Barbara Boxer’s rude and imperial treatment of Black Chamber of Commerce head Harry Alford has been igniting a refreshing intellectual uprising in the conservative media.  A glaring spotlight has now been fixed on Boxer’s ugly attempt to patronize a sharp, focused and well-prepared black man during a Senate committee hearing.  

Boxer made a dangerous assumption about Mr. Alford’s intellectual competence but her mistake should help to expose the left’s disdainful and quite harmful attitude toward America’s black population.  For many white liberals, black people are just, well, incapable.  When black people realize this the modern Democrat Party is finished.

On the other hand, the modern Republican Party may well be finished for another reason tucked within the heated exchange between Boxer and Alter.  Sitting to Boxer’s right at the committee hearing was Senator James Inhofe, R-Oklahoma.  Inofe’s behavior during the dust-up is a veritable microcosm of everything that’s wrong with the Republican Party.  Instead of sharing in Mr. Alter’s indignation and directly challenging Boxer on an attempt at political persuasion bordering on racism, Senator Inhofe was politely inert.

Why are the Democrats winning?  Because they are not politely inert.  Readers may recall an exchange between Boxer and Inhofe back in 2007 during which Boxer directly confronted and scolded Inhofe in front of a smiling Al Gore during Senate committee meeting on Global Warming.  

Democrats are visceral about their beliefs and they confront, challenge, and “get in the faces” of their opponents.  By doing this they control the debate on issues that will shape the future of America.  Republicans benefit no one by being politely inert.  When Republicans refuse to get outraged they send a dangerous signal to the public: maybe conservative beliefs just aren’t worth defending.

Senator Inhofe had a glorious chance to help defend a black man under assault by the imperial Senator Boxer.  He failed, and for a crucial moment, so did the conservative movement.