Gates' Daughter Takes the Low Road

[bijou]

In a new Daily Beast column, Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s daughter Elizabeth gives her report on yesterday evening's White House event. After starting off poorly by calling Sgt. Crowley "infamous", Gates adds:

As our family rounded the corner to the White House library and I first caught sight of Sergeant Crowley’s lovely 14-year old daughter—who was wearing an appropriately heavy and charmingly untrained amount of green eyeliner on her lower lashes—we were instantly transported from the post-racial myth of America in 2008 to the reality of 2009. ...

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2009/07/31/department-of-taking-the-low-road-gates-edition.aspx

The Gates family are so classy. 

[thundley4]

To be fair, I read her whole commentary, and the little snippet quoted in your link is somewhat misleading I think.

As our family rounded the corner to the White House library and I first caught sight of Sergeant Crowley’s lovely 14-year old daughter—who was wearing an appropriately heavy and charmingly untrained amount of green eyeliner on her lower lashes—we were instantly transported from the post-racial myth of America in 2008 to the reality of 2009...

The whole of it:

As our family rounded the corner to the White House library and I first caught sight of Sgt. Crowley’s lovely daughter; she was wearing an appropriately heavy and charmingly untrained amount of green eyeliner on her lower lashes, and I saw my former self in her. We were instantly transported from the post-racial myth of America in 2008 to the reality of 2009. There they stood, a pleasant family of five, listening patiently to the overzealous tour guide boast about the fully functioning fireplace to the left of the doorframe.

To me, that bold part gives a different meaning.

[vesta111]

To be fair, I read her whole commentary, and the little snippet quoted in your link is somewhat misleading I think.
The whole of it:
To me, that bold part gives a different meaning.

I most certanally agree that your editing puts this in perspective, `I had a hard time believing anyone would bash the child of a public figure.   

[thundley4]

I most certanally agree that your editing puts this in perspective, `I had a hard time believing anyone would bash the child of a public figure.   

WHAT????  Have you seen nothing of what the left has done to Palin's children?  They have done nothing but bash them.

[vesta111]

WHAT????  Have you seen nothing of what the left has done to Palin's children?  They have done nothing but bash them.

Darn you misses my eye roll.

[NHSparky]

To be fair, I read her whole commentary, and the little snippet quoted in your link is somewhat misleading I think.
The whole of it:
To me, that bold part gives a different meaning.

Sorry, but even with that added, it's pure catty condescension.  Absolutely uncalled for.

[AllosaursRus]

Uh, why the edit in the first place? We don't try to mislead on this website. What possessed you to change the context? That's a DU trick as in what they do to Rush on a daily basis.

[bijou]

Uh, why the edit in the first place? We don't try to mislead on this website. What possessed you to change the context? That's a DU trick as in what they do to Rush on a daily basis.

The story is from TNR exactly as it  is posted there. I didn't change it.  Subsequently posters there make the point that thundley does. It's a fair point, though I don't think it excuses an adult criticizing a child's appearance in that way in the media, but that might be just me.

[thundley4]

Uh, why the edit in the first place? We don't try to mislead on this website. What possessed you to change the context? That's a DU trick as in what they do to Rush on a daily basis.

That is one problem about quoting a news article from a blog, they sometime edit content to get their  point across.  Not Bijou's fault by any means, I'm sure we've all been guilty like that at times.

What I got from reading the Gate's daughter commentary, was that she was trying to point to the similarities between the two families at the center of this mess.  She is older than crowder's daughter and merely pointed to the fact that she also used to wear the heavy make-up when she was younger.  I don't think she meant it as condescending or even as a slight.

[NHSparky]

A GOOD writer would have gotten that point across far better than Gates did.

CONTEXTUAL FAIL.

[AllosaursRus]

My apologies. I didn't notice it was quoted off a blog.