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Rep. Paul Kanjorski Under Attack For Putting ‘Minorities’ And ‘Defective’ In Same Sentence

video

by Frances Martel | 7:12 pm, June 24th, 2010

» 25 comments

Today was not shaping out to be a great day for Republicans in the House. First, a video was released of Iowa Rep. Steve King making what sounds suspiciously like a birther joke. Then there was Rep. Louie Gohmert, who read out a column comparing the BP escrow account to, uh, Hitler, on the House floor. And then Democratic Rep. Paul Kanjorski noted that the people benefitting from the finance bill were not “minorities or defective people.”

The video quickly made it to the four corners of the conservative blogosphere– most notably, The Corner and RedState, where he got the headline “Paul Kanjorski is a Racist Fool.” Before jumping to conclusions, let’s look at the full quote:

“We’re giving relief to people that I deal with in my office every day now unfortunately. But because of the longevity of this recession, these are people — and they’re not minorities and they’re not defective and they’re not all the things you’d like to insinuate that these programs are about — these are average, good American people.”

Operative phrase: “not all the things you’d like to insinuate that these programs are about.“Kanjorski clarified in a statement to the press afterwards “that many people insinuate that those who benefit from government programs are those not looking for jobs, but that those suggestions are wildly inaccurate.” He wasn’t making the point that minorities are “defective people,” although he left his defenses open wide enough to make it possible to put in a couple of clever ellipses and accuse him of racism. In fact, he makes his point much more clearly in the sentence before this one: “The reason I and some of my colleagues [support] this program isn’t because we’re trying to give relief to people that aren’t responsible, that don’t know what the hell they’re doing, or care what they’re doing.”

That said, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, or something like that. Overtly racializing an issue– no matter how covertly it may already have been so– on a day where Republicans have been gaffing all over the place and getting caught (thanks, soundbite-happy, hyper-partisan, YouTube-obsessed American political culture!), is just asking for trouble. Exhibit A: Chris Matthews, who interrupted a successful night for the Democrats after this year’s State of the Union speech to “forget Obama was black,” and thus give Republicans a target to shoot at on a night where they were expected to mostly keep a low profile.

Race is a tricky issue and it’s almost impossible to come out of bringing it up unscathed, and in this political climate, putting the words “minorities” and “defective” anywhere near each other is a bit of a risk. But ultimately it’s intent that matters, and considering the soundbites coming out of his colleagues on the right, Kanjorski is actually going to have to try to say something off-color for it to catch on in the mainstream. Video of Rep. Kanjorski’s comments below:

Chris Matthews, Congress, Democrats, House of Representatives, Louie Gohmert, National Review, Paul Kanjorski, race relations, redstate, Republicans, Steve King, YouTube

Thomas G Williams

Its clear this is going to another manufactured issue that FAUX and the CONSERVALIGIOUS RETHUGLICANS will try to milk to cover for their failings as sub-humanoids.
MichelleF

Just like the Simpson quote, right Thomas?
notsofast

He didn’t mean to say “minorities” and “defectives; he meant to say liberals.
notsofast

Thomas G Williams says:

YOU ARE STILL A LIB SHILL!
Barney

<Rep. Paul Kanjorski Under Attack For Putting ‘Minorities’ And ‘Defective’ In Same Sentence?

Jesus…you fucking idiot…he's under fire for suggesting "minorities" and "defectives" were not "good, average Americans"
Big_F-ing_Deal

Haha…the right wing scumbags are so desperate to give the left a “Joe Barton” moment that they have to manufacture one.

The entire quote finishes:…”and they’re not minorities and they’re not defective and they’re not all the things you’d like to insinuate that these programs are about — ”.

Clearly he was calling out others for this attitude and he did not agree with those sentiments himself.

Clearly.
Big_F-ing_Deal

“Jesus…you fucking idiot…he’s under fire for suggesting “minorities” and “defectives” were not “good, average Americans”

No, he was suggesting OTHERS would insinuate that.

Read much?
notsofast

Big_F-ing_Deal says:
June 24, 2010 at 8:21 pm

Clearly he is a racist, like most libs.
notsofast

More lib racism:

“A few years ago, he (Obama) would be serving us coffee.” — Bill Clinton

” He (Obama) doesn’t sound like a Negro unless he wants to.” Senator Harry Reid

He (BHO) said I know this is going to be — lead to some, quote, difficulty for the guys who work on those rigs.
Well, if he thinks that some guys on the rigs are the only people that are going to be affected by a six-month oil moratorium, he’s out of his cotton-picking mind. — Julia Reed, Newsweek senior editor on CNN on Anderson Cooper 360, June 16.

