Washington Post Columnist Says People With Conventional Viewpoints Want To 'Gag' When They See An Interracial Family
Cohen's column focuses on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's landslide re-election win last week, heding on what it means for his chances to earn the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.
Somewhere along the line, Cohen ties what he sees as Christie's problems in early primary and caucus states like Iowa with this (emphasis added):
Today's GOP is not racist, as Harry Belafonte alleged about the tea party, but it is deeply troubled - about the expansion of government, about immigration, about secularism, about the mainstreaming of what used to be the avant-garde. People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York - a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children. (Should I mention that Bill de Blasio's wife, Chirlane McCray, used to be a lesbian?) This family represents the cultural changes that have enveloped parts - but not all - of America. To cultural conservatives, this doesn't look like their country at all.
Cohen has taken heat for some of his recent columns, most notably one back in July in which he wrote that he "understood" why George Zimmerman would have been suspicious of teenager Trayvon Martin, the teenager he shot and killed last year as a neighborhood watch volunteer.
The Washington Post's editorial editor, Fred Hiatt, said then he did not regret the decision to publish the column, and he urged readers to accept different viewpoints in a broad discussion on race.
"If I had not published the column, just as many people would be asking why the Post can't tolerate diverse points of view," he said in an email.
"I think if people want a 'conversation about race,' as is frequently suggested, they should be open to a range of views and perspectives. We already have published multiple such views-not only Richard Cohen's, but Gene Robinson on the same page, Ruth Marcus and Jonathan Capehart and our own editorial the day before-and we've got more coming. If people don't like a particular opinion, my feeling is they should respond to it, not seek to stifle it."