Agent Provocateur

Hmmm....:

One of the State's Hispanic Affiars Commission members made an outragous comment in the Statesman Journal today.

"They're trying to be attentive to their conservative base. Why else would they bring this up?" asked David Molina, a Beaverton businessman who sits on the Oregon Commission for Hispanic Affairs....Why then English only? Because it allows racists and nativists to pursue their dirty business with the plausible denial that they are not advocating discrimination, only Americanism," Molina said."

This was in response to Rep. Donna Nelson's legislation to make english the official language of Oregon. For a citizen serving in a public leadership role designed to improve relations among ethnic communites, his words were highly political and slanderous.

"Highly political"? Maybe. But, "slanderous"?

slan·der (slān'dər) n.
1.Law Oral communication of false statements injurious to a person's reputation.
2.A false and malicious statement or report about someone.

I'm not seeing how Molina's statements are false at all, especially given the fact that Nelson's bill doesn't actually change the way the government does business.

Its just a piece of conservative political correctness that tosses red meat to the base.

It doesn't help the argument to have Victoria Taft pimping her radio show in the comments to the post in question, either.