I doubt AP would have downplayed a Republican losing over a racist remark.
As a member of the MSM for most of my adult life, I should resent charges of a pro-Democrat bias in the media. Really, I should.
But then Melinda Deslatte of the Associated Press and her editors in New York do something like this: Downplay the election loss of a white Democratic State Representative in Louisiana who had called a civil rights leader “Buckwheat.”
The loss by Democratic Representative Carla Dartez, D-Morgan City, was briefly mentioned in the 7th paragraph.
It should have been the lead in the national story.
Few people outside of Louisiana care how many seats Democrats kept.
But whether a racist remark from a politician cost her an election? Yes, that interests outsiders. That’s the news. Not that Democrats maintained control.
Readers will decide for themselves. The AP story in full:
Democrats maintained their hold on the state House of Representatives, with Saturday’s runoff elections giving them the slimmest of majorities: 53 seats in the 105-member chamber.
Republicans will take 50 House seats when new terms begin in January, and independents will hold two seats, according to unofficial results from the secretary of state’s office.
“There were a couple races that were very close. We were hoping to pick up a couple more seats, but that’s the nature of the beast,” said Danny Ford, executive director of the Louisiana Democratic Party.
The GOP, which last controlled the House in 1878, had hoped to regain the majority.
But though it fell short, the party gained seven seats in the House and will hold a dozen more seats in the chamber than it did when the last terms began in 2004.
James Quinn, executive director of the Republican Party of Louisiana, said he wasn’t disappointed with the runoff results. “I think we’ve made great strides over the last four years,” he said.
The Senate also will maintain its Democratic majority, with 24 Democrats and 15 Republicans in the 39-member chamber.
Most incumbents seeking re-election held onto their jobs. At least one House member was ousted, state Rep. Carla Dartez, D-Morgan City, who angered civil rights leaders after she ended a conversation with the mother of the NAACP’s local president by saying, “Talk to you later, Buckwheat.”
Buckwheat, a black child character in the “Little Rascals” comedies of the 1930s and ’40s, is considered a racist stereotype. Dartez said she regretted the comment, but local NAACP leaders asked voters to cast ballots for Dartez’s opponent, Republican Joe Harrison.
Dartez’s re-election bid already had been troubled because she was given a summons for improper lane usage after hitting a pedestrian with her vehicle. She failed a field sobriety test but passed a later Breathalyzer test. Meanwhile, Dartez’s husband was indicted for allegations that he hired illegal aliens to work for his construction business.
Dartez’s seat once had been considered a safe win for the Democrats, but the incumbent representative lost to Harrison, a Napoleonville Republican.
“We were disappointed. Carla faced an uphill battle for several different issues,” Ford said.
http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/2007/11/18/name-that-party-buckwheat/
2 comments:
I haven't hear that being called in a long time. Buckwheat now that's says alot. Where do these people come from that's so old.
And that stereotype word really hurt that candidate politically. I don't what possess her to say that to the civil rights leader. She should be given the foot-in-the-mouth award.
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