American Elephants

Last week, Tony Blankley wrote a succinct essay on racism:

In the last fortnight: 1) The NAACP called the tea party racist; 2) Andrew Breitbart called the NAACP racist; 3) Shirley Sherrod called Republican opponents of Obamacare racists; 4) Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack called Shirley Sherrod racist; 5) many in mainstream media called Andrew Breitbart racist; 6) Howard Dean called Fox racist; and, 7) it was revealed that liberal journalist Spencer Ackerman proposed calling Fred Barnes and Karl Rove racist.

Thus, through a confluence of bizarrely unlikely events, the vicious act of falsely accusing people of racism became a laughingstock. It went from being a career killer to a punch line; from villainy to vaudeville; from knife in the back to pie in the face.

I think Mr. Blankley got it about right.  But wait!  There’s more.  Representative Charles Rangel of New York and Representative Maxine Waters of California  are being accused of some ethical wrongdoing. Politico reports:

The question of whether black lawmakers are now being singled out for scrutiny has been simmering throughout the 111th Congress, with the Office of Congressional Ethics a focal point of the concerns. At one point earlier this year, all eight lawmakers under formal investigation by the House ethics committee, including Rangel and Waters, were black Democrats. All those investigations originated with the OCE, which can make recommendations — but takes no final actions — on such case.

There’s a “dual standard, one for most members and one for African-Americans,” said one member of the Congressional Black Caucus, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

It just won’t work. It is a joke.  Charles Rangel accepted four rent-controlled apartments from a developer at a below market value, one of which he used as campaign headquarters, he neglected to pay taxes on the rental income from a beachfront vacation home he owned, and he is accused of preserving a tax loophole worth half a billion dollars for an executive who had promised a $1 million donation to the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York.  He will face a trial by the ethics committee in September.

Maxine Waters is accused of an ethics violation because of a meeting she set up in September 2008 between Treasury Department officials and representatives of minority-owned banks.  The meeting centered on a single bank — one in which her husband  had considerable investments at the time, and in which he had served on the board of directors.  The bank subsequently received $12 million in bailout funds.

I understand that only Republicans violate ethical standards.  We know that because Republicans encourage members who have violated standards to resign promptly. Democrats are free not to pay their taxes, and any other violations they may commit are probably a case of mistaken identity. But when the ethics committee investigates and requires a trial — don’t play the race card.   It should be beneath you.

ADDENDUM: The White House has actually put out a statement comparing opposition to ObamaCare to Opposition to the Civil Rights Act. The point is to demonize and intimidate Virginia Attorney General Cuccinelli and any other states that have sued, rather than address their claims about the unconstitutionality of the health care legislation.