The GOP recycles everything
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Does Ted Cruz have enough sense not to laugh at an anti-Irish joke that contains strong racist under-, over- and mid-tones?
At every mention of O’Rourke’s name, the crowd booed and hissed. During Cruz’s speech, one man yelled, “Send him back to Ireland!” The senator chuckled, pausing his well-rehearsed stump speech. Glancing up at the crowd, he smiled, “That’s good.”
Why wouldn’t Cruz imitate the noise he has learned to associate with human amusement on hearing such a comment? The right wing is practically an ethnic group in its own right, which is why a gathering of Assorted-Americans can laugh at a joke about sending an Irish-American back to where he came from. There may well have been some Irish-Americans in the audience, but they’re not disgusting liberals so the comment wasn’t directed at them.
Of course, the protection afforded by this system isn’t perfect and for some people their in-group status is conferred on a case-by-case basis. Which is why Cocaine-American Alex Jones called Cuban-American Marco Rubio a gangster thug and a punk today (with a parting shot implying that he’s gay).
