As racist as they wanna be

As racist as they wanna be

by digby

It never pays to give conservatives the benefit of the doubt.

Yesterday I was alerted by several readers to this piece by National Review writer Jay Nordlinger writing about St. Ronnie:

Truth is, some conservatives lamented that he had indeed “grown” in office. He had gone out of his way to accommodate liberals and moderates, and to accommodate the Kremlin. He was raising taxes, spending like crazy, welcoming wetbacks, pursuing arms control. One common cry from the right was, “None of this would be happening if Ronald Reagan were alive.”

The term "welcoming wetbacks" was the offending passage, of course. And it is offensive. But my reaction to it was that he was speaking in the voice of a (crude) conservative of the time and not saying it himself. Obviously he should have put it in scare quotes and it would have been more clear, but I was willing to assume that he didn't mean it to reflect his own, current vocabulary.

I was wrong. Here he is today:
Look: I am not a politician. I’m a writer. And if you don’t like what I write — for heaven’s sake, there are 8 billion others you can click on. I would further say to the complainers, using a phrase I’ve never liked, frankly: Get a life. Get a frickin’ life.

One more word: If people wet their pants on seeing the word “wetback,” this country is as far gone as the most pessimistic and alarmist people say it is.
I think that clears it up.

How many racist writers does National Review employ anyway? They seem to come tumbling out of their closets every couple of months or so.


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