An explanation for why the Tennessee mailer was racist

Let's go back in time in earlier in the week. No, we're not going to buy the winning lottery tickets - that's against the Time Traveler's Ethical Code book.

Yes, I know - Time Travelers are idiots. Stay focused here, folks.

Earlier in the week, Karl Rove warned Republicans to stop referring to Senator Obama as "Hussein". Why? Well, it makes people think you're a racist asshole when you do, because emphasizing the Hussein in an effort to scare people with "Hey, he's really a super-secret Muslim" makes you look worse than it does him (well, except to the fellow Klan members, maybe).

About an hour or so afterwards, the Tennessee RNC puts out a mailer. In it, is a picture of, as they put it, Obama in "Muslim attire" - which, as near as I can figure, means anything "foreign". And it basically reads (as you can see in the picture) that because Obama got the endorsement of Louis Farrakhan, that proves that Obama is likely to let Israel be destroyed by other Muslim nations.

Fast forward by two days. (Hey, we're not stopping to watch American Idol - the Time Machine is not for watching shows. Get a TIVO for that.) We then get the TN RNC issuing a statement pulling Hussein. Why? Well:

Tennessee Republican Party Remains Focused On Issue Not Race

The Tennessee Republican Party expresses thanks to the numerous people who have called to express support for the strong stance that we have taken in defense of the nation of Israel.

Our Monday, Feb 25, press release alerting voters that Sen. Barack Obama has foreign policy advisers and endorsements rooted in anti-Semitic and anti-Israel views has been twisted by Democrats who would prefer to scream “racism!” rather than deal with Obama’s real and worrisome record.

Attempts to put the Tennessee Republican Party at odds with Sen. John McCain regarding our Monday press release and his Tuesday comments are ineffective and vacant given Sen. McCain’s consistently strong record as a defender of Israel.

OK, kids. Let's get this right. The Tennessee mailer said that because Obama got the endorsement of an anti-Semite, he himself has to be an anti-Semite, and the showed him in Muslim garb, to enforce the idea that he's really Muslim (because his Dad was, you know, and everybody knows if you're born Muslim, you're always one, wink, wink, nudge nudge).

But they pulled the ad because people claimed it was racist, and ignored the *very* important point that they were trying to make that Obama was really out to destroy Israel! People, why are you so focused on race? Oh, honey, fetch the smelling salts while I wave my hanky under my nose - I'm sooo offended they would call me a racist!

Sigh.

The main problem is that the mailer was not confused as racist while it was trying to point out that Obama is, according to the mailer, secretly an anti-Semite. The problem is that the mailer in and of itself was racist.

If David Duke announced he endorsed McCain, would that mean that McCain was a racist? How about that McCain got endorsed by Rev. John C. Hagee who says we should launch a strike against Iran because the Bible says so - does this mean that McCain really wants to launch a war in the Middle East to bring out the end of times?

Of course not. It's offensive enough for the TN RNC to claim "Well, the mailer wasn't really racist" - even worse is how much isn't true. Obama was defended by the Anti-Defamation League over false charges he was a Muslim - as if it would matter if he was. In Chicago, he has had great support by the Jewish community.

No - the mailer from the Tennessee RNC is pure, unadulterated racism - bigotry at its finest, fear mongering at its worst. "Watch out - that guy has dark skin, and that means he's not *really* one of us, you know. See - we have a picture of him in his 'native' garb!"

It's bad enough when Hillary supporter Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones says the picture of Obama was in the native clothing of his country.

Guess what? He wasn't. You know what the native clothing of his country is?


Looks like this.