This is what Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said last week on the Michigan affirmative action case before the Supreme Court
Race and poverty, together or separately, too often set up insurmountable barriers to Americans who seek to better their lives and contribute to society.Let us parse this. She is saying that "Race is an insurmountable barrier to success for many people". Not that the legacy of racial inequality has left persistent disparities, or that some are born into economic disadvantage that is an extra challenge to overcome, both of which are of course true. But that "race" itself is an obstacle which can be impossible to overcome, in other words a devastating handicap like quadriplegia or Down's Syndrome. Unfortunately, I don't think this is merely a sloppy statement, I think this is what most affirmative action supporters tacitly believe -- that blacks, in particular, are innately incapable of competing with others and require a perpetual infrastructure of social benefits and low standards. How deeply insulting to all Americans, black and otherwise, who did and will persevere in the face of any number of transitory and surmountable disadvantages to succeed on their own merits.
My Oxford English Dictionary defines racism as follows:
The theory that distinctive human characteristics and abilities are determined by race.Isn't that exactly what Pelosi is embracing?
For me, this is a Trent Lott moment, a single ill-considered statement that encapsulates an entire career of boneheadedness. Pelosi deserves the full treatment for this. But sadly, the liberal media is more likely to praise her for her "compassion" than criticize her for her deeply ingrained bigotry.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at April 10, 2003 07:48 AMNeither conservative nor liberal have the lock on sanity. They are both simply different sides of the same statist-altruist coin.
The difference between a liberal and conservative is as that between facist and socialist: by degree only.
Posted by: David Klotz on April 11, 2003 07:38 AMBy deleting the modifier "all too often" it was easy to take her statement to a logical extreme. Add a few leaps of logic(...they, i.e., liberals, believe blacks are inferior...) and viola! Another straw man. Hasn't the world seen enough of these guys already?
Posted by: bobbyp on April 12, 2003 07:38 PMOh, out come the apologists. Freedom, or classic liberalism = Fascism. Laughable. Go away Mr Dinosaur. And words are words, young lady, modifier or no, of course those on the left are racists. See how these leftist pigs are brainwashing our young:
http://www.eagleforum.org/psr/2003/apr03/psrapr03.shtml
Colleges and universities have hired highly-paid itinerant facilitators to train incoming freshmen to feel guilty if they are white and to think politically correct thoughts about race and diversity. Two of the films widely used at these Soviet-style re-education sessions are "Skin Deep," which presents intolerance and racism as the norm in America, and "Blue-Eyed," a 90-minute tirade designed to humiliate people with blue eyes and to empower people with brown eyes. (Reason, Mar. 2000, p. 26)