May 01, 2007
Jack Cafferty Channels Don Imus?
Don Imus was fired from his job recently for uttering an admittedly crude saying. I don't need to go into it because just about everybody who reads blogs or pays any attention to the news knows all about it. Now comes Jack Cafferty of CNN who apparently has no more social IQ than Imus. On March 12th of this year, in the CNN show "The Situation Room" Who called Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez "the president's water boy" and no one in the MSM has risen to the task of taking Cafferty to task.
Except the Latino Coalition of Washington, D.C. In a statement, the non-profits president Robert G. Deposada said:
This kind of rhetoric from a journalist is simply unacceptable and racist."I respectfully disagree Mr. Deposada, you see, the MSM is highly prejudiced regarding anything to do with the Bush Administration. Attorney General Gonzalez is part and parcel of that Administration and so anything said about him is, by the MSM standards OK and appropriate. Now, had the Attorney General been a Latino member of a Democratic administration, the uproar would have been indeed vociferous.
[...]
"We cannot be hypocritical when it comes to racist statements in our national media. If the Attorney General was an African American, and Mr. Cafferty would have called him a water boy, the entire media establishment and civil rights organizations from across the country would be calling for Mr. Cafferty's firing."
[...]
"Attorney General Gonzalez is a highly qualified and very accomplished professional. For anyone to call this highly respected Latino a water boy is simply outrageous and shows enormous amounts of prejudice."
I'm afraid that Mr. Cafferty gets a pass simply because he insulted a minority that happens to be in a despised administration and thus, he can do no wrong. And of course, there-in lies the hypocrisy. Imus is fired because the MSM decided that he had egregiously violated the tenets of liberalism and he was demoted from liberal pundit/entertainer to being a conservative. Mr. Cafferty maintains his liberal status because he only insulted a Republican. And that dear sir is a "Big Difference!"
Technorati Tags: Media, Liberals and Liberalism
A tip O' The GM Derby 
to Jennifer Harper
I've never known the phrase "waterboy" to have any specific racial connotation. It was a rude thing for Cafferty to say but not exactly racist. To back up my assertion I did a Google search for the phrase "Bush's waterboy." Here's a quick list of people who have been called that:
Chris Cannon, Utah - R, 3rd Congressional District
Arik Sharon, Former Prime Minister of Israel
Chuck Hagel, United States Senator
Rush Limbaugh, [Expletive Deleted]
John McCain, Presidential Candidate
Mike Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services
I don't think any of the above are hispanic and therefore I do not see how the phrase "waterboy" could be considered racist as far as hispanics are concerned. Perhaps it is a racial slur against whites, similar to "honkey" or "cracker."
Posted by e. nonee moose at May 1, 2007 10:50 AM
Moose, as Mr. Deposada noted, it would have been causing an uproar more if it had been said about a black. Though not a common racial slur, I recall hearing it as a kid in Arkansas in the late 50's.
But your point is well taken. My point was that anyone in a Republican administration is fair game as far as slurs by the MSM is concerned. Thanks for your input.
Posted by GM Roper at May 1, 2007 12:05 PM
I think this about the Latino Coalition wanting to be offended rather than something about which they needed to be offended.
I agree with Moose that was not likely to be racially motivated. It may have been used as part of a racial epithet in your experience in the past, but I'm guessing that it's more about Cafferty wanting to insinuate that Gonzalez is Bush's lackey - no matter the race.
Have you seen the Adam Sandler movie "The Waterboy"? From my experience, calling someone a "waterboy" means that they want to play on the big boys team, but lack the skills/brains.
Posted by Jennifer at May 1, 2007 07:22 PM
Hey, we may even get some consensus on this one! The term was clearly meant to suggest a person of menial, lesser status, but I doubt that anything consciously racial was intended. Nonetheless, it is simple politeness to be at least a little careful around insults which might be taken worse by some groups than others for historical reasons. This is why some of the base insult against Condi Rice has been particularly offensive, as it has made her blackness a part of the insult.
For example, I am likely to refer to men my own age, particularly if I went to school with them, as "boy," as in "Well, he's a smart boy, that James. Always has been." But even though I might use it entirely equivalently about an African-American childhood friend, I would avoid the term.
I do suspect there would have been more outcry if the target had been, say, Henry Cisneros. Not that everyone on the left would universally have arisen to denounce the phrase as racist, but that some would, and those would be given prominent opportunity to speak and condemn.
Posted by Assistant Village Idiot at May 1, 2007 08:37 PM
For God sakes, grow up. If you are waiting around looking for someone to say something offensive, I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for. Get busy, lend a hand to someone who needs it, go to work. Do something, anything useful. Just quit whining.
Posted by PattyAnn at May 7, 2007 04:46 PM
