Reading past the headlines

Earlier today I saw a headline on Drudge "St. Louis Radio Personality Fired for Calling Condi a 'Coon'..." I immediately thought it was just another racist liberal unable to accept an African-American deciding to be a conservative. I was wrong.

Lenihan was listing what assets Rice could bring to the National Football League, including her tenure as a top academic officer at Stanford University and the fact that she is African-American.

“She’s just got a patent resume, of somebody that’s got such serious skill,” Linehan said on the air. “She loves football, she’s African-American, which would kind of be a big coon, a big coon – oh my God, I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that, OK? I didn’t mean that. That was just a slip of the tongue.” Lenihan later said he meant to use the word "coup."

Reached at home, Lenihan said he was still trying to figure out what happened, and was drafting a letter of apology to Rice. "I was trying to say 'quite a coup' but it came out 'coon,"' he said. "I caught myself and apologized. It wasn't anything I was meaning to say. I never use that word. "I think she's a fantastic woman. I was even talking about if she ran for president, I'd work on her campaign."

So basically the guy got fired for mispronouncing the word coup. Heck, when I use that word I have to mentally remind myself to pronounce it "coo" vice "coop." So the guy who makes a slip of the tongue (Freudian or otherwise) is fired within 10 minutes of his offense but idiots like Ted Rall and others who intentionally attack Secretary Rice in a racist way keep their jobs. Hmmmm?