Update On Mexican Stamp Racism

No more racist than Speedy Gonzales?

The White House has taken a strong position on the controversy (here, here) swirling around the new Mexican stamp showing Memin Pinguin, the cartoon character above, who is obviously more than a little demeaning to blacks :

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said it was "an internal issue for Mexico and the postal authorities that issued the stamp. With that said, I would like to make a couple of points. Racial stereotypes are offensive no matter what their origin. The Mexican government needs to take this into account. Images like these have no place in today's world." (AP)

Mexico countered saying that neither Memin nor Speedy Gonzalez should be interpreted as a racial slur. Definitely not Speedy. Smart, quick, hard working. But some of his cohorts? Every bit as racist as Memin ... or HankHill, for that matter.

That said, in light of a war going on in Iraq, the Mullahs and NoKos going nuclear, and the Supreme Court getting ready to condemn your house, the significance of all this is a tad overblown, methinks.