I Just Wanna Say...

I've been thinking about the appointment of Mel Martinez to the RNC chair. The fundamental thing that irks me about the appointment is not that he's Hispanic, but that the Republican Party is playing these racial quota games. And that his appointment was without a doubt a purposeful and calculated slap in the face to president Bush's base.

I genuinely believe in the idea of being color blind. Best man or woman for the job, I really believe that. So when they appoint a guy to pander to Hispanics it annoys me and I'll admit I liked Michael Steele. Not because he's black, I don't care one way or the other about that.

I liked him because he was crazy smart, incredibly charismatic when interviewed on the idiot box and an outstanding debater unlike a certain amnesty supporter I might mention. I'm not going to do the whole "articulate" backhanded insult thing as I think we can all agree that being articulate is the sine qua non of political life, or should be at least.

I mentioned recently that I take it as a point of honor when I'm called a racist. Not because I like racism, I don't, but because that term is so wildly degraded in this day and age as to literally hold no meaning anymore.

So it bothers me that the "conservative" party is now fully on board with ethnic quotas, am I the only one? I have very little doubt that there are extremely talented folks of every color in this nation, I have worked with many, how come so few seem to end up in politics?

How come the price of entry for an ethnic politician of any stripe (with some exceptions) seems to be race pandering?

This seems to me to be a downward spiral, the enmity appears to be building not abating, why is that?

Just some late night ruminations on race from your friendly neighborhood "racist". Feel free to share your thoughts in comments.