“He ( Obama) couldn’t sell watermelons to….” Dan Rather

“See, Barack’s been talking down to black people … I want to cut his nuts off.” Jesse Jackson

Bill Maher on how he expected BHO to act with BP: “I was expecting a “real black president”– you know, the kind that “lifts up his shirt so they can see the gun in his pants.”
tigerprez

Uh, the point here is not that he put the words “minorities” and “defective” near each other in a sentence. It’s the implication that minorities are not “average, good American people.” You really can’t see that? He’s saying that the people asking for help are “average, good American people” not “minorities” or “defective.” He might not have intended that, but I refuse to believe that someone who reports on the media for a living can’t see the nature of the gaffe. (Unless, of course, you don’t want to and are more interested in providing cover for him to make sure that this scandal goes away.)
notsofast

LOL

“These are not minorities or defectives, these are average, good American people. I repeat: not minorities or defectives!”
Thomas G Williams

And I was right.
missly12

Who cares!!! My boyfriend thinks the same with me. He- is a black man, lol. We met online at an interracial dating site[_www. B L A C K W H I T E C U P I D d o t c o m_]—a nice and free place for singles- black & white, to interact with each other. Maybe you wanna check out or- tell your friends.
sarainitaly

“Race is a tricky issue and it’s almost impossible to come out of bringing it up unscathed, and in this political climate, putting the words “minorities” and “defective” anywhere near each other is a bit of a risk.”

Perhaps if the Left wasn’t CONSTANTLY calling the Right racist, these types of gaffes wouldn’t be that important. Also, if people weren’t constantly making an issue out of comments like *small people* or *lesser people* Kanjorski would be cut some slack.

Moveon is trying to force Simpson out, for a gaffe much like this one. And Tommy just couldn’t help himself by calling him a GOP leader.
http://pol.moveon.org/deficitcommission/simpson.html

Obama supporters attacked and twisted Bill Clinton’s Fairy Tale remark. They attacked and twisted Hillary Clinton’s Bobby Kennedy comments. The Left constantly twists and takes Limbaugh and Beck comments out of context and misrepresents what they said. Media Matters lives for that crap.

These old dudes obviously made in-artful statements. These are not the same than what Helen Thomas did.

But I agree with those that said it’s not that he said minority and defective in the same sentence – it’s that he said:

“and they’re not minorities and they’re not defective and they’re not all the things you’d like to insinuate that these programs are about — these are average, good American people.”

He stated that minorities and “defective” people are not average good American people, for whom the programs were intended.
sarainitaly

Also, similar to taking comments by Carlson and twisting her intent, as many did.

Gretchen Carlson: Hosting Fox & Friends is ‘The Same Thing As Being The President’
TfT

Holy Cow:

Hail Halperin: Hits Deutsch, Ford On Kanjorski Double-Standard (h/t/ newsbusters)

Woah…discussion of double standard in reporting is getting some visibility? Has Halperin read the polls about what we citizens think of the press????
MichelleF

See what the libs fail to understand is that the only reason this is being made a big deal is because EVERYTHING, no matter how innocent, that is said by a conservative is totally twisted. So mediaite and the rest of the media are forced to cover both or continue to look in the tank for obama, which they are. It’s a fine line for them.
sarainitaly

Can I tell you how many times i have heard Chuck Todd this morning, reporting on Obama saying *twitters*? But the funny thing is he keeps making excuses for Obama. Instead of just laughing about it, now he is saying it’s not Obama’s fault, it is the writers fault, because it was written that way.

Good GAWD man! The guy can’t even think on the fly, and recognize an S on the end of a word, and not read it? Todd is trying to cover for Obama, which is ridiculous enough, but his excuse doesn’t make it any better. That just further makes the case that all Obama can do is read a teleprompter….

And Todd, of course, mentions Bush’s internets comment every time he reports on Obama’s flub. “Look, they both did it!” Yea…that helps. hahaha

They just can’t even stand to tease Obama about this, laugh at him, and leave it at that. They just have to launch into a Bush did it too, It’s not Obama’s fault storyline….

pathetic.
MichelleF

Thank you for proving my point, Mark. Occassionlly you are right!

