# The Bushistas are now racially profiling journalists **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 1, 2004, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816 "2004-08-01T05:29:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/21 "2004-08-01T06:31:24Z")
> [@Mockingbird](#): > > That article is the ONLY reference I could find through other Google searches. Highly suspect. Sorry to Hijak the thread. How on Earth is it suspect?! It is from a newspaper, not some political group, and this is not some weird sneeky little issue, I remeber it. It was just some mundane news item three years ago. But fine. [http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:MDXG9gci5hwJ:www.ucsf.edu/daybreak/2000/05/19\_soundoff.html+%24300+"tax+rebate"+proposal+democrat\*&hl=en](http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:MDXG9gci5hwJ:www.ucsf.edu/daybreak/2000/05/19_soundoff.html+%24300+%22tax+rebate%22+proposal+democrat*&hl=en)] Here is an article talking about how the idea first came up in California by then Gov. Davis. [Here is another from the _New York Times_.](http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:LaO35tot6XcJ:courses.dsu.edu/econ202/spring03/Rebate.htm+%24300+%22tax+rebate%22+proposal+democrat*&hl=en) [Here](http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:EhBiC3Lv-FcJ:www.uaw.org/publications/jobs_pay/03/no1/jpe03.html+%24300+%22tax+rebate%22+proposal+democrat*&hl=en) is a nice information sheet for members of the UAW. Hardly a bastion of conservative dogma there. These were all from the first page of my Google search. Do you even know what disingenuous means? It is not an act so much as it is an attitude. Your posts are overflowing with it. EDIT: Try as I might, the coding will not come out right on some of those links. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/22 "2004-08-01T06:33:05Z")
> [@Thaumaturge](#): > > Not that neither Muad’Dib nor Brutus has answered the question as to why this woman should have been singled out to be racially profiled. > > Perhaps answering the question is too hard? > > Or not possible. Because there was no excuse for this nonsense. I did. I said that I doubt she was singled out. They probably have such profiles for everyone, were unsure about that particular check-box for her, then asked. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/23 "2004-08-01T06:38:21Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > I did. I said that I doubt she was singled out. They probably have such profiles for everyone, were unsure about that particular check-box for her, then asked. It takes a pretty broad reading of the linked article to suggest that that check box was blank. Diaz, the spokesman for the commitee to re-elect Bush, said nothing about race being a necessary piece of information. Twice. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/24 "2004-08-01T06:51:08Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > I did. I said that I doubt she was singled out. They probably have such profiles for everyone, were unsure about that particular check-box for her, then asked. With national security at stake, they could have tried a discrete google on the woman’s name. Two seconds: > [@](#): > > Dec. 1, 2003: Mamta Popat, one of the few South Asian women photojournalists in the U.S., is moving to the Arizona Daily Star in Tuscon, AZ, as a staff photographer. [http://www.saja.org/newshole.html](http://www.saja.org/newshole.html) ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/25 "2004-08-01T06:54:23Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > With national security at stake, they could have tried a discrete google on the woman’s name. Two seconds: > [http://www.saja.org/newshole.html](http://www.saja.org/newshole.html) Probably, but if they got it wrong I can imagine people here starting rants: “Bush uses secret computer searches to put together racial profiles on members of the press!!” “Sheesh, why didn’t they just ask her? Bush is so evil and dum.” ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/26 "2004-08-01T06:57:30Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > They probably have such profiles for everyone, . Possibly. Can we get some confirmation on that? Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/27 "2004-08-01T06:58:58Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > Possibly. Can we get some confirmation on that? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/28 "2004-08-01T07:02:53Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > Probably, but if they got it wrong I can imagine people here starting rants: What’s to get wrong? The gal’s [halfway famous](http://www.google.com/search?as_q=&num=10&hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=Mamta+Popat&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&safe=images). •Bad Strategy •Bad Tactics •Very typical of this administration ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/29 "2004-08-01T07:06:27Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > Probably, but if they got it wrong I can imagine people here starting rants: Too late: [http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/9211390.htm?1c](http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/9211390.htm?1c) > [@](#): > > ‘‘The dictator welcomes sex tourism. Here’s how he bragged about the industry,’’ Bush said. ‘This is his quote: `Cuba has the cleanest and most educated prostitutes in the world.’ ‘’ > > Asked about the source for the quote, White House officials later provided a Web link to a 2001 paper written by Trumbull. At the time he wrote the paper, Trumbull was a Dartmouth College undergraduate. Trumbull is now 24 and a law student at Vanderbilt University. > > [snip] > > ‘Castro was merely trying to emphasize some of the successes of the revolution by saying, `Even our prostitutes are educated,’ ‘’ Trumbull said. ``Castro was trying to defend his revolution against negative publicity. He was in no way bragging about the opportunities for sex tourism on the island.’’ > > On Monday, administration officials acknowledged that they did not have a source for the wording of the president’s citation other than Trumbull’s paper. I complained on that show of incompetence in two other threads already. > [@](#): > > “Sheesh, why didn’t they just ask her? Bush is so evil and dum.” **dumb** , if you say so… ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/30 "2004-08-01T07:13:06Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > **dumb** , if you say so… It was misspelled on purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/31 "2004-08-01T07:17:45Z")
> [@Danalan](#): > > What if she \*was \* Arabic? Black? Eskimo? How could it matter? The irony is, Arabs (not Arabic, that’s a language) are classified as white. Not that it’s relevant, since the photographer isn’t an Arab, but still kind of funny. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/32 "2004-08-01T07:20:30Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > The irony is, Arabs (not Arabic, that’s a language) are classified as white. Not that it’s relevant, since the photographer isn’t an Arab, but still kind of funny. Aren’t they technically Caucasian? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/33 "2004-08-01T07:31:07Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > It was misspelled on purpose. That is why I realized it was not a real quote, (something frown around here) besides, you asked for it, and the result is also not pretty. Confirming things on the Internet is not good enough, but my experience has been that ignoring the Internet is also dumb. It all depends on the fact checker, and so the point again: Bush cannot recognize when personnel lack ability, or even find a real traitor in his mist (Chalabi). We better move Bush out of the way on November. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/34 "2004-08-01T08:17:14Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > Aren’t they technically Caucasian? Aren’t ‘they’ technically, I dunno, _human_, and therefore exempt from automatic suspicion by broad category? Shee_YIT_, I expect any credible leader to run an organization more sensibly than that. Reasonble caution is pragamatic. Bunker-mentality paranoia doesn’t exactly exude confidence, much less anything that might amount to hope for the future. Talk about the a sure way to alienate and marginalize those who just might, maybe, possibly be responsible folks playing by our principles of “freedom”, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/35 "2004-08-01T10:52:38Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > How many fucking Mamta Popats are running around in fucking Arizona? FHow many exist in the world. I’m guessing that even if there were other Mamta Popats, the chances of them having a similar racial profile is pretty high. Certainly enough of a chance and similar enough for it to be completely useless information as far as security might be concerned. It’s a pretty good sign that the current US administration has lost the plot. But then, there’s still other areas of US govt that do racial profiling where it’s totally irrelevant and totally useless. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/36 "2004-08-01T12:39:23Z")
I’m just curious what kind of idiots the Bush team is letting in the door. This is the third idiotic thing that their campaign has had associated with them in under a week. I think it’s time to take a hard look at the quality of volunteers walking signing on. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/37 "2004-08-01T12:40:36Z")
Meant to delete “walking” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/38 "2004-08-01T13:17:39Z")
> [@Harborwolf](#): > > I’m just curious what kind of idiots the Bush team is letting in the door. This is the third idiotic thing that their campaign has had associated with them in under a week. I think it’s time to take a hard look at the quality of volunteers walking signing on. :dubious: :eek: AIEEEE! It’s a plot! An evil conspiracy by those EEEEEEEE-vul (shudder) _liberals_! They’re infiltrating Our Noble Leader’s campaign, deliberately doing dumbshit stuff to tarnish his shining armor! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/39 "2004-08-01T13:43:49Z")
FYI, Popat is a not unknown (if not entirely very common) surname for a community that comes from a particular part of Maharashtra, a western state of India (Bombay is the capital of Maharashtra). Mamta is a very common first name for girls in India. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816/40 "2004-08-01T14:00:14Z")
> [@gouda](#): > > FYI, Popat is a not unknown (if not entirely very common) surname for a community that comes from a particular part of Maharashtra, a western state of India (Bombay is the capital of Maharashtra). > > Mamta is a very common first name for girls in India. Which still doesn’t make the name any more common in Arizona, and more importantly, does not render “racial” information any more useful. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bushistas-are-now-racially-profiling-journalists/257816.md?page=3)