Politico deserves to be dragged over pathetic and racist hit piece on Nikki Haley

Yesterday, after Nikki Haley announced her candidacy for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, she received an outpouring of support from liberals who were willing to put politics aside and recognize her ambition to be not only the first woman president, but the first Indian-American president.

Just kidding! All she got was nastiness. And that nastiness included the same tired, racist crap about her allegedly being ashamed of her heritage and embracing it only when she can use it to her political advantage. We told you about blue-checked former sports blogger Jamie O’Grady, who had this to say:

Nikki Haley spends the first 1:00 selling the idea that America *isn’t* a racist country anymore.

Kind of a weird take from someone who refuses to use her actual first name, “Nimrata,” because it’s too brown-person-sounding.

🧐 pic.twitter.com/owvgM4i9pi

— Jamie O’Grady (@JamieOGrady) February 14, 2023

And we couldn’t help but be reminded of this now-deleted take from CNN analyst Asha Rangappa:

Incidentally, today, Rangappa promoted a racist hit piece on Haley from Politico:

“Proud daughter of Indian immigrants.” Who identified as “white” on her voter registration in 2011. Hope she gets grilled as hard on that as Elizabeth Warren did for identifying as Native American https://t.co/sdbKrM0gtB

— Ashley Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) February 15, 2023

Elizabeth Warren falsely identified as Native American in order to advance her career. Nikki Haley did no such thing, as tweeters below will note.

Guess Asha didn’t learn her lesson the last time. Guess Politico hasn’t learned anything, either.

In 2001, for example, Nikki Haley reportedly listed her race as “white” on her voter registration card, and never publicly explained why.

She's also shown a willingness to embrace some of the dog whistles deployed by the current Republican Party.

More: https://t.co/Iq9OqmPlVv

— POLITICO (@politico) February 14, 2023

A woman of color has become the first prominent Republican to take on Trump.

There's no doubt Nikki Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, is a trailblazer. But she's had a fraught relationship with race.

Unpack her track record in today's Recast ⬇️ https://t.co/Iq9OqmPlVv

— POLITICO (@politico) February 14, 2023

“Fraught relationship with race.” According to whom? Racists?

It took two writers, plus “help” from four others, to put this together:

Still, there are other parts of her biography and political record that are a bit more difficult to reconcile. In 2001, for example, she reportedly listed her race as “white” on her voter registration card, three years before she entered into elective politics. (Haley has never publicly addressed her reasons for doing so.)

…

Over the past two years, Haley’s publicly leaned more into her heritage, campaigning with Asian American voters in Georgia and prominently featuring her family and her Punjabi Sikh identity in her announcement video.

But she’s also shown a willingness to embrace some of the dog whistles deployed by the current Republican Party.

Take the time she stumped for Herschel Walker, the GOP nominee for Senate in Georgia last year, telling a mostly white crowd that Walker’s opponent, incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, was weak on border security.

Yeah, take the time she, a Republican, endorsed a black Republican over a black Democrat. What’s so dog-whistle-y about that?

We can’t believe we’re saying this, but kudos to Twitter’s crowdsourced fact-checking function. Apparently non-journalists on Twitter have a firmer grasp on this stuff than the Real Journalists™ at Politico:

The bizarre Politico hit-piece on Nikki Haley and her race gets some helpful fact-check context from Twitter users. pic.twitter.com/MZx0nkf4Ag

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) February 15, 2023

One of the better uses of Community Notes I've seen on this platform https://t.co/8Ve4tGslvg

— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) February 15, 2023

It’s a great look for Twitter. For Politico, not so much.

I commonly do this.

— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) February 15, 2023

Yes, well, apparently you don’t count because you don’t also check the “Democrat” box.

I’ve been an Indian living in the shadows for years. #CALeg Asian American & Pacific Islander Caucus has never considered me Asian b/c I am a Republican.

We don’t exist in their worldview.

I usually bubble in what race I identify with at the moment.https://t.co/SM9LT8QbHh https://t.co/rhgQdyLeUT

— George Andrews (@gjandrews) February 15, 2023

Great illustration of social construction of race that Politico feels it knows "Asian" would be the "correct" answer for Haley. In the 1970 Census, Indian Americans were expected to check "white" and c 1900 "races of man" typologies often treated Indo-European as a panethnicity. https://t.co/8tWQpFowel

— Cicada Meth Orgy Fungus (@RogueWPA) February 15, 2023

Maybe Politico should worry less about which box Haley checked and more about rooting out politically driven racism at their offices.

While this hit piece is not quite to the level of @GlennKesslerWP's fact check about Tim Scott's uppity slave ancestors, it's pretty darn close. https://t.co/JAyQW6gaaa

— The Only Gary Johnson Stan (@colorblindk1d) February 15, 2023