The New McCarthyism

Separated at birth?

Some of you are old enough to remember Joe McCarthy, or at least have heard of a time when he was accused of "seeing a Communist under every bed".

Well, the new McCarthyism sees a racist under every bed. For the last year, we have heard over and over again how any criticism against Obama is "because he's black". As if no one could oppose him because of his politics or his policies, no, it had to be racism.

This has now grown to ludicrous proportions. The latest inane and laughable charge of racism is charged against anyone who calls Obama "professor". I kid you not.

Barack Obama has been called a lot of things since he hit the national stage: Celebrity, elitist and even one who “pals around with terrorists.” But as his poll numbers come back down to earth, and an emboldened conservative movement sharpens its attacks, the label that seems to be sticking to Obama as much as any lately is that of “professor.”

Speaking to Tea Party activists in Nashville last week, Sarah Palin did her part to keep the “professor” dig in circulation.

"They know we're at war, and to win that war we need a commander in chief, not a professor of law standing at the lectern,” the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee told a frenzied crowd.

"Frenzied crowd"? Gosh! No bias here! /sarcasm

Who in their right mind would hear the word "professor" and think "racial slur"? I'm not sure about the "right mind" part, but let us look at the hallowed halls of education and ivory towered academia that is exemplified by Harvard:

Charles J. Ogletree, a Harvard professor who has known Obama since he was a law student there... founding and executive director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, says he sees the “professor” label as a thinly veiled attack on Obama’s race. Calling Obama “the professor” walks dangerously close to labeling him “uppity,” a term with racial overtones that has surfaced in the political arena before...

Note the language "walks dangerously close". It is not the same thing, it "walks close". Does that mean that Charles Ogletree, who happens to be a "professor" is "uppity" and "black"? Sure enough! I Googled Chuck and it turns out he's black! I wonder when he first discovered that everyone calling him by the honorific that he earned was a "racist" who was insulting him by "walking dangerously close" to calling him "uppity"? Or is this a new found discovery that just happened to coincide with the term being applied to Obama in a less than flattering fashion?

It seems to me that liberals are "walking dangerously close" to losing what little credibility they have with every cockamamie theory they have that every word used to criticize Barack Obama is a code word for racism.

I realize that calling liberals "cockamamie" could be considered a code word for the fact that they are lying SOBs. Not really. Words have meanings. If I wanted to disparage Obama or little Chuckie Ogletree because of their race, there are words that can do that. Liberals should work on choosing their own words more carefully. Trying to redefine what conservatives say with fictitious, libelous standards is merely another straw man argument.

Gee! You'd think a Harvard professor could do better than that!

One would think that after all the times we disparaged Obama, Pelosi and Reid in the same breath, they might notice that two and a half of them are white!

Cross posted at Say Anything