01 Sep 2005 Down With Knee-Jerk, Apoplectic Hysteria

From today’s Inside the Beltway column in the Washington Times:

Martin and JohnRekindling the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr., blacks in America aren’t being silent about the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. to the Supreme Court — albeit for this cause, the minority group’s leaders are divided for a change.

Responding to attacks from left-wing blacks, the black leadership network Project 21 is defending its assertion that the beliefs of King are more in line with the record of Judge Roberts than with the agenda of those currently laying claim to the civil rights leader’s legacy.

The debate began more than a week ago when Project 21 member Mychal Massie remarked: ‘John Roberts is the type of jurist who represents the beliefs of great Americans such as James Madison and Martin Luther King Jr.’

At which point African-American Ministers In Action Chairman Tim McDonald charged that Mr. Massie sought to ‘pull the wool over the eyes’ of the black community, while fellow member Roger Wilkins added: ‘John Roberts is no Martin Luther King Jr.’

Mr. Massie says he does not apologize ‘nor shrink from my comments comparing the beliefs’ of Judge Roberts and Mr. King.

‘To suggest that I have in some way discredited Dr. King is simply the knee-jerk, apoplectic hysteria of those who find fault with anyone not espousing their leftist mantra of self-segregation and special rights,’ he says.

Personally, I find it interesting that the left objects to Judge Roberts being compared to Martin Luther King, but not to Roberts being compared to James Madison.