Friday, March 16, 2012

Sherrod Brown discusses "niggardly" colleagues

Yesterday Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown referred to his fellow lawmakers as "niggardly" because of their domestic spending on veterans. Since this was said during an MSNBC appearance nobody saw it, but it has been recorded for everyone's convenience.



The lack of condemnation from some quarters has been puzzling. Yes, I'm aware that the word means stingy or miserly and is not a derivative of the well-known racial slur that also starts with 'n'. But I can recall several debates I've either read online or had with people about the appropriateness of using the word niggardly in a public setting, and in every one of these conversations liberals were unanimous in declaring that the word was racist and never ok for public use. Their only apparent exception is when it's used by a Democratic politician.

My position has remained the same over the years. The word is not racist, and therefore I do not believe this clip exposes Senator Brown as a racist. It does, however, expose many on the left as hypocrites who will not enforce their standards consistently.

I'll leave with a question to everyone. If a Republican referred to Barack Obama as niggardly, would that be ok?

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