Liberal bigotry, Louisiana politics & the NY Times

[Jenny AU-92 0]

Liberal bigotry, Louisiana politics and the New York Times

Michelle Malkin

October 15, 2003

The condescension of The New York Times toward minority conservatives is so thick, you need a Cuisinart electric carving knife to slice it.

On Oct. 12, Times editorial writer Adam Cohen penned a hit piece masquerading as a profile of Bobby Jindal, the remarkable Republican gubernatorial candidate in Louisiana. Cohen began by noting that while Jindal's primary night victory celebration the previous weekend was attended by a diverse mix of whites and Indian-Americans, "there was scarcely a black reveler there."

How many "black revelers" were in attendance at Democratic rival Kathleen Blanco's election night gathering, Cohen did not see fit to print.

Cohen sneered at Jindal's "almost freakishly impressive resume." At 32, the GOP Rhodes Scholar has already turned around Louisiana's bankrupt Medicaid program as secretary of the state's Department of Health and Hospitals; raised graduation rates, retention and private donations as president of the University of Louisiana system; and served as a senior health policy adviser in the Bush administration.

If a young, minority Democrat candidate possessed such a striking record, Cohen almost assuredly would have described it as "extraordinary" or "prodigious." But since the resume belongs to a conservative who happens to be pro-life, pro-school choice, pro-gun rights and pro-free market, "freakish" is what came to Cohen's narrow mind.

None of Jindal's policy accomplishments matters more to Cohen, however, than this: He is "the dark-skinned son of immigrants from India."

Dark-skinned. It wallops you in the head like the high fastballs being pitched at Fenway Park. Dark-skinned. I have met Jindal a few times over the years; he was an Oxford classmate of my husband's. Jindal has a memorable smile, a trademark, fast-paced way of talking, and a boundless enthusiasm about politics and policy. Never did the hue of his skin ever register in my head. (And yet we conservatives are constantly slimed by the media as the bigots!)

I searched Nexis for any reference to Jindal's opponent's skin in the Times and the rest of the media. Grand total: zero. There were, however, three other references to Jindal as "dark-skinned." One appeared in a front-page, Oct. 3 Los Angeles Times article by Scott Gold. Two were from Associated Press reporter-turned-color analyst Adam Nossiter, who described Jindal on Sept. 28 as "moderately dark-skinned" and just plain "dark-skinned" on Sept. 3. Maybe it was the lighting?

Liberal bigotry subsists on the oxygen of sanctimony. Thus, Cohen informed us that it is not he who is racist, but the entire South, which has been "historically fixated on blacks and whites, (and) has had trouble knowing what to make of people who are neither." Mr. Cohen, can you spell "projection"? Cohen then cited a Supreme Court case from 1927 about a Chinese girl in Mississippi who was compelled to attend a "colored" school rather than a white one.

If Cohen wanted to write about 21st-century racism in Louisiana politics, he might have mentioned the ignorant attack on Jindal penned earlier this month by College Democrats of America president Ashley Bell. The race-baiter-in-training sent out an e-mail deriding Jindal as an "Arab American and the Republicans (sic) token attempt to mend bridges long burnt with the Arab American community." So full of hate she can't even get her facts straight.

Cohen ignored the Dems' demagoguery. Instead, he attacked Jindal for "scarcely address(ing) the special problems of Louisiana blacks" -- failing schools, government corruption and affordable health care apparently being "white" problems only. Cohen suggested that black gubernatorial candidates have lost in Louisiana because white voters remain racist, but that if the "dark-skinned" Jindal wins, it won't be because white voters are now color-blind, but because Jindal is a politically white, "hollow symbol" of inclusion.

"If the Republican Party really wants to be inclusive, in Louisiana and nationally," Cohen smugly concluded, "it needs to start finding nonwhite candidates that nonwhites want to vote for."

