http://www.observer.com/2010/opinion/racists-returnBy Joe Conason
August 10, 2010 | 7:04 p.m
The Racists Return
Among the most revealing aspects of life during the Obama presidency is the panoply of responses to a black family in the White House. What made so many of us proud of our country on Jan. 20, 2009, has increasingly provoked expressions of hatred from the far right. That is troubling, but not nearly as troubling as the behavior of conservatives who excuse, embolden or simply pretend to ignore the bigots surrounding them.
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But this summer has seen several loud and ugly outbursts of very real racism-including threats of violence against the president of the United States-that go well beyond the utterance of any single word.
As if suffering from a facial tic, leading figures on the right cannot seem to suppress their inner Klansman these days.Is there any other way to explain Glenn Beck's crazed rant comparing the Obama administration to an old movie about a society where apes and chimpanzees dominate humans? What did the Fox News host mean, exactly, when he shrieked: "It's like the damned Planet of the Apes. Nothing makes sense!" Is there any other way to explain the grotesque new best seller by radio host Laura Ingraham, The Obama Diaries, where, among other things, she depicts first lady Michelle Obama eating ribs at every meal? Why would she feel the need to describe the president as "uppity" by putting the word in the mouth of his mother-in-law? No wonder Stephen Colbert taunted Ms. Ingraham to her face for "hideous and hackneyed racial stereotyping."
Of course, these are only two of the more egregious instances in recent weeks of social poisoning that dates back well over a year. Symptoms can be seen across the country now, even in amusement parks and church carnivals, where small children are exposed to this spiritual sickness.
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Most conservatives were late in taking responsibility for their movement's immoral opposition to civil rights. It is time for them to step up and denounce the racism that is again disfiguring our country in their name.