March 3, 2009

Althouse in the NYT.

Playing the race card.

IN THE COMMENTS: John Althouse Cohen said:
Professor Althouse ... in the New York Times ... with the race card ... sounds like Clue ...

23 comments:

George M. Spencer said...

Seeing a Captain Lou Albano lookalike dude with a freaky weird beard talk about "building a better energy grid" does not reassure me.

And why is a Tibetan guy talking about trains?

Because the Chinese just built a train line through his occupied country?

Host with the Most said...

Stand your ground ALTHOUSE!

Jason (the commenter) said...

So the NYT is trying to be a news aggregator now? Well, their old business model sure isn't working.

garage mahal said...

It worked!

Anonymous said...

Seeing a Captain Lou Albano lookalike dude with a freaky weird beard talk about "building a better energy grid" does not reassure me.

I'm told it involves crystals and orgones. Oh well, anything that breaks our dependence on coal and oil!

MadisonMan said...

I disagree that you are playing the race card. That would mean openly calling everyone who objected to Jindal a racist.

You are very polite about it, asking the people to consider whether what they are doing might have foundations in racism. If that's playing the race card, it's doing it very decorously.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Nice going Profe.. I just wish you had a tenth of that fire and passion for Palin.

She sure could have used it... I'm just saying ;)

AllenS said...

Kick 'em in the nuts, Althouse. You go girl.

Roberto said...

I'm not a fan or otherwise of Eve Fairbanks, but the woman evidently has the patience of a saint.

Ann spoke for about 4 of the 6 minutes with a single interruption.

As for the content, I haven't spoken to anyone who even mentioned Jindal's race (and yes, I'm surrounded by conservatives), only his poor presentation and regurgitation of the standard Republican talking points.

Zachary Sire said...

Milk it, girlfriend. Milk it for all its inane worth.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Can anyone here name a previous person who gave the response to the State of The Union?

If you can name one, did that person get as much scrutiny and attention as Jindal did?

I'm Full of Soup said...

Yes patience of saints. When you comment Michael, we tend to need that.

Jason (the commenter) said...

AJ Lynch : Can anyone here name a previous person who gave the response to the State of The Union?

But this is a party without a leader. Jindal was supposed to be that leader and we were all eager to hear what he had to say. He didn't deliver. I'm saying this as a conservative, who likes Jindal, and heard him over the radio.

Sarah Palin almost brought tears to my eyes when she gave a speech, she was that good. I know Jindal isn't going to be just like Palin, but I was expecting a lot more than he gave. I hope Jindal pays attention to the criticism because much of it is valid. He's got three years to learn.

Kirk Parker said...

Althouse's original post and title just beg for a LOLCATS treatment. Come on, all you creative people!

Tibore said...

"Althouse in the NYT.

Playing the race card."


Is that sort of like a Dance Card, where you select which ethnicity you take a spin around the floor with, and in what order?

I'm Full of Soup said...

Jason:

I don't disagree with your point. Jindal was supposed to be the next great thing.

But at one time the Dems were led by who? Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, maybe Joh Kerry or Edwards?

Did any of them ever give the response to the SOTU ? And was it examined under such a powerful microscope?

Big Mike said...

You've got it, Professor, sort of. What you're seeing is a sense among liberals that dark-skinned people, even dark-skinned Caucasians such as Bobby Jindal, "belong" to the Democrats, and ought to stay on the plantation where they'll be sheltered and fed.

I first witnessed this about 25 years ago, working on the campaign for a Black running for office as a Republican in a Maryland suburb of DC. At that time I put his defeat down to the fact that the Mason-Dixon line is the north boundary of Maryland. But later I came to think otherwise. Especially when I see the venom directed toward Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell (at least before his endorsement of the Great Obama), Condi Rice, and Michael Steele, I'm sure I'm seeing the same reaction as ante-bellum Southerners felt towards slaves who'd run away from the plantation.

TJ said...

"I think there's a lot of racial emoting around this . . ." sez Althouse, the chief emoter on Jindal's race.

I'll repeat the question I asked last week when you first raised this issue and that you still haven't answered: Who has this "instinctive revulsion" to Jindal you keep referring to? Chris Matthews? That "oh, god" can be read as a response to any number of things. Anybody else?

Why, your flogging of this horse is almost . . . unseemly. Embarrassing at the very least. But, hey, traffic! And certainly more open to interpretation than, say, a transmitter in someone's ear at a debate!

Anonymous said...

Ann, you are absolutely wrong about the race comment. I hope it was something you made up for sake of argument, and did not seriously think it to be true.

I am an Indian (from the country in Asia), and so if I find Jindal to be insipid, I am probably not being racist. At the very best, he was uninspiring, ill at ease, unconvincing, and less than candid about his background. Painting a picture of struggling immigrant parents, at awe in the land of plenty, only goes so far when your parents are engineers and physicists.

If anything, it is Jindal's race which may be catapulting him to the national stage, as the GOP scampers to find the browns and blacks in its ranks. I cannot think of a better reason why someone as ordinary as Michael Steele would be elected as the chair of the RNC. Living in Maryland, I had the misfortune of actually witnessing Steele campaign for his failed senate bid in 2006.

Jindal was subpar, and any criticism is well-deserved.

Tenured Radical B. said...

Jindal was noncommittal and timid in his speech. Not to mention he accepted 99.6% of the bailout money he spent 8 minutes criticizing. That's in the billions Bobby boy.

Anonymous said...

I disagree that Jindal's race had anything to do with the negative reception of his speech. I heard the speech live over NPR and had to turn it off after a few minutes. I have an issue with the sound, pitch, and tenor of voices (be they liberal or conservative) and I couldn't take the screech of his voice. I felt like I was listening to some kind of after-school special. Or listening to an out-of-touch principal who thinks he's cool try to talk "buddy-buddy" with the students. He wasn't quite condescending, but I missed the intelligent manner in which Obama speaks to the people. It wasn't Jindal's race -- it was the screech of his voice! I wouldn't care if Jindal were purple as long as his voice didn't sound like fingernails across a chalkboard!

BTW, I'm not White and I have no liberal guilt. I like the fact that some minorities are conservatives -- I think it shows progress in getting beyond race relations. People have different value systems that can be independent of race.

John Althouse Cohen said...

Professor Althouse ... in the New York Times ... with the race card ... sounds like Clue ...

Issob Morocco said...

Are we sure it was not the race card from Greyhound Racing in Delavan WI? Pick "Patience Of A Saint" in the sixth race. "Three Legged Michael" in the 8th race.