Such chutzpah the Times has to preach to the rest of us about racial inclusion! For a look at whom the pasty-faced Mr. Cohen parties with every morning, check out the photos of all but one of the 15 ghost-toned, porcelain-skinned and moderately marshmallow-colored Times editorial board members at http://www.nytimes.com/ref/opinion/editorial-board.html.

To quote Mr. Cohen, there's scarcely a black reveler there.

[CCTAU 3,351]

And the liberal response is.............<cricket>.....<cricket>

If you spin to them long enough, they might believe it. Sure demoncrats can read, they just can't comprehend that thats not gas they're having...its sunshine being blown up their arse!!!

[Jenny AU-92 0]

SO far I have been TOTALLY impressed with Jindal, as are most Louisianians, or so it seems. I think they are SO tired of politics as usual (read - corrupt) that they would elect someone with GREEN skin if they thought it would improve the situation.

Whenever someone from the traditional lib power base (read - minorities with any skin color other than white) does VERY well on a high level for a different political party, the concern for libs is that this person might "steal away" other minority voters from the lib Kool aid. I really feel that this is why they hate to see minorities work hard and succeed on their own, without being beholden to handouts or the libs, because the independently educated don't buy into the "the Republicans hate you but we know what's best for you poor downtrodden folks, so vote us into office" mentality.

SO SAD.

[TitanTiger 20,522]

You guys forgot cardinal rule #1 of the liberal playbook:

Bigotry and racism is only a problem when a conservative does it. Liberals are incapable of such behavior. :roll:

[Tigermike 3,063]

You guys forgot cardinal rule #1 of the liberal playbook:

Bigotry and racism is only a problem when a conservative does it. Liberals are incapable of such behavior. :roll:

Just ask James Carville!

[Jenny AU-92 0]

Carville can be a racist and a bigot because he IS a minority - he's a self-described coonass...

:roll: :roll: :roll:

[Tigermike 3,063]

Carville can be a racist and a bigot because he IS a minority - he's a self-described coonass...

:roll: :roll: :roll:

Where does that put Mary Maitlin!

[CCTAU 3,351]

Carville can be a racist and a bigot because he IS a minority - he's a self-described coonass... 

:roll:  :roll:  :roll:

Where does that put Mary Maitlin!

Is she deaf?????

[Jenny AU-92 0]

Carville can be a racist and a bigot because he IS a minority - he's a self-described coonass... 

:roll:  :roll:  :roll:

Where does that put Mary Maitlin!

Doing missionary work and preventing child abuse by making sure their kids hear the RIGHT political view point (pun intended) as often as they hear their father's pinko babble.

[tigerlifer3 0]

Well being a native of Louisiana I have a right to speak on this one.

I am openly admit I voted for Bobby Jindal, and I am registered to vote as a democrat. The reason why was because Jindal's record on cleaning up the hospital situation in the state. (another reason why my granny also voted for him) since she is a registered nurse, but anyway another reason I voted for him was because he was the only one who came on record about Keeping the New Orleans Saints from leaving Louisiana for greener pastures elsewhere.

Also I can't stand Kathleen Blanco and Richard Ieyoub (sp). Neither has done crap while they had their respective offices. Blanco is/was LT. Governor and Ieyoub as Attorney General.

The only other person I gave consideration to was Randy Ewing. Besides Jindal I felt he was the only one who had a clear message what needed to be done in Louisiana as far as Education, Corruption, Jobs, and Keeping My Saints in Louisiana. Plus it helped his cause that he was the only canidate from Northern Louisiana he is from Quitman which is about 45 minutes from Monroe.

I didn't read the article that was posted, but I don't care that Jindal is black and Blanco is a women. I am voted for who I believe to be the most qualified canidate to help my state get out of poverty and become at least a respectable state.

[Tigermike 3,063]

I didn't read the article that was posted, but I don't care that Jindal is black and Blanco is a women.

I am voted for who I believe to be the most qualified canidate to help my state get out of poverty and become at least a respectable state.

It is truly shameful that all other voters don't vote with these thoughts.

