11 Apr 2007 Thoughts on a Don Imus Wannabee
Taking cues from Don Imus, Pat Oliphant, Jeff Danziger and the New York Times syndicate, Ted Rall, the Palestinian press, Julian Bond, Bellevue Community College in Seattle, the Universal Press Syndicate, someone at USA Today’s website, Ann “Money-Maker” Coulter, radio host John “Sly” Sylvester and the Mid-West Broadcast Group, and especially Garry Trudeau (among others), leftie blogger TBogg decided the other day to call our Secretary of State “Brown Sugar.”
I wonder if the thought of a successful black woman genuinely makes Mr. TBogg think of people who sleep their way to the top. It is equally likely that this was a ploy for attention. Or, perhaps, TBogg just says nasty things, but is not particularly original.
I asked Project 21 Chairman Mychal Massie and Project 21 Fellow Deneen Borelli what they think of it.
Mychal Massie: “These comments meant to be insulting, calcify that which we have long known — for liberals, it isn’t what you say that matters, it’s who you say it about. Imus’s sin was clearly who he chose to comment about — had he directed his insults at Dr. Rice or Justice Thomas not only would there have been no penalty or outcry from the cacophony of race-mongers we now hear, but we would be the only ones talking about it.”Deneen Borelli: “This Don Imus impersonator is ignorant of the fact that Dr. Condoleezza Rice is a successful black female, currently the Secretary of State, former National Security Advisor, former Stanford University Provost, has several honorary doctorates, served on numerous boards, is a concert pianist and is fluent in several languages. Cheap insults will never diminish her accomplishments.”
I agree with both.
It does seem that, for many on the left, it’s not what you say, but who you say it about. (It’s also who says it. Rush Limbaugh can’t even say the media wishes a black quarterback well, while rap singers and their corporate backers can say and promote atrocious filth.)
But Deneen is right, also. It’s ludicrious for Trudeau and TBogg and others to imply that Condoleezza Rice owes her influence not to accomplishments, but to her alleged personal relationship with a man. They make fools of themselves.
Others blogging this include: