Ann Althouse did the due diligence I had intended to do when I first read about the Washington Post story on the offensive name of a hunting camp that Rick Perry’s family leased. In the synopses and excerpts I skimmed, two apparently contradictory facts stood out:
- The Texas governor’s (and current GOP presidential candidate) claim that whenever he saw a rock with the offensive name, he and his father painted it over. Indeed, it was one of the first things they did when they leased the property.
- Seven individuals, one as recently as last summer, claim to have seen the name on the rock (with the name visible) when Perry’s father leased the land.
So, I got to wondering whether or not the Washington Post reporter had actually gone to the ranch and snapped a picture of the rock. Evidence of paint on the rock would back up the claims of the Texas governor.
And it does seem there was that. “As recently as this summer,” the Post’s Stephanie McCrummen report, “the slablike rock — lying flat, the name still faintly visible beneath a coat of white paint — remained by the gated entrance to the camp.” But, as Althouse notes (and this is her “due diligence”): “Lots of photos of Perry having nothing whatsoever to do with this story, and not a single one of the rock. Well done, WP!” (Read the whole thing.)
Wonder why the Post wasn’t interested in tracking down the most important image for this story.
Via Glenn Reynolds who finds its funny “that they never found Obama’s background this interesting.”
Macacca redux.
Sent Stephie a nice email. Explaining how the WAPO article made her look racist….since she used the word in question 8 times. These people always make themselves look foolish when trying to trash others….come on 2012
Actually….
The Post is just arguing that Gov Perry didn’t Whitewash the camp as well as they did President Obama’s past (and current activities, see Fast and Furious)
THE MSM protect Obama at any cost. The 2012 Democrat bloodbath is coming regardless.
IIRC, Perry was a Democrat back then. Oops.
While we’re at it, is it just me or does it seem like the left-wing pundits are more obsessed with Chris Christie’s weight than his policies? Could they be more shallow? Could it be any more obvious that the left is incapable of intelligent policy discussions and can only debate politics at a middle school level.
Conservative: “Obama’s misguided policies have exploded the deficit and created an environment hostile to hiring new employees.”
Liberal: “Yeah, well, Chris Christie is fat.”
And they wonder why we don’t respect them.
If the media had properly vetted Obama in 2007 and 2008, we would not be having this conversation.
Too little, too late. The Perry family should have refused to lease the property just because the rock existed. The Perry family should have moved out of the state of Texas once they knew the rock existed. The Perry family should have gone to the Supreme Court and demanded that that whole area of Texas should undergo rigid reeducation and that all the money of wealthy people be impounded and redistributed as reparation money to anyone with 1/32 part of black blood. The Perry children should have be sent to social justice school and educated in the finer arts of community organizing.
Whitewash just won’t do. I bet they sing I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas and never consider how bigoted and offensive they are willing to be.
This is just my opinion. Today, I saw Mr. Juan Williams, on Fox News, talking about this issue. Williams seemed to agree with candidate, Herman Cain. Cain stated/suggested that Rick Perry was very, very insensitive to blacks, by “not immediately” painting over a rock, that had N__head written on it, in 1980 or 1983.
Hmm. Now for the history debate- 1980 + 1983 were very different from the U.S. of 2011. The black comedian, Richard Pryor, came out with three comedy albums, using the n-word. In 1974, the album was- That N-word is Crazy. In 1976, the RP album was-Bicentennial N-word. In 1983, the album was-Supern-word.
I’m using “n-word” as a euphemism, here, Mr. Pryor used the actual racial insult, in his album titles. Why was Pryor allowed to use the n-word in these years? Because the U.S. people were not as sensitive about the use of the ‘n-word”, as we are today, in 2011.
The U.S. has changed, and I believe, for the better. The comedians on the Seinfeld TV show, probably would have gotten away with saying the n-word in 1980, or in 1993, but most/all of us in the U.S. feel that the n-word is so offensive, that we’d sooner throw a couch at someone, than to say the insulting n-word to someone. The word is now that offensive and abhorred.
But in the 1980s + 1970s, most U.S. people felt uncomfortable with the use of the n-word on the “Jeffersons” TV show, but we didn’t feel offended enough to ask that the Jeffersons + it’s re-runs should be taken off the TV. The 1980s were a different time-we felt startled or uneasy about the n-word, just as we felt miffed and uneasy at: rubber testicles on a truck, or stereotypes of Chinese people in Disney cartoons, and the slight Mexicans-are-jumpy-and-dumb-stereotype of the Speedy Gonzales cartoons of the pre-1990s.
I do not support Perry + his parent’s renting a yard that had “N___head” written on it, but that word, in Texas and in The U.S.A., was tolerated more in the 1980s, than it is, today.
I believe that it was very wrong and offensive for someone to call this yard, the N____head, but we have to be careful to measure out our call for justice, and make sure that the punishment or scorn of Rick Perry + his family matches the time in which this offensive word was written.
Racism and sexism, and other forms of discrimination, were different in different times in America. America didn’t always handle racism, and feel about racism, like it does today.
Such as, I am all for American women having the vote and having any job that they can do. But if spoke out to make America give women the vote, in 1910, I would probably be laughed out of every town hall in 1910’s America.
This is just my opinion. Today, I saw Mr. Juan Williams, on Fox News, talking about this issue. Williams seemed to agree with candidate, Herman Cain. Cain stated/suggested that Rick Perry was very, very insensitive to blacks, by “not immediately” painting over a rock, that had N__head written on it, in 1980 or 1983.
Hmm. Now for the history debate- 1980 + 1983 were very different from the U.S. of 2011. The black comedian, Richard Pryor, came out with three comedy albums, using the n-word. In 1974, the album was- That N-word is Crazy. In 1976, the RP album was-Bicentennial N-word. In 1983, the album was-Supern-word.
I’m using “n-word” as a euphemism, here, Mr. Pryor used the actual racial insult, in his album titles. Why was Pryor allowed to use the n-word in these years? Because the U.S. people were not as sensitive about the use of the ‘n-word”, as we are today, in 2011.
The U.S. has changed, and I believe, for the better. The comedians on the Seinfeld TV show, probably would have gotten away with saying the n-word in 1980, or in 1993, but most/all of us in the U.S. feel that the n-word is so offensive, that we’d sooner throw a couch at someone, than to say the insulting n-word to someone. The word is now that offensive and abhorred.
But in the 1980s + 1970s, most U.S. people felt uncomfortable with the use of the n-word on the “Jeffersons” TV show, but we didn’t feel offended enough to ask that the Jeffersons + it’s re-runs should be taken off the TV. The 1980s were a different time-we felt startled or uneasy about the n-word, just as we felt miffed and uneasy at: rubber testicles on a truck, or stereotypes of Chinese people in Disney cartoons, and the slight Mexicans-are-jumpy-and-dumb-stereotype of the Speedy Gonzales cartoons of the pre-1990s.
I do not support Perry + his parent’s renting a yard that had “N___head” written on it, but that word, in Texas and in The U.S.A., was tolerated more in the 1980s, than it is, today.
I believe that it was very wrong and offensive for someone to call this yard, the N____head, but we have to be careful to measure out our call for justice, and make sure that the punishment or scorn of Rick Perry + his matches the time in which this offensive word was written.
Racism and sexism, and other forms of discrimination, were different in different times in America. America didn’t always handle racism, like it does, today.
Such as, I am all for American women having the vote and having any job that they can do. But if spoke out to make America give women the vote, in 1910, I would probably be laughed out of every town hall in 1910’s America.
Sorry about the double post. The internet can be a pest. : )