audio We wrote yesterday about Dan Rather and the tricky language associated with race. Well there's no tricky language here - just a blatantly racist comment by radio host Rush Limbaugh, using a play on words between embattled former Rep. Eric Massa and the offensive slang term "massuh." (more...)

video The big day for Rod Blagojevich's dubiously categorized “ethics” lecture at Northwestern University has come and gone and, judging from the footage college's newspaper has released, it lived up to the hype. America's fanciest gubernatorial coif and its disgraced owner proved he still has some tricks up his sleeve. Upon being showered with jeers for unleashing some vintage Blago on Senators Dick Durbin and Harry Reid - calling them "segregationist governors" for opposing his appointment to succeed Barack Obama in the Senate - Blagojevich abandoned his own typically fiery demeanor to channel a bit of Van Jones: “I've got nothing but love in my heart for you." (more...)

Apparently, Daily Kos blogger Dante Atkins did not appreciate being reminded that his website was one of the few to predict a Martha Coakley victory in Massachusetts a few weeks ago, or being called insane, or dangerous, or, worst of all, insignificant. That's how Fox News responded to the Daily Kos blog's latest research findings in their Republican Poll co-conducted by nonpartisan group Research 2000. Short version: an overwhelming number of Republicans think Barack Obama is a socialist Kenyan who hates white people (oh, and they seem to like the idea of Dick Cheney making an encore political appearance as president). (more...)

video There is a common canard amongst some critics of the president: "oh, so I criticize Obama, and now I'm a racist?" But that allegation seems far less common than its use as a defense, or more precisely, subterfuge. But maybe it is more common than previously thought, evidenced by last night's "Worst Persons" segment on Countdown, where Keith Olbermann effectively hailed many critics of the president's State of the Union speech as racists for using "code words" such as "cocky", "flippant" and "arrogant." (more...)

No, it's not the world's worst Billy Joel song. The "black frame of mind" is terrible, according to noted black-mindframe expert (and most-influential conservative) Rush Limbaugh. Skipping over the absurdly racist notion that there's a monolithic black frame of mind, and the absurdity of Rush Limbaugh trashing the President for not doing enough for black people, you've got to hear what Rush thinks is really bothering "them": Tiger Woods isn't involved with "their" women. (more...)

In the course of writing about a new anti-Obama ad that features opponents of healthcare reform (sarcastically) declaring "I'm a racist," I noticed an elegant parallel to the current brouhaha over Harry Reid's slavery comparison. The Republican legislator who appears in the "I'm a racist" ad has, himself, previously used the slavery comparison with regard to health care. Do slavery and racism have a place in the healthcare debate? Missouri state legislator Robert Schaaf appears in this spot, which is an apparent response to a September Rasmussen poll that found that 12% of Americans believed opponents of health care reform are racist:


A response like this to a poll number of 12% seems much more like an excuse to distract than an opportunity to defend, and to sneak in some lies along the way. The ad says they oppose a total government takeover of healthcare, something that isn't currently being considered. Schaaf had previously caused a stir by invoking slavery in opposition to the SCHIP program:

When government forces a person to work and pay the fruit of their hard earned labor and gives it to the benefit of someone else -- and we have proof people who have SCHIP program can, because they pay the premium now -- that is slavery. That is what it is.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, meanwhile, is trying to clarify this statement he made on Monday:

“If you think you’ve heard these same excuses before, you’re right,” Reid said. “When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said, ‘Slow down, it’s too early, things aren’t bad enough.’

Reid didn't back away from the statement today:

"At pivotal points in American history, the tactics of distortion and delay have certainly been present," Reid said. "They've certainly been used to stop progress. That's what we're talking about here. That's what's happening here. It's very clear. That's the point I made — no more, no less. Anyone who willingly distorts my comments is only proving my point."

Reid's explanation is reasonable enough, but misses the point entirely. Like the references to Nazis and the Holocaust that have been bandied about thus far by both sides in this debate, it is not the aptness of the comparison that's at issue. I think  Robert Gibbs explained it pretty well last month:

Hopefully we can get back to a discussion about the issues that are important in this country, that we can do without being personally disagreeable and set up comparisons to things that were so insidious in our history that anybody in any professional walk of life would be well advised to compare nothing to those atrocities.

The new concerted effort by the Republican party to move online and skew younger keeps backfiring. First, the launch of GOP.com was met with intense mockery and meme-making, then the Republican National Committee's Facebook page left racist and hateful images -- including photos of President Obama eating fried chicken along with a bigoted caption and others mocking John Kerry and Mother Theresa -- in the fan photos section for nearly a week without moderation. (more...)

video Its no mystery that the Health Care debate has raised passions on both sides of the aisles: the conservative movement has cried socialism; the progressive movement has accused the right of no-so-subtle racism. Well the claims of race baiting are about to get a bit louder with news of Kansas Rep Lynn Jenkins comment that the Republican Party would soon embrace a "Great White Hope". (more...)

Two high-profile stories about the intersection of racism and the Republican Party are exploding all over the internet. The flap over comments at Free Republic and the Young Republicans' election of a new president make for a sour cocktail this weekend. (more...)