Aff.Act.Alum NAVARRETTE Sez, Support GONZALEZ & RICE Because of Race

[UTUSN]

NAVARRETTE is another one of those Affirmative Action dudes who, like Clarence THOMAS, emerged from their Democratic-sponsored hand-up apparently traumatized and self-hating, therefore committed to lashing out at anything Democratic and favoring every wingnut position.

The angle that hooked NAVARRETTE is that Hispanics ought to be free agents, not be "owned" by the Democratic Party. The wee problem with this is that the alternative is to "belong" to the wingnuts, who just want Hispanics to be their (literal) yardmen and houseboys. The more he pretends to "independence", the more he is owned.

Yep, there's something wrong with Affirmative Action, since those "Liberal" colleges turn pod minds into wingnuts. The suspect mechanism for teaching this supposed "independent thinking" is the devil's advocate gimmick, which tends to make the pod mind think it is very, very smart--smarter than the evidence supports.

In 2002, he was lecturing the Democratic Party in Texas on "loyalty" to Victor MORALES, the MORALES who later refused to support the Democratic nominee in the general election.

So, here, he wants to know, "What have you (Dem Party) done for me LATELY." So the word is "gimme" and supporting WINGNUT minorities is supposed to be BECAUSE of their race/ethnicity--------RACISM.

*******QUOTE*******

http://www.postwritersgroup.com/archives/nava1124.htm

DALLAS -- A Latino attorney general? A black woman as secretary of state?

Who would have imagined it 50 years ago -- or even, more recently, say, during the Clinton administration? Give President Bush credit for breaking barriers that his Democratic predecessor never got around to breaking.

Just don't try telling that to white liberals who are thrilled with the idea of minorities doing well -- as long as they can claim credit. If they can't, or if the minorities happen to be conservative, things can get messy. ....

As Democrats sink their teeth into the Gonzales and Rice nominations, note the condescension. Liberals can -- in one breath -- convey both the high opinion they have of themselves and the low opinion they have of everyone else. I've had a taste. During a stint as a columnist at a newspaper in Arizona, I criticized a Democratic U.S. attorney for ducking a civil rights case involving Latinos. I got lots of angry phone calls and e-mails. One note that stands out: A reader asked where I'd be ``without affirmative action secured for (me) by the Democratic Party.'' ....

When that sort of garbage comes from the right, we call it racism. What should we call it when it comes from the left?


Ruben Navarrette's e-mail address is [e-mail].

********UNQUOTE*******

[Eric J in MN]

1. Democrats are against Condeleeza Rice because

she's black!

It's not that she lied to 9/11 commission and said the "Bin Laden Determined to Strike US" briefing was a "historical document."

It's not things in Iraq have gone to hell since she was put in charge of re-building.

It's all about race!

[UTUSN]

2. He's Fixated on Skin Color

******QUOTE*****

http://www.digitas.harvard.edu/~perspy/old/issues/1995/sep/stolen.html

.... Examining the effect of affirmative action on how he was seen by himself and others, Navarrette describes the horns of a dilemma: "I always suspected that high-powered minority students were too often motivated not purely by an intellectual thirst for knowledge but instead by a desperate compulsion to disprove their critics." And: "he question of unworthiness endures like a stale odor. You begin to believe old critics, assuming that you have come to this bizarre place not by your own merit but by the grace of a government handout." ....

Navarrette accepted "the implied expectation that I serve as a cultural ambassador to sheltered white people." He is aware that his acquiescence may seem "strange, even degrading"--one would certainly hope that Navarrette could take pride in his culture without seeing himself, condescendingly, as only an exponent of it. ....

...he was grateful to discover RAZA, the organization dedicated to the support of Chicano students at Harvard. ....

Noticing the "rows of light-skinned, middle-class kids, many of whom between them could not put together a phrase in Spanish" at RAZA meetings led him to ask how well RAZA catered to their interests and whether he resembled them more than the "authentic" Mexican Americans that the group prima facie represented. Reflecting on his distance from the culture that Harvard seemed to want him to share, he writes, "The insane irony behind...affirmative action was that the light-skinned, English-proficient grandson who was acceptable to Harvard because he was most American and least Mexican was then oddly expected, upon arrival, to be less American and more Mexican." ....

...his final criticism of affirmative action as practiced today: it does not do too much to help members of disadvantaged groups, but too little. ....

*****UNQUOTE****

[glitch]

3. That would be racist.

Sorry - don't like fascists no matter what color of skin they have.

[tx_dem41]

4. Not to argue....

but how do you know that Navarette is an "affirmative action dude". Aren't you just playing to his rant?

[UTUSN]

5. 1. He Talks About It in the Original Post. 2. Post#2 Is a Review

of the book he wrote about his AA experience. 3. I have been monitoring his newspaper columns and his opinions for a couple of years and therefore know about #s 1&2. Would somebody make something up out of thin air? There's always Google and Amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553374273/qid=1101576630/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-7634645-1226422?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0553374273.01._PIdp-schmooS,TopRight,7,-26_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

[tx_dem41]

6. Thanks.

[Old and In the Way]

7. There's always "opportunity" for minorities in the Republican Party.

The only thing you need to do is disavow the Democratic Party legacy that fought for the rights of all minorities. For those with no conscience, it is easy money.