For many it is the party line hook line & sinker.

[Tiger Al 0]

Liberal bigotry, Louisiana politics and the New York Times

Michelle Malkin

October 15, 2003

The condescension of The New York Times toward minority conservatives is so thick, you need a Cuisinart electric carving knife to slice it.

And, judging by the title, the condescension towards liberals will force you to replace it early and often.

On Oct. 12, Times editorial writer Adam Cohen penned a hit piece masquerading as a profile of Bobby Jindal, the remarkable Republican gubernatorial candidate in Louisiana. Cohen began by noting that while Jindal's primary night victory celebration the previous weekend was attended by a diverse mix of whites and Indian-Americans, "there was scarcely a black reveler there."

How many "black revelers" were in attendance at Democratic rival Kathleen Blanco's election night gathering, Cohen did not see fit to print.

The complete thought reads like this: "The election-night blowout at the Astor Crowne Plaza in the French Quarter last weekend was something rare in Republican politics: a truly biracial event. But even though 33 percent of Louisiana — and 67 percent of New Orleans — is black, there was scarcely a black reveler there. The mix of people celebrating Bobby Jindal's first-round win in this year's governor's race was an unusual one: whites and Indian-Americans."

Cohen sneered at Jindal's "almost freakishly impressive resume." At 32, the GOP Rhodes Scholar has already turned around Louisiana's bankrupt Medicaid program as secretary of the state's Department of Health and Hospitals; raised graduation rates, retention and private donations as president of the University of Louisiana system; and served as a senior health policy adviser in the Bush administration.

"California's new governor has been grabbing all the headlines, but Mr. Jindal's odyssey has been nearly as remarkable. At the age of 32, he has an almost freakishly impressive résumé: at 24, he was running Louisiana's hospital system. But perhaps more notable, in a state where an ex-Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, David Duke, made a real run for the governor's office, Mr. Jindal is the dark-skinned son of immigrants from India." Why would she characterize this as "sneering?" I took the word "freakish" to mean that as pumped-up, or "freakish", as Arnold is physically, Jindal's resume is also pumped-up, or "freakish." Sounded like a creative compliment. Maybe I missed the condescension, though. Also, in a state that just a few years ago almost elected a grand wizard to Governer, we now have a non-white making a serious run at it. Way to go, Louisiana!!!

If a young, minority Democrat candidate possessed such a striking record, Cohen almost assuredly would have described it as "extraordinary" or "prodigious." But since the resume belongs to a conservative who happens to be pro-life, pro-school choice, pro-gun rights and pro-free market, "freakish" is what came to Cohen's narrow mind.

Can you say "feigned indignation?"

None of Jindal's policy accomplishments matters more to Cohen, however, than this: He is "the dark-skinned son of immigrants from India."

Actually, he seems to have given a lot more ink to his accomplishments than to his skin color: "Mr. Jindal, who was born in Baton Rouge, wasted little time adopting Louisiana ways. As a small child, he announced he was trading in his given name of Piyush for Bobby. In his teens, he converted to Catholicism. He then breezed through Brown University and became a Rhodes Scholar. Gov. Mike Foster, who is prevented by term limits from running this year, appointed Mr. Jindal hospitals chief, and made him president at age 27 of the University of Louisiana system. Mr. Jindal was an assistant secretary of the Bush administration's Department of Health and Human Services before announcing for governor."

Dark-skinned. It wallops you in the head like the high fastballs being pitched at Fenway Park. Dark-skinned. I have met Jindal a few times over the years; he was an Oxford classmate of my husband's. Jindal has a memorable smile, a trademark, fast-paced way of talking, and a boundless enthusiasm about politics and policy. Never did the hue of his skin ever register in my head. (And yet we conservatives are constantly slimed by the media as the bigots!)

Again, before we get too carried away, let's look at the author's words instead of Michelle's interpretation of their meaning.

