The mainstream media continues to peddle the obvious falsehood that certain of President Biden’s nominees are being opposed and stalled in the Senate because they are “of color.” I discussed Politico’s lame effort in this regard on the Democrats’ behalf last night. Not to be outdone, the Washington Post weighs in with this piece by Annie Linskey here.
If you read far enough into Linskey’s report, you will learn that four years ago, 41 Democrats voted against confirming Ben Carson, who is Black, and six Democrats voted against Elaine Chao, who is Asian American. So far, no Biden nominee “of color” has been voted down and only Neera Tanden and maybe Xavier Becerra seem to be in trouble.
The objection to Tanden is that she repeatedly attacked Republican Senators, as well as Bernie Sanders, with nasty tweets. As I said last night, whatever one’s race, ethnicity, or gender, it’s bad practice to call Senators names if you hope to be confirmed for any position by the Senate.
The problems with Becerra are that (1) he lacks the relevant background to run the Department of Health and Human Services and (2) he’s a radical — so much as that he can’t even get along with the Little Sisters of the Poor. Becerra could be a WASP named Beck. His treatment by the Senate would be no different. I’ve seen no credible argument to the contrary.
Indeed, two Black Biden nominees, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, were confirmed promptly with support from both sides of aisle. And Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who is Latino, has also been confirmed.
The Democrats know that Tanden and Becerra aren’t in trouble because of their skin color. So does Annie Linskey. They understand that this is a non-story, and are simply playing the race card in the hope of intimidating Joe Manchin and scoring points against Republican Senators.
They also sense that two radical DOJ nominees, Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke, may be in trouble — especially Clarke given her racist statements and promotion of anti-Semitism as a student. Both happen to be “of color” and it’s no accident that they feature in Linskey’s story, even though Joe Manchin has said nothing about them, as far as I know.
The Dems are preparing the battlefield. Politico and the Washington Post are helping them do it.
If they are really worried about the treatment of Asian-Americans, they should turn their attention to the colleges and universities that are discriminating against this group on the basis of race. Isn’t it interesting how Asians become victims — “people of color” — when it suits Democratic polemical purposes, but are treated as an uber-privileged group lacking in desirable personal traits when the left needs them to take a back seat?
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