Racial Politics Are Fair Game

I had to read this one several times before I believed it. In fact, I still have a little trouble accepting this as fact:

Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say that racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his bid for the U.S. Senate are fair because he is a conservative Republican.

Such attacks against the first black man to win a statewide election in Maryland include pelting him with Oreo cookies during a campaign appearance, calling him an "Uncle Tom" and depicting him as a black-faced minstrel on a liberal Web log.

Now, surely I read that wrong. I know they didn't really mean that "anything is fair" just for political gain. Right? Wrong!

State Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, a black Baltimore Democrat, said she does not expect her party to pull any punches, including racial jabs at Mr. Steele, in the race to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes.

"Party trumps race, especially on the national level," she said. "If you are bold enough to run, you have to take whatever the voters are going to give you. It's democracy, perhaps at its worse, but it is democracy."

Interestingly enough, I was always taught that one of the best things about democracy and the freedoms that America embodies is that it gives individuals the opportunity to think and act for themselves, instead of being required to follow the strict party line. (Or maybe Ms. Gladden misspoke, confusing "democracy" for "the Democratic Party.")

Delegate Salima Siler Marriott, a black Baltimore Democrat, said Mr. Steele invites comparisons to a slave who loves his cruel master or a cookie that is black on the outside and white inside because his conservative political philosophy is, in her view, anti-black.

This just floors me. So racially charged language is now not only acceptable but even encouraged by the Democrats? Or is that only permissible for Democrats?

I can just imagine the public outcry if a Republican were to, for example, make a remark at a birthday celebration about a return to the segregated society of the late 1940s. In fact, it is becoming more and more a standard of the liberal propaganda to accuse conservatives and political conservatism as being inherently racist.

Sadly enough, few top level Democrats made any effort to naysay the inflammatory remarks spouted against. Mr. Steele:

Three of Maryland's top Democrats – including the two leading candidates for governor next year – declined to repudiate comments by black Democratic leaders who said racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele are fair because he is a black conservative Republican.

Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, both white and running for governor, ducked direct questions about the propriety of the black leaders' remarks, which The Washington Times reported yesterday.

"Steele's got a record there that he has to defend. ... I think he is open to criticism in a number of areas," Mr. Duncan said...

In fact, the most surprising statements of this whole affair came from good old Kwazy Mfume, former president of the NAACP:

"Black bigotry can be just as cruel and evil as white bigotry. There are too many bigots in too many places," Mr. Mfume said, repeating a common refrain from his speeches.

Kwazy also admitted:

"More voters in Maryland are carrying the impression that the Democratic Party talks the talk, but doesn't always walk the walk. People may find a way to cross over in the fall," he said.