RED-FACED SEN. DASCHLE MIXES UP BLACK JOURNOS

PageSix ^ | 05/23/2003

[SuzanneWeeks]

May 23, 2003 -- SENATE Minority Leader Tom Daschle blundered yesterday when he accidentally mixed up two black reporters who've been covering him for years. PBS off-camera reporter Linda Scott, who has covered Congress for more than 20 years, raised her hand at a press conference to ask the South Dakota Democrat a question about the Republican economic stimulus package. Daschle apparently got her confused with CBS producer Evelyn Thomas, the only other African-American female television producer who regularly covers Congress. Thomas was not even in the room at the time. "Yes, Evelyn," said the Senator, nodding at Scott. The other reporters present at the time gasped. Daschle's slip left Scott visibly angry; she pointedly told Daschle that she looks nothing at all like her black colleague. "It's Linda, and I know we don't look alike," fumed Scott, who then asked Daschle about the tax cut. Later, Scott told The Post's Vince Morris she's bitter, but that Daschle isn't the only politician to do it: "To me it's that old thing about 'oh, they all look alike,' " said Scott. But she praised Daschle for later calling to say how sorry he was.

[SuzanneWeeks]

Apparently He was Deeply Saddened

[conservativemusician]

Outrageous.........outrageous.


He has failed miserably.

[JimVT]

Last week someone called me Freddie.....but...what the hell...all us Irishmen look alike.

Jeez, Linda, find something important to get p.o.'d about

[Living Free in NH]

Dasshole may be a moron, but Linda Scott it nothing but a race-baiting pig by saying "To me it's that old thing about 'oh, they all look alike.'" People do make mistakes - even crackers who aren't racists.

[corlorde]

My god! WHERE'S SHARPTON?!

This is an outrage. Jackson "that bastard child isn't mine" and "show me the money" Sharpton should lead the charge in showing this bigot a thing or two.. /sarcasm liberal rant mode off/

As usual, you have to have a (R) after your name for anyone to care.

[nicmarlo]

Daschole is deeply saddened.

[Pikachu_Dad]

LOL, is this a race issue or an old foggie issue?

Because of the environment that she grew up in, she immediately jumped to a racist interpretation as to why Daschle got her name wrong.

A lot of us have trouble with names, even with our childrens names.

[corlorde]

Good morning! I live in Meredith. (NH Ping) :0)

[jwalsh07]

Is it really necessary to put me in a position where I have to defend Daschle on the miserable, cold, rainy morning in New England? >-}

[jwalsh07]

Is it really necessary to put me in a position where I have to defend Daschle on the miserable, cold, rainy morning in New England? >-}

[mewzilla]

Bet Rush is going to have some fun with this...

[Callahan]

Is she demanding reparatations? I think Tom should lose his "diversity" club card for this fatal error. He probably calls every Asian he meets "Bruce."

[SuzanneWeeks]

No.....

I just thought the picture was funny.....

[Callahan]

Tom's excuse: I'm sorry Linda, it's just that your skin is so brown and beautiful, you melted into the background and I couldn't see your face. I love minorities and want to undermine their progress with self-defeating social programs. Honest!

[trebb]

They deserve each other...

[TankerKC]

Dear Linda,

We have two elderly southern gentlemen that live near us...one behind us and one across the street. They are named Milt and Gil. Last week, I called Milt, Gil. Do I have a problem?

[SuzanneWeeks]

LOL....

Being the oldest of three kids....it was always

Joey, Danielle, Suzanne...whoever your are get here now!

Gotta love my parents though, even though they won't forgive me for being a Conservative Republican

[grumple]

Tom Daschle - Useful idiot number 1 of the Clinton Democratic Communist/Socialist regime...

The DNC needs regime change starting with "The Punk" and the constipated deeply saddened one....

[Feckless]

But black liberals all DO look alike to Demonratz, suckers who have bought into dependency.

[dansangel]

Daschole is deeply saddened.

ROFL! He is also deeply *inept.*

[nicmarlo]

Daschle is deeply saddened that he failed so miserably at a press conference.

-------------------------------------------------------------

(Please Freepmail me if you want on/off Daschle ping.)

[TontoKowalski]

LOL!

My Dad (who is not senile, BTW) routinely calls me by my son's name, his other grandson's name, my cousin's name, and by the name of two of his brothers (one of whom is dead).

