'Time' Reporter: Biden Blooper No Prob, GOP Senator's Internet Description Is

Scarborough Country/NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[governsleastgovernsbest]

by Mark Finkelstein

July 7, 2006

If you're a Republican senator who makes a remark with insensitive racial connotations, you're toast. Ask Trent Lott. But if you're a Democrat? Hey, no problem! Then again, woe betide the Republican senator who offers an awkward description of the workings of the internet.

That's the world according to Time reporter Ana Marie Cox, who appeared on last evening's Scarborough Country. For those who might have missed the Biden flap, on a recent campaign swing to New Hampshire, Biden told an Indian political activist: “You cannot go into a Dunkin Donuts or a 7-Eleven unless you have a slight Indian accent.”

Sounds like a career-stopper for a Republican. But Cox saw no real problem. She opined that while other things might derail Biden's march to the White House, this wouldn't be it. But when it came to Republican Senator Ted Stevens, Cox wasn't so forgiving. In explaining his vote on a so-called 'net neutrality' amendment, Stevens recently said:

"The internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a truck. It's a series of tubes. And if you don't understand, those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and it's going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material."

Not prose for the ages, granted. But I don't think anyone believes Stevens was suggesting the internet is actually composed of tubes. Seems that he had the concept of a pipeline in mind, a first-in-first-out protocol. In any case, certainly nothing offensive, other perhaps than to some San Francisco techno geeks.

Nevertheless, Cox was of the opinion that Stevens' remark was more likely to prove damaging than Biden's to their respective careers..

You don't suppose the two senators' party affiliations might have figured into Ana Marie's calculus, do you?

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Thanks, HG, you had it right. Just for the record, FReeper Governsleast = Finkelstein. As for why I surmised Stevens had FIFO in mind, that seemed to be the gist of what he was saying with his pipeline analogy. Again, I might be wrong, and Stevens might be wrong. But I don't see why Stevens remark should hurt him, nor why commontator should have gotten so angry about it.

[AntiGovernment]

"We wouldn't have had all these problems." Okay. What problems could have been avoided by electing Thurmond (a DEMOCRAT)? I'm all for state's rights, but Thurmond was a pretty bad racist.

[CyberAnt]

Proving once again that the dems ARE NOT the party of inclusion and tolerance.

What the dems don't realize is that the general public is beginning to catch on.

[Hatteras]

Did Wonkette do Biden too?

[Psycho_Bunny]

I agree: there's nothing wrong with that analogy. I've used worse to describe technical issues to non-geeks.

[AntiGovernment]

C'mon, Biden should have been lynched too, for what he said. However, I think Lott is not exactly an example of good behavior, and that is what I tried to argue.

[maica]

It only exists because of free subscriptions sent to doctor's offices. When was the last time it was seen at a supermarket counter?

[AntiGovernment]

Proving once again that the dems ARE NOT the party of inclusion and tolerance.

But they are! They are just against tolerance for and inclusion of white male heterosexuals. If you're not white, they're all for tolerance. If you are white, they believe you should be punished for being born with that horrible skin color...

[MountainMenace]

But you do in the DBM.

[Brilliant]

Actually, it seems kinda picky, but pretty fair pay back for all of the gotchya's the Dems have played over the years with the race card.

[tumblindice]

So we agree that the main stream media are masters of `special pleading', e.g. NOW and Boy Clinton.
Recall that Bob Packwood was considered a `moderate' conservative, or a "good, acceptable (or at least not evil) Republican" until they got tired of him and excoriated him for playing `tonsil-hockey', I believe, with unwilling female aides. But he did that for years.
Again the issue isn't or shouldn't be a divisive one for us, specific cases like Packwood or Lott; the issue remains, the MSM uses a double-standard when reporting on conservatives and liberals and that standard is dictated by liberal folkways and mores.

[paddles]

Cox is a foul-mouthed sump with DNC talking points.

Strong message to follow.

[AntiGovernment]

I agree. Imagine if Biden's anti-white rhetoric was anti-black rhetoric by a Republican senator... all hell would break loose. Bennett was lynched for a true comment that wasn't even racist, because he is a conservative. And then allowing Biden to get away with something much, much, much worse. Insane.

[HawaiianGecko]

Just for the record, FReeper Governsleast = Finkelstein.

It's a pleasure to meet you.

I started to add "unless GovernsleastGovernsbest is Finkelstein." One of your secondary posts seemed to take responsibility for the statement.

I can't imagine anyone, not even a full blown nitwit that would take what Stevens said and use it as justification to vote him out of office. I'm not quite sure what that last line says about the original commentator, but it can't be good I'm sure.

I'm a professional engineer and if I thought that everyone that didn't understand what I know about computers, circuits & networks was an idiot it would sure be a tough world to live in.

And to Common Tator, my apologies. Evidently you knew something about the author that I didn't, however, I petition to add my name as a co-sponsor of the pedantic comment.

[Cosmo]

Oh what do you expect from the media? Afterall, a leopard can't change his stripes.

[tumblindice]

To show how pervasive this is, my wife got some movie from Netflix the other day, can't recall the name, some piece of fluff by Rob Reiner with Jennifer Anniston and Kevin Costner, based on the movie 'The Graduate'.
Costner played a character supposed to be the Dustin Hoffman character who `knocked boots' with Mom (Ann Bancroft) and daughter Jennifer, and in this film he `scored' with granddaughter Jennifer too. Of course his character was a former ashram dwelling, sprout-eating, global warming concerned billionaire.
I stopped watching when the reverential references to Che Guevera and President Clinton started appearing in this made for the Lifetime channel product.
Sometimes I think Orwell was prescient in predicting a Ministry devoted to churning out propaganda drivel, in all media, to keep the proles occupied with anything but what the inner parties are doing.
Wife thinks I'm a `poop', but I say it's spinach and to h*** with anything that looks like advertising, political (either party) or cleaning products, that they want us to accept as gospel.

[Lekker 1]

I think the implication is that he was talking about "vacuum" tubes, thereby exposing how behind the times he is.

[Big Digger]

I went to a Chinese restaurant yesterday, owned by Koreans, and the cooks are all Mexican.............



So how was your bratwurst?

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Reminds me of the old joke:

Guy goes into a Chinese restaurant and notices that on the wall there's a big sign 'We Also Serve Authentic Italian Pizza.'

The guy calls the waiter over: "what's the deal with the sign?"

Waiter: "It's a Jewish neighborhood." ;-)

[HawaiianGecko]

Aww come on.  Do you seriously think what Senator Biden said was racist? Or are you just being overtly PC? What he said was funny in the vein of something Bill Cosby would say. It's something we all notice and can individualize with, which is exactly what makes it funny. He wasn't being derogatory unless you think working in a convenience store isn't honorable work.

I've gradually had to throw out about ninety percent of my joke repertoire because of all the idiots trying to "out racist" or "out something-ist" each other.

Everyone on the planet is a racist to a certain extent. What would you call someone who had a phobia requiring him to only associate with people NOT of his kind?  I can tell you this much, if what ever it's called ends in 'ist' it must be bad.