I just took a look at crooksandliars.com, a hardest-of-hard left web site I have read for years. And one of its featured articles, written by someone calling him/herself “Vegasjessie”, is skewering Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican candidate who is challenging incumbent Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu this year.
According to Vegasjessie, “The candidate opposing Mary Landrieu in the November Midterms shows his racist colors by comparing Senator Reid to a slave owner”. So that must have been a pretty raw comparison, right?
Well, it is hard to tell from his blog, because Vegasjessie, for some reason, did not post Cassidy\’s actual statement. I found that surprising, since, to prove how racist a statement is, it seems pretty necessary to show the statement.
But he did provide a link to a blog at talkingpointsmemo.com – also a decidedly leftward venue, though not nearly to the same degree as crooksandliars.com – as a source for Cassidy\’s quote.
But when I went there, all I saw was “like a plantation” – without the rest of the statement, thus without any context.
Hmmmmmmmmmm, why would two left wing web sites which oppose Bill Cassidy claim that the plantation reference was racist without showing us the proof – i.e. how he used those words. Wouldn\’t they want us to see proof of their changes?
Well, TPM, like C&L, provided a link – to something called “E&E Daily” (which turns out to be a venue which publishes Environment and Energy material). So I gave it one more try.
And whaddaya know. I found the quote – within a paragraph that provides its actual context. Now, finally, I could determine if Cassidy\’s reference had racial overtones.
Here it is:
Reid”runs the Senate like a plantation,” Cassidy said. “Soinstead of the world\’s greatest deliberative body, it is hispersonal, sort of, \’It goes if I say it does, if not it stops.\’Senator Landrieu\’s first vote for him to be re-elected means thatevery other wish for a pro-oil and gas jobs bill is dead. Reid willnever allow a pro-oil and gas jobs bill.”
Whoa, hold the horses. That comment, in context, has exactly nothing whatsoever to do with racism at all. The comparison is that, like a plantation owner, Reid is running the senate as his personal little kingdom. The end. Just as countless politicians, both Black and White, have talked about Black people being “on the plantation” or “off the plantation” for various political issues. Were they all racists too?
No wonder crooksandliars.com and talkingpointsmemo.com didn\’t put the actual quote up. It completely blows away their claim of racism.
But don\’t expect them to stop claiming it, folks. That is not how these folks operate.
We\’ll see how the voters in Louisiana react on election day.
