RTD’s Schapiro steps in….macaca…

But unlike “macaca” the word “novelty” was already in the dictionary.

The RTD’s Jeff Schapiro never met a good scandal he couldn’t exploit…or manufacture. But this time he’s gone too far.

What did Jeff do? In an article about the GOP Senate primary, Schapiro writes:

Radtke, of Chesterfield, is banking on her rapid emergence in 2010 as a face and voice of Virginia’s tea-party movement; Jackson, of Chesapeake, on the novelty of a black minister-broadcaster running in a heavily white party.

A Harvard graduate and former Marine is a “novelty” just because he happens to be African-American? A label, by the way, which Jackson himself chooses not to wear.

Jackson issued a press release with this to say:

“I find it disconcerting that Mr. Shapiro, when given a chance to briefly encapsulate my U.S. Senate campaign, summarized my efforts to win the Republican nomination the following way: “Jackson, of Chesapeake, [is banking on] the novelty of a black minister-broadcaster running in a heavily white party.”

First of all, Mr. Shapiro is obviously a mind reader. He knows what I am banking on. We’ve never spoken or exchanged communications, yet he knows me. This is typical leftist stereotyping. If you don’t tow the liberal line, particularly if you belong to one of their designated victim classes, you get marginalized and demonized. You would think that by now they would have come up with something original, but it’s the same mundane obsession with race. By the way, Shapiro may not have noticed it, but the Democrat party is “heavily white.” Of course the problem with Democrat elites is not the color of their skin, but the content of their minds.

For Jeff Shapiro and any other liberals who would like to know what I am banking on, let me relieve them of trying to read my mind. I am banking on my Marine Corps background to indicate that I will be a warrior for my convictions. I am banking on my Harvard Law School background to prove that I can expose the liberal kool-aid drinking of Tim Kaine and Barack Obama, both of whom also graduated from HLS. I am banking on my background as a small business owner to demonstrate that I understand what it is to start and grow a business against a headwind of government regulations. I am banking on the fact that I am a Pastor helping me make the case that I am driven by a higher principle than personal ambition. I am banking on the fact that I am not a career politician, hoping voters will view me as a citizen statesmen.

Frankly I am not seeking a single Republican vote in the primary – or from anyone in the general election – because I am black. However, it is my earnest hope that being an American of African descent will help me expose the liberal lie that Republicans and conservatives are against minorities. The truth is that conservatives see people as individuals, and evaluate them as such. Liberals see people as part of the masses. And when one of the masses fails to play his or her proper role as liberals define it, that person must be attacked and if possible, destroyed. Mr. Shapiro and every other lefty who wants to take a shot at me will find out very quickly that Marine Corps colors don’t run.”

I admire Bishop Jackson. However, I’ve told him that in this primary, I am fully behind George Allen.

Still, Schapiro’s statement is reprehensible. Sure, we expect obnoxious from Jeff. But there’s a line, and he’s crossed it.

At Bearing Drift Norm Leahy writes: Congratulations, Jeff. And here’s hoping that whichever company decides to plunk down two mules and a ball of twine in exchange for the RTD sends you on a multi-year, statewide self-abasement tour, where you can explain to the world that you had no idea that your throw-away line was at all offensive, but your heartily sorry for any pain it may have caused anyone. Or they could just sack you (I understand Keith Olbermann is holding auditions for a side-kick/valet, so chins up, chest out and remember to hit your marks!).

And at Virginia Virtucon, Riley says: Seriously? A “novelty”? Why doesn’t he just call him a “token,” “Uncle Tom,” “Oreo” or some other equally offensive racial term? Tell us what you really think, Jeff…

Schapiro and the RTD both owe Bishop Jackson an apology. Perhaps several.

This kind of racism in the name of journalism doesn’t belong in the Commonwealth.

Or anywhere.

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