The beauty of being a racist in America today is that you don’t have to shout “N...” out loud in the once-hallowed halls of the US Congress to get the message across. While the dumbest crackers get the meaning right way, slightly more sophisticated crackers can play the self-righteous outrage card---they don’t even have to know they are racists (much less admit it). They can deny the obvious meaning behind Wilson’s crude outburst by accusing the Democrats of being reverse racists (“playing the race card“). “You lie” apologists can deflect from the true meaning of that racist-facilitated remark by rattling off examples of celebrity misbehavior---which are now, apparently, interchangeable with and just as important as high political naughtiness within the confines of the US Congress itself.

There is a difference that seems to escape my esteemed fellow “voice” (Brian Sweeney, Jr. - “Some Things Never Change, Democrats And The Race Card“ - AK Voices). One rhetorical question not asked or, apparently, even thought about: Would such a remark have ever been directed at a White President while he was addressing Congress? Would such a remark have been allowed to escape official censure if it‘s target had been a White President?

Democrats calling G. W. Bush a liar outside those hallowed halls was mere accuracy. But not, regretfully, in “almost every word“ as I recall. And never while Bush was speaking in Congress---that would have been a great “shoe-throwing” moment.

America has a 500 year-old tradition of disguising it’s disgusting racism as everything from the paternalistic White Man’s Burden to the God-given right to dominate the darker races to contempt for any culture not of the White Bread variety. Just as the Republican slogan of a “classless society” obscures the reality of economic, political and media dominance of America by the corporatists, so does the slogan of “playing the race card” obscure the underlying reality of the racism that still infests the nation. And Alaska as well---White Alaska was founded and remains based on a premise of racial superiority.

Jimmy Carter is a good old boy who knows how institutionalized, ritualistic racism works---thinly disguised as something else. South Carolina (home of Joe Wilson) is the capital of institutionalized, rebel flag racism, secessionism and keeping Blacks in their place. All the while calling it “state’s rights” or “political criticism” to give it legitimacy.

By the way, the former President Carter was less “ineffective” during his term than way ahead of his time. It was the American public who carelessly ignored his wise admonition to “conserve energy.” Imagine what America’s economy would be like today if we had heeded the words of Jimmy Carter. Instead, Americans fell for the corporate-inspired platitudes of Ronald Reagan and willingly succumbed to George W. Bush’s urgings to “consume” themselves to death in response to 9/11. Americans acted more like gluttons than “conservative” users of resources. And thus contributed to the need for endless resource wars to get what we think we deserve as the greatest consumers of all time.

So, is Joe Wilson racist? Or has he simply incorporated the underlying racism of Southern politics into his campaign tactics? He certainly has noticed how easily a simpleton like “Death Panel” Palin sprinted to the head of that lynch mob of rednecks which now animates the corpse of conservatism.

Palin is the high school cheerleader of lynch mob rhetoric. She has set the tone with her over-the-top criticism of the President while skirting the edges of overt racism. When Obama called her “death panel” smear “bogus,” “irresponsible,” and “a lie”---Palin wrote back “so much for civility.”

The obvious lesson? It’s okay to call the President a would-be murderer of little Trig and Grandma---but impolite to point out the insanity of such wild accusations.

Palin also said Obama demonized 9/11 victims when he pointed out the obvious: that the Iraq War was launched by the Republicans without paying for it [Nor did Iraq have anything to do with 9/11 in any way, shape or form].

So, merely calling Obama a liar and evil is now just normal Republican politics. And the Democrats who complain are just “playing the race card.” Of course they are---the race card has always been in play.

Is Joe Wilson racist? Racism may not have been the “You lie” motivator but it certainly facilitated Joe Wilson’s Congressional shout-out. Was it the word “lie” that rewarded him with $200,000 of sudden campaign funding? Or was it the underlying racism?

What was the “lie” Obama was supposed to have committed anyway? Few remember and it doesn’t matter.

Do I sense presidential aspirations for Joe Wilson? Maybe we are seeing the birth of a new, male-Palin---someone who knows you don‘t actually have to come out and say “N” to be seen as a proud and defiant racist. Hey, if an Alaska broad can run on a lynch mob platform so can a Southern dude.

Is Dr. Brian F. Sweeney, Jr. racist? Who knows? He possesses such an apocalyptic lack of self awareness that we can never tell if he actually believes in his own pure and unbiased nature or not. This self-unconsciousness eminently qualifies the good doctor to take his place along-side right-wing heroes like Rush “The Oxycontin Kid” Limbaugh and Glenn “Bad Boy” Beck.

One thing for sure---the “You lie” apologists, the Palinistic “death panel nuts” and the “birther nuts” are clods of a feather, fellow lumps and associate boors. The only difference is that the last two categories come with the appropriate description right in the names.

Rudy Wittshirk