This is so funny, I have to post it here. This is an excerpt from a current Associated Press story…
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Lt. Gov. Jennette Bradley, the first black woman in the nation to hold the job, said Monday a state senator's insensitive remarks and behavior provide a valuable learning opportunity. At a Cleveland fund-raiser before the Nov. 5 election, Senate President Doug White said he used the expression "we need to jew them down." White said he didn't realize the remark was anti-Semitic and apologized to Jewish leaders after he learned that some in the audience found it offensive. "The comment was a very offhand one that I had no knowledge of its sensitivity. It's one I've used very seldom in my life," said White, a Republican from Manchester.
White also used to rub the head or shoulder of a black state senator for luck, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported. The senator was offended but never complained, she told the paper. "The problem with that place is you have to pick your battles," said Rhine McLin, now mayor of Dayton, referring to the Ohio Statehouse. "You gotta work with these people."
McLin described White as "somebody who just doesn't know any better." White disputed McLin's comments and said he had never heard of a stereotype about rubbing black people for luck.
Here's a link to the entire story, but that's the meat of it. What is it with these people? It's been more than a quarter of a century since the Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz, lost his position due to anger over a seemingly-racist joke. Shouldn't anyone who runs for public office have long since learned a tiny bit of sensitivity to ethnic references, if only as a matter of self-preservation?
I'm always reticent to peg someone as a racist based on casual remarks or quips — but at the very least, they don't demonstrate a lot of practical intelligence. Never attribute to deviousness that which can be explained by incompetence.