PrintSeptember 17, 2009
The All Purpose Tool
A few years ago I saw a television news broadcast in which a man repairing a dump truck, with the bed in the raised "dumping" position, would have been crushed by the descending bed but for his Leatherman Tool. Somehow, his paraphernalia had become entangled under the bed and the hydraulic lowering mechanism failed. With only a moment to spare, he reached in his pocket, pulled out his heavy duty Leatherman Tool and managed to jam it between the descending bed and the truck chassis. Incredibly the Leatherman was so tough, the steel so true, that it stopped the dump bed in its tracks, allowing the worker to free himself.
If you go on the Leatherman Tool Tales website, you will find "funny, touching, practical and unique" stories sent in by Leatherman users about how their Tool saved the day. The uses to which a Leatherman Tool has been put, and can be put, are limited only by one's inventiveness.
The same can now be said about an All Purpose Tool that the radical left and some Democrats have found and are using, as often as possible, with amazing inventiveness: the Charge of Racism.
Everyone who opposes Obama's agenda, from Townhall attendees demonstrating against big government spending and big government medicine to Cong. Joe Wilson's momentary lapse of decorum during the President's speech to congress, has now been labeled "Racist."
Democrat Representatives, Senators, newspaper columnists, television anchors and "reporters," and a former US President have speculated, insinuated, or outright charged that any opposition to the Obama agenda or to his political methods are rooted in Racism.
The recent bumper crop of Racism Charges includes varieties from the snort-inducing to the hackles-raising kind.
On the very low-brow, kindergarten level, there is Bill Maher's musing that the Drudge Report headline, "POLL HELL: OBAMA NEGS RISE," is somehow an example of the ways "some of the right-wingers are always dropping subliminally racist messages."
An untold number of members of the Old Liberal Media have tarred the Tea Party participants with Charges of Racism as the basis for their opposition to what Washington is doing. These are the same members of the media who did not question the motives behind the obscene calumny leveled against Justice Clarence Thomas nor the bottle-necking by Democrat members of the Judiciary Committee of the nominations of African-American and Hispanic conservatives.
This is a lingering question that must be addressed. Where is the outrage when racist liberals oppose Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Indian conservatives? After all, it must be due to their skin color, right? It couldn't possibly have anything to do with possessing totally different values and worldviews such as supporting single payer health care vs. not supporting single payer health care. It must be that the Old Liberal Media knows when it is racism and when it is legitimate criticism, and we uninformed masses, must depend on their judgments, analysis, and the odd moment of clairvoyance.
For instance, Maureen Dowd, of the venerated New York Times, actually made up words that were not spoken: "Surrounded by middle-aged white guys - a sepia snapshot of the days when such pols ran Washington like their own men's club - Joe Wilson yelled "You lie!" at a president who didn't. But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!" She also forays into reading people's pasts through their tea leaves when she says this of Obama: "Maybe he had a problem relating to his white basketball coach or catching a cab in New York, but he never got beaten up for being black." (Psst! Maureen, ixnay the eatingbay so soon after a white student was savagely beaten by black students in a violent crime that occurred on a school bus.)
Moving on to Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-Manhattan), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, well known tax cheat, and liar (are we still allowed to use this word?) and his rumination that prejudice is fueling the opposition to healthcare legislation: "Some Americans have not gotten over the fact that Obama is president of the United States. They go to sleep wondering, 'How did this happen?' "
Now we have former (failed) President Carter stating he believes race is at the core of much of the opposition to President Obama. "I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African American," Carter said.
The All Purpose Tool of Racism Charges is a wondrously versatile implement that can be carried everywhere, in a pants pocket or a woman's purse, whipped out on a moment's notice, applied to any situation or circumstance, and jammed between the jaws of inconvenient facts about the radical left agenda and the rising tide of public opposition. The Leatherman Tool Tales are being rivaled by the Racism Charges Tool Tales.
