Washington Post Columnist’s Bizarre Passage About Interracial Marriage and ‘Gag Reflexes’
Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen is generating controversy once again. Last time we checked in with the white-bearded writer, he controversially defended George Zimmerman‘s decision to “profile” a hoodie-wearing young black man named Trayvon Martin. Today, he’s drawing outrage for a bizarre passage about conservatives, interracial marriage, and a resultant “gag reflex.”
The column, entitled “Christie’s tea-party problem,” focuses on prospective candidates for the GOP’s 2016 presidential nomination, and their chances in the heavily-conservative Iowa caucus. Seems like pretty run-of-the-mill political analysis, right?
But then came this paragraph:
Today’s GOP is not racist, as Harry Belafonte alleged about the tea party, but it is deeply troubled — about the expansion of government, about immigration, about secularism, about the mainstreaming of what used to be the avant-garde. People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York — a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children. (Should I mention that Bill de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, used to be a lesbian?) This family represents the cultural changes that have enveloped parts — but not all — of America. To cultural conservatives, this doesn’t look like their country at all.
Mockery ensued: Cohen received the Gawker treatment, and became the butt end of many ridiculing tweets, from both left and right:
Richard Cohen has an unconventional view of what conventional views are.
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) November 12, 2013
Most incredible part of Cohen column is how far out of his way he went to get to de Blasio.
— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) November 12, 2013
Who doesn't have to repress a gag reflex when they read Richard Cohen? http://t.co/bhGOhKSiOJ
— Matt O'Brien (@ObsoleteDogma) November 12, 2013
How can the Washington Post not can Richard Cohen after this? https://t.co/DR3dCrQ4si
— Mike Riggs (@MikeRiggs) November 12, 2013
How did that Richard Cohen column get past a Washington Post editor?
— John Nolte (@NolteNC) November 12, 2013