It doesn't even phase me anymore.

[aardvark1]

I too am deeply saddened by this Senator's failure of diplomacy with this reporter. When my kids were smaller I'd run thru the list of names until I hit the right one and even occasionally throwing in the dog's name...and, truly, none of my kids looked anything like the dog...not even the same color.

[nicmarlo]

He is also deeply *inept.*

Yes, deeply! : )

[vigilo]

Live by PC, die by PC. Every weapon these people develop to use against others will eventually be used against them. Will they ever figure that out? Frankly, to be upset that someone messes up your name is juvenile. One of the first things to go with age is the ability to get peoples names right and it's too bad Daschle gets hammered for this and not the actual evil he does.

[nicmarlo]

even occasionally throwing in the dog's name...

LOL! I've done that before. : ) However, if this were the President who did this, it would be PLASTERED all over the news.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Uh, oh... Looks likes ole Massah Tom tinks us ole darkeys all looks alike. Dats what ya get when yas vote for dem 'Rats.

[Callahan]

Poor Tom hasn't been in the news for a month. Then he gets this. Maybe he should do an emergency photo-op with the Harlem Globetrotters and call them all by name in an unlit room.

[wimpycat]

As much as I would like to make political hay out of this, I don't think it's much of a story. My mother-in-law gets the names of her own 6 children mixed up. Oftentimes she'll run through the whole roster of sons before she'll call my husband by his correct name.

[tuna_battle_slight_return]

""It's Linda, and I know we don't look alike," fumed Scott"

Yeah, but we're talking about Daschle here, folks. After losing your job as Senate Majority Leader, the first symptom is being deeply saddened, followed by inability to differentiate one human being from another.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

Is it really necessary to put me in a position where I have to defend Daschle on the miserable, cold, rainy morning in New England? >-}

R O F L ! It's 86 and not a cloud in the sky in SE Texas. Y'all have a great weekend. ;-)

[SERE_DOC]

I am deeply saddened stupid

[The Wizard]

maybe blacks will see the message here

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

LOL.

[nicmarlo]

That pic is a riot.....and he is deeply stupid! : )

[AD from SpringBay]

Big stink big stink big stink big stink big stink big stink big stink big stink big stink big stink big stink . . .

Oh wait - this is a democrat. Nevermind.

[7thson]

The only thing that irks me is when people put a S at the end of my name. I now point out to them that there is only one of me.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Maybe he couldn't see over the podium?

[SuzanneWeeks]

Wasn't trying to make hay out of it at all.

I just think that if that GW made the same mistake, there would hell to pay...

and it was my first post with a picture

[bert]

.....is this a race issue....

Yes.

[nicmarlo]

I just think that if that GW made the same mistake, there would hell to pay...

You got that right. The Rats would make a big deal out of this, just like they made a big deal over what Lott said (actually, didn't say).

[BruceS]

Hey, wait a minute. I am not Asian. I demand an apology and reparations.

[Owl_Eagle]

In Linda's defense, from time to time, I've called my daughter by our cat's name, and I get the same reaction from my wife. 

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

[big gray tabby]

I like a story that reflects poorly on everybody involved. One liberal is chagrined and obviously deeply saddened, one black reporter with a chip on her shoulder is inflamed, and one liberal reporter is caught taking the day off, no doubt signing up her mother for a government nursing home or something.

A little sushine for me here in Seattle-on-the-Hudson.

[anniegetyourgun]

I guess I'm in the minority here (pun intended). I think most lib/dems think of 'color groups' as just that....not individuals. I suspect Tommy D. just fell down on the job of covering for that fact on this day.

[wimpycat]

and it was my first post with a picture

I wasn't really directing my comments towards anyone in particular. I'm sure if Bush had done the same thing, they would be all over him like white on rice...so to speak. And you did a good job posting with that awfully unflattering picture, LOL!

[6ppc]

Guess they all look the same to him.

[YaYa123]

"Bet Rush is going to have some fun with this"...

No, he won't, he won't mention such a thing, or try to take advantage of it in any way. Now some clever reporter, out to show Trent Lott's true colors, might bait him. And of course Lott will take the bait and end up saying something stupid.

But did you notice? Even the offended reporter, angry as she was, had already brushed it aside, and probably will never mention the incident. You better believe the two sistahs would handle it differently if a republican had made such a gaffe.

