More Flowers Freeper Obama-Rama Fiction (updates)

Gee, Christine, I’m so glad Barack Obama introduced race into this campaign and not you here today in the Philadelphia Daily News (uh huh, sure)…

Ever since the campaign entered its most frenetic stage, race has become the not-so-secret weapon of the Obama camp, allowing it to both promote the candidate as a historic step forward while at the same time attack his opponents with the bigot label. And the polls say that it seems to be working.

Forgive me if I inadvertently end up patting myself on the back here, but I have to note that, like you I’m sure, I’ve ended up reading a hell of a lot about this campaign and Barack Obama in particular. And I’ve seen no evidence whatsoever to support the “bigot” charge. None.

Further, no one from the Obama campaign would have been dumb enough to do that; yes, we still have a little less than a month to go and anything is possible, but the Obama campaign has remained fixed on the issues unlike any Democratic campaign I’ve seen since 1992 (and I think the response from Obama to the relatively minor infraction committed some months ago by senior aide Samantha Power – she referred to Hillary Clinton as a “monster,” and that led to her resignation – sent a pretty clear message as to what would and would not be tolerated).

Actually, though, I should point out that a cursory Google search revealed this link to The Weekly Standard (of course), quoting CNN’s Drew Griffin who said that Obama and William Ayres (here we go again) “funded niche lefty causes and Jeremiah Wright's church” (it links to a video that I am unable to watch at this location). However, the blockquoted text following this charge – which should substantiate this, if that’s possible, which I doubt – rehashes the whole business of whether or not the meeting Ayres and wife Bernadine Dohrn hosted in 1995 that introduced Obama had to do with him or then-Illinois State Senator Alice Palmer - yawn). And it’s not as if Griffin never tried to manufacture a story before (here).

My feeling, my friends, is that there’s no “there” there, if you know what I mean.

And the reason I’m mentioning this is that the supposed excuse for our corporate media not touching this ongoing non-story is the charge that Flowers alleges; because Obama’s supporters will automatically charge racism if you do.

So to recap, we have an allegation of a nonexistent conspiracy of some type or another between Obama and Ayres, and when that charge is blown full of holes, Flowers and others of her ideological ilk come along to accuse the Obama camp of racism when they debunk it (nice little bit of media sleight-of-hand that diverts attention from the economy; and by the way…).

Flowers also alleges that “the Obama campaign has made it harder to talk about the economy, national security, health care, etc., without dragging in the murky and volatile factor that corrupts every debate” (re: race), which, again, is an unsubstantiated charge.

However, how’s this for a “pot, meet kettle” moment from Flowers?...

I doubt Obama condones these tactics. As he's said on many occasions, he wanted to transcend race in this campaign. And as a man raised in large part by his white grandparents, I believe him.

Wow.

So, if Obama had been raised entirely by people of color, he would have been less trustworthy as far as Flowers is concerned? And she calls Obama supporters racist!

And how funny is it to read sentences from Flowers like, “Democrats have long claimed (and often abused) the loyalty of African-Americans,” when the Repugs are the ones who have perfected any number of ways to disenfranchise African Americans, particularly in 2000 (Florida) and 2004 (Ohio)?

And if you want to talk racism, check this out from Oliver Willis, particularly the note of Repug Kentucky Congressman Geoff Davis referring to Obama as a “boy.”

To be fair to Flowers, though, she does offer the following anecdotal “evidence” near the end of her column…

A recent essay in Newsweek made that clear. In "What If Obama Loses," Alison Samuels quoted one Daetwon Fisher, who said, "I'm going to be mad, real mad, if he doesn't win. Because for him to come this far and lose will be just shady and a slap in black people's faces."

You could say this is just one person, ignore him. But we weren't so ready to do that when a West Virginia woman said during the primary that she could never vote for a black man.

So, a couple of people preparing to vote with their passions, however incorrect they may be, are indicative of a trend by the Obama campaign to blame those opposing him of racism?

Spare me.

Besides, the Palin-McBush campaign has flailed away for days now on the charge that Obama is a terrorist which, besides being legally actionable as far as I’m concerned, is far worst than any racist smear Flowers or her supporters could ever conjure up.

Update 1: Brendan via Atrios here has more; all I'll say concerning the "I'm white, and I'm not voting for Obama" Flowers nonsense that I didn't comment on earlier was that this is the time of year when the wingnuts believe it to be a source of pride to advertise to the whole world why, how and for whom they vote. In particular, the Bucks County Courier Times is just chock full anymore of letters proclaiming, "I used to be a Democrat, but now I'm a Repug" (zzzzzzzz) and "any Democrat who claims to be pro-choice will burn in eternal hellfire," etc.

Update 2: And Obama is somehow worse than this?

Update 3: C'est dommage, Christine.

Update 4: As usual, Kagro X nails it.