From the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, a satirical take on New York’s new governor by Larry Wilmore, the show’s “senior black correspondent.” When Stewart refers to Paterson as the state’s first “legally blind governor,” Wilmore bridles. Partial transcript follows, rated R for a reference to former Gov. Elliot Spitzer:

Wilmore: Don’t take this away from us. He’s one of ours. Hear that blind people? He’s only 90 percent blind, but he’s a hundred percent black. So you know what? Back off. Careful.

Stewart: Larry, to get this far, a man in his situation has to show incredible fortitude.

Wilmore: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. If by fortitude you mean luck. I mean Geraldine Ferrarro said it best. Barack Obama is lucky he’s black. Well if Obama’s lucky, this guy stepped in (bleep.) I mean, black AND blind? That’s the kind of luck you can take to the dog track …

Stewart: How can Gov Paterson avoid a backlash?

Wilmore: The most crucial thing is that he stay blind. Look, Americans like articulate black people but they go crazy for blind ones. Look, check out Paterson getting sworn in. (Footage of Paterson acknowledging enthusiastic applause.)

It’s like they were expecting to hear Georgia on my mind.

And he’s not even Ray Charles blind. He’s more Mr. Magoo.

Stewart: All right, all right, it still counts. All in all, this was an historic day.

Wilmore: Right. Black history. Not blind history. You listening blind people? I know you can hear like bats.

Stewart: All right, thank you very much Larry.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 7:47 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, blindness/visual impairments, humor, politics, public attitudes, race, stereotypes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post