This is the latest in a series on the use of the race card for political gain:
The Mother of All Race Cards was played this week as two years of agitation by the MSM and nutroots seeking to paint critics of Obama as racist and violent came together in a fit of accusations and hyperbole outside the Capitol just before the health care vote.
First, some “facts.” The allegations were that a crowd yelled racial epithets and spit at black Congressmen. The MSM and left-wing blogs went crazy, to put it mildly. And if the incident did take place as reported, then outrage would have been justified.
But through the diligent work of numerous bloggers, the facts were investigated and it turns out either that the incident did not take place at all, or if it did, it was a very isolated incident completely unrepresentative of the “crowd” of over 20,000 people.
There were dozens of video cameras on the scene, including some held by Congressmen towards whom the epithets allegedly were hurled, and so far no one has come up with any evidence of racial slurs being shouted or anyone spitting at a Congressman:
Andrew Breitbart has offered to make a $10,000 donation to the United Negro College Fund if anyone can present proof of racial slurs being shouted; as of this writing, there were no takers.
But those are facts, and if there is anything I have learned from the past year and one-half of blogging, it is that when it comes to the race card, facts do not matter.
If a single person made an objectionable slur, that certainly would be grounds for criticising that person, but was it grounds for smearing millions of people as racist?
Let’s try this hypothetical. Suppose there were a popular blog which was a mouthpiece for a major political party, and the commenters to that blog made derogatory statements about transgendered people, using the term “tranny” as a pejorative.
Would that make the proprietors of the blog, its readers, and the political party transgender-phobic? Should hundreds if not thousands of people somehow affiliated with that blog be maligned?
The hypothetical is not hypothetical. The blog in question is the powerful Think Progress blog, a mouthpiece for Democratic Party operatives and a mover and shaker in formulating public discourse to the Democrats’ liking.
Think Progress regularly and systematically seeks to portray Tea Party participants and opponents of Obamacare as racist extremists prone to inciting if not participating in violence.
Here is just a small sampling of some of the comments posted at Think Progress regarding the violent shutdown by liberal student groups of Ann Coulter’s speech in Canada:
Who made these comments? Don’t know. Were they real or trolls planting comments for the purpose of making Think Progress look bad (which was done to Sarah Palin during the campaign)? Don’t know.
Even if made by regular Think Progress readers, would the comments reflect on Think Progress or its other readers? That I do know, and the answer is No.
There is no more basis to smear Think Progress, its employees and readers for what some (anonymous) person says in the Comments than there is to smear the various Tea Party groups, supporters and attendees for what some (anonymous) person at a rally allegedly shouted.
Yet Think Progress and its progeny will take isolated and anonymous comments at a Tea Party rally, or an isolated sign held at a rally, and use it to smear millions of people as racist or violent. Indeed, that is why Think Progress sends photographers and reporters to Tea Party rallies, in the hope of finding someone whose sign or commentary can be used to smear all Tea Partiers.
A union teacher recently hung Obama in effigy, but that no more reflected teachers or union members in general than did the alleged actions of a very small number of people at the Capitol.
There does appear to be evidence that someone shouted “fag” at Barney Frank. The crowd’s reaction was very telling, as reported by Politico (emphasis mine):
Frank, who is gay, was leaving the Longworth House Office Building when a man yelled a charged homophobic slur at the Massachusetts lawmaker.
Other protesters quickly admonished the shouter, with one woman yelling back, “We don’t need that.”
Back in October 2008 I warned that the use of the race card by team Obama was an ominous sign, and a warning for the future:
The suppression of legitimate political expression through false accusations of racism by the Obama campaign and its supporters is the defining theme of the 2008 campaign.
And so it has come to pass this week that the Mother of All Race Cards was played, regurgitated by the MSM, and trumpeted by the nutroots.
These people do not understand how much damage they have done to this nation, and even if they understood, they would not care.
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