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Opinion: Rick Perry and the sign: What’s the worst case?

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Did Rick Perry wink at an offensive sign in the camp where he hunted? The weight of the evidence is ... pretty light. Perry says his father painted over the rock with the offensive name in the 1980s; others told the Washington Post that they saw the sign later than that. As lawyers say, the evidence is in equipoise.

I’m inclined give Perry the benefit of doubt, not just because there is no sign of racism in his record but because as a politician he would be crazy not to efface the name comprising the N word. But take the worst-case scenario: that he was slow to cover up the offensive name. What does that tell us about him? That he was negligent, even insensitive -- but racist?

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I wouldn’t say this story is much ado about nothing; it’s much ado about something, but the something seems pretty thin.

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--Michael McGough

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