I searched Nexis for any reference to Jindal's opponent's skin in the Times and the rest of the media. Grand total: zero. There were, however, three other references to Jindal as "dark-skinned." One appeared in a front-page, Oct. 3 Los Angeles Times article by Scott Gold. Two were from Associated Press reporter-turned-color analyst Adam Nossiter, who described Jindal on Sept. 28 as "moderately dark-skinned" and just plain "dark-skinned" on Sept. 3. Maybe it was the lighting?

Can you say "red herring?"

Liberal bigotry subsists on the oxygen of sanctimony. Thus, Cohen informed us that it is not he who is racist, but the entire South, which has been "historically fixated on blacks and whites, (and) has had trouble knowing what to make of people who are neither." Mr. Cohen, can you spell "projection"? Cohen then cited a Supreme Court case from 1927 about a Chinese girl in Mississippi who was compelled to attend a "colored" school rather than a white one.

I don't disagree with the fragmented quote as it stands, but, in the context of its' entirety, I still don't disagree with it: "Mr. Jindal began the campaign with strong backing from Mr. Foster, but it still seemed his ethnicity might rule him out. Louisiana, which is barely 1 percent Asian, has little experience with Indian-Americans. And the South, historically fixated on blacks and whites, has had trouble knowing what to make of people who are neither. In 1927, the Supreme Court ruled that Mississippi was within its rights to make Martha Lum, a Chinese girl, attend a "colored" school rather than a white one."Notice how Michelle said "was compelled" instead of "was made?" I wonder why she would characterize racial discrimination against Martha Lum as if she (Lum) had a choice between the "colored" school over the "white" one?

If Cohen wanted to write about 21st-century racism in Louisiana politics, he might have mentioned the ignorant attack on Jindal penned earlier this month by College Democrats of America president Ashley Bell. The race-baiter-in-training sent out an e-mail deriding Jindal as an "Arab American and the Republicans (sic) token attempt to mend bridges long burnt with the Arab American community." So full of hate she can't even get her facts straight.

PSSSSST...another "red herring."

Cohen ignored the Dems' demagoguery. Instead, he attacked Jindal for "scarcely address(ing) the special problems of Louisiana blacks" -- failing schools, government corruption and affordable health care apparently being "white" problems only.

"One black legislator dismissed Mr. Jindal's candidacy early on, calling him, according to The Associated Press, "too dark for the white folks, and not dark enough for the blacks." But that was wrong. It certainly seemed possible Mr. Jindal would be "too dark" for Louisiana whites, a majority of whom backed Mr. Duke in his runs for senator and governor in the early 1990's. But Mr. Jindal, who has been embraced by the religious right, apparently won upward of 40 percent of the white vote last week.

Nor was Mr. Jindal "not dark enough" for blacks. Whites like Senator Mary Landrieu have racked up as much as 96 percent of the black vote. Mr. Jindal's problem, and the reason his pioneering candidacy attracted only a handful of black votes last weekend, is his stand on the issues, and the fact that in a campaign filled with 18-point programs, he has scarcely addressed the special problems of Louisiana blacks." Is this what an "attack" looks like? Scanning over her article, I would've characterized IT as an "attack!"

Cohen suggested that black gubernatorial candidates have lost in Louisiana because white voters remain racist, but that if the "dark-skinned" Jindal wins, it won't be because white voters are now color-blind, but because Jindal is a politically white, "hollow symbol" of inclusion.

"A win by Mr. Jindal would raise a different set of racial questions. Blacks who have run for governor in recent years got less than 35 percent of the vote. It may be that they were too liberal, but it may also be that the state remains resistant to a black governor. If Mr. Jindal wins, it may mean not that race no longer matters in Louisiana, but simply that — in a change from the days of Martha Lum — Asian-Americans now fall on the white side of the racial divide."No, he said it may mean that race no longer matters in Louisiana.

"If the Republican Party really wants to be inclusive, in Louisiana and nationally," Cohen smugly concluded, "it needs to start finding nonwhite candidates that nonwhites want to vote for."

