wholly-owned subsidary of the American Left.
Cousin Dave at November 14, 2013 6:48 AM
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