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You might want to ask yourself why you cast "newcomers" as white people. This blurb makes no mention of race. The linked article discussing Barry's statement makes no mention of race. Barry, makes no mention of race. Yet, you feel racially aggrieved.

Have you ever heard the term "code words" in politics? Newcomers is a code word in DC politics for white people. Here's an example of code words being used by Sen. Trent Lott which led to his removal as Senate Leader:

The Ways Republicans Talk About Race
The scandal surrounding Trent Lott is not about a poor choice of words at a birthday party for Strom Thurmond. It's about the political choices Republicans made in the 1960's to ''go hunting where the ducks are'' -- code language for winning over white segregationists who abandoned the Democratic Party in the South. It's about continuing to benefit from racial prejudice through subtle and not-so-subtle sound bites that play to the Republican Party's far-right base.

The most infamous of these efforts was Ronald Reagan's advocacy of ''states' rights'' -- the Dixiecrat code word for segregation -- at the Neshoba County Fair in Philadelphia, Miss., where 16 years earlier the murder of three civil rights workers made international headlines.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/13/opinion/the-ways-republicans-talk-about-race.html

by Falls Church on Jun 26, 2012 1:31 pm • link • report