[VOYAGER]

To me it's that old thing about 'oh, they all look alike,' " said Scott.

But she praised Daschle for later calling to say how sorry he was.

Isn't it amazingly sickening how cavalierly the Liberals can treat their minority supporters and then throw out a tearful, crocodillian, slobbering apology and all is forgiven.

These minorities that follow after the Liberals in a sheeplike manner only require lipservice from their gods, and all is "hunkydory" until the next forgetful moment.

How easily manipulated are these misled individuals!

[xp38]

Today's Straight Dope

"Own-race bias" revisited: Do other races really look more alike?
23-May-2003

Dear Cecil:

Recently in your on-line archive I read your column on why white people don't look more alike, which interested me from multiple angles. The first stems from the experiences of people with Asperger's syndrome, a neurological disorder which has "face blindness" as one of its symptoms (and which I myself have). Face blindness refers to both difficulty in reading faces and in recognizing people by their faces. In other words, most people look alike to us. It has taken me years of concerted practice to be able to distinguish people by their facial features, and a lot of "Aspies" are never able to do so. I can point out from my own and others' experience that it is no easier to tell white people apart by nonfacial characteristics than people of other colors. By "nonfacial characteristics" I mean hairstyle and color, skin color, height and body shape, style of dress, places one habitually is found, and all the other things that are so much easier to tell apart than facial features.

The second point re: white people not looking alike comes from experiments in social psychology. [The writer quotes a social psych text that in turn cites studies suggesting that people of other races seem to look more alike than people of one's own race.] I'm appending the journal references. --Jennifer McIlwee Myers, via the Straight Dope message board

Cecil replies:

Hm. That archived column really addressed two questions: the one that was asked (why do white people display more physical variety than other races?) and the one that was in the back of everyone's mind (why do all those people look alike?). I answered question number one, in the process challenging but not denying its premise, namely that white people do show greater variation in certain superficial traits--hair and eye color, for instance. No doubt this led those who felt question number two was the real issue to conclude: You racist pig! The fact that you would even think that members of other races look more alike proves you can't transcend your racial conditioning, etc. One sees the box this puts us in, debatewise. We plunge on nonetheless.

Let's begin by conceding that conditioning has a lot to do with it. Following up on the cites you helpfully supplied, Jennifer, we learn that most studies show that: (a) whites have an easier time recognizing white people than black people; (b) blacks have an easier time recognizing black people than white people; and (c) blacks and whites have an equally hard time recognizing Japanese people. The near universality of "own-race bias" suggests that the perception of difference has more to do with the observers than the observed--i.e., it's all in your head, and no one race actually demonstrates more facial uniformity than any other.

But come on. That's what we're supposed to think. Even once we grant that own-race bias exists, how can we assume that all races have exactly the same range of facial variation? Setting aside the black/white issue for the moment, surely Asians show more uniformity than Europeans and Africans, no?

Judging from the research, no. One study (A.G. Goldstein, "Race-related Variation of Facial Features," 1979) even found that Japanese women's faces show more variation than those of, say, Irish men.

But wait a minute. Studying Goldstein's paper more carefully, we find that while he compared a boatload of facial features--head circumference, forehead height, "transverse nose protrusion," and so on--he omitted some much more obvious (albeit more ephemeral) characteristics, such as hair color, style, and length and skin tone. Another social scientist makes much the same point: "[Facial measurements] may not be relevant for perceptual discrimination, and hair colour and hairstyle may be used more readily as discriminating cues" (J.W. Shepherd, "Social Factors in Face Recognition," 1981). Duh.

So where does that leave us? While I despair of distilling 30 years of complex and often contradictory research into a sentence or two, there's reason to believe that both subjective and objective factors figure into the widespread impression that people of other races look alike. One study found that, when describing faces, Europeans tend to mention hair color, length, and texture as well as eye color--characteristics in which Europeans show wide variation--while Africans single out hair position, eye size, and the appearance of the eyebrows, chin, and ears. In other words, when identifying faces, we tend to look for the features in which our own race shows the most variation--which means that people of a race that shows less variation in those features can be hard for us to tell apart. Confused? It's a confusing business. The point is this: Racial equality is poorly served by insisting that differences between groups don't exist. Even a seemingly elementary matter like identifying faces involves a subtle interplay between what we see and what we perceive.

--CECIL ADAMS