Now he sees it, now he doesn't

John Cole just can't see what was so offensive about Conrad Burns calling his house painter a "nice little Guatamalan man". After all, I suppose it is possible that the painter in question is short in stature, and it's perfectly appropriate to refer to those who are short in stature as "little man" or "little woman", right? I suppose John wouldn't see what would be so racist about a white man calling a black man "boy" either.

Maybe John Cole is one of those Conservatives who can't stand political correctness, wants everyone to take a chill pill and cool it with insinuations of racism on any but the sturdiest evidence.

Unlike the John Cole of a week and a half ago who accused Juan Cole of being a Jew Hater because Cole had the temerity to point out the impropriety of an Israeli armed forces chief selling his stocks before the plans for war in Lebanon was generally known. You see, even though Juan Cole did not talk smack about the Jews in general, he did on this occasion describe the action of one Jewish person with regards to pecuniary matters in a disapproving manner. In John's book, this reinforces the specious stereotype of the "money-grubbing Jew". Of course, Juan Cole did not mention this specious stereotype in his critique at all, but since John had the special ability to read Juan's mind at a distance, Juan has nevertheless been exposed as an anti-semite. Good work, John.