The bogus charges of racism

Jonathon Martin:

John McCain is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. He could never mention Jeremiah Wright and ensure his campaign aides don't either, and he'd still be accused of running a racist campaign.

Have his tactics against Obama in recent days gotten more personal and hard-edged? Yes. Are his top surrogates, including his running mate, suggesting that the Democrat is a terrorist sympathizer who is not a patriot? Yes.

But is McCain doing anything overtly racist? No.

As Harold Ford Jr. told me in Nashville: "If Barack were not African-American, they’d be doing this."

Indeed they would. Just look at some of the GOP tactics questioning how much John Kerry, a white Vietnam veteran, cared about the troops.

That doesn't matter, though, to the outrage industry, ever on the lookout for any sign of racism and quick to pounce even when it's not there.

I was reminded of McCain's quandary when I got an e-mail touting the expertise of a college professor. Now, reporters get such pitches from PR shops and college publicity departments all the time. But this one stood out:

Lester Spence, an assistant professor of political science at The Johns Hopkins University, is available to discuss with reporters his belief that racial overtones are becoming part of Sen. John McCain's campaign rhetoric as Election Day approaches.

"Sen. John McCain's recent attacks on Barack Obama, accusing him of being a terrorist, combined with GOP columnists and bloggers arguing that Obama supports 'painting the white house black' and 'racial reparations' represent an embrace of the problematic 'Southern Strategy' that the GOP has historically used to increase white racial resentment," said Spence, who is African American. "But as can be seen in the most recent presidential debate, he is employing this strategy selectively, only among the GOP faithful."

McCain has not called Obama "a terrorist."

And those "GOP columnists and bloggers?" Spence is apparently referring to Peter Wallsten's LA Times story on Sunday that drew much liberal outrage. In the piece — a well-reported and fascinating look at Obama's racial challenges in Appalachia — Wallsten alluded to a Republican activist in Southwest Virginia who wrote a racially offensive column for a local paper.

From that — one isolated piece from a low-level party activist in a rural paper that only got noticed by the good reporting of a journalist who delved deep into the coalfields — Spence infers "an embrace of the problematic 'Southern Strategy' that the GOP has historically used to increase white racial resentment?"

This publication and others have been vigilant for any signs of Republicans using Obama's race against him. But let's be candid — McCain has done no such thing, nor is there any evidence that he's instructed GOP allies to go there.

...

The purpose of these bogus charges of racism is to chill political speech that is critical of Obama. I think they are being made in obvious bad faith. By crying wolf over none racism these Democrats are cheapening the offense making real racism less of an offense. This reverse race baiting is big mistake.