Arrogant Democrat Partisan Mark Halperin Embarrasses Himself In Subjecting Ted Cruz to Racial Purity Test

Ed Morrissey rounds up lots of reactions to Mark Halperin's ugly racial baiting of Cruz. Think Progress uses the words I that were on the tip of my tongue -- by attempting to put Cruz through a series of racial purity paces, he demanded that Cruz put on a salsa-flavored minstrel show for his viewers.

Another Hispanic reporter wrote:

"As a journalist," Navarrette wrote, "I felt embarrassed for Halperin." And as a Hispanic, "I felt like I was watching a college fraternity have fun with racial stereotypes, like when staging a 'border party' where people show up in serapes and fake mustaches."

Someone -- I forget who; sorry -- reminded me of Halperin's previous work: he's an O-and-O Democratic hack who advised his fellow Democrat hacks in the media to scrutinize Bush's claims more stringently than Kerry's in the 2004 election, because Republicans Are Liars.

In this interview, he once again showed his zeal for the hardest-of-hard-left memes. If the hard-left lefty blogs are chattering that Cruz is a "fake hispanic," well, Halperin will seek to vindicate them. Just as he carried their water in 2004, pushing their "false balance" idea. (The idea that to treat Republican and Democrat claims as equal was to engage in a phony balance, because, again, Republicans Are Liars.)

Halperin has now disgraced himself further with an if-you-were-offended non-apology apology, in which he lies about his reasons for asking the questions that the hard left demands be asked.

We wanted to talk with Senator Cruz about his outreach to Latino voters the day after he spoke at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. My intent was to give the Senator a chance to speak further about his heritage and personal connections to the community through some casual questions. I rushed through the questions and that was a mistake-it led to poor tone and timing. I also understand why some felt the questions were inappropriate. As for asking Senator Cruz to welcome Senator Sanders to the race in Spanish that was meant to be the type of light-hearted banter that he’s done with us before on the show. In no way was I asking Senator Cruz to 'prove' he was an 'authentic' Latino. I apologize to those that were offended and to Senator Cruz. I promise that I will work to make the tone and questions better next time.

These are all lies. It is clear that Halperin was attempting to do precisely what he denies attempting, that is, getting Cruz to prove, or disprove, his bona fides as an "authentic" Latino. Halperin begins by noting "people are really interested in your identity," before interrogating him as to whether he can name any specific Cuban dishes or current Cuban pop songs.

Sean Davis writes:

What nonsense. Oh, he just wanted to give Cruz the opportunity to connect with his own community? That’s a great justification if you’re a buffoon who thinks Hispanics are only able to connect with each other via forced small talk about food and music. Oh, you thought it was "light-hearted banter" to demand that Cruz speak Spanish on your command? That’s probably because you’re an idiot. And don’t get me started on the "some felt the questions were inappropriate" nonsense, which is a completely cowardly dodge. Just own up to the fact that they were completely inappropriate, period.

Halperin wanted Cruz to speak in Spanish to prove his Hispanic bona fides when Halperin himself can’t even manage to adequately apologize in English to prove his decent human being bona fides.

Pro-tip: If you have to lie about your motives, they were probably bad motives.

John Nolte made a stinging point on Halperin's claim that it was just the speed with which he went through his Chicano SAT questions that made them seem inappropriate: If they're appropriate when read at a slower speed, please, by all means, direct them at another minority politician accused by some of being a racial sell-out: Barack Obama.

posted by Ace at 04:42 PM

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