Jimmy Carter, Read Sidney Hook!

"Let me return to Carter’s 'based on racism' comment. In fact, the operative 'R' word here is not racism but revulsion. Rep. Wilson’s outburst was an expression of outrage, frustration, and revulsion at Obama’s studied mendacity. (And note, by the way, that it is perfectly OK for the President to accuse others of being liars and worse.) But Carter played the race card for the same reason that Charlie Rangel did when people stated asking about why he understated his income to the IRS by $500,000 or why Henry Louis Gates did when he was arrested for disorderly conduct by Sgt. James Crowley. In our culture, the charge of racism is not only a conversation-stopper it is a thought-stopper. We cannot publicly tell the truth about race, so the charge of racism always carries with it not only an element of intimidation, but also an element of exposure. Everyone knows that Al Sharpton, say, is a mountebank, but we must be chary of saying so because of his race. Ditto with Henry Louis Gates: his scholarly accomplishments are modest, to say the least, but we must not point that out because of his race."