Republican talking points in action

crunchmd made a post about Trent Lott making a stupid comment. He didn't post a source for Trent's comments, so I Googled for the phrase "man, woman, or minority". Trent isn't the only one using that phrase. It's a pity that it's a phrase that is so revealing.

Here's a comment from another blog:

This just speaks volumes about this group. Note how he says: "man, woman, or minority." Are minorities not men and women? Who are these strange beings? Might they even be people? Or, maybe we can ask the Constitutional Fundamentalists. Those are the people who say the US Constitution isn't a living document, but needs to be interpreted strictly as it was written in the late 18th Century. Well, slaves were legal then and only counted for 3/5 of a person (Reference: US Constitution, Article I, Section 2, Clause 2). So, maybe that's what these minorities are.

Also, look at the invisible markers. Man and woman don't have any adjectives before them, but it's implied that he means "white". During a time when claims of racism and classism are being raised with respect to the Hurricane Katrina response, it's telling that America's conservatives still speak in such coded terms.