E. J. Dionne Jr.: Conservative political correctness

[question everything]

E.J. DIONNE JR. THE WASHINGTON POST

Conservative political correctness

February 8, 2005

'Every Hispanic in America is watching," Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch declared ominously as the vast majority of Senate Democrats voted last week to oppose the nomination of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general.

What was the senator from Utah implying? Hatch and everyone else knew perfectly well that Democrats voted against the new attorney general not because of his ethnicity, but because they wanted to hold Gonzales and the White House he served accountable for appalling policies that led to the mistreatment of prisoners. But playing ethnic politics is more profitable for Republicans than arguing about torture, so Hatch let it rip.

Among the many double standards in American politics is the contradictory attitude of many conservatives toward "political correctness" and the matter of "playing the race card."

Conservatives profess to be horrified over political correctness, which is roughly defined as the habit of stamping out frank discussion about matters related even tangentially to race, class, gender and ethnicity. Whenever a liberal raises concerns over whether a conservative initiative might damage the rights or interests of, say, African-Americans or Latinos, that liberal is accused of being "politically correct" and playing the race card – usually, just to make the sin sound really awful, off "the bottom of the deck."

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Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050208/news_lz1e8dionne.html

Dionne can be reached via e-mail at [e-mail].

[Dhalgren]

1. Good essay.

This should be more widely discussed. Republican racism knows no bounds...

[Viking12]

2. and don't forget, "Patriotically Correct" & "Morally Correct"

The RW's hyprocrisy knows no bounds. In the same breath in which they complain that polical correctness "stifles discussion" they'll degrade other's patriotism and bitch about Spongebob's ambiguous sexuality.