As I've said already, why MSNBC feels the need to keep bringing this relic on who's still fighting the battles we should have settled ages ago is beyond me. He does nothing but race bait every time they allow him on the air for one of these discussions.
MATTHEWS: Back to Hardball. On Friday, Democratic senator Jim Webb of Virginia tackled Affirmative Action in "The Wall Street Journal." Senator Webb wrote, quote, "Those who came to this country in recent decades from Asia, Latin America and Africa do not suffer discrimination from our government, and in fact, have frequently been
the beneficiaries of special government programs. The same cannot be said of many hard-working white Americans, including those whose roots in America go back more than 200 years. Beyond our continuing obligation to assist those African- Americans still in need, government-directed diversity programs should end."
Is Senator Webb right? MSNBC`s analyst -- political analyst Eugene Robinson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for "The Washington Post." And Pat Buchanan is an MSNBC political analyst, and very important figure in American life, I should say.
Pat, let me start with you and this question. I`m not even sure, since this subject has only been brought up today, over the weekend...
PAT BUCHANAN: Right.
MATTHEWS: ... how much is left of Affirmative Action in terms of -- I know schools, private schools look for diversity because they think it helps all their students.
What`s left that bothers you in terms of Affirmative Action, that you think...
BUCHANAN: Right.
MATTHEWS: ... should be gotten rid of, along with, apparently, Jim Webb, who wants -- the Virginia senator -- wants to get rid of? What`s left as a remnant of Affirmative Action you want to see gone?
BUCHANAN: Well, there`s an enormous amount of it in the federal government and the federal workforce. I`ve been looking at that as part of a book. But Chris, let me say this. Jim Webb`s point is important and courageous. What he`s saying is, Don`t treat white America as a monolith. The folks he came from Scots-Irish Southerners, mostly Appalachia -- those folks never benefited from the WASP ascendancy in Boston and New York. They were the victims of that form of discrimination. And they are today the victims of the form of discrimination practice and Affirmative Action, quotas, set-asides and things like that.
And ask yourself, Chris, what is the morality? What is the justice of discriminating against Appalachian white folks, whose father may have fought in Vietnam, whose grandfather fought in World War II, in favor of folks, say, from El Salvador or from Ethiopia or from Asia, India, something like that, discriminating against them, when those newcomers never suffered under slavery, never suffered under Jim Crow. They simply happen to be people of color who are here.
What is the argument for discriminating in favor of a person from Puerto Rico and against a person from Portugal?
