Charles Cooke writes for National Review Online about disturbing revelations surrounding Democrats’ candidate in the Texas Senate race.
Six years ago, James Talarico, the Democrats’ latest great white hope in the perpetually recalcitrant state of Texas, wrote and published the following words:
“White skin gives me and every white American immunity from the virus. But we spread it wherever we go—through our words, our actions, and our systems. We don’t have to be showing symptoms—like a white hood or a Confederate flag—to be contagious.”
Since he won the primary on Tuesday, these words have been highlighted as prima facie evidence of Talarico’s unsuitability for public office. In response, his already insufferable fans have cried foul. In their view, homing in on old utterances such as these is uncharitable, unbecoming, and unjust, and it ought not to be done by anyone who considers himself to be a respectable chronicler of contemporary political affairs.
Those fans are wrong. Indeed, far from serving as a distraction, these words are pretty much all anyone needs to know about the man. In the coming election, they are relevant, indefensible, and disqualifying.
Why “disqualifying”? Because they are indicative, that’s why. Because they point to a considered, premeditated, fully conscious extremism that ought to be unacceptable in any American public figure. Only a handful of people in these United States would ever think a thing such as this — let alone say it aloud. The words in question were not rash, or hasty, or uttered under duress. They were volunteered. They represent a window into the soul. They ought to be fatal.
The two most popular rejoinders to this view are that they were issued “six years ago” and that they were offered up during a “crazy period.” But neither of these briefs do anything other than underscore the initial problem. Six years is not a long time. I am judged on my words from six years ago. So are you. So is everyone else.