"If Mr. Jindal is Louisiana's next governor, he will be hailed by national Republicans as a symbol of inclusion, a new Colin Powell or J. C. Watts. But he will be a hollow symbol if he ends the white lock on the governor's mansion despite overwhelming opposition from the state's blacks. If the Republican Party really wants to be inclusive, in Louisiana and nationally, it needs to start finding nonwhite candidates that nonwhites want to vote for." Maybe he WAS being smug, but it's true. Until the Republicans change their platform or enough minorities reach the socio-economic status that is either helped by or unaffected by the platform, most minorities won't vote Republican in very large numbers.

Such chutzpah the Times has to preach to the rest of us about racial inclusion! For a look at whom the pasty-faced Mr. Cohen parties with every morning, check out the photos of all but one of the 15 ghost-toned, porcelain-skinned and moderately marshmallow-colored Times editorial board members at http://www.nytimes.com/ref/opinion/editorial-board.html.

To quote Mr. Cohen, there's scarcely a black reveler there.

"Red herring" number three.

Anyway, I had actually read this article before I saw Michelle Malkin's article and I didn't get the same impression she did.

[Jenny AU-92 0]

As usual, AL, you missed the point. She was saying that the only time the Times bothers to mention race is when the politician is a conservative. He mentions the lack of black people at Jindal's party, but does not make the same comment for the other DEMOCRATIC candidates. DOUBLE STANDARD!!

How many "black revelers" were in attendance at Democratic rival Kathleen Blanco's election night gathering, Cohen did not see fit to print.

I saw the same thing when I worked inthe AL state house during grad school. During budget hearings, good old Alvin Hicks would ask every single WHITE department head how many black employees he/she had, and how many black managers he/she had. He NEVER asked any of the black department heads that question.

In the same vein, people refer to James Carville as a political strategist, but his wife is ALWAYS referred to as a CONSERVATIVE political strategist. Same way with Ann Coulter - "conservative pundit and author"... But everyone else, Al Franken and Michael Moore and the rest of the freaks are just political writer or political pundit - no "party stripes" revealed. Thus the implication is made that the conservatives are "different" from the mainstream, and their every word should be taken wiht a grain of salt and a wink, when in actuality recent elections and polls show that conservatives are more mainstream than the libs are here lately.

As for the rest, I think Louisiana is doing itself a GREAT favor by electing Jindal - as I said, and as TL3 said, people in LA just want someone who has ideas for cleaning up the mess that is politics and government in that state. And to hell with what color he is.

[Tiger Al 0]

As usual, AL, you missed the point.  She was saying that the only time the Times bothers to mention race is when the politician is a conservative.  He mentions the lack of black people at Jindal's party, but does not make the same comment for the other DEMOCRATIC candidates.  DOUBLE STANDARD!!

I don't think I missed her point. I think she's howling at the moon. Why would Cohen need to reiterate something that is an accepted fact, which is that, by and large, minority voters, especially blacks, vote Democratic? Especially in Louisiana, a state that "though 33 percent of Louisiana — and 67 percent of New Orleans — is black". Especially when he further illustrates this fact by saying "Whites like Senator Mary Landrieu have racked up as much as 96 percent of the black vote." And saying about the primary election "In last weekend's crowded field, Democratic candidates won 57 percent of the vote." Why would he need to enumerate the black attendants at a Democratic victory party? Wouldn't that be kind of like getting upset because a reporter remarked that at Tiger Al's birthday party there was a large number of football players present, but not bothering to mention how many were present at Bo Jackson's? As you like to say, "This is a non-issue."

But everyone else, Al Franken and Michael Moore and the rest of the freaks are just political writer or political pundit - no "party stripes" revealed.

Sometimes they are referred to as comedians and entertainers. Some angry conservatives even call them "freaks!"

[CCTAU 3,351]

Not only does he say Nothing..........He sure says a lot of it!