Legal Commentary

Where, If Anywhere, Does McCain Stand On Preferences?

McCain has already punctured the balloon of optimism from his supporters that rose over the weekend when he indicated his support for the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative.

He seems stuck in a time warp, fumbling to announce his opposition to ?quotas? at every opportunity, as though ?quotas? had some connection to the current effort to eliminate racial preference programs. Here is a decent summary of his various pronouncements going back to 1998, when he opposed an Arizona legislative attempt to curtail affirmative action.

McCain should have learned by now that he will never be able to compete with Obama in a war of carefully (or not) crafted, complexly nuanced obfuscations. Now is the time for his vaunted ?straight talk?: he should state clearly and unequivocally whether he supports or opposes state policies that award preferential treatment based on race, ethnicity, or sex.

Full post as published by Discriminations on July 30, 2008 (boomark / email).