Carter, Steele, Republicans and "The Race Card."

As Shakespeare would say, this IS a pickle.

President Carter did what he always does, and opened his mouth to tell others what he really thinks. As a former President, he doesn't have much to worry about, much to lose in so doing, and he avails himself of the opportunity from time to time when he sees fit.

"I think it's based on racism," Mr. Carter said at a town-hall-style meeting at his presidential center in Atlanta. "There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president."
[...]


"Those kind of things are not just casual outcomes of a sincere debate on whether we should have a national program on health care," he said. "It's deeper than that."

Of course, the Republicans came out today and accused him of "playing the race card."

"President Carter is flat out wrong. This isn't about race. It is about policy," RNC Chairman Michael Steele said in a statement Wednesday. "This is a pathetic distraction by Democrats to shift attention away from the president's wildly unpopular government-run health care plan that the American people simply oppose."



"Injecting race into the debate over critical issues facing American families doesn't create jobs, reform our health care system or reduce the growing deficit. It only divides Americans rather than uniting us to find solutions to challenges facing our nation," Steele, the RNC's first African-American chairman, also said.

We found that a little funny, in light of the piece of video you see at the top of the page, which seems a lot like "playing the race card" - in a nice way - to us. Perhaps that version of it is acceptable, unless of course the rank and file of your party would rather kick you out than let you continue with your plans of inclusivity.



Did Carter speak the truth? We can only imagine he did. However, the folks at one New York outlet have scolded him for it, suggesting the comments are less than constructive - although they suggest the comments are also true.

It's funny because all of that is obviously true. But no one wants to hear it from Jimmy Carter! As Michael Tomasky explains, it is a Bad Idea in Politics to Tell the Truth, because it is called a "gaffe," and it seldom goes over well.



So this is the stupid state of our stupid discourse. To say the intensity of the opposition to Barack Obama indicates a deep vein of racial prejudice and the right is obviously purposefully stoking race-based paranoia as they have done more or less openly since Nixon is met with I can't believe you're calling everyone who opposes the President a white-hooded racist who wants to lynch him.

Indeed, we've noticed people don't like to hear the harsh truth, and will often kill the messenger of said truths.

Here, from Politico.com, a roundup of what the pundits think.









Yes, It's Because He's Black, But It Doesn't Help to Say So - Jimmy Carter - Gawker