Splitting the White Vote
Slate tackles this pressing issue:

reporters had a different subject on their minds. "John Kerry is already in the race and is raising a lot of issues about the Democratic Party's record" on matters important to white voters, one journalist told Gephardt. "What are you going to be bringing to the race that he hasn't already been pointing out in terms of that issue?"

Gephardt called the question silly, but his inquisitors kept going. "Where do you think your base is going to come from?" asked one. "Will it be men? Will it be the white community?" Another chimed in, "I'm having a little trouble understanding why you believe that this political dynamic between you and Kerry is a silly question. … You're going to be vying for some of the same constituency, are you not?"

Slate makes it clear that this is a parody and these events never occurred. They used it to make a point:

The presidential contender who endured the racial grilling at the Press Club was Carol Moseley-Braun, the former Democratic senator from Illinois. The questions she was asked are reprinted verbatim above, except that they were about blacks and women, not whites and men, and her presumed rival was the Rev. Al Sharpton. Most whites have trouble seeing why questions like these are shallow and offensive. Once the colors are reversed, the coarseness is easier for us to recognize.

For a change, Slate makes a very good point. However, I don’t believe “most whites have trouble seeing why questions like these are shallow and offensive.” Rather, most liberal journalists have a problem in this area. It is part of what some call the "bigotry of soft expectations." Hopefully this will help open their eyes.

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