Last Friday, National Review’s Jonah Goldberg wrote a column about Ben Carson’s growing popularity in the GOP presidential race. As he observed:
How strange it must be for people who comfort themselves with the slander that the GOP is a cult of organized racial hatred that the most popular politician among conservatives is a black man. Better to ignore the elephant in the room than account for such an inconvenient fact. The race card is just too valuable politically and psychologically for liberals who need to believe that their political opponents are evil.
He also said this:
One could argue that he’s even more authentically African-American than Barack Obama, given that Obama’s mother was white and he was raised in part by his white grandparents. In his autobiography, Obama writes at length about how he grew up outside the traditional African-American experience — in Hawaii and Indonesia — and how he consciously chose to adopt a black identity when he was in college.
According to Goldberg, a lot of liberals took issue with that particular point. So yesterday, he wrote a follow-up piece in response to those liberals, many of whom accused him of “whitesplaining”:
It seems to me there are three things going on here: 1) shooting the messenger, rather than engaging with my actual argument; 2) anger at a secondary point — that Obama’s experience as an African American is less “authentic” — and treating it as if that was the point of the column; and 3) racket protection.
The New Republic’s Brian Beutler, for one, wasn’t all that interested in actually hearing Goldberg out:
Goldberg genuinely believes that tokens confound the racial critique of U.S. conservatism. https://t.co/TegfJUsTUO pic.twitter.com/bYc9XFwGFI
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) November 3, 2015
Geez. Talk about not getting it — and exhibiting actual racism.
@brianbeutler Why "tokens"? Are black conservatives not allowed to think for themselves politically? Who gets to decide?
— Let's all calm down (@NikVanHelsing) November 3, 2015
@jaschrein token doesn’t refer to Carson’s beliefs but to the way white people use him to absolve themselves of explicit and implicit bias.
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) November 3, 2015
@brianbeutler That has nothing to do with me preferring him over Clinton & would be same for whites who chose Obama b/c he was black, no?
— Let's all calm down (@NikVanHelsing) November 3, 2015
@jaschrein obviously not. Read the tweet again. It was about Goldberg suggesting Carson’s popularity negates race problems on the right.
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) November 3, 2015
@jaschrein Goldberg: “conservatives can’t be racist, we like Ben Carson!” That’s using Carson as a token.
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) November 3, 2015
Can a world class surgeon be honestly dismissed as a "token?" At least absent some pretty ugly implications? https://t.co/6fLHjAWagK
— stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) November 3, 2015
@stuartpstevens I’m saying that citing Carson’s popularity to deny racism is to treat him as a token. But I think you knew that.
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) November 3, 2015
@brianbeutler You disagree that a black man leading in the polls would be progress for a party the left paints as racist?
— Let's all calm down (@NikVanHelsing) November 3, 2015
@jaschrein I didn’t say that. I think his tendency to say stuff like this limits the extent to which it’s progress. https://t.co/AmXNG8GJ8p
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) November 3, 2015
@brianbeutler Appreciate you answering, but for not being about Carson's beliefs, you just made it about Carson's beliefs.
— Let's all calm down (@NikVanHelsing) November 3, 2015
@jaschrein Carson has many beliefs. I hope his supporters like him for more than just his willingness to compare black Democrats to slaves.
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) November 3, 2015
We, too, have a hope: That Brian apologizes to Carson, Goldberg, and other conservatives for impugning their character and making a complete ass of himself.
But we won’t hold our breath. We will, however, share some choice responses to Beutler’s idiocy:
'Tokens' @brianbeutler are the random Republicans you folks always choose to represent your preferred conservative caricature.
— Listening Face (@Braillepro) November 3, 2015
https://twitter.com/TheRealBepo/status/661602823969374208
Were you in a coma in 2008? https://t.co/im2HIDwQ0I
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) November 3, 2015
https://twitter.com/TuPadreDice/status/661606365878689792
Look at this fucker. He thinks a black person can't be a conservative. You wonder why people hate identity politics https://t.co/WDOT1UkSfg
— Erico ???? (@TheKipko) November 3, 2015
https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/661597637536317445
https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/661604255871148033
@seanmdav @EdDriscoll @brianbeutler Textbook projection.
— Marshall Power Locke (@MarshallLocke) November 3, 2015
https://twitter.com/BuckEJohnson/status/661598797039054848
You're racists for making Ben Carson popular. It's the guy calling him a token that is down with the struggle here. https://t.co/9dXeWqnChu
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) November 3, 2015
Stop digging the hole and just apologize for calling Carson a token. It's was an offensive thing to say. https://t.co/76Ut0PnyTb
— David Marcus (@BlueBoxDave) November 3, 2015
@brianbeutler where in the heck did you infer Carson as a token in NRO article? Your ideology blinds you
— Gail pfeiffer (@pfeiffer_gail) November 3, 2015
@brianbeutler The fact that you refer to Carson as a "token" is just about the most racist thing I've read all year.
— Uncommon Sense (@failed_testing) November 3, 2015
Here’s a suggestion for next time, something that’ll save Brian a lot of future trouble:
https://twitter.com/OrwellForks/status/661600708924448768
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