Caption anyone?
Like Speedy, Alberto Gonzales, lost the accent mark and the final “z” in his surname long ago. So it seems odd that González, I mean Gonzales, has decided to pull out the race card. Now, I’ve no doubt that discrimination exists — and especially against this country’s largest “minority” population as I’ve noted in this blog before — but the Attorney General is surely missing the point: it’s not racism that has him in hot water, it’s his politics.
I reproduce Nuestravoice’s piece here:
AS PREDICTED ON NUESTRAVOICE.COM GONZALES PLAYS THE RACE CARD
“As predicted here first on Nuestravoice.com Gonzales is playing the race card in his own defense. After a couple of weeks of White House and RNC inspired snake oil salesmen trying to find buyers for a race based defense of Alberto Gonzales they found a couple of rubes: Ruben Navarrette and Rush Limbaugh. First of all I am flabbergasted that columnist Rueben Navarrette bought the Gonzales racial defense and swallowed the elixir in one single gulp. (BTW Rueben I have a pinata full of Aztec gold I want to sell you-I got it from a guy named El Dorado). As far as Rush is concerned he is obviously carrying the water again for another person he doesn’t believe in. As we know Rush has admitted lying to his audience for political reasons in the past and apparently old habits die hard.
I had Rueben Navarrette on my radio show on Sunday to discuss his own race based defense of Gonzales. Navarette who I mostly disagree with but have always found well reasoned and respectable was good enough to come on the program and defend his ideas. The interview stands on its own you decide what you think of it. I will link to it later today.
I am however left wondering what a legitimate columnist like Navarrette thinks now that he finds himself in the company of Rush Limbaugh. Navarrette is not a political side show like Rush and he is positioned to be a political and social columnist of great stature. Navarrette therefore must be surprised to find he is using the same weak arguments as the King of radio delivered racist spin. In fact one can observe that the Navarrette column provided the political cover needed for Rush and his radio mini-me’s to use race as a Gonzales defense.
The racial defense of Alberto Gonzales has no merit. Gonzales has in fact been either asleep at the wheel of Justice or an accomplice in using the department for blatant political purposes. That being said Gonzales lost any right to use a race based defense forever when he failed to support affirmative action for Latino and African American students or fight racist gerrymandering in his home state of Texas. While the Gonzales defenders now see race as a factor when it comes to Betito’s career they did not see that race was a factor in Tom Delays’ lone star state gerrymandering. Even the Supreme Court found the Texas gerrymandering blatantly and illegally racist.
It is embarrassing that Gonzales is the first Latino to lead DoJ. But we as Latinos cannot make matters worse by using the real issue of racial discrimination to protect his shoddy, incompetent, immoral, and perhaps illegal management of the Justice Department.
The anti-immigrant, anti-minority right needs Gonzales like they need Clarence Thomas. Those stuck in the past by racism and mired in the present with Bush cronyism will use any means necessary in order to protect the embattled AG. Their tactics will include using lies, playing the race card, and manipulating well meaning- book smart, but politically naïve, op-ed writers.”
See “Ex-aide contradicts Gonzales on firings.”
And, well, because this posting warrants it: see William Anthony Nericcio’s brilliant “reading” of Speedy in his Tex[t] Mex.
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