Joe Gandelman selected a part of this column by Paul Krugman for his Quote of the Day. The quote:
Quite simply, America is becoming less white, mainly because of immigration. Hispanic and Asian voters were only 4 percent of the electorate in 1980, but they were 11 percent of voters in 2004 — and that number will keep rising for the foreseeable future.
Those numbers are the reason Karl Rove was so eager to reach out to Hispanic voters. But the whites the G.O.P. has counted on to vote their color, not their economic interests, are having none of it. From their point of view, it’s us versus them — and everyone who looks different is one of them.
So now we have the spectacle of Republicans competing over who can be most convincingly anti-Hispanic. I know, officially they’re not hostile to Hispanics in general, only to illegal immigrants, but that’s a distinction neither the G.O.P. base nor Hispanic voters takes seriously.
Today’s G.O.P., in short, is trapped by its history of cynicism. For decades it has exploited racial animosity to win over white voters — and now, when Republican politicians need to reach out to an increasingly diverse country, the base won’t let them.
Although the first three paragraphs of that part of the column are indeed right on – and therefore worthy of being Quote of the Day – the column in its entirety is one big hit-job. Krugman’s message? Republican voters are racists. It is, according to the Krugmeister, that simple. The base, as summarized in the last paragraph quoted above, is not truly concerned about moral values, or national security. No. It is worried about one thing, and one thing only: colored folks. Let me quote (since it’s Times Select I know that many of you cannot read the entire article) Krugman just so you know that I am not interpreting this creatively – he really put it that bluntly:
I suspect that the underlying importance of race to the Republican base is the reason Rudy Giuliani remains the front-runner for the G.O.P. nomination, despite his serial adultery and his past record as a social liberal. Never mind moral values: what really matters to the base is that Mr. Giuliani comes across as an authoritarian, willing in particular to crack down on you-know-who.
Next thing: let’s attack Bill O’Reilly for being overly-biased and partisan.
