Earlier in the day, I suggested how Sarah might respond to Obama’s lipstick remark: “Did he liken me to a pig? Boo hoo. Maybe I should sue for hate speech or something . . .” I thought to add, “No doubt that will be construed as racist” — but then I thought, “Nah — they can’t construe everything as racist. They’re not that bad. Don’t overreact, or overcharge.”
And then comes the Left hate mail: accusing me, of course, of racism. Yawn (and yet it’s never possible to yawn, entirely).
By the way, several readers have had a thought about “community organizer,” which some Dems have pretended is code for “black.” (Sarah Palin, of course, has been accused of racism, as every conservative must be, sooner or later.) These readers have said, “I always thought that ‘community organizer’ was code for ‘Marxist rabble-rouser.’ I mean, Saul Alinsky and Abbie Hoffman weren’t black, were they?”
Um, no.
Finally, you remember when Obama said that he didn’t “look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills”? (You had to love “those other presidents” — he’s been sworn in already, just as he’s had his own seal.) Well, can’t our Sarah say the same — and wouldn’t that have a nice rhetorical effect?
Actually, one more word: I have a favorite example of “You can’t win” — and it is this. Some years ago, Ward Connerly and his allies sought to ban race and gender preferences in California. (Preferences in public institutions, I should say.) They were successful. And, in their proposition, they copied the language of the 1964 Civil Rights Act — gloriously liberal (in the good, old sense).
Bob Shrum at the time was the leading operative in the Democratic party. And, working against the proposition, he put up an ad featuring the Klansman David Duke and a burning cross.
Later, Connerly cornered him on this — how could he do such a thing? Shrum answered, “We didn’t have much money, and we had to get the biggest bang we could for the buck.”
The Left has a lot to answer for — begin with Vietnam, and the aftermath of 1975, alone. But I think that what they have done on race, and to race relations, is maybe the hardest thing to forgive of all. They have rendered “racist” meaningless. They have warped truth and error. And they have not only delayed healing, they have done so deliberately — for political purposes.
Oh, and I said that Connerly was my favorite example of “You can’t win.” But he did win, didn’t he? And he does.
Keep going.