Let's Play 'Who Can Spot the Racist?'

Or perhaps we can call it "A Tale of Two Racism Accusations". Let us critically examine two cases of alleged racism by association and then measure as to which accusation better withstands scrutiny. First up, Texas governor and GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry. Columnist Brent Bozell explains why the hushed tones of unsourced accusations of racism seem to be unsourced for good reason.

"Is there a clumsier group of newspaper character assassins than the hit squads at The Washington Post? On Oct. 1, the Post was back on the racist-Republican attack with a 3,000 word, investigative treatise over a rock. Specifically, Gov. Rick Perry had leased a property where the N-word was painted on a rock, and then he had it painted over with white paint.

But investigative genius Stephanie McCrummen could see a virtual Klan hood on Perry's head. "As recently as this summer, the slab-like rock -- lying flat, the name still faintly visible beneath a coat of white paint -- remained by the gated entrance to the camp."

Near the end, she underlined it again: "In the photos, it was to the left of the gate. It was laid down flat. The exposed face was brushed clean of dirt. White paint, dried drippings visible, covered a word across the surface. An N and two G's were faintly visible."

Three thousand words on this.

Apparently, investigative reporting at the Post means staring at old rocks under paint (with a microscope?) to discern almost invisible letters and suggesting this should ruin a presidential campaign."

Bozell goes on to mention that two days later the Washington Post ran an article to support the contention that Perry has a "complicated" record on race.

"Yes, Perry "appointed the first African-American to the state Supreme Court and later made him chief justice" and oh, yes, "One chief of staff and two of his general counsels have been African-American." But many "minority legislators (read: Democrats) say Perry has a long history -- dating to his first race for statewide office more than 20 years ago -- of engaging in what they see as racially tinged tactics and rhetoric to gain political advantage."

What kind of offensive tactics? Guess what's listed first: "Black lawmakers have been particularly troubled by Perry's recent embrace of the Tea Party movement."

I wonder if these particular black lawmakers are also concerned about the Tea Party's embrace of Allen West and Tim Scott. Probably so and with good reason. People may begin to realize that simply hurling unfounded accusations of racism at a political movement that clearly isn't racist doesn't add up and that might mean that they now have to debate the issues rather than engage in their preferred method of ad hominem attacks and thus they will likely lose those arguments every time. If they had something a bit more substative to support their arguments, we probably would have seen it by now.

Bozell then goes on to examine the actions of President Obama in order to compare who appears to be more motivated by race here...

"That's not to say the Post was unfamiliar with the scent of this scandal at Obama's own Trinity United Church of Christ. The news folks could have read Post columnist Richard Cohen denouncing [Reverend Jeremiah] Wright in a column on Jan. 15, 2008, over how Trinity's church magazine fulsomely praised anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan. But the Post "news" hunters weren't turning over that rock."

That Obama attended a church that for years was headed by a confirmed bigot is beyond debate. One other item that was not mentioned in Bozell's article was the fact that Obama publicly marched with the highly racist, militant and extremely bigoted New Black Panthers Party while running for president....

"Newly resurfaced photographs show President Obama appearing and marching with members of the New Black Panther Party as he campaigned for president in Selma, Ala., in March 2007.

BigGovernment.com posted the photographs, reporting the images were captured from a Flickr photo-sharing account before they were scrubbed.

The photos are reportedly featured in a book set to be released tomorrow by J. Christian Adams, the Department of Justice whistleblower in the New Black Panther Party, or NBPP, voter intimidation case.

The book is titled "Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department."

Among the people visible in the pictures with Obama is NBPP Chairman Malik Zulu Shabazz, a defendant in the voter intimidation case that Attorney General Eric Holder dismissed in 2009.

Also present was the Panthers' "Minister of War," Najee Muhammed...

The NBPP is a controversial black extremist party whose leaders are notorious for their racist statements and for leading anti-white activism.

Shabazz himself has given scores of speeches condemning "white men" and Jews.

The NBPP's official platform states "white man has kept us deaf, dumb and blind," refers to the "white racist government of America," demands black people be exempt from military service and uses the word Jew repeatedly in quotation marks.

Shabazz has led racially divisive protests and conferences, such as the 1998 Million Youth March in which a few thousand Harlem youths reportedly were called upon to scuffle with police officers and speakers demanded the extermination of whites in South Africa."

There is no doubt that Obama, like other liberals, absolutely LOVES to engage to identity politics, but does he have to affiliate with such extreme bigots when he does so? Add to this Obama's "typical white person" comment and it becomes all the more obvious as who is far more deserving of the charge of racism in this side-by-side comparison between Obama and Perry.