Take away the minority mouthpieces and what do you have? A lilly white, rich man's club.

[CatWoman]

8. so I should support a black incompetent

over say, a white or yellow competent?

yeah, that's the ticket.

That's like saying when Jesse Jackson ran for president, I should have supported him solely because he was black.

Not calling Jesse incompetent, but he was not my choice for president for other reasons.

Condi Rice is a sleazy lying incompetent, who happens to be a black woman.

Fuck her.

[noiretextatique]

14. as i recall, ms. majette

said she voted for alan keyes because he is black :7

[CatWoman]

15. LOL

THAT'S RIGHT!!!!!

Some people :silly:

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. They're so distanced from their own race that they don't have

the legitimacy to represent them.

[UTUSN]

10. Fer Kicks, This Is the E-ltr I Sent to 200 Media/Judiciary Cmte/Hispanic

organizations. Results? Two auto-replies: One from BIDEN saying thanks-for-the-input and one from FEINSTEIN saying she can only listen to her own state's people. At first and last word La Raza and LULAC were giddily in support of GONZALEZ, while MALDEF said they will review his whole record before deciding. So here's this (again):

The supposed Liberal half of the pundits on CNN’s The Capital Gang (11-13) have already sounded the retreat regarding the nomination of Alberto Gonzalez for Attorney General with the words, “He’s got a great personal story, only one of eight siblings to go to college, and he maintains contact with them!”

While the Republican majority makes it unlikely that the nomination can be blocked, Gonzalez’s record, ideology, and role as Bush waterboy need thorough exposure and opposition. But the Democrats have to stay focused on those things and not allow the process to be framed on the basis of “ethnicity,” as in, “the first Hispanic, blah blah…”

During the ESTRADA hearings the beleaguered Democratic leaders actually stood firm and eventually won a rare victory, perhaps surprising even themselves, although the deciding factor might have been Estrada’s possible personal baggage instead of ideology. And almost all of the Hispanic organizations joined in opposing him based on his ideology.

With Gonzalez, the Republicans are springing yet again their “ethnic“ or “racial” trap that started with George I’s use of Clarence Thomas: Nominating a member of a minority group, perhaps not too bright or accomplished, but who toes the Conservative line, and, most of all, stymies the Democrats by their having to oppose somebody from one of their traditional constituencies. The payload of the “ethnic” gambit is to derail the vetting process, keeping attention away from the nominee’s record and ideological fanaticism.

During the Estrada hearings, Orrin Hatch was all over the media with a Shirley Temple pout, saying innocently, “How can the Democrats oppose this well qualified Hispanic?”

The answer then should have been, as now, “It is NOT about the ethnicity. That would be racism and quotas. It’s about the ideology and his record.”

This link covers his whole career: http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF ...

This link covers his role in the torture policy: http://lawofwar.org/Torture_Memos_analysis.htm (Home Page: http://lawofwar.org / )

-------------
Link with e-addy blast list
http://www.stopalbertogonzales.com /

[noiretextatique]

11. he protests a little too much

the role of people of color in bush's administration is as window-dressing, and little more. recall bush's racist crack to the face of coretta scott-king? or his insistence on using the word "quotas" to describe the university of michigan's affirmative action program? that any person of color would support the party of trent lott is beyond me. his argument is bullshit.
i think he has some small points about our side of the equation, at the same time, he tends to ignore the fact that conservatives, in general, are hostile to both affirmative action, to other issues of importance to people of color, and to people of color period.
thomas, rice, gonzalez, and the rest are in the posisions they are in because they are ideologues and lackeys. in that respect, they are no different from the white people who are in the bush administration.

[jdj]

12. wouldn't this be offensive to "minorities" in this admin, the

constant pointing out of their race? Why do they stand for it? I mean, I'm surprised he doesn't make Condi wear a sign that says "look, I'm black, AND I'm a woman" in case someone somehow doesn't notice..

we need to hit them with it's racist and offensive for them to keep harping on it.

[noiretextatique]

13. absolutely...they claim race is irrelevant

yet they continue to use it to exploit, in the most egregious and cynical manner possible.

[Tomee450]

16. Supporting someone

simply because he is from the same community is a mistake. Clarence Thomas comes to mind.

[UTUSN]

17. NAVARRETTE Replied to My E-mail

I sent him a de-identified version of this thread, and this is what he replied:

-----QUOTE---------Dear (first name):
Thanks for the note - and for keeping up with my work. Glad the piece stirred you. Maybe we'll agree next time.

best,

Ruben Navarrette ----------UNQUOTE--------
-----------------------------------------

Either the dweeb is SO clueless that he thinks we might actually agree someday OR he replies smoothly in order to p. me off-------or-----and this is probable--------his ego is SO flattered that he felt compelled to say thanks.

The piece STIRRED me------------for me to POOP on!!!!!!!!!!