Liberal hypocrits on affirmative action

James Kirchick:

WITH THE RELEASE of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' memoir, "My Grandfather's Son," all of the old smears directed against him since his confirmation hearings 16 years ago are once again being trotted out.

That he's "incompetent." That he's "not qualified." That the only reason he was appointed is because he's black. In other words, that he's a product of affirmative action or, more precisely, an "affirmative action hire."

Last week, for instance, liberal Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson wrote: "I believe in affirmative action, but I have to acknowledge there are arguments against it. One of the more cogent is the presence of Justice Clarence Thomas on the U.S. Supreme Court."

Robinson's comment echoes many previous attacks. In 2000, for example, Newsweek columnist Anna Quindlen -- another liberal who has written in support of affirmative action -- declared that Thomas' "judicial resume was mediocre; he was chosen because he was conservative and black, an affirmative action hire by an administration that eschewed affirmative action."

Many liberal Democrats aren't willing to say out loud what Robinson and Quindlen wrote so clearly. After all, they're conditioned to defend racial preferences, which they insist do not promote "incompetent" or "unqualified" people. But that doesn't mean they don't think it. Even The American Prospect magazine, a liberal journal that sees its mission as "beating back the right wing," ran an article two years ago calling Thomas the "most visible affirmative action hire in all the land, a token black nominee whose lack of qualifications was so painfully outed during his confirmation hearings."

How can you support a policy of racial preferences and then attack one of its supposed beneficiaries as undeserving? This, ultimately, is the intrinsic hypocrisy of the Thomas bashers. They allege that he's not competent and that the only reason he became a Supreme Court justice was because he's black. And in so doing, they level the exact same arguments against Thomas that they castigate conservatives for making about affirmative action itself. But let's face facts: A program that gives people with a certain skin color an advantage will invariably reward some who would otherwise not qualify.

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Affirmative action has become code for unqualified. Now even some liberals are admitting it. They just want it to continue for those blacks who stay on the liberal plantation. They continue to ignore the real damage they are doing to black achievers who make it because of their merit and not in spite of their lack of it. No one has been mistreated more than Clarence Thomas because of this insult. Even blacks who believe in the concept, such as Colin Powell have been denigrated by people who say he wold not have been successful without. For black achievers affirmative action has become the ultimate insult.