Lest you think that the last lingering prejudices in American politics consist of Democrats trying to demonize black conservatives, Texas State Rep. Larry Taylor (R) offered a pretty compelling counter-point on Thursday. Via Harvey Kronberg:
During a hearing of the Joint Legislative Committee on Windstorm Insurance this afternoon, Chairman Larry Taylor was discussing delivery of quick and fair payments for windstorm victims. Unfortunately, to make his point he said, “Don’t nitpick, don’t try to Jew them down.”
Without pausing he added, “That’s probably a bad term” and then resumed his remarks.
Probably! Texas Republicans, you’ll remember, have a bit of a history when it comes to this kind of thing. Last December, conservatives activists, with a few allies in the legislature, attempted to replace Republican Speaker of the House Phil Strauss, who is Jewish, with an Evangelical Christian. As one one such activist told the Texas Observer, “[Jews are] some of my best friends. I’m not bigoted at all; I’m not racist.” But—and this is a big hang-up, really—”I got into politics to put Christian conservatives into office.”
