Dog-Whistling With Lamar

by Shaker Maud, who is currently contemplating whether to become a contributor, or remain Shakesville's world champion guest poster.

Via The Maddow Blog comes this, uh, colorful, if ever-so-lightly veiled, comparison by Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander (R-acist) between the way the people of New Orleans and the people of Tennessee deal with adversity.

In a column in defense of Congressional earmarks posted yesterday on the blog Tennessean.com, Alexander writes:

Just last week, the pres­i­dent asked for spe­cific appro­pri­a­tions for the Gulf Coast oil spill, but not for flood­ing in 52 Ten­nessee coun­ties. I did ask, and the Sen­ate Com­mit­tee approved. I did not want Wash­ing­ton to over­look the worst nat­ural dis­as­ter since the pres­i­dent took office just because Ten­nesseans are clean­ing up and help­ing one another instead of com­plain­ing and loot­ing.

The flooding in Tennessee was apparently not viewed by the national media as being as sexy a story as the big oil blowout in the Gulf, and received far less coverage than it likely would have if that event had not preceded it. It did not, however, cause anything like the number of deaths nor as widespread destruction as Hurricane Katrina. But Sen. Alexander suggests there's also a danger that Tenneseeans might receive less help in the clean-up from the federal government simply because they are so - what's the word? - civilized - and therefore easy to overlook. Unlike some people, if you know what he means. And I think that you do.

In fact, as the Maddow Blog post points out, there were some minor incidents of Tennesseeans attempting to take advantage of flood victims by relieving them of possessions, or of cash, through price-gouging. There were not, however, the extreme, false stories of wild criminal behavior by Tennesseeans that the media spit out about residents of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

But Sen. Alexander just seems to have a natural affinity for cross-cultural behavioral comparisons which he feels reflect poorly on pretty much any group of which he is not a part of. In February, Sen. Alexander said the potential use of the reconciliation process to pass some elements of health care reform legislation would be a "Political Kamikaze Mission" by Democrats.