When Racism Matters

Good ole’ Peter Beinart. Whatever his charms, intellectual consistency is not among them. Beinart, the adolescent-looking editor-at-large of The New Republic, oft seems like a cornucopia of incongruity.

Naturally, Mr. Beinart’s magazine isn’t exactly a beacon of clarity these days. Whilst the folks at TNR bleat on about the “horrors” of a liberated Iraq, they clamor just as vociferously about the imperative of military intervention in Darfur.

Well, gee, guys: What happens if the reconstruction in the Sudan turns afoul? Why do we have the sneaking suspicion that the TNR crowd will lament its horrible decision and take its place among the isolationist cranks?

But Beinart, it seems, routinely offers the sort of ham-fisted, ideologically blinkered inconsistent fluff that should make the typical TNR columnist blush. In the February 19 & 26 edition of the magazine, Mr. Beinart offers “Biden Time,” a column half-heartedly dedicated to boosting the presidential aspirations of Senator Joe Biden.

We, the crack young staff of “The Hatemonger’s Quarterly,” happen to think that Senator Biden isn’t that bad a fellow. Sure, we often disagree with him. And he is admittedly a bit of a garrulous blowhard. And maybe the hair isn’t so good. But Biden’s a serious figure and his presidential bid should be taken seriously.

Yet check out this bit of Mr. Beinart’s column on Senator Biden’s recent political gaffe:

I have my own reasons for hoping Biden stays in the race. Partly, it’s the broader principle: Stupid, insensitive remarks shouldn’t sink political candidates unless they bespeak some larger animus. George Allen’s “macaca” comment mattered because, as Ryan Lizza has documented (“Pinprick,” May 8, 2006), Allen had a long line of racist sympathies. So did Trent Lott, long before he endorsed Strom Thurmond for president. Biden, by contrast, has another dumb remark on his record (this one about Indian Americans), but his long career in Congress suggests no sympathy for racists.

Now, forgive us for reading between the lines here, but we think that Peter Beinart’s careful rumination can be boiled down to the following: Stupid, insensitive remarks should not sink Democratic candidates, but should sink Republican candidates. After all, as many in the Democratic Party would suggest, Republicans are, by their very nature, brimming with racial animus, whereas their liberal competitors are entirely untainted by prejudice. Q.E.D.

Frankly, dear reader, we wonder whether Mr. Beinart could type this palaver with a straight face. Are we to believe that Peter Beinart knew what the word “macaca” meant before George Allen uttered the infamous epithet? Are we to believe that he has offered anything other than the most transparent of hackneyed attempts to justify media double standards?

We, the crack young staff of “The Hatemonger’s Quarterly,” don’t think Joe Bidan should be out of contention—or out of a job, for that matter—for his dumb comment about Barack Obama being a “clean” black. But obviously The Washington Post went overboard in its desire to destroy George Allen.

Any reasonable person recognizes this. And so should Peter Beinart.