More On PBS Racial Gaffe

I posted last night about a racist-sounding statement made by David Brooks on PBS, when he said that in nominating John Roberts, it was clear that Bush was making this selection based on what he thought was long-term good for the court, because (this is a paraphrase lifted from a Daily Kos comment), "He could have gone with a woman or a Latino, which would have had political short-term gain, but here it's clear with the person he's chosen that he's deciding this on other grounds and taking a longer view..."

Heather from From the Word Go answered my request for more info:

I saw that. He did say something like that. It was a bit jarring. But Brooks had said earlier that Roberts is a brilliant legal mind, not because he's a white guy, just because he is. I think the "woman or Latino" comment was supposed to underline the fact that,if Bush was trying to get some political advantage, Roberts being a white male was a negative. A woman or a Latino (presumably regardless of qualification) would have been a better political choice. That does leave him saying that the ladies and the Latinos were not as qualified as Roberts, but I suppose that is a matter of opinion.

It did come off rather bad, but I doubt he meant anything by it. Brooks has never struck me as a macho, paleocon type.

Consider my earlier post duly qualified. Now I'm going to ponder that "paleocon" concept.