February 18, 2009 11:57 PM UTC

I'm Not a Racist. I Eat Mexican Food

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

We almost missed this gem from over the weekend, but we’re glad we had a chance to share. Check out this story from The Greeley Tribune:

A T-shirt Weld District Attorney Ken Buck is selling was imported from Mexico, just like many of the illegal immigrants Buck battles.

The T-shirts made by Gildan, a Montreal-based textile manufacturer, were purchased through a Windsor graphics shop that pressed Buck’s message poking fun at the American Civil Liberties Union’s lawsuit on the front and back of the shirts…

…Buck said he didn’t initially know where the shirts were made. Just because the shirts were made in Haiti and imported through Mexico, that doesn’t mean he should not support a product from there, he said.

He said the insinuation is that he’s racist. He is not, he said.

“I vacation in Mexico, I eat Mexican food,” Buck said. “I don’t dislike Mexicans.” [Pols emphasis]

Ah, yes, the oft-tried, seldom effective way to deflect racism ploy of saying “I’ve been to Mexico!” Former Republican Rep. Bob Beauprez tried using it to disastrous results back in 2005 (remember ‘Mexican Time?’), and many other Republicans throughout the years have used the fact that “they’ve been to Mexico” or “like Mexican food” as irrefutable proof that they aren’t, in fact, racist.

Buck is considered a top contender to challenge Betsy Markey in CD-4, but if his handling of this situation is any indication, she needn’t be too concerned. We don’t know if Buck is a racist or not, but given his ludicrous and insensitive attempts to dispel the charge, we’re starting to assume he might be. Either way, we can indisputably determine from these statements that Buck is, in fact, a moron.

To be fair, Buck isn’t the only moron to have used this form of “logic” to somehow prove that he isn’t a racist. But it’s still nonsense. It’s no different, for instance, than saying this:

“I can’t be a sexist. I have sex with women!”

“I don’t hate Jews. I eat kosher hot dogs all the time!”

Or, one of our all-time favorites, “I’m not a homophobe–I work with a lot of gay people.”

This logic is ridiculous on so many levels, but particularly if you look at it the other way around. If you don’t like Mexican food and have never been to Mexico, does that mean you are a racist?

What if you refuse to eat Rocky Mountain Oysters? Does that mean you hate Colorado?

If you don’t have any gay or lesbian co-workers, are you a homophobe? What if you have gay and lesbian co-workers who haven’t yet come out of the closet? Are you still okay, then? Or are you a homophobe?

If you’re looking for a microcosm of why the Republican Party is still lost in the wilderness, look no further than Ken Buck and “Swastika Guy,” both of whom hang out with fellow Republicans who seem completely oblivious to the damage they do to their own images.