Hail Halperin: Hits Deutsch, Ford On Kanjorski Double-Standard

That Donny Deutsch and Harold Ford, Jr. would jump to defend a Democrat who made a hideously impolitic remark, whereas they would have skewered a Republican saying the same thing, is altogether predictable. What’s remarkable is that Mark Halperin called them out on it.

It happened on Morning Joe today in the context of Dem PA Rep. Paul Kanjorski’s comment yesterday that a housing bill he was advocating helped “good, average Americans” and not “minorities” or “defective people.” Time editor Halperin was first to comment, and actually launched a pre-emptive strike against the double-standard, observing “this is one of those instances where you’ll hear a lot of Republicans say if this were a Republican congressman, the outcry would be a lot greater.”

That didn’t prevent Ford and Deutsch from whitewashing Kanjorski’s comments. Ford dismissed them as “a complete slip of words.” Despite admitting he doesn’t know Kanjorski, Deutsch somehow divined that “there wasn’t the malice behind those words.”

When Willie Geist prodded Deutsch on Halperin’s double-standard point, the ad man suggested Dems were entitled to more forgiveness when it comes to these type of gaffes because “the Democratic brand is a more tolerant brand.” Once again, Halperin took up the banner of fairness, confronting Deutsch and asking whether “you really want to say that the Republican brand doesn’t stand for racial tolerance?” When Deutsch tried to argue the point, Halperin pointed to Lincoln as an example of Republican inclusiveness and Southern Dems who opposed civil rights in the ’60s as examples of the opposite.

Halperin sent a final warning shot: “If you two are going to be so tolerant of what he did . . . the next time a Republican says something unfortunate, I’m going to remind you two of what you said today.”

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2010/06/25/hail-halperin-calls-out-deutsch-ford-kanjorski-double-standard#ixzz0rscqWXLh
Big_F-ing_Deal

“See what the libs fail to understand is that the only reason this is being made a big deal is because EVERYTHING, no matter how innocent, that is said by a conservative is totally twisted.”

Fine. If that’s the best you got, go for it.
You righties are still losing massively in the “saying stupid shit” department. lolol
Penguin60

“You righties are still losing massively in the “saying stupid shit” department.”

Glad we are losing, cause I have you leading the pack.
writer

BFD just LOVES those minorities. He’s so caring and sensitive. He may make fun of a woman’s dead husband, or make fun of handicapped kids, but he just LOVES those minorities.
jrcmi

“Kanjorski clarified in a statement to the press afterwards “that many people insinuate that those who benefit from government programs are those not looking for jobs, but that those suggestions are wildly inaccurate.” He wasn’t making the point that minorities are “defective people,” although he left his defenses open wide enough to make it possible to put in a couple of clever ellipses and accuse him of racism. ”

People like notsobright are using “virtual ellipses” by using quotes of Bill Clinton and Harry Reid out of context – and probably stolen from right-wing sources. Both men were actually expressing admiration for Obama. Julia Reed used the phrase “cotton-picking.” So does my devoutly Christian, die-hard Republican mother. Is she racist, too?

The convoluted “logic” and downright dishonesty displayed by the righties here and among many “neocon-men” will be their downfall.

If Kanjorski had a history of questionable statements, this would be news. He doesn’t, and this ain’t.

If he had a history of FOOLISH statements, he’d be Dumbya.
ImNotBlue

jrcmi says:
June 25, 2010 at 5:17 pm

We get it. Because he’s a Democrat you’ll give him a pass… something you wouldn’t give a Republican. We understand the double standard you think is “fair.” I think we all get what you’re saying.
jrcmi

“We get it. Because he’s a Democrat you’ll give him a pass”

No, “we” don’t. Do you often presume to speak for “us”?

The Republicants have routinely ignored the plight of the poor. Senate Repubs have put the kibosh on unemployment benefits for Americans in dire need, usually due to no fault of their own.

They are showing similar contempt for a financial reform bill that will, heaven forbid, reign in the same Wall Street “banksters” we’re told hold sway over Obama. If they – and you – truly believe this, the should be overwhelming support for this legislation.

Of course, it’s Congressional Republicants who are in Wall Street’s pocket. They will do anything they can to diminish, de-fang or destroy any semblance of financial regulation.

Kanjorski’s intent was clear, even if his words weren’t concise. Joe Barton was quite clear in his BP ass-kissing/apology – which he then told “us” we’d “misconstrued.”