Fact And Fiction

First the fiction, from Charlie...

...in which he complains about affirmative action.

The reality is, even conservatives benefit from affirmative action, as illustrated by the old man Other Side.

The one that got away

So a guy shows up late for a job interview and starts it out by announcing, “you’re a damn fool if you don’t hire me.”

Jessica McBride thinks the Journal Sentinel should have hired him anyway.

Why? Because the guy in question, Jason Whitlock, is a black sports columnist who followed the right-wing line during the ugly Don Imus controversy in April, saying black culture and gangsta rap, not Imus, are the real problem, and accusing Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton of exploiting the Rutgers basketball team and making the issue too big of a deal.

That, of course, is the diversity of opinion the right wing loves, whenever they can find a black person who agrees with them. (They are few and far between.)

"He would have been a really fresh voice in town," McBride says.

Right.

UPDATE: Illusory Tenant digs a little deeper and finds that McBride, avowed affirmative action foe, is the advisor for a student group whose goal is to increase diversity.

File under Glass Houses

From my blog on Uppity Wisconsin (Gee, is that racist?)

State Rep. Tamara Grigsby (D-Milwaukee) suggested she might outfit State Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) with a cone hat and a sheet for his opposition to affrirmative action. Which brings Jessica McBride -- who's always big on apologies as long as she's not the one doing it -- to say Grigsby owes an apology to Grothman. Says McBride:

This is a common tactic on the left, and it needs to be called out whenever it's spotted. When a conservative disagrees with a liberal, they often accuse them of being "racist" to shut down debate because they can't win on the merits of their argument.

Oppose illegal immigration? You're a racist. Oppose Michael McGee Jr.? You're a racist. Oppose gangsta rap? You're a racist. Oppose affirmative action? You're a racist. Want to lock up criminals? You're a racist. Criticize Eugene Kane? You're a racist.

Glenn Grothman has every right to express his opinion against affirmative action without being compared to a KKK member.

Spare us the righteous indignation, please.

How would Grigsby's comment compare, do you think, with this radio commercial that McBride's wingman, Charlie Sykes, produced and ran over and over again on his show, comparing Jim Doyle to racist segregationist governors Orville Faubus and George Wallace?

AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENT: Fifty years ago the Supreme Court opened the school house doors. But the fight hasn’t been easy. And the fight isn’t over.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENT: In 1957 a governor named Orval Faubus stood in the school house door in Little Rock Arkansas to keep nine African American students from getting an education.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENT: In 1963 a governor named George Wallace stood in the door of the University of Alabama to keep two African American students from going to school.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENT: Now, in 2006, don’t let a governor named Jim Doyle stand in the schoolhouse door again. This time, blocking hundreds of African American students right here in Milwaukee.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENT: Students who just want a chance.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENT: A chance to go to the school of their choice.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENT: If Governor Doyle doesn’t lift the cap on school choice, he’ll be standing in schoolhouse door, just as surely as Governor Faubus and Governor Wallace.

Governor Doyle. Let Our People Go.

Governor Doyle: Let Our Children IN.

Governor Doyle. Let Our Children Learn.

Governor Doyle: GET OUT OF THE SCHOOLHOUSE DOOR.

Sykes says: (This spot is not authorized and paid for by anybody -- at least not yet. It's free. Mikel Holt, production genius Jim Gilles, and I put this together with the help of students from Messmer High School.)

Doyle's still awaiting his apology.