speakingcorpse writes:

Today Juan Williams, "one of America's leading journalists," according to his biographical entry on the NPR website, interviewed Marc Racicot, chair of the Bush-Cheney reelection effort. During the interview Racicot made the interesting claim that Bush "volunteered to serve in Vietnam. He was not selected to go..." Williams showed great tact by choosing not to question this claim, even though, as Josh Marshall points out, Bush specifically checked the "do not volunteer" box in response to the question on the Guard application that asked new members whether or not they would "volunteer" to go to Vietnam.

Hearing about this egregious breach in journalistic standards, I was enraged and began to wonder if Williams' negligence has anything to do with his role on Fox News' expert panel of political commentators. But my suspicion that Wiliams may be motivated by partisan goals was quickly dashed when I thought for a few moments about his name. You see, Juan Williams' first name is "Juan," which suggested to me that he may be of Hispanic background. If he has Hispanic ancestors, I reasoned, then he can't he be a traditional conservative Republican. He must be an open-minded, independent observer of events, one who perhaps early in life reflexively took liberal positions, but who quickly learned that the patronizing platitudes of liberals are just as harmful to minorities as traditional forms of racism, and that racial progress will only be achieved in America when all of us start "to think outside of the box." And that means being open to traditionally conservative positions, even if one is brown-skinned.

My line of reasoning was complicated, however, when I visited the NPR website to learn more about the evidently independent-minded and courageous Juan Williams. A look at his picture revealed to me that Williams, if he is of Hispanic descent, is nonetheless also an AFRICAN AMERICAN! What to say? I felt positively rebuked for my knee-jerk assumption that his kid-glove treatment of Mark Racicot had something to do with base partisanship. I began to learn that a racist lurks in all of our hearts, perhaps posing the most insidious threat when lodged in the hearts of white liberals like myself, who all too easily assume that pro-Bush positions reflect conservative political goals. How can Juan Williams be an advocate of old-line conservative GOP politics, as a black man? Well, he can't be such an advocate. My liberal complacencies were forever disrupted by the following new way of thinking: a black man can't be a conservative GOP hack; therefore, a conservative GOP hack who is black ISN'T a conservative GOP hack.

A few hours later, upon further reflection, I realized that this way of thinking helped me to understand my cruel tendency to prejudge the ideas of both Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell, important officials on Bush's foreign policy team who are, in case you liberals had assumed otherwise, black.

But does all of this reflection help explain this?

Education Secretary Paige calls national teachers union a 'terrorist organization'

WASHINGTON - Education Secretary Rod Paige called the nation's largest teachers union a "terrorist organization" Monday, taking on the 2.7-million-member National Education Association early in the presidential election year.

Paige's comments, made to the nation's governors at a private White House meeting, were denounced by union president Reg Weaver as well as prominent Democrats.

Paige said later in an Associated Press interview that his comment was "a bad joke; it was an inappropriate choice of words." President Bush was not present at the time he made the remark.

"As one who grew up on the receiving end of insensitive remarks, I should have chosen my words better," said Paige, the first black education secretary.

Blicero adds: Insensitive remarks no more awful in their viciousness and base malignity than the political "hate speech" endured every day by good Republicans of all races everywhere.