09/06/2008
Reason Magazine’s Matt Welch and Tim Cavanaugh met with Wayne Allyn Root, a Las Vegas sports handicapper and Libertarian Party Vice Presidential candidate, and this conversation ensued:
Root:..But here’s the story that I think the press should be digging up, I really mean this, about Barack Obama. When George Bush annoyed everyone the first thing they went to was how dumb he was, and they said how bad he did in Yale, and blah blah blah, he got a C average. Then they found his C average was better than Al Gore’s average, and it was better than John Kerry’s average!
Cavanaugh: And then you stopped hearing the story.
Root: Right. But the point is all three of them had C averages. I had a B-plus, A-minus average at Columbia University.
Welch: Wait, you're bragging on your GPA?
Root: No, no I’m not, because here’s the moral to the story … . I had a B-plus, A-minus average at Columbia University, in four years. When I graduated, I took the LSATs and I did well. I didn’t do great, I did well; B-plus, A-minus average. My counselor at Columbia said don’t even bother applying to Harvard Law School, because you can get into any law school in the country with your record, except Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, Princeton [Editor’s Note: Princeton doesn’t have a law school]. Except for the very top, you can get in anywhere, but don’t even try those, because your grades don’t cut it.
Well, everyone says how bright Barack is, but Barack won’t release his transcripts from Columbia University.
Cavanaugh: Hmmmm.
Root: And I'd be willing to bet every dime I have in the world, a million dollars I'll put, I'll put a million dollars cash on the fact–
Welch: This is on the record–
Root: –that my GPA was better than Barack’s–
Welch: Oooooh.
Root: … and he got in based on the color of his skin.
Does anyone doubt that possibly Barack could have gotten into Harvard with a C average because he’s black, where as I, white, couldn’t get into the same school with a B-plus, A-minus average? And yet his wife says that America is a terrible nation unfair to minorities! I say, Au contraire!
I say the whole problem with America is we are racist against people because of the color of their skin. We're helping people because they're black. We're helping people because they're minority. We're helping people because they're poor. In reality only those who have the most skill and talent should get into Harvard, not because of the color of their skin.
So now I ask out loud in the press, I challenge my classmate to give his GPA against mine. And let’s see if he really is the bright guy they all say he is. What if we discover he got into Harvard with a C average? Is he then the brilliant man America thinks he is? That would be a very good question, don’t you think?
Welch: The follow-up I want to ask is: What if it’s better than yours? You just said a million dollars!
Root: Well, who’s taking the bet? I didn’t hear anyone accept. No, I’m pretty sure I’m right. I'll go out on a limb. Listen, they always said with O.J. Simpson, you know, never ask the question if you don’t know the answer, does the glove fit? I don’t know the answer but I’m pretty sure I know the answer. He had a lower average than me and he got into Harvard and I didn’t.
And so my answer is, has America really been unfair to minorities? No it hasn’t. It was unfair to me. A white butcher’s kid, whose father had no money, but nobody gave me a break. And do I have a chip on my shoulder? You're damn right I do. And I represent millions and millions of poor people in this country who weren’t lucky enough to be poor and black, they were unlucky enough to be poor and white, and they can’t get into Harvard. So maybe that country Barack’s fighting for, he’s got the wrong country here. He’s been just fine in this country. The rest of us need someone to defend them … .
You could try holding your breath until the Mainstream Media starts pestering Barack over this one — you'd turn blue in the face if you did, and then maybe you'd qualify for preferences.
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