Joe Conason: Why do conservatives pretend "racism is dead"?

[babylonsister]

Why do conservatives pretend "racism is dead"?
When James Taranto whitewashes right-wing bigotry, what is he telling us about his movement - and himself?
By Joe Conason


It’s a shame to arrive late at a party, especially if you’re the designated piñata. But last Friday, when WSJ.com’s James Taranto tried to take down my New York Observer column, titled "The Racists Return," I had more pressing priorities.

What got the Journal blogger so wound up (along with others in the wingersphere) was my assertion that bigoted language uttered by the likes of Glenn Beck and Laura Ingraham has been echoed in racist “games” targeting President Obama on the Jersey Shore and in the Lehigh Valley this summer. What irked him even more was my suggestion that conservatives should at last repudiate such ugliness rather than encourage it.

Responding to those observations, Taranto accused me of misconstruing satire, tearing phrases from context, yearning for the '60s and, worst of all, lacking a sense of humor. No doubt he is among the most formidable wits on the right, but we just don’t share the same idea of funny. Unlike him, for instance, I wasn’t amused by the right-wing smear of Shirley Sherrod.

Of course, Taranto’s fervent denial of racial undercurrents on the right today exemplifies the problem that I urged conservatives to address. But first let’s take his complaints in order:

Criticizing me for omitting the full context of Glenn Beck’s notorious “Planet of the Apes” remark, he claims that because Beck mentioned Andrew Stern as well as President Obama, the reference contained no racial meaning. Perhaps the racist themes of that film are open to debate, but the people who run Fox News appear to agree with me that the context didn't matter. As revealed by Keith Olbermann on "Countdown," the right-wing cable network falsely edited the transcript of Beck’s show, removing his “Apes” rant and replacing it with fabricated text. Why would Fox take this extraordinary step unless it realized that what Beck had said was sickeningly offensive?

The broader point, which Taranto also lacks the honesty to address, is that the “Apes” incident was only the latest in Beck’s long record of incendiary racial commentary, including his wild accusations against President Obama of racism and his repeated attempts to inflame hatred of the Obama family.

What we get instead -- and Taranto uses the same excuse for Laura Ingraham’s latest book, with its tin-eared stereotyping of Michelle Obama’s eating habits and its reference to the president as "uppity" -- is the old right-wing excuse deployed so many times to defend the likes of Rush Limbaugh. See, it’s all just satire! But what is the nature of “satire” that portrays the first lady as frantically consuming buckets of ribs?

more...

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/joe_conason/2010/08/18/racist

[d_r]

1. So they can say racist stuff without people calling them on it

And they can tell themselves that they aren't racist, the liberal communists are just picking on them with all that tolerance and equality bs.

[Brewman_Jax]

2. They want their 1st Amendment rights

and the "good ol' days" to use racial slurs anytime and not get called for it.