Who needs Affirmative Action when we have legacies?

As much as I hate just cutting and pasting as soon as I start this blog (as if I have any audience yet) this comes from Body And Soul.

Yesterday I had the TV on CNN while I was making dinner, and heard a little bit of Crossfire. I wasn't paying much attention, but I heard something I thought I must have misunderstood. It was so strange, I checked the transcript this morning to find out if I heard what I thought I heard.

I would have sworn someone tried to make the argument that legacy admissions were no problem because they also benefit minority students whose parents have "special relationships" with universities. Nobody would try to argue something that silly, right?

PAUL BEGALA: Why is it OK for Yale to let George W. Bush in because his daddy went there, but it's not OK for Michigan to help poor kids who are black or Hispanic?

ALEX CASTELLANOS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: There are a lot of factors that universities consider. And if someone has a special relationship and heritage and the university means something to him, a lot of universities use that for black and white students.

I think I now understand Bush's plan to increase diversity while killing affirmative action. He's counting on legacy admissions to help the massive numbers of poor black and Hispanic kids whose parents went to Ivy League colleges.