Chairmen and Apologies

So, Ken Mehlman got a lot of bad press recently over the whole Harold Ford, Jr. ad, because he said it wasn't racist, and said he couldn't pull it. I won't quote it, because you've already seen/read/heard it. What you probably haven't seen or read is that in November of 2005 Howard Dean, chairman of the DNC, was asked by Mehlman to condemn and apologize for racist remarks directed at Republican Michael Steele. In response Dean said that he hadn't received an apology for being called an anti-Semite.

If you aren't getting it, it's something like this: Dean is refusing to apologize for racism, because someone called him a racist. Gee, what could be wrong there.

I'm interested to know what Democrats think about these two incidents side by side. "The Corker ad was openly racist," you say, despite the fact that there were no overt or clear racist statements made. [Some] Democrats have not only used racist terms to describe him ("token", "Uncle Tom"), but black Democrats said it's OK to do it, because he's Republican (this story linked in the post "Black on Black Crime"). "But 'token' and 'Uncle Tom' are not nearly as offensive as 'tar-baby'," you say. The only problem is, when Tony Snow and Mitt Romney used the phrase, they meant it as a noted metaphor for a sticky situation. You said they shouldn't use it ever, because it used to be a racial slur. But when Steny Hoyer and Mike Miller used the aforementioned terms, they meant them as racial statements. So, are we no longer judging on intent, just on word choice?

I just read this article at Ace of Spades about the issue. It's a year old, so it doesn't take into account the recent outcry by Dems about Republican racism. But it nails the issue down pretty sqarely.

I'm so very glad the election is less than a week away. I'll finally be able to stop talking about it.
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Also related:

Not Black Enough

Students at Bowdoin College in Maine are shredding the College Republicans there for inviting a black conservative to speak on campus during Black History Month, according to the student paper there.

The critics say North Carolinian Vernon Robinson is not really a black guy; he is, they say, an "Uncle Tom" who has no right to speak on campus. One writer said (with a straight face, presumably) that the Republican student group "displayed its lack of openness by inviting" him.

"To have Robinson speak at this school as a representative of Black History Month destroys the racial peace movement that has been formulating on this campus," one wrote.

For more doses of politically correct nuttiness, head on over to the TongueTied daily edition.

Not Black Enough For Libs

Flags flew at half-staff in Charleston in honor of Rosa Parks, while editorial writers at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel took a swipe at the only black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. “In losing a woman, the court with Alito would feature seven white men, one white woman and a black man, who deserves an asterisk because he arguably does not represent the views of mainstream black America.”

See the rest.