From the Asinine to the Ridiculous

I haven't heard or read Obama's speech where he apparently pleaded for some calm. But NPR last night featured a commentary that was the absolute topper on the post-Pima commentary hysteria. It featured a young Latina woman discussing how relieved she was when she saw that the assailant's name was not Latino, but that he was a "gringo," as she politely puts it.

Had the shooter been Latino, media pundits wouldn't be discussing the impact of nasty politics on a young man this week — they'd be demanding an even more stringent anti-immigrant policy. The new members of the House would be stepping over each other to propose new legislation for more guns on the border, more mothers to be deported, and more employers to be penalized for hiring brown people...I felt some small relief in knowing that at least this shooting wouldn't be used as a reason for yet another backlash against immigrants, or at least that’s what I'm hoping. In this political climate, it's hard to tell.

So there you have it - even in an alternative world where the shooter was not a young white resident of Arizona, but a Hispanic, the right would still be guilty in this tragedy.